Communing with monarchs on a Mexican mountaintop
It is a mystical, almost spiritual experience
Each week, we spotlight a dream vacation recommended by some of the industry's top travel writers. This week's pick is El Rosario in Mexico.
"I didn't just see the butterflies — I felt them," said Terri Colby at the Chicago Tribune. "A wing brushed my cheek, a pair landed on my shoulder, a few more on my hat." I was standing on a forested mountaintop in Mexico, mesmerized by the thousands of monarchs that were swirling around me and darting between pockets of sunlight and shade. I could hear the sound of their wings, and it was "like a whisper on the breeze." More than luck had brought me to the spot: Every fall, monarchs that are born in Canada and the northern U.S. fly 2,500 miles to the mountaintops of Mexico and remain there through March. At El Rosario, the largest butterfly reserve in the state of Michoacán, anyone — for now — can see what I saw. And it is "a singular experience" — "mystical, and almost spiritual."
Monarchs have interested me ever since I was a child chasing the orange-and-black butterflies through my Chicago backyard. Like many people, I've noticed there are far fewer monarchs around these days. Conservationists warn that monarch populations could soon dip so low that they won't recover. Habitat loss is the main culprit: Monarchs only lay their eggs on milkweed, a plant being chased from U.S. farmland. Meanwhile, illegal logging threatens the butterflies' wintering sites in Mexico. That's why I felt so grateful to get to El Rosario while it's still a monarch mecca. To reach the reserve, we rode horses — a good thing, because I was hit hard by the 10,000-foot altitude. Our excitement built as we came upon a sunlit opening in the forest occupied by dozens of fluttering monarchs.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But our jaws didn't drop until we reached the summit and ducked into a forest where butterflies blanketed the trees, covering their trunks in orange and black. There were monarchs by the thousands — not just on the 100-foot oyamel firs but also clustered on flowers, swarming in mountain streams, and flying into the bright blue sky. The scene was overwhelming, and all the more awe-inducing when I thought about the death-defying journey each butterfly had taken to be here before landing on my outstretched hand. As they tickled my skin, "I felt the joy of touching nature and whatever is spiritual in this world."
Read more at the Chicago Tribune, or book a stay at the nearby Rancho Cumbre Monarca. Doubles start at $50.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
'The House under GOP rule has become a hostile workplace'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
The Shohei Ohtani gambling scandal is about more than bad bets
In The Spotlight The firestorm surrounding one of baseball's biggest stars threatens to upend a generational legacy and professional sports at large
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Feds raid Diddy homes in alleged sex trafficking case
Speed Read Homeland Security raided the properties of hip hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescue
Speed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Gaza hospital blast: What the video evidence shows about who's to blame
Speed Read Nobody wants to take responsibility for the deadly explosion in the courtyard of Gaza's al-Ahli Hospital. Roll the tape.
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Giraffe poo seized after woman wanted to use it to make a necklace
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Helicopter sound arouses crocodiles
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Woman sues Disney over 'injurious wedgie'
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Emotional support alligator turned away from baseball stadium
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Europe's oldest shoes found in Spanish caves
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Artworks stolen by Nazis returned to heirs of cabaret performer
It wasn't all bad Good news stories from the past seven days
By The Week Staff Published