Category: budget travel

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Rozario

Hunting Butterflies

Our adventure with tiny busses continues with a video I called, “I guess it’s cheaper than building a gas station…”

Is it bad when you step off a tiny bus into a tinier village and immediately realize that you’re lost in the middle of a rural area in a country that you’re basically unfamiliar with looking for something that you can’t describe to locals due to your lack of higher-level language skills?

Leaving the GPS on the boat was probably not the best plan. Not that we knew the GPS coordinates of this place to start with. Good thing Tiffany speaks some Spanish. However before talking to the locals and finding out where the heck we are, she was so inspired by our recent church explorations that she decided to give us her personalized musical lyrical accompaniment to that well known Catholic tradition of the ringing of the church bells.

We did eventually find a bus that would take us up into the mountains and to the butterfly sanctuary…a transit that I would describe overall as ‘harrowing” to say the least and that answered my unasked question of “why haven’t I seen any roller coasters in Mexico?”

It was worth it though. As I said in an earlier post, I was not expecting much from this butterfly sanctuary as I had spent a few years of my childhood living in Monterey, CA. Which is a town known for its annual Monarch butterfly migrations. What I did not know is that all those Monarchs from Monterey get together with all the other Monarchs from all over North America, all over the entire continent mind you, and they all hang out on this random hill in Mexico for a few months every year. Words like “massive swarm” are not commonly applied to butterflies…in this case though, the word does not adequately describe the sheer volume of Monarchs on this quiet hill in Mexico. No one knows how many are actually here but the best estimates place the number between 7 and 20 million butterflies. Even those numbers do the place no justice in providing you a mental picture, so here is my best attempt with a video camera:

-Greg

(As we headed back toward the coast, we had yet another surprising bus experience…

~ Tiffany)

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Birthday & Updates to the site

If you had told me a year ago that I would spend my next birthday sitting in a 40 kilometer wide lagoon in Rangiroa, French Polynesia on a sailing yacht I might have agreed it was possible, but I certainly wouldn’t have put any money on the odds. This year has been one heck of a ride: I started out 12 months ago starting to see the results of years of hard work and sacrifice pay off…just to be reminded what it feels like to be betrayed by someone you trust implicitly a few months later. However, this time, I also had the rare privilege of experiencing what it feels like to have a friend stick by you when all hell breaks loose and things fall apart. I have opened offices, employed people, and had someone tell me I am the reason their children are fed and their marriage still exists. A pastor told me that killing someone might be seen as justifiable in God’s eyes but that local law enforcement might not be so open to the idea. I needed to hear it more than I realized at the time. I have learned some Spanish, can hold a simple conversation in French and have been told by a Polynesian that I make “good music” with one of his instruments. I still don’t know how to read music. I have read more of the Bible than ever before and have earned my SCUBA certification in one of the most idyllic diving paradises in the known world. I have been reminded how well Tiffany and I can work together in our element and we won a sailing race! We now know what 1 million monarch butterflies look like when viewed from a hill top at once and that not all Mexican busses have livestock aboard, in fact few do. Tiffany and I have sailed across the equator and crossed an ocean in a 44 ft sailboat.  We’ve made some great new friends along the way while missing those we left behind a lot more than we realized.  Right now Tiffany is cooking me a key lime pie with the last of the lime juice we brought from Mexico.

Like I said, it’s been a heck of a ride. I certainly would not say I wouldn’t change a thing, because I would.  I can say I played the hand that was dealt me as well as I could and I’ll keep doing just that.…which brings me around to this blog. I have put a lot of thought and effort into revising this journal and I have come to the conclusion that the progress desperately needs to keep up while at the same time allowing you to see the sights I see and hear what I hear. I don’t want you to just read about what I’m doing, I want you to experience as much of this trip as possible and I want to give you more than just the words I find on a lot of other blogs. I have some massive updates for this little video journal that are ripe for the happening. One little challenge: I am in the butt-arse end middle of nowhere right now and it takes about 3 hours to send a simple email! However, wheels are turning, assistants are being contacted and alternate forms of delivery are being arranged. Expect to see changes in the middle of June. We’ll see how well it goes and this is the basic plan:

1) Entries will be parsed down to the best 10 or so videos for each place I’m at.

2) All entries will be accompanied by text and posted together so you get a more complete story all at once instead of piecemeal.

You’ll be able to browse entries at your leisure and keep up with our travels better than you have been while putting in less effort. I need your help with this though: I need your comments so I know what it is you are looking for. What do you want to see of French Polynesia, the South Pacific, Australia, Asia, Russia, etc? People, cultural events, scenic vistas or more of me getting myself into amusing situations? Hey if nothing else, drop me a note for a happy birthday. My ability to respond is limited (being as I am on an island several thousand miles away from the nearest continent or even 1st world country) and I do read what you all say.

Thanks for sharing the adventure.

-Greg

PS – what do you think of me working at a remote outpost in the middle of the Australian outback for a few months?  Just curious.

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