Alarms off at 5am to shower, FINALLY, and meet the group downstairs at 6:15am. I should probably
make a note somewhere that this trip is quite different than my other travels because I am ⅕ of the
team leading the adventure. As part of my executive chair role for PX3, Pollinators Propersing People,
I volunteered (twist my arm why don’t you), to help run our pilot ecotourism trip to the see the monarch
wintering grounds. I expect to still be able to fully experience the trip, but there will also be a fair
amount of trip logistics and participant coordination as well.
Rangling participants, distributing breakfasts and packing luggage in the support SUV, and we were
on our way out of Mexico City around 7:30am for our 3.5 hour drive to El Capulin, our 1st monarch
biopreserve. Liana and I followed Mel, Alex, Erin, and the participants north out of the city center. As if
driving in a new city wasn’t difficult enough, please believe me when I say, that traffic in Mexico City is
the CRAZIEST TRAFFIC I’VE EVEN EXPERIENCED. I thought drivers in Jordan were scary, but that
was NOTHING in comparison. NOTHING. Traffic lights were ignored forming a giant spaghetti mess of
cars, trucks, buses, mopeds, and cyclists all going different directions. Liana and I joked/wondered if
there was going to be a way that eventually we’d all get so stuck in traffic we’d never get out.
Luckily we eventually made it free, after some aggressive moves, and only one bump from an extra
aggressive truck. I took a video of the adventure, but I’m sure it doesn’t do it justice. Oh, and speaking
of pictures/videos...I realized upon hotel arrival yesterday, that I’d forgotten my camera battery charger
in the US. OOPS. Luckily phones these days have great cameras, and I’m with a group of some
wonderful photographers who will be sharing their pictures (I hope).
Once out of the crowded city center, and on the edge of the city, we cruised along at a comfortable
pace, enjoying the sights. The landscape actually reminded me of Petra in some ways. Very scrubby
deserty land, nestled in the mountains. Also, similar to my other adventures, was the need to pay to
use the public restroom and the lack of toilet paper. New to me for this trip...no TP in the toilet. The
plumbing here is so weak, everyone throws their used TP in the trashcan next to the toilet. Definitely
took some getting used to at first, and if you hear of the Mexico City sewers having issues in the next
few days...let’s hope it wasn’t me.
We decided to forgo lunch and continue to much on snacks in the car on our way to our 1st reserve.
After the traffic adventures and the pit stops for bio breaks, we were supposed to arrive around
12:15pm. Leaving the highway for more rural roads seemed promising at first, but after about 1 hour of
windy, dusty, pothole-riddled, backcountry roads up into the mountains, we realized we were NOT
going where we thought we were going.
Now a detour like this, while leading a trip of 10 participants, may have set off the stress alarm of a
previous version of myself, but I gotta say, it was totally worth it. We were able to see so many unique
and authentic shops and houses, that it was a really amazing glimpse into rural Mexican life. We even
drove past an elementary school that was just letting out for the day. The little ninos and ninas were
adorable in their school uniforms, and the look of curiosity on their faces was priceless as the out of
place vehicles drove past them waving. Also, I’m pretty sure I saw the most quintessential abuilita in
existence waiting on the street corner for a ride to who knows where.
More quick thinking/adjusting had us scratching our day’s plan to tour El Capulin and we decided to
head to Sierra Chincua (40 min away), where we had planned to go tomorrow. It was a good lesson
learned in finding an exact address for locations rather than following a pin drop, and always having
offline maps saved (we hardly had any cell service in the mountains we would have been MUCHO lost
if we didn’t have our maps).
Upon arriving at Sierra Chincua, we met David, who would be our tour guide. We paid our
entrance/parking pesos (80 pesos per car) and headed into the sanctuary. We had the option to ride
horses or hike the 3mi into the park, and since the weather was lovely (mid 70s and sunny, which a
light breeze keeping things cool), and we’d just been in the car for 5 hours, I was excited to hike. David
took us along a trail with the most unexpectedly beautiful wildflowers in the pine and fir forest. We
heard dozens of hummingbirds squawking and fighting in the branches, and even caught a glimpse of
a few of the cuties.
The view from the mountains was spectacular and David pointed out a few areas on local ridge tops
where they were doing reforesting work with the admission to the park. It was nice to know that our
sanctuary money was going to help restore the habitat. Also, interesting to note that there were, as far
as I could tell, no full time/paid staff at the sanctuary. All the guides were paid through tips, which was
about $5/guide.
I’m going to have to say, to get the full experience of the hike it, you’ll need to look at the pics, which
still don’t do it justice.
About ⅔ of the way in, David told us we were entering the monarch area, and we should hush our
voices and be on the lookout. At first, I felt giddy upon seeing 12-15 monarch swirling up the
mountainside in the breeze. Turning a corner, and down a small steep decline, I looked up into the
trees to see hundreds more flying around amongst clumps of dead leaves in the trees (oyamel firs).
Then like a lighting blot of awakening, I realized that the dozens of dead leaf clumps I had been looking
at were ALL MONARCHS huddled together. I still can’t really describe the way it felt to see that many
butterflies all clustered together. Somehow in all my years of animal curiosity and study, I didn’t really
realize that that was what I was about to be seeing when we entered the sanctuary.
I will 100% say the pics don’t do it justice but watch a few videos. It was like standing in the snowglobe
of monarchs. Or a wind storm of orange leaves (butterflies) being blown around. Truly phenomenal.
Hiking back was quite a slog, as we were all getting tired and pretty hungry. David turned out to be
from the town where our hotel is (Hotel Don Bruno) and offered to guide us back to the hotel. In fact,
we liked him so much, that we decided to hire him to guide us around another sanctuary tomorrow. He
even gave us pointers on which sanctuary we should visit on Wednesday since El Capulin was a wash
(and apparently not a good place to see the butterflies this time of year anyway!)...it really all does work
out in the end.
Settling into our quaint hotel, with the most gorgeous courtyard (see pics!), and up to dinner provided
by the hospitable hotel staff. Over dinner I gave our participants the journaling prompt to find a way to
capture the magic of today so that it will stay with them the rest of their trip, and when they are back in
the US. I said, “if you never saw another monarch on our trip, what will you do to make sure this magic
stays alive?” I encouraged them to write a poem, express themselves through art, or journal about their experience (shout out to the Evans sisters for the inspo for the prompt, courtesy of their MAEOE session).
By 8:30, I was exhausted and ready for bed. Not only was it a FULL day of travel adventures, but also
leading a trip of 10, leaves even and extra extravert like me extra tired at the end of the day. Wrapping
this up at 10:15pm as Liana softly sleep in the bed next to mine (under not 1 or 2 blankets, but 7
BLANKETS...no heat in our hotel as it’s very rural), and I’m snuggled in my sleeping bag under my
own blankets. Dolce suenos mi amigos. Tomorrow is another adventure.
