Love, magic, butterflies

It's been awhile since I've written but don't despair, life has just been very busy.

So what's happened in the past two months?

I went home to California for Christmas. (So many friends and family - what a treat!)

I spent New Years in Portland, Oregon with Kevin and his family. (An even bigger treat!)

I came back to Toluca and finished up the first semester.

I bought a wool blanket in Gualupita, a nearby town famous for its wool. (This was a longtime goal of mine - click through a few photos from Gualupita here.)

I went to Tlaxcala for our Fulbright English Teaching Assistants Midterm Reunion. (I got to reconnect with my ETA family here in Mexico, meet some amazing ETAs from Ecuador, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic, and try pulque for the first time - photos here.)

I revisited the Nevado and the Cosmovitral.

I started the new semester at La Escuela Normal No. 1 de Toluca. I'm teaching "History of the English Language" and a conversational English class, and co-teaching "English Literature" and "Strategies and Resources - Reading and Writing."

I met up with my friend Kevin Savage (he's doing a research Fulbright down in Chiapas) and spent the afternoon with him in Coyoacan.

And last, but certainly not least, I spent Valentine's Day in Valle de Bravo.

I first visited Valle de Bravo, a pueblo mágico near Toluca, with Kevin in November. It's a town with many attractions - a beautiful lake, perfect paragliding conditions (which we took advantage of), and a monarch butterfly sanctuary. Every winter, millions of monarch butterflies migrate south from Canada and end up in central Mexico. There are a few different spots where they collect, but the sanctuary in Valle de Bravo was the most convenient for me and I knew I couldn't miss my chance.

I went with my travel buddy Mariah, who was also eager to see the monarchs while they were still here. After arriving in Valle de Bravo via bus, we checked into our hotel, snacked on some tacos, and quickly made our way to the sanctuary (by way of taxi.)

The "sanctuary" isn't exactly an advanced eco-tourism setup; it's basically just a patch of woods with yellow tape strung between the trees to keep spectators from disturbing the butterflies. To get to it, you have to hike or ride a horse along a trail that leads from the highway into the middle of a forested area. We opted to ride horses and got up to butterfly central in about forty-five minutes or so.

It was probably one of the most magical things I've ever witnessed. I can't quite describe it. There were monarchs EVERYWHERE - on the ground, in the air, clustered on the trees - and the collective fluttering of their wings sounded like rainfall. They were at once delicate and vibrant, bursts of orange flying through the air and feeding on nectar and mating and laying on the ground to die, amazing little reminders of the fragile beauty of life. Well, I'll just try to let my photos speak for themselves:

We finished off our magical Valentine's Day with wine, ice cream, and movie - what more could a girl want (besides actually being with her beloved, that is.) We spent the next walking around town and doing some general sightseeing before heading home. All in all, an absolutely lovely weekend.

(Click through more photos from Valle de Bravo here.)