Ciudad Hidalgo + Santuario de las Mariposas Monarcas

I visited Ciudad Hidalgo in the south-east of the state of Michoacán for a few days and stayed with Emma and José, the parents of César who was staying in Italy at the time of my visit, doing some voluntary work there. The main reason I went to visit Cd Hidalgo were the Mariposas Monarcas (monarch butterflies) who spend the winter in the mountains of Michoacán and the state of México. Furthermore I enjoyed my stay with Emma and José who took me on a trip to Los Azufres, natural hot springs close to the city and they also showed me their little corner shop.

There are five huge Monarch Butterfly Sanctuaries in the states of Michoacán and México, two of them are situated in the state of Michoacán. I left the house of Emma and José in the morning and headed to the bus station where the minibuses towards my destination leave. Even though I was less then 50 kilometers away from my destination it turned out to be complicated to get there. First I had to take a minibus which took me to the little city of Aporo (round about half of the distance). Apart from one woman I was the only passenger in the bus so the bus driver made a short stop at the country ranch of his cousin where I got a glass of pulque to try. After arrival in Aporo I waited for my connecting minibus which took me to Angangueo, another small city which is also declared as a Pueblo Mágico. There I had to take another minibus which finally took me to El Rosario, one of the sanctuaries.

As my health had not been fully restored I decided to do the last few hundred meters in a lazy manner on horseback. By this relaxing method I could fully enjoy the monarch butterflies either fluttering around or hanging in droves from the trees. As famous migratory butterflies, individual animals in North America travel up to 5,000 kilometres to cover the distance from the USA/Canada to Central Mexico. The eastern population in North America hibernates with about 100 million specimen on a few hectares in the forests of Mexico. These forests lie at an altitude of more than 2,500 meters in a moderate climate. Not only the climate is decisive for the fact that the monarch butterflies spend the winter months here every year. Equally important is the presence of the holy fir (abies religiosa), in Mexico known as the oyamel, a plant species from the genus of the firs. It occurs from Mexico to western Guatemala and offers a comfortable resting place for the butterflies. On some of these trees I could see thousands of monarch butterflies resting and waiting for more sun and warmer temperatures. Lucky that each single specimen only weighs approximately 0.5 grams.

In a few weeks most of the monarch butterflies will embark on their journey north. My return trip turned out to be very pleasant. After I had covered the first one or two kilometres on foot, I was able to ride on the loading area of a pickup truck as far as Angangueo. The two guys even made a little stop to take pictures at some viewpoints on the ride. In Angangueo one of them said goodbye and as my driver was heading on to Aporo I was able to switch to the passenger seat together with a box of guajabas. I got a handful of guajabas before I got off at Aporo and waited for the minibus to Cd Hidalgo. When it left about half an hour later and had travelled a few stations, my "guajaba pickup friend" climbed up and went a few kilometres with the minibus as well - what a coincidence!

Emma, José and his mother spent the mornings and evenings in Ciudad Hidalgo with me and were extremely friendly hosts. I never had to leave the house hungry or go to bed with an empty stomage. They prepared atole the piña (hot corn drink, in this case with pineapple taste), huaraches (corn dough filled with beans in shape of sandals) fruit plates and a lot of other typical Mexican dishes which they shared with me. I also had the chance to visit Emma and José in their corner shop which has been the life task for both of them for decades, from early in the morning until late at night, 365 days a year, supported only by a few relatives. I helped just a little bit by sealing little plastic bags filled with sweets using the flame of a candle and a knife.

In contrast to many Mexicans, physical exercise is not an exclusion criterion for Emma and José in their everyday lives. The old Nissan pickup, which is so old that it was only equipped with one exterior mirror, is only used about twice a week to transport goods from the house to the corner shop. What is feasible is covered on foot or by bicycle. So they lent me one of their bikes and I could explore the surroundings during the day. I climbed a part of one of the hills surrounding the city to get a view over the valley.

That afternoon Emma and José finished working a little bit earlier than usual and handed the store over in order to visit Los Azufres with me. Los Azufres are a system of natural pools, geysers, springs and lagoons of waters very close to the city. We passed by some geysers and electricity plants of CFE, the power supplier of Mexico. Finally we spent some hours in the hot water pools of the spa resort Eréndira. The evenings we spent together playing cards. They taught me to play Conquian and Brisca and as I left Ciudad Hidalgo they gave me a Spanish card deck as a going-away present.