We had a long weekend at the end of January and decded to use the opportunity to do something we'd heard a lot about - visit the butterflies in Michoacan. We went with another couple who were also excited about seeing the butterflies.
First stop was the city of Morelia, the capital of Michoacan state. We arrived in the afternoon and searched for an affordable but nice hotel. We found one that was a little above our price range but it seemed like a good option and so we checked in for one night. Then we had a walk about to explore the city a bit, but it was starting to get dark and a bit cold so we went back the hotel for a while. We went out for dinner and ended up in a very fancy looking restaurant, with stylish furniture and vegetarian options. The food and the margaritas were absolutely delicious and it was a very enjoyable evening, but on the expensive side.
After this we had a little walk around and looked at the shops. We tried to get to the sweets market before it closed but when we arrived there were only a couple of stalls open. I did pick up some dulce de leche (my favourite mexican sweet). We had an early night in anticipation of heading out early to the butterfly reserve the next day.
It took longer to get to the reserve than we thought and we left Morelia later than we had intended. So we didn't stop in the town where we planned to stay, and headed straight on up to the reserve. It was cold up there as it was quite high up, but the air was fresh and it felt great. We started walking and walking and continued walking. It turned out the butterflies were a long long way from the entrance and it took over 2 hours to reach them.
We had been promised carpets of butterflies, butterflies landing on us and swirling around our heads. It was not quite that dramatic. We saw some butterflies but they certainly weren't all around. You had to look for them a bit and it was difficult to get good pictures. They were beautiful though but after a long and not that easy hike we felt a bit disappointed.
We started to hike back to the entrance but it was starting to get cold and we knew it would get dark soon. We were offered a lift in a pick up for about $80 each and so we took it. It was the most uncomfortable ride of my life - dust everywhere, a bumpy road and a bit of metal stuck in my back. I was so glad to get back! We had a quick walk around the little craft stalls there and then headed back to the town/village of Angangeo. We found a hotel and settled in for the night. Me and Ed wanted to look round the town and see if there were any interesting dinner options, but it turned out there weren't and so we ate at the hotel cafe which was nice enough but with very limited options.
In the morning we had a bit of an explore of the town, took some photos and then had breakfast at the hotel again, plus we bought tamales and donuts from stalls in the square. Then we headed out of the town and back to SLP. There was some dispute on what was the best way to go, but we realised that all routes were long routes and none of them would be easy. We did pass some beautiful scenery on the way and stopped at a canyon to take photos and stretch our legs. We got back to SLP quite early and had time to relax before going back to work the next morning.
