EL ROSARIO MONARCH BUTTERFLY TRIP 2026

My timing, as usual, stinks.

It was one week after violence broke out in Mexico in exactly the area I was to visit that I set off for Melaque to start the butterfly tour. The government and the drug cartel battled it out and El Mencho was killed. The tour a week before ours was cancelled but mine went ahead so I left for Jalisco and Michoacan. But not before I checked my travel insurance and travel alerts...

Diane and I met in Melaque and stayed at the Lalora hotel. In the morning we had to get to the tour bus early but leaving the hotel proved a bit tricky. Early in the morning before sunrise with no hall lights and an open metal spiral stair case to be navigated in the dark gave our adrenal glands and night vision a work out. To get to the front door we had to hold our phones up with flashlight on and our suitcases in our other hand then descend the open staircase. At the exit we realized we were locked in the hotel. We had to wake up the front desk guy to get out!!

Crazy drivers on the 6 lane highway over fabulous bridges, not so fabulous bumps and potholes and lots of speed bumps. Miguel the bus driver, had a pumping style on the gas pedal my innards did not like.

We past a couple volcanos, the Colima volcanos, one which is the most active in the world with a parasitic volcano on the side.

Dan the tour guide was good at giving us information about the area we were driving through. We went by salt flats and Ciudad Guzman, a town where all the avocados come from that are shipped to Canada thanks to the US tariffs and that is why our avocados are cheaper now. Apparently a bilateral agreement happened when truck loads of avocados showed up at the border to US and were stopped as they declined to pay the tarrifs.

We passed close by the place where the drug cartel kingpin El Mencho was killed last week, that was interesting. We didn't get too close.

Travelling on a big bus through Mexico was quite comfortable. Soft chairs, high backs that recline, unused seatbelts except for the large jug of water on the middle of the bus which was secured by a belt. Sitting inside the bus for hours on end was another story. The broken bathroom added to the discomfort. We travelled for hours and hours. At the start it was edifying, seeing the landscape changes as the elevation increased and the roads deteriorated. Later it was just dreary, extremely bumpy and full of smelly traffic . Lots of trucks and busses on the roads, crazy drivers too. Some highways were 6 lanes but then again Mexicans can make a 2 lane highway into a 4 lane. Such talent. Horses in the bed of pickups, 5 people on one motorcycle with only the driver helmeted, chickens attached to sticks on the back of motorcycles flapping in the wind and 4 guys on the top of a truck cab holding on for dear life made for an eye opening drive. Then the hours dragged on. At bathroom stops most people filled up with junk food and pop then another bathroom break was needed shortly after.

Not my photo but what I was hoping to see

We travelled by bus from Melaque to Morelia (a Unesco site) then to the Mariposa Monarca sanctuary. The last 13 km had 45 speed bumps and windy roads which did nothing to settle my already upset tummy. The toilette was not working on the bus so I laid on the back bench of the bus with barf bags in hand for the long trek up the mountain. Once there we had a horseback ride up higher then we walked beyond that to get to the monarchs.

El Rosario

El rosario butterfly sanctuary sits about 3200 meters or 10500 ft above sea level and has an estimated 40 % of all the overwintering monarchs hanging in the oyamel fir trees in bundles to stay warm. They estimate there are 24-40 million butterflies in the region of El Rosario we visited at the time. The weather was still cool and so the butterflies were not moving much so they could preserve their energy, in a kind of dormancy. When the weather warms up, the butterflies will explode from the trees and head out on their migration home. News reports said just after we left that the butterflies were exiting.

The welcome center is about 2900 meters above sea level where the bus stopped, then we travelled up to 32000 meters to the oyamel fir forest first by horseback, then on foot another 30 minutes or so to see where they roosted for the winter.

We saw one butterfly soaring at a time but when the sun peaked out for a short while, we saw more and more flapping wings.

Oyamel fir trees are the monarchs choice of tree to roost in. The trees provide a perfect, stable microclimate that balances temperature and humidity, allowing them to conserve energy. These dense, high-altitude forests close to 3,000m above sea level protect them from extreme cold, wind, and rain, acting as a blanket that stops them from freezing or freezing to death, while the trees' structure supports massive clusters

Thousands and thousands of butterflies huddled together for warmth.

Monarchs

Monarch butterflies weigh as much as a paperclip about 500 mg.(seriously), and the adult wingspan can reach up to 4.5 inches.

They only eat milkweed plants, eating the cardiac glycoside in the plant, the poison which is toxic to many of their predators. They store the toxins in their outer skin cells, acting as a defense shield against their enemies. Good thing, too, because they have a very long journey, and the odds are already stacked against them making it to their destination.

Their predators are many. Birds, even raptors feast on them. Many insects eat them too, aphids, fire ants (Fire ants are a big predator for monarchs so often there will be people that collect and destroy them), and earwigs. Rodents also enjoy the taste of monarchs and even cows eat them. Farmers in Mexico used to bring cattle up to the overwintering grounds and smoke the butterflies out of the oyamel fir trees to the ground for the cows to eat them. People are predators too but not directly. They cut down the oyamel firs, clear the milkweed along the highways as they mow them, plant GMO corn whose pollen is toxic for them and all the things that humans do to change the climate that is so important to their movement and migration.

Monarch Migration

From Canada and the United States to central Mexico is about 4500 km (2800 miles) — the longest migration of any insect. They travel 70 km or 44 miles a day on average but sometimes as much as 320 km or 200 miles in one day. Amazing feat. They never fly at night because they can’t. If the ambient temperature is below 12 C or 55 F, they cannot flap their wings. The wings absorb the energy from the sun as the air warms then they can start to flap and move. Thermoregulation is one of the few thing’s scientists do know about the monarch butterflies. It is a mystery how they can travel so far through so many generations and back again. How did millions of monarch butterflies from eastern US and Canada end up every year in the same unlikely spot, a remote 50 acres of oyamel fir forests 10,000 feet up the southwestern flank of Mexico’s transverse Neo volcanic mountains.

They were found in the fir forests on a remote mountain top in the highlands of Mexico by a group of people led by the Urqhart’s, Zoologists from Ontario in the 1970’s. They were found as trunks of oyamel fir trees appeared to be covered in quivering autumn leaves. As the sun rises and warms them up, the butterflies take to the skies darkening the forest floor due to their numbers. Watching them “wake up” in the early morning sunlight is a delight to tourists and locals alike.

There are several generations of monarch butterflies but the methuselah generation is the most interesting. Enoch’s son Methuselah claimed to live the longest of any person on earth, over 900 years. The Methuselah generation of Monarch butterflies can live longer than any other generation of monarch butterflies. Most adult monarch butterflies only live for 3-4 weeks, but the migration takes at least three months, and that’s only one way. It’s all about the Methuselah generation.

Once a year, at the end of the summer, the mysterious Methuselah generation is born. These are the only butterflies that live up to nine months. While in the north, they store nectar, not just milkweed, to fuel the journey. In August, they start their trek to a place neither they nor their parents (or grandparents) have ever been.

At night, they roost clustered in the tree trunks and branches and snuggle up tight to keep warm along the way to Mexico. In early November, they start appearing in the oyamel fir forests near Mexico City with the sole purpose of mating before making the long trek back in March.

Since none of the monarch butterflies who start the journey/migration complete it. It is rather hard to imagine how this can be. Do they use the sun as a compass, follow the stars, use the poles or topographical landmarks and air currents. But how do they make it to the same place every year in multiple generations. It is a mystery for sure.

There was thought to be two types of monarchs, eastern and western and they ended up at different places. In Bob Pyles book “Chasing Monarchs” he concluded that “the old model of a continental divide as a kind of Berlin wall for monarchs is bankrupt”. Tagging data in the early days showed that eastern Monarchs moved south-westerly into Mexico. Western monarchs moved west and stayed along the coast. Several of the eastern monarchs were transported west and released to see if they went to their same destination and some did not but some did. Some western monarchs near the Rockies seemed to head south-easterly. This confused all the migratory scientists. Thus, the continued mystery.

Fred and Norah Urquhart

I met Norah and Fred Urquhart when I first started working in 1987 when they brought their dog in to the clinic I was working at. They began tagging butterflies spending decades developing a tiny, adhesive wing tag with labels on it that could withstand the migration and weather and not bother the butterflies. They were zoologists at the University of Toronto, living in Markham. The tags had the monarch’s identity and it said to send back to the Zoology department at U of T. They found the overwintering site in Mexico on the oyamel fir forests in Mexico in 1975. There was a 1976 National Geographic cover story about them and their work. In 1998 the couple received the Order of Canada for their lifelong dedication to natural history and conservation. Many other scientists doing research on the monarchs at the same time and wanting to continue their work as they retired were not able to get any of the data from the Urquhart’s. They had enlisted many laymen to tag and track the monarchs called citizen scientists (started in 1952), now called Monarch Watch. The Urquhart’s kept all the data from the citizen scientists for over 40 years before retiring. They were the first scientist to start a citizen scientist group.

Capula

Famous for its handmade Day of the Dead Catrina figures . The village of artisans survive on selling these Catrinas all over. By co incidence we were stopped for a time as a passing funeral procession went down the center of the street.

Center square in town, pretty dead

The legend of the monarch butterflies from local guides:

In Mexico, (the Day of the Dead) Dia de los Muertos is celebrated starting November 1, which coincidentally (or not) is when the butterflies start to appear. This festive day is for celebrating and eating by people and by the spirits, usually Tamales. Some local indigenous communities believe the butterflies are the souls of their loved ones coming back from the dead. Others believe they are spirits of the forest or messengers of the gods.

Village Artisan

Boy did people on the tour love the Catrinas, buying so many. One lady bought 7 of them.

La Catrina is an iconic Mexican skeletal figure in elegant 20th-century attire, symbolizing the Day of the Dead and Mexican identity. I personally abhore them.

Morelia

This is a UNESCO World Heritage city boasting grand colonial architecture, stone buildings and a baroque cathedral. We stayed in Mision Catedral overlooking the cathedral at night.

Mision Catedral Hotel

Town Square Morelia

It may look warm with Diane in a sundress but I was in my down jacket!

Santa Iglasis Catedral

This is the cathedral Morelia is known for.

Biblioteca Pública de la Universidad Michoacana

A former church and now a public library for the University. It is beautiful and contained many very old books, most behind glass.

SANTA CLARA DEL COBRE

The Magic town of Santa Clara del Cobre was the most interesting of all the towns we visited.

Pueblos Mágicos (Magic Towns) are over 170 recognized locations highlighted for their rich history, cultural significance, folklore, and preserved colonial architecture. These towns determined by Mexico tourism each have their own art or craft that the residents specialize in. In this town there were generations of artisans who specialized in hand-hammered copper crafts, maintaining a vibrant tradition of fiery workshops and polished metal art.

The Magic towns is a bit different from the colonial towns in Michoacán established by the bishop from Spain Vasco de Quirogain the 1530s. He wanted each community to have a craft and that still remains to today. It was originally to start missions and help the indiginous people start their own economy.

Heating

All the copper they used was recycled from old wire and old copper pots melted down etc.

Hammering

It took so many firing and hammerings to get one piece of copper into one piece of art. They listen for the tone of the hammer to know when it needs to be warmed up again.

Repeat

There were 8-10 people involved in making each piece. Some heating, hammering, cutting, patina applying and firing etc. A family affair.

Unbelievably beautiful things made out of copper. The chess set was in the museum but the bathtub was for sale. I did not look at the price.

Patzcuaro

Another Magic town known for cobblestone streets. The town was formed in 1320 and was the original capital of New Spain. It is also known for the Day of the Dead Celebrations.

Many wedding photos taken here apparently

House of Eleven Patios (Casa de los Once Patios)

Only 4 patios left.

This was a set of colonial buildings that was a convent where Dominican nuns were established in the mid-eighteenth century

Mostly a place to shop now for tourists. Shops all around the main square.

Telaquepaque,

Basically a suburb of Guadalajara but in my estimation, just a place to shop and spend all your pesos.

Melaque Hotel

Our lovely open metal staircase. This was easy in the light, not so in the pitch black early in the morning.

Manzanillo hotel Playa Sol

The only place it was really warm the whole time in Mexico.

Playasol Manzanillo a resort sitting on a cliff in little white buildings on the ocean. Much nicer resorts in either side but just fine for us.

Sunrise view on our last night in Manzanillo before heading home.

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