Monarch Sister Schools Program's Annual Mexico Monarch Country Tour, February, 2020

MSSP’s Mexico Monarch Country Tour 2020

What a strange world in which we live, where people are killed for protecting the forest, the forest that produces the oxygen we need to breathe, the forest that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the forest that can save us from some of the  worst effects of anthropogenic Climate Change, the forest that helps to regulate available water, the forest that provides a winter home for the longest living butterfly and the insect with the longest migration, the amazing monarch butterfly.  That is what I was thinking about on the plane on my way to Mexico City to meet up with the other participants of the annual Monarch Sister Schools’ Mexico Tour.  We were heading to the monarch sanctuary in spite of the recent murders of two men, including Homero Gomez, who had devoted their lives to protecting the forest on which the monarch butterflies and many other species depend.  Rather than deterring us from the trip, these events reminded us of how important the trip is.  When we rent hotel rooms near the monarch sanctuary, eat at local restaurants, buy souvenirs, pay admission, and tip the guides, we are providing a livelihood for people who protect the butterflies.    

From my airplane window I saw how humans have cut the Earth’s surface into unnatural geometric shapes, altering groundwater flow and biodiversity.  The depths of the forest become edges of the forest.  The forest becomes a monoculture of genetically modified corn and soy in the U.S. Midwest, and avocadoes in Central Mexico.  These are threats faced by monarch butterflies at each end of their 2,000 mile migration from as far north as Canada to the unique area 10,000 feet up in the Eastern Sierra Madre mountain range of Central México where heat-radiating oyamel fir trees provide winter shelter for the butterflies amid a multitude of endemic, nectar-providing, winter-blooming wildflowers.  There exist only about 10% as many monarch butterflies as a mere 30 years ago.    

La Ciudad de Mexico

In Mexico City, we stayed at the Hotel Casa Blanca, with its huge breakfast buffet and a short walk from a park where locals danced at night to music provided by disc jockeys.  It was refreshing to see young people dancing with partners out in public.   Unfortunately, not seen as often in the U.S., alcohol-free dancing is a good way for people to get to know each other and have fun, while learning social skills.  

Teotihuacán

From Mexico City, we went to Teotihuacán, the most visited archeological site in Mexico and the location of the largest pre-Columbian city in the Americas with a population of about 125,000, founded around the 1^st C CE as a religious center and lasting until around  the middle of the 7^th century.  Our very knowledgeable tour guide, Alexander Ramirez Cruz, led us through multi-family residential compounds with a complex system of indoor plumbing and elaborate murals.  Teotihuacan exported fine obsidian tools throughout Mesoamerica, including Veracruz and the Maya region.  Obsidian was also carved and polished into a thin disc through which the sun could be viewed, possibly to observe solar eclipses.  Major monuments and houses in Teotihuacan had been burned around 550 CE, possibly related to strife between the diverse ethnic groups living there.  Around the same time, a volcano erupted in el Salvador, which may have had far-reaching effects.  Crops were not enough to feed the growing population, as evidenced by remains of malnourished children, perhaps related to a climate change event causing widespread drought.

We walked the Avenue of the Dead and climbed the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon.  The Pyramid of the Moon was used for public rituals in which animals and people were sacrificed, and the plaza was used for astronomical observation and calendar-related activities.  The pyramids are built of stone, which is visible now, but the stone had originally been covered with lime plaster on which may have been painted brilliantly colored murals, similar to those that have been uncovered in the ancient priests’ quarters.

  

  

Alex pointing out which parts of the wall are original and which are replicas/ Palace of Quetzalpapálotl (Jaguar Palace) along the Avenue of the Dead, near the Pyramid of the Moon

 

  

                                           Colorful murals on the walls

 The Pyramid of the Sun was built on a carefully selected spot, from where it was possible to align it to the Cerro Gordo mountain to the north and, in the east and west, to sunrise and sunset on specific dates.   The pyramid was built over a man-made tunnel leading six meters down to a "cave" which might have served as a royal tomb.

                                                                                                       Pyramid of the Sun

 me on the Pyramid of the Moon

National Museum of Anthropology

Next stop was the famous National Museum of Anthropology, housing the huge Aztec Sun Stone (Calendar Stone), giant stone Olmec heads, hoops from a Mayan ball game played to the death in Chichen Itzá, a model of the former Aztec capital Tenochtitlán, now Mexico City, and more than anyone could possibly see in one day.  My favorite exhibits were the miniature dioramas of indigenous peoples going about their daily life – hunting, cooking, caring for children.

                                                                    Trip participants enjoying a delicious lunch buffet at the anthropology museum restaurant

Maguey

At a gift shop, we participated in a demonstration of the traditional uses of maguey, a species of agave.  When a maguey is about 7 years old, the sap in the base of the stem is harvested for mescal, tequila, pulque, and/or agave nectar.  Agave nectar is a low-glycemic nectar available in natural foods stores.  Pulque, which, by the way, tastes like vomit, is full of minerals and has traditionally been used medicinally as well as in religious rituals.  Tequila is a type of mescal that is made from the blue agave and grown in one of 5 states in Mexico, while mescal can be made from any of 30 types of agave and grown in any of 9 locations.  In addition, tequila is typically produced by steaming the agave heart in an industrial oven and then distilling the liquid in a copper pot, and mezcal is traditionally cooked in lava rock-lined earthen pits filled with wood and charcoal before being distilled in clay pots, giving it a smoky flavor.  Pulque is fermented instead of distilled.  Agave has other traditional uses as well.  For example, the leaves provide string for sewing, and the sharp tip of the leaf can be used as a needle.  Maguey fibers are made into tablecloths (mantas) or shawls.  Layers of maguey leaves can be peeled off and written on as paper or used for wrapping food. 

  

  

Liquid in the center of a maguey/ Demonstration of the use of maguey leaf skin as a writing surface

  

               Tablecloth made from maguey fibers/ Needle and thread formed naturally by maguey leaf

Mariposa Monarca (Monarch Butterfly)

Just as the maguey has been a part of Mexican culture for centuries, so has the monarch butterfly.  The Purépecha Indians believe that each monarch butterfly carries the soul of one of an people’s ancestors back home to visit on November 1^st and 2^nd, corresponding to the celebration of the Day of the Dead, when villagers camp out in the graveyards to commune with the souls of their ancestors.  These monarchs are on their way to the oyamel fir forests in the Central Highlands of Mexico.  The forests are a fragile ecosystem and provide the water for Guadelajara, Lake Chapala, and, last but not least, Mexico City, once the capitol of the Aztec empire and currently the second-largest metropolitan area in the Western hemisphere. 

On our way to the el Rosario monarch sanctuary, we passed poinsettia growers, berry farms, and avocado orchards.  80% of the deforestation in Mexico in order to plant avocadoes is illegal.  People have gone into the center of the oyamel forest in the monarch sanctuary to chop down trees and plant avocadoes.  Avocadoes require copious amounts of water.  Unless the trees are organically grown, pesticides and fungicides are also used.   How are avocadoes more important than the biodiversity hotspot of endangered pine-oak forests and oyamel forests?  Why can’t we all practice permaculture, planting and harvesting sustainably, in tune with the natural environment?

  

                          Alternare’s Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Our tour group made a visit to Alternare, a free 9-month program for local youth wishing to gain skills in permaculture and sustainable agriculture.   Students raise poultry, plant trees to harvest later for fuel, and grow a variety of crops.  One row in the greenhouse contained prickly pear cactus!  Some of us had an opportunity to use the composting toilets. The purpose of the program is to provide the skills necessary for each participant to return to his or her community and share the sustainable farming methods he or she learned at el Alternare.  As local communities begin gradually to adopt these  methods, improvements will be seen in the health of the people and of the natural environment around the monarch sanctuaries.

                                                                     Poultry being let out to forage/  Garden at Alternare

  

  

Corn in the crib/Tour group learning about the Alternare program

Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve

The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve is located 62 miles northwest of Mexico City in the trans-Mexican volcanic belt on the border of the states of Michoacan and Mexico.  The one we visited was el Rosario in Michoacan.  Many local communities are very poor, with high illiteracy rates and childhood malnutrition.  Most families live on subsistence agriculture. These communities also have a tradition of exploiting the forest to obtain wood for furniture and other crafts.  The Monarch Sister Schools Program, by leading this annual tour, supports these local communities by providing income for tour leaders, local restaurants, and artisans.  If they can earn money through ecotourism, they won’t have to exploit the forest. 

                               

     Parking lot, restaurant and souvenir area at base of sanctuary, with subsistence farms in the background.  When I visited the sanctuary in 2007, the dirt road had not  been paved yet, and there were no restaurants or souvenir shops.  The forests on the hills have been replaced more and more with fields of crops.

In addition to sheltering nearly all of the monarchs from North America’s east coast and the midwestern U.S. for 4 or 5 months of each year, this endangered pine-oak forest is home to many species of hummingbirds and endemic plants.  Endemic wildflowers living 11,500 feet up in these forests include...purple salvia - Mexican sage, red Lobelia cardinal flowers, yellow..., white..., Tagetes erecta (Aztec marigold) .  Most of the wildflowers have two blooming periods per year, one during summer’s rainy season and one in late winter/early Spring after the short rainy period in February and just in time for the monarchs to fuel up for their long trip north.  The trip north isn’t as long as the trip south was in October, because this time the monarchs will stop to breed in Texas.  This generation stops there and passes the baton to their offspring who will continue north.  It will be the fourth generation that finally makes it back to where the wintering butterflies began their southern journey, sometimes as far north as Canada.   

El Rosario Monarch Sanctuary

The highlight of our tour was the visit to the monarch sanctuary. We followed the signs and stayed with our guide, a member of the indigenous community which owns part of the sanctuary.  Some rented horses to get up the steep hill to the meadow.  Horse rentals provide seasonal income for young men from neighboring communities, but they also cause a lot of erosion.  Millions of butterflies cluster on the heat-radiating oyamel trees for warmth.  On warm, sunny days, they drift down to the meadow and the understory to feed from endemic wildflowers and drink from puddles.  This year, scientists were concerned about the monarchs being too active too early, breeding in the forests and flying around so much that their wings were beginning to fade and tatter before they had begun the trip north.  I can’t even describe the experience of seeing and hearing the monarchs flying all around us, practicing flight moves or maybe just enjoying the serenity themselves!  I brought my art supplies and sat down in the forest, sketching and painting endemic wildflowers.  Next trip, I will be teaching botanical art workshops for participants. 

                      

                     Entrance to el Rosario monarch sanctuary

  

Guide with trip participants

    

  

Cardinal flowers blooming under majestic oyamel fir trees/ White-eared hummingbird sipping from cardinal flower/Lobelia?

  

  

     Teacher Tracey Tokarski from St Joan of Arc School in Aberdeen, in meadow after riding horse up from entrance of el Rosario/Molly on horse - I didn't realize until later how much erosion the horses cause on the mountainside.  Next time, I will walk up to the meadow instead of riding, even though the horse rentals do provide much-needed income for local young men who own horses.  

                         Along the edges of the meadow, monarch butterfly feeding from Senecio cinerarioides, a plant endemic to Mexico.

                                                                                               Signs leading the way along forest trail to the main clusters of butterflies – translation: ”Prohibited to take any butterflies, whether they are alive or dead“                                                   

            

  

                         Female monarch drinking from Salvia flowers along trail/Monarch on Stevia monardifolia, surrounded by  Salvia elegans, another plant endemic to Mexico

                     Butterflies puddling Like all living things, monarchs need water.  Water from the forest is being piped away to Mexico City and other towns, and also is taken out of the ground to irrigate crops such as avocadoes.

                                   William Dent, of the Monarch Sister Schools Program, admiring the multitudes of butterflies soaring overhead

                                                                    Monarchs clustered on oyamel tree

                       Monarchs on shrubs

Angongueo

We visited the old mining town of Angongueo, near el Rosário.  There we toured a couple of old Catholic churches and enjoyed delicious guacamole with lunch.  A couple of young boys tried to stow away in our tour bus.  This is a very poor town, in spite of being so close to the monarch sanctuary.  The old silver mines shut down in the 1980s but have now opened back up to provide income for the community.  Angangueo recently restored an old train station at the beginning of a four-kilometer bicycle trail, the Monarch Greenway, connecting two train stations.

                                       Mural in Angangueo, welcoming tourists to monarch country

                                                                     Bridge across waterway (newly built to prevent flooding) at the foot of a hillside property in Angongueo; Note the cleared forest areas on the hillside in the background.

                                 Trip participant chatting with local children in the plaza in Angongueo

                                              A crop of magueys growing on the side of a hill above Angongueo

Monarch Festival in Valle Verde

The day after the official tour had ended, the annual Monarch Festival began in Valle Verde, including dance lessons, a parade involving local schoolchildren, and a dance performance of dance troupes from all over Mexico.  Staying a couple days longer than the others, I had the opportunity to facilitate some Botanical Art classes to schoolchildren at the Forest Middle School as part of the Monarch Festival, while emphasizing to the children how unique their forest is, with its endemic wildflowers and the monarch wintering grounds. These activities are available for anyone who joins us on the next trip!  I was fed sumptuous meals, dressed in a traditional costume, and invited to march in the Monarch Festival Parade, leading a group of schoolchildren.  The last evening, William and I attended the dance troupe showcase, watching young people in fancy outfits twirl their skirts and tip their cowboy hats as they danced as couples.  It made me want to learn some traditional Mexican dance!

  Monarch butterfly made of colored sand in entryway of ”Forest Middle School“

                                                                                         Molly (me) providing critique for students drawing flowers.  I am hoping other artists can join me next time to teach workshops about monarchs, endemic wildflowers, trees, climate change, and/or Botanical Art during the annual Monarch Festival.

  

 

                                  Students drawing flowers at Forest Middle School in Valle Verde 

  

  

  

 Images from the Monarch Parade

  

                        Some of the many volunteers who made the Monarch Festival Parade possible

   

  

  

                         Costumed children waiting for the parade to begin/ Little girl in monarch costume

                          

                                                                                  Dancers at the Monarch Festival dance program after the parade in Valle Verde

Sister Schools in Mexico

While our sister schools here in Maryland and the DC area are growing milkweed and flowers for the monarchs, the schools in Mexico are growing trees to plant in the forest near the monarch sanctuary.  They are also learning about monarch butterflies’ life cycle and migration and are working to protect their unique forest habitat.

  Yizuz inspecting tree seedlings in the school nursery

                                   Secondary student watering trees in the school tree nursery

                                Elementary schoolchildren learning basic dance moves in gym class

             




















Mexican teacher raising monarchs in the classroom

How You Can Help the Monarch Butterflies

If you join the Monarch Sister Schools Program on our next trip to Mexico, you will be providing employment opportunities for people in the many local communities that are trying to protect the endemic, endangered pine-oak-oyamel forests.  It is an amazing, life-changing experience, not just the immersion into a forest full of butterflies, but also the connection with people and the opportunity to make a real difference in their lives.  If you are a teacher, like Tracey, you can bring home such memories to share with your students, and you can connect them with children their age who share the common thread of the monarch butterfly migration.  There will be opportunities to teach science and art workshops to students and to participate in the Monarch Festival Parade.

Your school can join the Monarch Sister Schools Program, knowing you are directly helping the monarch butterflies and their habitat by supporting Internet access for local students, education about the monarchs, and an international connection.  Your school will be assisted with planting pollinator gardens and teaching environmental education.  You can opt for your students to participate in cultural connections through Skype sessions with children in Mexico.   We will have a free Teacher Workshop in September in which we will share some lessons from the Monarchs and More Curriculum(We have them for sale.) and demonstrate how to make a monarch cage from household materials (We have kits for sale.).