phew..

Long time no post. Many reasons for this. Sickness, school and crazy travelling. This weekend, not only was I as sick as a dog, I travelled over 24 hours in bus within 2 days.. Now that I am home and still alive I can say it was worth it. 12 hours ago..no.

On Friday morning, after a long night of salsa dancing (where dancing little took place..because i was too nervous!), Michelle, Inge, Shauna, Nancy and I headed for the mountains of the state of Michoacan. Michoacan is on the Pacific coast and is mountainous and beautiful. It is one of the few places in the world where the Monarch butterflies migrate from Canada for the winter. At first word of this, I wasn´t too excited. I like butterflies, but I was thinking that I could just go to the butterfly house at the zoo when I get home if I felt like I miss out.. NO way.. It is nothing like you will ever see in your life. MIllions and Millions of Monarch butterflies flying all around you as you climb to the peak of the mountian where there are even more.

The trip took 9 hours and 3 bus rides to Morelia..the meeting spot for the 10 hour tour. We arrived around midnight and took a taxi to the hostel. The hostel had 3 beds left and 1 full bed..barely enough. We slept for a couple of hours and left for the tour around 8. We took a curvy bumpy 3 hour car ride up the mountians with an older Texan couple and a crazy mexican driver ( he even commented on mexican driving and how they can get you past anything in the road..i believe it). Upon arrival we waiting in some crazy lines. One including a bathroom where you have to flush your stuff with a bucket of water.. 3 pesos for that bucket of water too. Then we were off.. had to hike about 2 hours upwards. The hike was nice. After sitting on a bus for so long I could have walked forever..even with a respiratory infection of some sort with kicked up dirt everywhere. As we climbed the scenery got more beautiful. We were taught tons of facts about butterflies.. they are very interesting little creatures. *The males die after mating because it takes so much of their energy, so only the females migrate back to Canada in the spring.

After the experience, we had to hike down (my shins-calves are feeling it today!). We were provided with a meal from a local family which included chicken mole, beans, rice, blue corn tortillas and nopales (cactus). It was pretty interesting.

The ride home is not worth talking about.. I will just note that I am not taking a long bus ride like that for a very long time! Thank you!

Words can´t explain the sight, and I am not sure pictures can either.. I´ll try..

P.S. Saturday morning I woke up without a voice. No voice at all. Never has this happened to me.. made life more interesting to say the least.