November 21, 2023. Reserva de la Biósfera Santuario Mariposa Monarca

November 21, 2023.  Reserva de la Biósfera Santuario Mariposa Monarca

Tuesday was a very long day. At 8:30, we met Carlos, our guide, at a hotel near the Cathedral. His assistant was a young man named Pepe. Two other tourists from Tobasco joined us. They were Sebastian and his wife Alia. Our mission was to explore the Monarch Butterfly Reserve.

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1290/

This reserve is over 138,000 acres and holds millions and perhaps billions of monarch butterflies as they migrate from Canada every fall. Thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, of people go to the reserve, climb the hill, …er… mountain to see the butterflies. Since it’s never known exactly where the butterflies cluster, sometimes the hike up the hill, …er… mountain can be long and strenuous. This year, the hike was long and strenuous. I loved it.

After 3 hours of driving —a very nice drive through the hills and dells of Michoacán — we arrived. By the time we arrived, it was lunchtime but Carlos said it wasn’t good to hike on a full stomach. I thought it was worse to hike on an empty one. Fortunately, I had brought several protein bars and 2 bottles of water for the 3+ hours of hiking up the mountain.  

Fortunately, (or unfortunately?), there were stairs up part of the mountain but since the butterflies were so far up the mountain, we ended up on dirt and rock trails. It was so nice to be in the forest again. Here are a few photos to start….

Pepe…Carlos…Alia

At a rest stop along the way

Find me at the top… 

(I bought a bamboo stick cuz I know about hiking in hills …er… mountains.)

…one of my many martial arts moves…

Nope…not at the top yet…

Still working our way up…

Finally getting close.

At the top, we saw clusters of butterflies in the trees. They are kind of hard to discern in a photo, but they look like large brown clumps hanging from the branches. These are thousands of butterflies clustered together very tightly. As I watched, there was a noise of some kind and all of a sudden….whoosh!… the butterflies flew up en masse. I didn't get this photo or video but, believe me, it was impressive. You might need to zoom in to really see the butterfly clusters. I’ll try to insert a video, too. I didn't take the video.

The brownish clusters are the butterflies.

And finally….How many white cows can one see on a mountain in Michoacán? (Michele took this photo.)

Down at the bottom of the mountain, we had lunch at a little outdoor place. I must say, they were the very best quesadillas I ate during the whole trip. The tortillas were hand made of blue corn and they were grilled without grease. Too bad I don’t have a photo.

After eating, we drove the 3-hours back to Morelia. We were sooooo tired! 

November 20, 2023 Patzcuaro to Morelia

November 20, 2023 Patzcuaro to Morelia

This morning brought some unexpected surprises. We had bus tickets to return to Morelia in the afternoon, but we didn’t know what we’d do before we left. Fortunately, we had breakfast on the little square near the Basílica and that was exactly the route of the parade. YAY! A Revolution Day parade. While we were waiting, we saw all kinds of niñas and niños walk by dressed for the Revolution. When tow trucks came and removed the miscellaneous vehicles, we knew we had a front-row seat. 

I got over-excited and took waaaaay too many photos. So, I’ll try to weed them out a bit for your viewing enjoyment. One of the things you might notice is that many/most of the people in the parade are covered in confetti. Apparently, it is a fun tradition for family and friends to run from the sidelines into the marchers in the parade and dump confetti on their heads. The confetti was sold in plastic bags to the spectators along the route. I felt sorry for the two young people I saw who had no confetti heads.

For days before the parade, we were subjected to the youth marching bands who were practicing and marching around the square. When I heard the horns, (ok, the screech of the horns), I wondered if my neighbor Chris,  trumpet player in the symphony, ever sounded like they did. Surely not.

I’ll try to put in a sound-bite for your listening pleasure. They played their instruments with gusto and it was very fun to watch.

After the parade we wondered a bit for one last time. Then, lo and behold, we came across a man in his shop repairing shoes. Michele’s leather bag had ripped and she asked him to fix it…which he did…right then and there. For about $1. And he did a most excellent job.

Then we left Patzcuaro for Morelia. I loved Patzcuaro. Even now, thinking back, that was the bestest overall place we explored.

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Back in Morelia, we checked into the Hotel and Suites Gallereia. It was an authentic Mexican hotel that served breakfast and lots of hot coffee. We had two rooms with real beds. I highly recommend this hotel.

After checking in, we wandered a bit. We saw the tale-end of a parade and the Cathedral all lit up.  Beautiful.

Thus ends another day…..

 

November 19, 2023 Patzcuaro: A miscellaneous Day

 November 19, 2023 Patzcuaro: A miscellaneous day

Terry left us on Sunday to return to San Miguel and Michele and I decided to wander. We saw lots of groups of “peregrinos” (pilgrims) going from church to church. We’re not sure why but maybe it had something to do with the holiday weekend? It was a celebration of the Mexican Revolution. Or maybe it was just an ordinary weekend? There seemed to be a lot of young people in the groups.

We wandered on and came to a square with some people enjoying the sun. And there was music. We strolled over to the music and discovered that there were some dancers doing their dance thing.  I started shaking my bootie, then lo and behold, they asked me to join them…

(I will try to insert the video that Michele took but don’t know if it will take.)

Here’s a photo….

They were a dance group who did various dances. I think they danced in costumes before audiences. I enjoyed talking to them in my “excellent” Spanish. Ha!

From the square we saw strange figures walking down the street. Is this a usual weekend? Or is it part of the Revolution holiday. 

One of the highlights of this day was at the Libreria. We had discovered it earlier. It features an astounding mural by Juan O’Gorman that shows the history of Michoacán. It was completed in 1942, and unlike other murals and guide-book information, this gives a more balanced and complete story of the land, the indigineous people, the Spanish conquest of the country, and what has happened since. We bought a little booklet at the entrance desk, then dragged chairs to the front of the room and sat there for over an hour, going through the mural bit by bit. It was mind-boggling.

Here’s my photo. 

If you want more photos, trying searching for … 

The Mural of Juan O'Gorman in Pátzcuaro

 within the Gertrudis Bocanegra Public Library

I found a YouTube presentation on the mural which shows the different sections and tells the story. It’s in Spanish but the pictures are stunning. 

https://youtu.be/4j79zVo5f_o?si=YeYuafyYqW2eaOYe

Finally, we were kicked out of the library when it closed. It was such a great day.