Hi Tweeters,

I know a lot of birders also are interested in butterflies. Thought I
would share some logistical information on my recent trip to Michoac?n,
M?xico, to see the wintering of the Monarch butterflies. The area in
eastern Michoac?n seems closest to M?xico City but it is next to impossible
to find a decent air fare there. Also, the prospect of negotiating a rental
car out of a city of 22 million was daunting.

Then Alaska offered air fare sales to its resort town destinations on
M?xico?s Pacific coast. We picked Manzanillo as closest by M?xico?s good
system of toll roads (called cuotas). There is very little traffic on them
and they are well-engineered. Safe driving. We stayed at Rancho San
Cayetano in the small city of Zit?cuaro near the five sanctuaries. Lisette
and Pablo Span, the innkeepers, are quality people who will make sure you
get to a sanctuary where few people enter?perhaps five a day versus
thousands at El Rosario. Their 12-acre estate is a good location for
birding, too. The rooms are very comfortable and breakfast is first class.

They sent us to a sanctuary on an ejido (a system of communal ownership
of land). Two of the ejiditarios, father and son, led us up into the
mountains on horseback. For about $45 US we had two horses, two guides, and
a meal of freshly-cooked corn tortillas with rice and beans when we
returned. It was a 5-6 hour outing.

It is, indeed, an awesome, once-in-a-lifetime sight to see so many
thousands of Monarchs puddling, flying, clustering in the high pines. If
the airlines offer good sales to the Pacific destinations for next winter,
it is a trip to consider. Rental car prices are reasonable if you make the
reservation from the U.S. You can find Rancho San Cayetano and the Spans by
Googling them.

Carol Riddell
Edmonds
cariddell at mac.com