Acapulco with a dog (part II) - Pie de la Cuesta

Our hotel

   Last weekend was a long one, so we packed up Zorro in the car and headed to Acapulco. Actually, we went to a little north to Acapulco (about 20kms), to Pie de la Cuesta. This town is on a narrow land strip between the ocean and a lagoon. The place is very local, not at all developed as Acapulco - no tall buildings, no crowded beaches, just the sand, sea and sun...and birds! Pelicans, egrets, frigate birds.

  We stayed in a small pet friendly hotel - it was really pet friendly, not only "pet allowing" hotel: we got a cushion for our dog, there were bowls out in the hotel and on the beach with fresh water and the restaurant even had dog menus! Showing the good quality, there were around 10 dogs in the hotel. After the 4 hour drive Zorro was so excited about the beach and his new dog "friends" that he didn`t stop playing the rest of the day. Which resulted that he slept like a dead in the night.

Zorro in the water

   The weather in Mexico City was bad all weak - chilly, cloudy, rainy. Fortunately, although the weather was all the way like in Mexico City, the weather on the beach got nice by the evening - the clouds broke off and we could see the sunset over the ocean.

sunset with horses - could it be more romantic?

   After playing with Zorro on the beach and relaxing, the next day went for kayaking to the lagoon. (The kayak fee was also included in the hotel rate.) We had to take the car to get to the kayaks - it was about 5 minutes from our hotel. We put Zorro in the kayak and took off to the lagoon! The lagoon is huge, but we kayaked only a very small part of it. Zorro couldn`t stay put, so fell into the water 2 times, but after swimming a round came back to the boat.

At the lagoon

   After all, we all three spent a great time in Pie de la Cuesta! The weather was beautiful, the ocean was warm, the beach was so private and Zorro had his friends...

For more pictures, click on the link!　→ Pie de la Cuesta

El Rosario - visiting the Monarch Butterflies

(text in ENG)

A branch of butterflies

  This weekend went to see the Monarch butterflies! Again! (For me, it was already the 3rd time.)
This time we went to El Rosario, the biggest and most popular sanctuary. Although it was warm and sunny in Mexico City, it became cloudy on the way and that bad weather continued in El Rosario unfortunately... Unfortunately, because the most spectacular sight of the butterflies is in sunshine, when they fly off the branches in masses in order to get some warm sunlight. Last year I was fortunate to see this phenomenon and it was beautiful - first of all, the blue sky gives a beautiful background to the orange color of the butterflies. Then, it is breathtaking when the butterflies fly off of a branch (maybe 10 or 100 thousands) at one time to circle around in the sunshine.
  Anyway, unfortunately this time we missed this sight, but even in this cloudy weather many butterflies were circulating among the branches and trees.

Monarchs flying aroun

   We arrived around 11 o`clock (El Rosario is about 160 kms from Mexico City). Unfortunately - I guess because it is a UNESCO heritage since 2008 - dogs weren`t allowed (although last year I saw a poodle in Angangueo, another sanctuary...). Fortunately, there was a small room to keep dogs until we climb up the mountain to see the butterflies, so we left our dog into this room and took horses to go up. Although it is not too far (even on foot it is about 40 minutes), there is so many dust on the road (you sink until your ankle) that we preferred horses. On horses it took about 20 minutes and from the "terminal" we still walked about 15 minutes until the butterflies.

taking a horse to the butterflies

   This year there were far less butterflies as last year. Last year we went in January, I think in the peak - in March, most of the butterflies are either left for Canada or stay here to die. Unfortunately there were many already on the ground dead or dying...but this is the circle of life indeed. It is amazing that these small creatures fly 5000kms from Canada to lay their eggs here. The generation that comes live longer then the "normal" generation in order to be able to make this 4 months journey. They come here, lay their eggs but they never see Canada again. Even their "children" won`t see their homeland, as they are a "normal" generation, so in 2-3 months, they die. It is only the 2nd generation that reaches Canada just in order to lay eggs for the next generation that would come to Mexico again. The circle of life, indeed.

the circle of life - many of these creatures die in Mexico

   There is a rope on the trees not to disturb the butterflies, so one can see only a fraction of them - we could see many trees in the back with butterflies. This day, although it was a bit cold and cloudy, still was more butterflies flying around then in January. After taking hundreds of pictures, had a little picnic (some onigiri and chicken) and headed back to the horses. The view of the butterflies were amazing, it was only too cold to stay for long in only sweaters. The way back was more fast as it was mainly downhill. The way to (and from) the parking lot goes through a long road full with souvenir shops and local children who sing the "butterfly song" in the hope to get some money from the tourists. In the shops (mainly the same in every shop) they sell everything with the symbol of the Monarch butterfly: T-shirts, table cloths, refrigerator magnets, cups, key holders etc. The quality of these products might be questionable, but it is very cheap as well.

For more pictures, click on the link! →El Rosario

Popocatepetl

 (text in ENG, JPN)

Popocatepetl

  Last week we went for a short hiking at Popocatepetl. This time was mainly to find a route to the mountain, as my goal for this year is to climb...not Popocatepetl, as it is closed now, but the mountain next to it, Iztaccihuatl. (Popocatepetl is the 2nd highest mountain, while Iztaccihuatl is the 3rd in the country (5230m) - the highest mountain in Mexico is Mt.Orizaba, on the way to Veracruz)
The Popocatepetl-Iztaccihuatl area is a protected national park.

Iztaccihuatl on the way

   Both mountains can be well seen on the way to Puebla, and especially Popocatepetl looks beautiful - like Mt.Fuji: very sharp, very volcano-like. However, getting closer to the mountain, its dumps became clear, and somehow lost its "coolness". On the other hand, iztaccihuatl, that`s top look like a lying woman, seems very interesting as its shape changes from every angle. There is a road connecting these two mountains, the "Paseo de Cortez". This road goes through a nice forest, the only unfortunate thing is that the beautiful view is blocked by the pine trees. We took this road to Popocatepetl. On the way up, there was a mountain bike race, so we had to go very slow on the road, as the bikers came out to the paved road. And it turned out to be our luck, as we were going very slow, could enjoy the sight of Popocatepetl when suddenly my husband said: Look at that! I turned my head to the mountain, and in just that moment there was a big eruption on the mountain! I`ve seen Sakura-jima in Kyushu which is also an active volcano in Japan, but maybe because of the height of Popocatepetl, it was more spectecular.

The moment of eruption

  At Popocatapetl, the road is now closed, so you can only go until the foot of the mountain - where the registration office is located.

No comment... :)

From the parking lot, if you look to the right, you see the smoking Popo, if you look to the left, you see the summit of Iztaccihuatl. After taking some pictures from the parking lot, we just strolled around in the nearby forest for a little bit and got back to the car. Of course, we took our dog, Zorro and of course he didn`t mind the height or the lack of air. He just run around and enjoyed the nice weather and (I guess) good smells of the forest.

The forest at the foot of the mountain

For more pictures, click on the link! →Popocatepetl

 ポポカテペトルは現在噴火により閉鎖しているので、今年の私の目標は、ポポカテペトルの隣にあるイスタシフアトルへ登頂する事です。先週末は登頂口を探しがてら、周辺までハイキングに行ってきました（メキシコで一番高い山はベラクルズに行く途中にある、オリザバです。ポポカテペトルは二番、三番はその隣にあるイスタシフアトルで5230mになります。ポポカテペトル‐イスタシフアトルの周囲は国立公園となっています）。

山は隣り合わせていて、裾野で繋がっています。プエブラへ行く途中、見る事が可能です。特にポポカテペトルは美しく、富士山をもう少しシャープにしたような、火山らしい姿をしています。しかし、近づいて見てみると、ポポカテペトルよりも、イスタシフアトルの方が、趣があるような気がしました。イスタシフアトルの頂上は女性が寝ているような形をしていますが、見る角度によって、色々な形に変化します。
ポポカテペトルと、イスタシフアトルの間をつないでいる、パセオ　デ　コルテスという道は大変美しい林道でした。残念なのは、大きな松の木が景色を塞いでしまっている事でしょうか。途中、マウンテンバイクのレースを開催していたので、ゆっくりと進まなければなりませんでしたが、それが幸いしてか、ポポカテペトルが噴火する瞬間を見る事が出来ました。以前鹿児島で桜島を見た事がありますが、大きさが違う事もあり、ポポカテペトルは更に壮大な感じがしました。

ポポカテペトルへ行く道は現在閉鎖されているので、山小屋のある登山口までしか行く事ができません。

山小屋の駐車場から、右手に噴煙を上げるポポカテペトル、左手にイスタシフアトルが見えます。駐車場で記念撮影をした後は、周囲の森を散策し、戻ってました。勿論今回も愛犬ソロを連れて行きました。彼にとって、標高の高さや空気の薄さは関係ないようです。とにかく走り回って、山の景色と森の空気を堪能したようです。

更に写真を見たい方はこちらのリンクにクリックを→Popocatepetl