October 10, 2015

Dear Friends from the North:

Hello from Angangueo, Mexico – winter home of the monarch butterflies! Together with some children and youngsters in town I welcome you to our region as we get ready to announce the Monarchs' arrival to their final destination.

After a very intense raining season, our town awakens little by little and people are saying,

“Storms and lightning are over, the sky is blue. Let's hurry making preparations for the Day of our Dead ones coming with Monarchs!"

I encouraged youngsters to comment what they think about Monarchs' arrival. First I ran into Joel (12), little Marcos (3), Brenda (5) and Susana (8) who simply told me:

"Of course, Estela, in only a few days, Monarchs will fly over our heads rushing to hide themselves in El Rosario or Sierra Chincua Sanctuaries. Not a Monarch to be seen up to now, but, you know, they do not announce themselves. It is a little bit like magic. All of a sudden, they come from nowhere and appear almost flying on our heads.  We are so happy in our families! We hope they will not take too long to arrive, since last year we people in town could feel it strange that they didn’t come until mid-late November.”

Next I met up with Gustavo:

"Hello to all school guys in the United States and Canada! My name is Gustavo, I am 17. I want to tell you that our town feels alive again. Sunny days and cool --  even icy nights -- announce that monarch time is here! We feel full of joy since our very old, once-rich mining town is much needing tourists to visit the Sanctuaries, stay at our hotels, eat at our restaurants and buy souvenirs... I personally worry that if the Monarchs' habitat is harmed in any way youngsters like me cannot imagine the life of our town without Monarchs with us every season! We have got to do more to preserve their habitat here. What do you do to help them facing the challenges they meet over there in the north?”

Walking around different points in town, I ran into Mario and Manuel, both elementary school boys playing outside their houses. They marveled at hearing how far Monarchs are coming and their reasons for overwintering in our region. I’m sending a picture in which they show to you the monitoring chart for this year.

So, for today, there’s no trace of a single Monarch. We have to keep patient for their arrival while we continue creeping around to find them at puddles, little forests, rivers, lanes and paths.  

Follow our weekly reports until our "Day of the Dead" celebrations welcoming Monarchs by all people in town!

Estela Romero,
Angangueo, Michoacán, México
October 10, 2015