I have been gardening for butterflies and hummingbirds since I was quite young. My dream has been to be able to visit the Monarchs up in the mountain sanctuary of El Rosario since I saw them in a National Geographic magazine years ago. Well for a Christmas present, my DH took me to Mexico City last week where we got a ride to the Sanctuary. It was the most amazing sight I will ever see. It was a very long strenuous hike up the mountain from 8000 ft to almost 11,000 ft above sea level. The air was so thin, I could barely breathe but there were benches along the way to take a rest. I can’t believe I did it. The week before I pulled my Achilles tendon and had tendonitis but I was determined and I am so glad I did. It was a great day as it was sunny and the butterflies were all flying around and drinking in puddles. Millions and millions of butterflies flying. There are so many that you can actually hear them flapping their wings. There are so many butterflies also clinging to trees that the branches bend down from their weight. It was so cool. I even saw a couple of hummingbirds. If anyone has thought about going. I strongly recommend it. It is amazing. This summer I will definitely start tagging the monarchs in my garden so I know that they arrived to Mexico. While there I saw a couple of tagged butterflies.
Here is a link to my pictures of the trip and there are also some videos so you can see the density of the butterflies. In my pictures there is also a folder with the butterfly zoo in Mexico which was really neat.
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/557167669gBWHck?start=24
Monarchs
Awesome photos! Thanks so much for sharing with us. The trees looked like they were blooming butterflies!
Janet
WOW !!! Now that's what I call a vacation
Absolutely amazing!! Thanks so much for sharing it!!
Incredible!
Awesome photos!!!
This was very spiritual to me as I had lost my mother in October and she loved butterflies. The people in the town of Angagueo believe that the Monarchs are the souls of people that die that year on their way to heaven as they usually arrive on November 1, the Day of the Dead. Scientists are completely baffled as how they know where to go as the arriving Monarchs have never been there before.
It is amazing to see all these butterflies that flew in from US and Canada. You could see that some had been tagged. If you want to tag your own Monarchs, here is where to go.
http://www.monarchwatch.org/tagmig/tag.htm
How beautiful to behold all those Monarchs!
Moonlit - Sorry to hear that you just recently lost your mother. {{{hugs}}} Maybe your trip to El Rosario was meant to be for that connection to her spirit and her love of butterflies.
Nice pics, and really enjoyed the movie. Must have been an awesome experience!
This message was edited Jan 26, 2007 2:38 PM