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South For The Winter

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Each year, some 250 million monarch butterflies arrive to the luscious volcanic highlands of central Mexico. Guided to the area by an inexplicable internal clock known scientifically as circadian, the monarch butterflies travel up to 3,000 miles to the state of Michoacan, which becomes the butterflies’ winter getaway. Nature-goers can visit the butterflies anytime between November and March, although the best time to see them is in February and early March, right before they head north again.

Originally from southern Canada and the northern United States, the orange and black monarchs hibernate during winter and mate in spring before returning back north. Each year from late October to early November, the delicate creatures flee the north’s freezing temperatures and embark on a month-long trip south, flying some 70 miles per day to reach the Oyamel mountaintop fir forests of the Mexican state of Michoacan. Those fortunate enough to live along the monarchs’ route south are frequently exposed to the site of large groups of butterflies flying overhead on route to their winter sanctuary.

Once reaching the Oyamel forests, the monarchs cluster together by the thousands in pine trees, weighing down branches with their sheer mass and making the forests glow the like the bright orange of their wings. These butterflies spend the entire winter in Michoacan, finally mating in the spring and then returning north, laying eggs along the way.

The beautiful butterflies leave Mexico in late February and early March in a mass migration and the monarchs should reach the central United States by mid-April. By that time, the females will have laid their eggs for 1,000 miles as they make their one-time trip. They return home exhausted and with tattered wings after the 3,000 mile trip. A typical butterfly will make just one round trip during its lifetime. Witnessing this incredible migration is reason enough to follow the Monarchs down to Mexico.

In the easternmost part of Michoacan is an immense monarch butterfly reserve spanning nearly 100 square-miles. In 1986, the Mexican government declared the region a special biosphere reserve where thousands of butterflies cluster together in the early morning and nights, covering whole trees and branches.

Several of the monarch butterfly sanctuaries are open to the public, including Sierra Chincua and El Campanario. Sierra Chincua is about a 30-minute drive north of Angangueo, once an important mining town. El Campanario, also known as El Rosario sanctuary is much more frequently visited. It lies above the small village of El Rosario, almost an hour’s drive up some rough terrain from the village of Ocampo. Common departure points to the sanctuaries are Ocampo, Zitacuaro and Morelia.

Spending a night in Angangueo is ideal because from there visitors can secure transport to the reserve early in the morning, when the butterflies are still in the trees. A comfortable hotel is the Albergue Don Bruno (tel. 011-52-715-156-0026). Maruata (tel. 011-52-443-324-2120) runs 10-hour tours to the sanctuary including transportation, food and bilingual guide for US$60. For those spending the weekend, the 62-room Villa Monarca Inn (tel. 011-52-715-153-5362), located in the outskirts of Zitacuaro, is an ideal place to go.

Angangueo, Zitacuaro and the nearby towns of Maravatio and Ocampo hold a monarch Butterfly Festival each February, featuring traditional dance, music and craft markets, in celebration of their annual winter visitors.

Local tourist areas include the beautiful colonial town of Morelia, Michoacan’s capital and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, giving travelers yet another reason to visit. Other popular tourist stops, including Lake Patzcuaro, the quaint town of Patzcuaro, Janitzio Island and the Tarascan Indian ruins of Tzintzuntzan, are also nearby.

The beautiful butterflies leave Mexico in late February and early March in a mass migration and the monarchs should reach the central United States by mid-April. By that time, the females will have laid their eggs for 1,000 miles as they make their one-time trip. They return home exhausted and with tattered wings after the 3,000 mile trip. A typical butterfly will make just one round trip during its lifetime.

About the Mexico Tourism Board

The Mexico Tourism Board (MTB) brings together the resources of federal and state governments, municipalities and private companies to promote Mexico's tourism attractions and destinations internationally. Created in 1999, the MTB is Mexico’s tourism promotion agency, and its participants include members of both the private and public sectors. The MTB has offices throughout North America, Europe, Japan and Latin America.

FOR PRESS ONLY: For additional ideas, help with a story or general travel and tourism information about Mexico, please contact the MTB’s North American Press Room directly at 1-800-929-4555, by e-mail at northamericanpress@visitmexico.com, or visit our press Web site at www.visitmexicopress.com. To access an online warehouse of free, downloadable b-roll, visit www.thenewsmarket.com/visitmexicopress.

# # #

Erick Laseca

Mexico Tourism Board

312-228-0517

erick.laseca@bm.com

South For The Winter

Some friends of mine who enjoy square dancing here in Oakhurst regularly go in their RV to Arizona each winter. To Havasu City, where London Bridge was rebuilt, or to other places along or near the Colorado River; they say that typically they square dance three times a week while there. I asked them: are you commuters or nomads?

They first replied: well, neither. But then they thought a little about what a commuter is. The life of daily commuters, who commute to work each workday, has been described as being shaped like a dumbbell: a work life, a home life, and a bar in between which is their commute route. For seasonal commuters, who have a winter life in one area, a rest-of-the-year life in another, it is similarly. My friends conceded that they were seasonal commuters. As for nomads - why would we be considered that?

I put in the thing about nomads only to explore an idea that arose in me when I read about the Natives of the Sierra Nevada. Long before Europeans began to influence them in any way, they too had been seasonal commuters: their winter villages were located in the western foothills, near the valley floor, where they could trade with valley and coastal tribes. In the spring and summer, they moved to villages in the high country, following (or leading) the herds of elk that moved similarly. Then, "with the darkening skies of November" (as historian Paul C. Johnson put it), they returned to the lower elevations for the winter. That only made sense, they moved as their major source of food, hides and bone tools moved, and in the process escaped the summer heat and dryness of the lower foothills, and the ten-foot (and more) high snows of the winter in the high country. That was then; but by the time anthropologists studied them in the 1840s onward, their numbers were greatly reduced, their livelihood mostly destroyed and the spiritual essence of their culture greatly compromised; they were living like refugees, not seasonal commuters; and when the anthropologists went about describing their earlier life, they used descriptions similar to those of the Plains Indians: they called them nomads.

This is just one example of many that show how two different words, describing the same thing, can do so with greatly different connotations inviting greatly different value judgments; "freedom fighter" and "terrorist" is another such pair. The choice of words in situations like this is a favorite tactic of propagandists, of course. In any given pair, or set, of words to choose from, there is at least one which many, if not most, can identify with; and another with which they cannot. It is easy for most people in this society to see himself as a commuter, to empathize with the situation of the commuter; not so easy to see himself as a nomad. It is this key ingredient of EMPATHIZABILITY that lies at the heart of word selection - and of propaganda, and advertising as well.

The Jungian idea at work here is that all we know of another person, and for that matter another place or another thing, is our perception of it; and our relationships to those we know ARE those perceptions and thus are a part of ourselves. When, in dealing with another person, we experience a characteristic feeling, we call that empathy, but we are really feeling a part of ourselves; as I would feel MY hand, or MY whatever. Where we do not empathize with another's description of himself is where we cannot relate the words used to parts of ourselves; they are only definitions (at best).

It is like looking at a map. Objectively, a map is only a piece of paper (or a computer screen) with symbols and words laid out to scale (or not). It becomes alive, and value to us, as we hold a vision of what it is like to be at the places on it. Relating to it is in experiencing what it FEELS like to be there. Lacking that aliveness, that vision, that feeling, it is only a piece of paper with symbols and words. Similar can be said of a schedule, or an itinerary, or a business plan - or a grocery list.

Defining your life - or living it:

You can define your life like you would define words; it would be an intellectual action like learning the definitions of words in a dictionary; seeing as how that is what a dictionary does. Or you could LIVE life, where you become familiar with other people, other places, and activities to where you realize the Jungian view that they have become parts of yourself. Sometimes that option proves to be difficult; for their are parts of ourselves that would stand in the way of that acceptance; archetypal parts like the Defender, or the Discerner/Judge. When you think about the extent that propaganda - and advertising - is based on favoring words which we are likely to have empathy with; and disfavoring words that we do not, or that we hate; living life (over merely defining it) would seem to have some strong allies; and the poor Defender and Discerner might often feel they are fighting a losing battle.

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave Smart

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About Author

Both Erick Laseca & Dave Smart are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Erick Laseca has sinced written about articles on various topics from Holidays, Property Investment and Vacation. Erick Laseca works for Burson-Marsteller as public relations liaison for the Mexico Tourism Board in Chicago. Erick LasecaMexico Tourism Board312-228-0517. Erick Laseca's top article generates over 110000 views. Bookmark Erick Laseca to your Favourites.

Dave Smart has sinced written about articles on various topics from self improvement and motivation, Credit Cards and self improvement and motivation. Dave Smart, the lead coach for Transcendence Coaching and Mentoring, has had a dual life what with education and experience in coaching as well as studying cults and helping clients get away from them. He coaches clients to EXPERIENCE life rather than def. Dave Smart's top article generates over 165000 views. Bookmark Dave Smart to your Favourites.

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