Santiago de Querétaro 2022 : 2022-02-27 : Butterfly Tour!

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Activity
Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total Notes Actions
Sight See Monarch Tour Bike Tour Queretaro $260.00 Cost for two people
Tour Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary at Michoacan $0.00
Accommodation
Type Name Service Provider Confirmation Location Cost Notes Actions
Bed and Breakfast La Encantada Air BnB Santiago de Querétaro $607.92 Located in the oldest neighborhood of the historic center and next to the Temple of the Cross, emblematic site of Queretaro's history, as well as the viewpoint and famous arches, plazas, bars, and restaurants.

The CANARIAN room is located within "La Encantada “, a 17th-century house in El Barrio más antigua del Centro Histórico, a 5-minute walk from Los Arcos. Nearby you will find bars, restaurants, markets, gyms, shopping and sports malls, history and culture.


Trip Log

Notes Actions
Today we went with Uriel from Bike Tour Queretaro to Michoacan to the Monarch Butterfly Reserve. I have heard for years about the migration of the Monarch Butterflies, and that they migrate between Canada and Mexico, but I never expected to be able to actually see the place that they congregate in Mexico. Today I saw it and it was amazing!

We left Queretaro at 9AM to make the long drive to Michoacan. Along the way we noticed that the closer we got to the butterfly reserve the more the terrain resembled St. Vincent. Very beautiful big lush hills and valleys.

We had lunch at one of the food stands at the parking lot. They offered a selection of quesadillas, including ones with Huitlacoche. I thought the name seemed vaguely familiar, and when we found out what it was, I realized it was because I'd first heard of it on the hilariously written Steve, Don't Eat It! blog (scroll down to Vol 7). Sooooooo... guess what we had for lunch!? And it honestly was quite tasty.

After lunch we stood in line to buy our admission tickets. Then we stood in line to buy our horse ride tickets. Then we stood in line to get on our horses. Apparently it's the busiest day they've had in three years because of the pandemic, and the conditions today were really good. Getting up to where the butterfly colony is is a fairly long and steep trail up. You can walk up, but most people choose the horses, and that's what our tour included. Elissa and I bought special horse-riding pants because we were warned that the horses may have fleas and we didn't really have any pants along that were suitable for riding flea-infested horses.

The horse ride up was good. Elissa and Brent had fairly calm horses, while mine was quite... spirited. It's been a long time since I've ridden a horse, but I managed to stay on while my steed tried to gallop up a 10% grade. I pretty much gripped the oversized saddle horn the whole way up.

Once we were up the hill we joined the hoards of people on the hiking trail to get to the heart of the butterfly colony and the experience did NOT disappoint. There were, literally, millions of butterflies. It was completely magical, and photos don't do it justice.

We were fascinated to learn the life cycle of the Monarchs. It is not the same critters that you find in Canada that end up in Mexico. They have three one-month generations and one nine-month generations, with the nine-month generation essentially being the one that does most of the traveling. Here are some Monarch FAQs.

After watching the butterflies, Brent, Elissa and I hiked down the trail while Uriel chose to ride the horse down. We had a nice drive back to Queretaro, with a short stop in the pretty little town of Angangueo, and then took advantage of the fact that vehicle passengers don't get in trouble down here for having a beer in the car.
Since photos just don't do this experience justice, here's a video:
Michoacan


Photos

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