When you say you've always wanted to do something....like visit the migrating Monarch Butterflies...and then you mention it to a friend who says, "let's do it - does next week work for you" what do you say in response? I was so tempted to say, "too much money for such a short trip - too far away - we've got too much going on" but instead I took a deep breath and said let's do it in return. I have to admit it was a little bit of a stretch for me as I hadn't seen Balin in a while and he was coming home the weekend that we were leaving, but once again, I dug deep and found courage and energy and boy was I glad we did it.
The vacation - no it wasn't a vacation, it was a trip. There is a huge difference in my mind between the two, as a vacation is supposed to rejuvenate whereas a trip usually means using up energy. This was definitely a trip. We flew from Phoenix to Mexico City - a three hour flight made a smidge longer (an hour on the tarmac) by a technical difficulty. Better on the tarmac than in the air I always say.
When we arrived in Mexico City our host Olga met us at the airport. She had taken the bus from Toluca Mexico, 2 hours north of MC, to meet us and take us back home. Her husband Javier had lived in Prescott for many years supporting his family back in Mexico. While in Prescott he had met Sandra Reyes' family and they invited us to come and stay with them in Mexico. Ha! Little did they know they would take them up on it and bring a couple of other gringos!
Olga and Javier, in typical Latino culture, wouldn't let us pay for anything. The bus ride, food, entrance fees etc. They insisted on paying for everything - which was so humbling for me but at the same time so very kind.
We left Phoenix on Friday and got into Toluca after dark the same day. Saturday we got a tour of Olga's "Normal School", which is what they call schools where they teach teachers how to teach. She and a friend had started this school a few years back and were doing quite well at it. Javier was cooking Mole enchiladas, which were fantastic and a good mid-morning snack.
I asked Sam if he wanted one to which he replied, "No thank you". As we were out the door of the school he says, "Mom I'm hungry, can I have an enchilada?" Uh no, too late buddy. My no nagging rule reminded me about the natural consequences rule and I left it at that.
From the school, the driver picked us up in the mini van which held seven - which was a little inconvenient since there were eight of us in the car - but when in Rome..... We traveled for quite awhile into the mountains of Mexico, where the flora and fauna was spectacular. There were all varieties of pines and firs along with perennial flowering plants that were stunning. The roads were good but curvy and fast. It would have been easy to mistake the surroundings as a place in Colorado or California.
We arrived at one of the places that the butterflies migrate to. Our hostess Olga insisted on paying for everyone to and we fought her for getting horses for the kids to ride. (So glad we did that as the rest of us walked and it was a foot thick in dust and very much an uphill climb.)
The kids were pretty excited to ride horses and were thinking that this was turning out to be a great adventure.
As we walked through the forest with our guide, you could start to see the signs of butterflies. It started with penstemon flowers in abundance and then we started to see the carcasses of butterflies. When you looked up, you saw a few flutterings of butterflies and then you walked into an opening....
It was literally breath taking. There are no words to describe it - it's spectacular. These butterflies fly here every year to Mexico before heading back up north. There are literally millions of butterflies, monarchs, that cluster when it's cold and as the sun starts to warm their bodies they release themselves into the air and flutter about. Sadly pictures don't do the magnitude or magical quality of the experience justice. We sat for probably 30 minutes just listening and staring as we were surrounded. Sam told Sandra that "This was so worth it". I think it's an adventure he'll never forget.
On the way back from the butterflies, we stopped at a beautiful lake town, which I can't remember the name of, and went on a boat ride.
The great adventure played itself out as our boat was an old ski boat, and I do mean old, that didn't like too many people on one side. We learned that the hard way. The boat sputtered and stopped in the middle of the lake and it took 30 minutes for the driver to crank this and use a tool on that before the boat literally choked back to life, idling back to shore. I was doing ok but Olga didn't know how to swim and was started to get really worried. She took matters into her own hands when she started waving down other boats with her life jacket, but they didn't see us or they ignored us.
I think we tired Olga and Javier out as by Sunday they were not interested in doing too much. We hung around the house all day Sunday. The kids read the books they brought with them and played electronics that I had brought with me, but by the afternoon they were needing some active interaction. So we headed out to the street where the sun was shining and the avenue was empty. The kids found that out like most kids around the world do, anything can be used to play a game. The kids first used their imagination and then they looked to objects near to them that they could turn into a competitive game - like stomping the lid of a water bottle off. They ran around and played for a couple of hours and it made me think that a little more time unplugged would be good for them.
 |
| The view of the house next door - a typical site in Mexico. |
 |
| Hanging out in the sun as we watched the children play in the street. |
Just down the street and around the corner was this gorgeous vegetable stand and fresh fruit juice stand. I love how everything is Mexico is fresh and "around the corner". Run out of tortillas? No problem, just around the corner is a tortilla maker. There are so many little "family" shops that bring back the idea of living in a neighborhood where everyone knows you and depends on one another to eke out an existence.
Monday we headed towards the airport on our way home from the adventure. Again we were 8 in a 7 passenger car and the drive to Mexico City and then through Mexico City was an exciting one. Sam didn't feel well half way to the airport and came and sat on my lap where after 15 minutes of weaving traffic in Mexico City, he threw up the fresh juice he had gotten from the above bar. Did I mention he was sitting on my lap? :)
All in all it was a good trip and one that we won't quickly forget. But Mexico didn't want us to forget her too quickly so she gave us a gift to remember her by - which lasted about two weeks and was not very pleasant. I think we'll give Mexico some time to reconsider the souvenirs she gives to her tourists before we return.
Comments