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Zitácuaro

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    • Panamericana adventure
      Day 98

      Mariposas

      December 14, 2019 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

      The road out of Zitácuaro was small with few traffic, so a lot nicer than the one into town. There was only some old VW vans that are used for public transport here.
      We headed to the Monarch butterfly sanctuary Cerro Pelon in Macheros to see this species. It's actually quite impressive: every year, the Monarch butterflies travel about 4500km from the US and Canadian forests to Mexico where they stay between November and March. As butterflies don't live very long, it takes 3 generations to travel back and forth.
      It's obligatory to take a guide to enter the sanctuary. Our guide was Mauricio, a local from the village. We could choose between riding a horse or hiking. Of course, we decided to hike to the butterflies, as we were happy to not having to sit for a while. The first place was a meadow where we saw the butterflies flying around. There were millions of them, so we were surrounded by the little orange animals and had to be careful not to step on them while they were resting or drinking. We then hiked further up in the mountains to see the butterflies sleeping in the trees. It first looked like brown autumn leaves, but it's actually millions of butterflies hanging on the branches. Quite spectacular!
      In the end, the hike was longer than expected. When we were back at the entrance after 3.5 hours, we realized we had climbed more than 800m and were above 3200m at the second spot. Our legs were tired, but we still had to cover another 30km including a 500m climb in order to get to our stop for the night. It was quite exhausting, but in the end we made it and found a nice place to sleep for the night.      Read more

    • Panamericana adventure
      1
      Day 97

      Zitacuaro

      December 13, 2019 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

      The last few days, we cycled above 2000m again. It's awesome! Mornings are cold and we have to wear jackets again. But at least we don't sweat from just breathing anymore 😉 We also enjoy the landscape, it could almost be like we are cycling in the lower Alps... Today's route was quite picturesque and not too much traffic on the first 80km. Unfortunately, this changed on the last 28km when we got closer to Zitacuaro. The town itself is quite interesting with lots of markets, good food and friendly people. They also seem to grow the world's supply of nochebuenas here, at least I haven't seen that many anywhere else before...Read more

    • TravelerOhne fliegen nach Nordamerika
      Day 433

      Auf der Suche nach Monarch Schmetterling

      November 22, 2022 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

      Wir hatten davon gehört, dass von Oktober bis März in einer Region in Mexico die Monarch Schmetterlinge aus dem kalten Kanada heruntergeflogen kommen. Diese wollten wir gerne finden und starteten unsere Reise dorthin. Leider spielte das Navi nicht so wirklich mit und sagte uns erst, dass es nur eine Stunde fahrt wäre. Als wir dann mitten im Nirgendwo ankamen, schaute ich mir die Sache nochmal genauer an und wir mussten anschließend nochmal fast 2 Stunden weiter fahren. schließlich kamen wir immerhin im Bioreservat an, in dem es die Schmetterlinge geben sollte.
      Leider brachte uns das Navi wieder mitten in irgendwelche Bergdörfer. Dort fanden wir dafür einen schönen, kleinen Markt, aber keine Schmetterlinge.
      Wir schauten erneut im Navi nach und fanden einen neuen Ort. Endlich fanden wir auch eine Straße, die so aussah, als würden mehr Touristen dort entlangfahren und wer glaubt es, wir fanden das Reservat!
      Leider regnete es genau zu dem Zeitpunkt und ich hatte schon fast die Hoffnung aufgegeben, dass wir heute noch Schmetterlinge sehen würden. Mama überredete mich aber, denn sie wollte unbedingt einen Versuch starten. Und so kauften wir ein Ticket und wanderten mit einem Guide die tausenden Stufen hinauf. Wir waren auf über 3000m und immer noch tröpfelte es.
      Nach einiger Zeit kamen wir endlich an unserem Ziel an und als hätte die Sonne extra gewartet, kam sie jetzt zum Vorschein und all die Schmetterlinge fingen an, zu fliegen. Es war wunderschön!      Read more

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    • Elvis LivesElvis Lives Tour
      Day 261

      Monarch Flutter Bys

      February 1, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

      We couldn't resist another dip in the hot pools before we left, then we drove a couple of hours to the Cerro Pelón, a place famous for its butterflies. Each year they gather here and 2 other places nearby to mate in their millions. The males then die but something truly remarkable happens; the pregnant females fly north in March and lay their eggs in southern eastern USA, their offspring metamorphose in May and then fly all the way to the Great Lakes where they breed and then the next generation starts the whole process again - a journey of some 4,500km over 3 generations.

      We again declined the use of horses to get our lungs and legs back in shape, and set off up an extremely steep and incredibly dusty trail. An hour and a half of hard slog up to 3,000m and we saw our first butterflies fluttering by. Another 5 minutes further on and our guide Emilio stopped us and pointed at the trees - at first you just see a few hundred butterflies sunning themselves on the branches, but then you realise that what you thought was normal tree was in fact millions and millions of butterflies crammed together and weighing down the branches much like frozen snow does. We sat there and watched them in wonder for half an hour, before making our way back to the community campground and a meal in our guide's aunt's restaurant (in fact the only restaurant in town).

      It was an amazing experience and the photos/videos don't don't come close to doing it justice.      Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Zitácuaro, Zitacuaro

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