Walking in a Cloud of Butterflies

Today we made it to the El Rosario sanctuary at the Monarch Butterfly preserve. We took an excellent tour that took us by bus three hours from Morelia, then up to 10,700 feet to see a colony of butterflies. Because it was a warm and clear day, many of the butterflies were flying, looking for water to drink and checking out the mating potential.

It was amazing to look up into the fir trees and see boughs so full of butterflies they seemed like termite mounds. The flying butterflies glided among us, their orange and black wings fluttering in the wind. I loved looking up into the clear slate of the blue sky to watch butterflies fly across my range of vision.

The science of the migration is yet unknown, however the butterflies somehow transmit the information to migrate back to this small region in Mexico through several generations.
The reserve was more touristed than I expected. Even on a Friday we trudged uphill behind groups of schoolchildren and families.

Despite the crowds, the experience of watching a random butterfly turn into more and more and more until the air and ground were ablaze with them, much as the locust storms must have been in the past, was a memorable experience.