The six of us arrive in Morelia safely and find our hotel, the Casa de Suenos Dulces, or sweet dreams. It's not quite up to the standard of the B&B in Tlaquepacque, but it is centrally located and adequate.

We bought our tickets for the tour the next day-Tuesday. Victor would drive us from Morelia to the mountainside about 2 hours distant. He kept up a history lesson for most of the way. However, in a small village called Huajumbarra (sp?) the Suburban broke down. We were still a good 80 k from our destination. He called Morelia for a replacement vehicle which would have to leave immediately for us to make it to the mountain on time. It did and we did. In the meantime, we did a walking tour of the pueblo and had time to spare.

When we arrived at the mountainside parking area, we were guessing that we had ridden over about 600 topas which are Mexican speed bumps--an effective control, but one that tests the ability to "hold it." Now the fun begins.

We start the climb and Victor takes off at a fast pace. Only two to three of us were able to keep pace. The air is thin and the climb is steep. We are all sea level types and we are now at about 9,000 feet elevation. We need to climb to about 10,500 feet. The path is mostly paved and there are benches on which to rest from time to time.

We all arrive at the top and are greeted by a pretty good contingent of mariposas monarca. Monarch butterflies. The cameras get busy. I'll post a sample of the pictures on the gallery. Victor tells us that about 40 million of these creatures are around us. Many in a sort of cone or hive with thousands not moving around. There are plenty moving around though. Some are soaring, some are dying. But a large portion of these will start the flight to Canada as summer approaches. It's an annual deal and quite a puzzle as to how they know how to get to Canada as none of the ones going have done it before. And then as winter approaches in Canada they will fly back to Mexico though none of those guys will have made that trip either.

After getting our fill of pictures and just plain staring at these beautifull little black and orange mariposas, we start the descent. It is a lot easier, but still takes its toll on quads and calves as we will learn the next couple days. When at the bottom, we stop in a tiny makeshift restaurant for a full Mexican meal cooked before us on a wood stove. We drink Victoria beer and pat ourselves on the back for making it up and down. The trip back was uneventful but a little stressful--Victor drives very fast and follows closely and passes frequently. It's all an adventure. And we love it.