Absolutely amazing... a must see in Mexico!

This was our fourth time to go see the monarch butterflies at their winter home. There are actually 15 different regions in the mountains of Michoacan and Mexico State where the butterflies congregate, however only six of them are open for public viewing. We have been to three of the six, and yesterday's trip was our second visit to the Chincua colony.

The butterflies arrive at the beginning of November and stay until early March. The best viewing is between mid January (now) and the end of February. However, even during those periods, conditions need to be optimal for the best experience. And so your trip will depend on the weather.

We have never visited the butterflies during perfect conditions, but yesterday was about as close as it gets! Our RV caravan group was so lucky!

Two vans came to pick us up at 8:00am, and we got on the road. 

On the Guadalajara- Mexico City toll road heading towards the mountains of Michoacan.

The colony is located at 3,260 meters (10,700 feet) altitude. So it gets a little chilly up there. The butterflies stay in close knit groups during the cold nights. But when the sun comes out to warm things up, they start to fly. And the warmer it gets, the more of them fly. So you want to time your arrival at the colony for the warmest part of the day, which would be about 1:00 to 2:00 pm.

And if the sun doesn't come out, it will not warm up enough that they will fly and they will stay congregated in bunches on the trees. This is what happened during our last visit in February of 2016.

But yesterday, there was a clear sunny sky. Absolutely perfect conditions!

 Our group, getting ready for a short horseback ride.

It currently costs 45 pesos ($3.00 CAD, $2.50 USD) to enter the Chincua butterfly reserve. The property is federally protected, but owned and managed by an indigenous group.

From the parking area, it is about a 1 km horseback ride (100 pesos each way, or you can choose to walk it) and then a 2.8 km round trip hike. For the non hikers in our group, this was a pretty strenuous hike, especially at 10,700 feet!

However, you can take all the time you need and there is lots of opportunity to rest along the way should you need to do so.

 The horses are led by guides. 

Heading towards the butterflies.

Off the horses and on to the hiking trail.

What amazes me is how tightly knit these colonies are. You are wandering through the forest, only 1 km (.62 miles) from the colony and you don't see a single butterfly. Absolutely no indication that there are hundreds of thousands (millions?) of butterflies just around the corner.

And then as you get within a few hundred meters, you start to see the odd butterfly. Then a few more.

Remember to click on the pictures to make them full screen!

And then when you reach the colony, your jaw drops. I was watching the people in our group, with their eyes wide as you finally see what you came for. Millions of butterflies in bunches so large that they weigh down the branches on the fir trees.

 Butterflies on top of butterflies.

One pine tree covered in butterflies.

The entire colony is congregated in less than half an acre of forest. There are perhaps eight or ten trees at this colony like in the photo above. This is why they weren't "discovered" until 1975, although the indigenous people living here in the mountains knew about them for centuries. 

This photo was taken at 12:22 pm.

We had actually arrived a little bit early. This is a double edged sword, because not as many were flying as there would have been at say 1:30pm. But, we also had the benefit of being almost the first ones there. And they rope off the area so you can't get too close, and they also limit your time to 18 minutes if it is busy, and that's about how long we stayed.

But despite being a little bit early, it was still the best show that Ruth and I had seen out of our four visits!

Totally amazing.

Here is a short video...

Wow!

Our guide Agustin showing us the difference between the male and the female.

They are identical in size, but the male has two black dots on his wings.

They do not yet have all this stuff figured out, and perhaps they never will. It was generally accepted that it takes three generations of monarchs to do the return trip to this location, however Agustin tells us the new information from a tiny GPS tracking chip shows that at least one butterfly has made the round trip from here to Canada and back. Research is ongoing.

 Taking a rest break!

 Monarch butterfly.

The view from the Sierra Chincua Butterfly Reserve.

Everyone agreed that the two hour drive and horseback ride and strenuous hike was well worth it. Certainly a bucket list item for some, and we are so glad they got to experience it under pretty much ideal conditions.

On the way back, we stopped in the town of Tlalpujahua. Say that three times quickly!

 Tlalpujahua.

 One of the churches has an interesting interior.

We love Mexico!

Today is a much needed day of rest. Some of the people have booked to go to a local hot springs water bath. Ruth and I have some things to accomplish here, and then we'll probably do a local hike this afternoon.

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