01 February 2016
We traveled to the Butterfly's with our English speaking guide and host Joel Moreno aboard horses from the town stable horse coop. Where they work on a rotating schedule so that each village horse owner gets an equal chance to make a living! The Admiral road off on a white horse named Grease the Captain road a sorrel and Joel road his father horse Colorado. Up & up we road on a narrow rough mountain trail. It was beautiful lined with pine trees fern and lots of green vegetation everywhere. A fantastic journey to the Monarch's. Early on we spotted Mystical flashes of orange & black fluttering in and out of the trees. It is said you can hear the hum of wings in flight, but our old ears are not in tune with such soft sounds. The Captain described it as Magical like being caught in the middle of Disneyland fairy tale movie, just watching the butterflies soaring in and out of the tree branches was nature at its best! They gather & hang in clumps to keep warm looking like a vineyard full of orange grapes. When the sun shines they fly and the forest is orange. It is said over 1 billion Monarch butterflies are in residence this season. In mid-march the females will fly north the males will dye in peace covering the Serra Madera Mountain in an orange blanket knowing they have completed their life cycle. It was an amazing experience
Our host Joel & Ellen's B&B was a perfect home base for our long dreamed adventure of chasing butterflies. The small quite Mexican Village of Macheros where everyone is related with 3 & 4 generations working the land fascinated us. Each year they are invaded by Butterfly Chasers from all over the world between January & March hoping to fell the magic, wonder and delight of these winged creatures. We hiked around the Village getting accustomed to the altitude always joined by local dogs that were as interest in us as we were in them. We were fascinated by the abundance of wild flowers & birds. Each evening we were visited by beautiful Vermilion Flycatchers the prettiest we had ever seen, Humming Birds were very busy sucking up all the nectar their little bodies demanded. Meals were served at Joel's Mother Dona Rosa's restaurant where her five daughters took turns preparing meals on a wood cook stove. Supplies were mostly home grown, the corn for the tortillas was grown & ground all in sight of the B&B they were formed, cooked & served as needed, the best we had ever tasted. Each of Joel's brother's (5) have avocado orchards so of course we had lots of avocados. Joel's Father has a trout farm/pond where they hand pick your fish after you order a Trout dinner in 1 of the 5 way's they offer to cook it for you. Now that is a fresh fish dinner! Water is piped from natural Mountain springs to each home in the village. The villagers laugh when telling us how the leaves sometimes clog the little feeder pipes & how they have to hike high into the Mountains to free the clogged pipes. Green houses were everywhere growing flowers that are sold in Mexico City. They have a very active reforesting nursery where they grow the natural to their area plants to keep the butterflies forest healthy. Joel's godfather tends this nursery and over see's the planting! No GMO seedlings here! We were fascinated by the sap gathering from the local pine trees by the local's. Once when we were out on the trails we spotted a man on a donkey with two five galleon buckets on the side of his donkey filled with pine sap. He told us he sold the sap in Guadalajara where they made plastic, varnish & used it as a filler product for joint medicine? It's organic - We wonder if this is possible? Everyone in the village was warm, friendly and very cheerful and helpful. It was like taking a step back in time to a simpler easier life. We are sure no one has high blood pressure in Macheros Mexico! We try to live by the rule that we treat others as we wish to be treated! Joel & his family & the villagers treated us great; they made us feel like family. The oldest person in the village is 107 and credits her long life to beans, greens & God!