October 25, 2011
Dear Friends:
On Saturday I drove to "El Cerrito," the traditional site near town where monarchs appear before they reach our sanctuaries. After a considerable time, I was convinced there were no monarchs. A couple of neighbours assured me they had seen none yet either, so Karlita (7) filled in the chart with a zero for Saturday.
We drove back to the same area on Sunday, but expanded our radius a little, hoping to find some hiding somewhere in the deep forest. We saw a beautiful view of the valley entering Angangueo, but no monarchs...
Next we went back to El Cerrito, where we intended to stay the longest. After only a few minutes, a monarch appeared! It was 1 p.m. Then, a second one! We had to wait several minutes until we saw what we believe were a third and a fourth! Karlita and I could not believe our eyes! We did not see any more during the next half an hour so Karlita registered the official arrival for all of you in USA and CANADA to see: Sunday, October 23rd at 1 p.m.
Ever since Sunday, the monarchs have really been tricking me. On Monday and on Tuesday, I could only find TWO monarchs in a 1 kilometer walk around El Cerrito. The trees look still empty. See the graph up to today. On my way I found some children, Victoria (6) and María Estela (8), who assured me they have seen no monarchs yet. (María Estela is my "tocaya." This what we call a person whose shares the same name as ours.)
We will keep you updated about the great arrival which should take place any day now!! However, now that the first monarchs are here, children in Angangueo and its communities declare ourselves ready to take over the reponsibility of keeping them safe in their Mexican land until next spring!
Many greetings from your local reporter in Angangueo,
María Estela Romero
Angangueo, Michoacán.
 |
 |
| Angangueo is in the mountains, near the largest monarch sanctuaries. | The monarch sanctuaries are in central Mexico. Can you find Angangueo on this map? |
Estela Romero reports from Angangueo
Karlita records data on the monitoring chart.
Victoria and María Estela haven't seen monarchs yet...
