This morning we woke up at 5:45 on purpose, we had an exciting day ahead of us! I took a shower (warm) and then Maman took a shower (barely warm). We’ve discovered that there’s only a tiny bit of hot water and unless we get up before 6:30, odds are we won’t get any. We quickly packed our bags for a day trip and had some yogurt we bought at the Oxxo on the way home from supper yesterday. At 7, we were picked up by Carlos, our tour guide for the day. We then began the long drive to El Rosario, the world’s largest monarch butterfly sanctuary. It was about 190 km from our hostel but the traffic on the way out of Mexico City meant it would take almost 4 hours to drive. Carlos was super knowledgeable and for the first hour of our ride, he was telling us so many interesting things! We learned that most people don’t move out of the way for police cars with their sirens on because most of the time they’re just trying to get out of traffic. He said “I’m one of those who won’t move and I don’t care. But we move for ambulances and firetrucks.” We also drove by a cable car system running along the highway for miles and he told us that people use it to commute to work! It’s such a brilliant idea to avoid traffic I don’t know why more cities don’t do that. Especially since Carlos told us rush hour starts at 4am in some areas of the city!!
We finally got out of Mexico City, crossed into the next state, Michoacán, and stopped at a pit stop on the side of the highway around 9am. Maman and I had both been falling asleep so we each got a French vanilla coffee and they were soooo good! Mexican coffee and vanilla are so much better than what we can get at home. We kept on driving for another two hours, through some cute small towns and some foggy valleys. We eventually got to a switchback road taking us up a mountain and I was getting so nauseous at this point from the smell of other vehicles’ exhaust coming through the open windows. We made it up to 3000m of elevation though and then we got out to have lunch. There were a bunch of food stalls lined up side by side and we sat at Doña Augustina’s. We decided to have two quesadillas each, one with poblano peppers and one with chicken tinga. They were amazing we watched Augustina make them right in front of us. She also gave us some salsa roja and salsa verde which were both delicious. Eventually, she started making a new salsa from scratch in a molcajete and she let us try some on a fresh tortilla. Everything was absolutely incredible and I felt a lot better after having eaten!
After lunch, we started walking up to the entrance of the monarch butterfly sanctuary. We walked up a steep hill with lots of vendors on either side selling handmade crafts and fresh fruit. This climb was pretty steep and I was huffing and puffing more than I usually would because of the altitude. Neither Maman nor I had ever been above 3000m before and considering Winnipeg sits at a pathetic 240m, we didn’t know how our bodies would react. We were actually both a bit dizzy from the altitude when we first arrived in Mexico City, we just thought we were tired. The weather was BEAUTIFUL up there! Don’t be fooled by Carlos (and all the other Mexicans) wearing a coat, it was around 15°C and sunny with zero wind.
When we reached the entrance, Carlos handed us over to a mountain guide called Gilberto because his knees hurt so he couldn’t come up with us. Gilberto only spoke Spanish so I translated for him and Maman during the hike which was fun. We were given the option to ride horses up the first two-thirds of the way, but we opted to do the whole hike ourselves because we were feeling really good. The first section consisted of 610 stairs up through a beautiful pine forest. We were already seeing the odd monarch flying around down here but not many. We then got to a plateau where we saw the first big groups of butterflies, flying around in the sun to drink water and nectar. The most amazing views were at the top of the hike, though. After 2km with 300m of elevation gain, we reached the limit point where the monarchs gather in the trees. There were millions of them, so many that the trees looked orange. You can also hear the swish of their wings flapping.
We spent about 20 minutes at the top, then started making our way back down to the entrance. I was chatting with Gilberto most of the way and eventually he asked for my name. As is common here, he misunderstood “Catalina” and got really excited because it’s a Mexican name. He asked what my nickname was back home and told me that here they’d call me Cati which I think is cute so for convenience this is what I tell people now. We’re sticking with Catalina for a few months I guess! Back at the entrance, we rejoined Carlos and split up from Gilberto, who still had a second ascent to complete today. He told me on the hike that he loves seeing the monarchs every day, that it never gets old because they’re his butterflies.
We shopped a bit while we were walking down the hill through the vendors’ stalls, I tried a single fresh local strawberry (even though it could’ve been washed with tap water and given me diarrhea but we took the risk and survived) and we bought some bread baskets woven from the needles of the local pine trees.
We then headed off back to Mexico City. It was a loooong drive back. We were all tired so it was quiet, not much chatting. I napped a little, then I just looked out the window and watched the scenery go by. After two hours we stopped at the same pit stop as on the way in. Maman and I shared a doughnut and some chocolate which revived us a little, and when Carlos asked whether we wanted to stop for food on the way back we declined. We just wanted to be home at this point. Once we got into the city I started feeling really nauseous again from all the exhaust coming into the car but as soon as we escaped the bumper-to-bumper traffic it was okay.
We got dropped off at the hostel around 6:45pm and Carlos still had another hour and a half to go! What a long day. Maman and I were exhausted so we just headed to our room to chill for a bit before going out for supper with Niina around 8pm.
We decided to walk a little past our regular taco place and wound up at El Recuerdo de mis Amores, a taqueria with a live DJ. I tried Huaraches con Pollo tonight which was like a corn patty with chicken, beans, cheese, and onions on top. It was delicious with salsa verde.
After supper, we walked back to the hostel and Maman and I just hung out in the room for a while before bed which was really nice. Tomorrow will be more laid back, we don’t have any plans yet! See you in the next one!
One response to “Day 3 | Monarchs”
I LOVE those baskets! So glad you got to see so many Monarchs and I remember getting to mexico city from puerto escondido and I was cold, wishing inhad brought a toque and a better sweater haha