Video: Mexico's butterfly reserve alights in the soul
They first catch the eye as tiny, ghost-like flashes. It takes a moment to fix the flitting shapes, reports Ken Ellingwood.
You have come to these highland woods to see a natural marvel. The sparse, darting forms are not quite that. But they silently summon you deeper with the suggestion that this is just the start.
They are butterflies, and for a few months a year they convert the hills here into a wonderland of fluttering movement and color.
– Deborah Bonello in Michoacan for La Plaza
Video and photos by Deborah Bonello. Click here for more images on Flickr.
Category: Uncategorized
We visited the butterfly reserve several years ago. It was well worth the trip. We live in Guadalajara,so we drove to Morelia and stayed in a nice hotel on the zocalo. From the hotel we booked a guide to drive us out to the butterfly reserve. We thought that as we didn’t know our way around it would be a good investment,plus we used his car.
It turned out to be a wise choice. The roadway into the reserve was awful, very muddy and deeply rutted. My guess is the damage to the guide’s car was at least worth what we paid him.
After visiting various national parks in the US,Canada,Europe,and Africa, we were very disappointed by the butterfly reserve. The place was filthy-trash everywhere. And for the one-two k walk we took we were besieged by people selling postcards, souvenirs, soft drinks,renting horses,etc. The lady at the ticket booth was very rude to our guide and wasn’t very pleasant with us either.
The reserve is worth at least one visit,but Mexico needs to pay a little more attention to caring for their national parks,and to make the visit a more pleasant experience. Mexico needs the tourism money,especially now.