Favorite regional foods are served to Sanctuary visitors. Ecotourism* is important to the local economy.
| Dear Friends, Our cold weather of around 0°C has started to change. For a little more than a week, we have had bright, sunny, warm days and Monarch butterflies are making the best of their performances delighting tourists in a way not to believe! The whole atmosphere in communities surrounding the Sanctuaries is of joy and smiles in people's faces. We all rush around, just as Monarchs do when the sun shines for them. This is indeed the best time of the year for most families in our region! Transportation to the sanctuaries from Angangueo is ready to serve tourists. The public bus costs about 15 pesos for a one-way trip. A private van can be rented for about 600 pesos for about 4-6 people. Visitors choose at their ease. As I drove to the Sanctuary this weekend, it was very nice to see a group of native people in an ancestral-religious parade meaning the opening or Carnaval in the region. Grand-parents and parents include children early in their lives in the continuance of such traditions. It should be said that 90% of the population in the region are Catholic. Massive numbers of tourists are arriving this weekend. The Sanctuary entrance, Parking, and Restaurant area have been totally renewed. Around 20 restaurants will be providing service in the renewed space. The entrance ticket for an adult this season is 45 pesos; for a child and students at all levels is 35 pesos; if a school brings in a group of students to visit the Sanctuary, they get a 50% discount in entrance fees. A ticket to the rest-rooms is 4-5 pesos. Official numbers show that at a normal weekend right now (Saturday and Sunday), when the season is at its peak, the number of visitors fluctuates around the 1,200-1,300 in the two days. They calculate that about a 30-40 percent of visitors are children. A 5% - 10% are foreign visitors mostly from US and Europe; a minority may be Asian or from similar far away countries. Last weekend we had a tree day holiday in México, that means Saturday, Sunday, Monday (Monday was the holiday). The number of visitors closed with 2,000 two thousand during the three days! All in all, hundreds of families make a living from Sanctuaries and, it seems, we are all more and more aware of the importance of preserving Monarchs Overwintering sites, so they shall always come back! Until next week, Estela Romero * Ecotourism is the practice of touring natural habitats in a manner meant to minimize ecological impact while providing income for the local people. |
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