Click on a photo to enlarge it.
On Monday, we were woken up at 5am because Winnie was rocking. We jumped out of bed thinking someone was trying to get our bikes off! But there was
no one around. Then we thought a donkey (Burro) was scratching its back on Winnie! But there weren't any donkeys around either!
The rocking lasted for about 20 to 30 seconds so our conclusion was that it must have been an earthquake! Only Europeans could mix up a donkey and
an earthquake!!
We were invited over to the house for a super breakfast - a feast of tortillas, veggie chorizo (spicy soya), scrambled eggs and fruit. Yummy! Then
George and Christine had to leave to fly back and we relaxed in the lovely villa. Kirsten went for a swim and we took advantage of the outdoor
shower.
Later we sat on the balcony and chatted about our plans and route and when we could meet up with Bob and Suzanne again.
On Tuesday, we went out to see a beautiful tarantula with bright orange stripes on its legs and then said goodbye to everyone. Lisa had left us a
note on the windscreen saying she was at a hotel just down the road. So we drove there and Kirsten went in to see if she was in.
Helen waited outside and a man came up to ask about our kayak. He was leaving and had a boogie board with him (its a small surf board). Kirsten
came back saying she had left a note for Lisa and asked the man about his boogie board. He said he was going to give it away as he didn't need it
anymore. So Kirsten ended up with it!! So after 3 months on the coast and now that we are heading inland, we get a boogie board!!
So we had to move a few things around to find space for it. Then we headed inland on a really good toll road to Uruapan. Unfortunately it is also
very expensive. It cost us $20 to do 120 miles (200km) and then we decided we had paid enough and got onto the free road. But it was worth doing
the toll road because it saved us at least 6 hours. It took us 2 hours to do the final 35 miles (60km) on the free road into Uruapan.
Then we went to the Eduardo Ruiz National Park which is in the town. It was a lovely little park with lots of waterfalls, a river, cobblestone
paths and fountains. It was also shady and cool - a refreshing change from the heat and dust! After our 1 hour walk through the park, we headed
towards the volcano and found a Pemex for the night.
On Wednesday, we drove to a relatively new volcano which just erupted out of a corn field in 1943 and was active until 1952. The lava flow buried
the towns of San Juan and San Salvador. No one was hurt - the lava flow was gradual giving the villagers time to evacuate. The top of San Juan's
church protrudes eerily from the sea of solidified, black lava and is the only visible trace of the two villages.
We did a two hour walk along the dusty path to get to the lava flow and then clambered over the lava rocks into the shell of the church. We have
seen numerous volcanoes and climbed a few but we have never seen a lava flow going right through a church!!
We met Annette and Gisela, originally from Germany but who now live in Mexico City and Greece, respectively! They had hired a guide and were doing
the lava flow and church on horseback. We had a laugh as Kirsten tried to take photos of them with Gisela's camera - the horses obviously just
wanted to get back and were not co-operating!
We followed the horses back up the dusty path and then had to wait as a group of about 20 students on horses came from the other direction and we
got covered in dust! Back at Winnie we chatted to Annette and Gisela and swapped email and website addresses.
Then we drove all the way to Morelia and parked up at a Wal-mart for the next two nights. On Thursday, we caught a bus into the town and spent about
5 hours wandering around the old colonial buildings and the aqueduct in the town. We even went into a museum - because we needed to go to the loo!!
On Friday, we drove out to Angangueo from where we can go to see the Monarch butterflies. We walked up a very steep street in the town to find out
where the "camionettas" leave to go up to see the butterflies.
On Saturday, it was Kirsten's 40th birthday - and what a treat she got! Well, the day didn't start off too well because we had to get up at 6-45 am
to walk up the very steep street to find a camionetta. Then we found out that it would cost $40 per camionetta, regardless of how many people were
in it. So it was expensive for just the two of us.
So we walked back down to a hotel and asked there. A camionetta was waiting for 4 people from the hotel so we sat in the hotel and waited to join
the group and left at 9am. It took nearly an hour to get up the very steep, dusty, bumpy track to get up to the butterflies. Winnie wouldn't have
made it!
We paid an entrance fee to get into the reserve and then walked up a very steep concrete path with lots of steps to see millions of butterflies.
They were everywhere! We were very high up - around 11,000ft (3,500m), and we struggled a bit on the steep path. But it was definitely worth it.
The butterflies mate around the end of February/March, when it starts to warm up and the males die afterwards. The females fly off to Florida to lay their eggs
in May, after their 2 month journey. This butterfly generation then flies up to the Rockies and the Great Lakes to do the same. The last eggs to hatch around September/October then fly back down to
Mexico and the cycle continues.
It's amazing that they know where to fly back to in Mexico! But there are between 5 and 20 million butterflies every year just in El Rosario, which
is one of 5 areas where the butterflies are.
There were definitely millions here. There were already a lot of dead males lying on the path and in the trees, the trees looked brown but were
actually green and covered in butterflies. You had to be careful not to tread on them. As it got warmer during the time we were there, the
butterflies started flying off. Normally you can't hear butterfly wings, but there were so many of them that it sounded like rain!!
A truly amazing 40th birthday!
Millions of Monarch butterflies.
On Sunday, we drove to San Miguel de Allende after getting lost in one town due to bad road signs, and an absolutely terrible road going through
another town. Then, poor old Winnie, shuddered along a cobblestone road for 2 miles to get to a campground - our first in about a month!!
