Sunday, March 7, 2010

Yankee Visitors

Ordinarily the above title would be considered at best a misnomer and more commonly a bona fide insult. Nevertheless, our current vantage point allows us to assign such a term to anyone north of the tropics so, I’m going to continue with the jabs :o)

Names notwithstanding, one would be hard pressed to find to two individuals instilled with a better dose of sage advice and Southern charm then Eddie and Betsy Watkins. Our family was privileged to have them as our guests in Mexico City for four days last week.

Above they’re both feigning cool, confident demeanors (at the time they were confined in the back seat of a taxi hurling through the streets of Mexico) but the warmhearted counsel and sense of family that they carried south was a genuine blessing to our family. When we left the States nearly a year ago we anticipated that one of the things we would miss the most was the physical, emotional support of our friends and family in North Carolina. Eddie and Betsy demonstrated a unique ability of bringing what we treasure most about home to our front door in Mexico. We greatly enjoyed our time together and remain sincerely appreciative of their visit.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Las Mariposas Monarchas

“What is Mexico famous for?” cactuses? tequila? Speedy Gonzalez? These are all great answers. One more however, is what has been called the most famous insect of North America: the monarch butterfly.

This past Friday Amy, Caleb and I were invited by the pastor of the local English church to make the two hour drive east of Mexico City to one of the butterfly’s wintering grounds. This mountain near the town of Toluca is located within the state of Mexico and one we cleared the city limits, the drive proved to be quite beautiful.
As an added bonus, on the way out of the city we saw some the most compelling evidence of global warming that we’ve seen yet. The pastor commented that in the past 13 years he had never observed so much snow in the highlands.
The bright sun was a welcomed treat after two solid days of rain and after Caleb’s most recent battle with car sickness subsided we all had a great day. Above is Caleb holding one of Mexico’s winter residents.
The monarchs arrive in Mexico around the end of October each year and reside in/on the Oyamel trees that normally grow between 7,000 & 13,000 feet above sea level. I believe that these trees were somewhere around 10,000 feet. Here are a few pictures of how concentrated the butterflies were on these trees.