Saturday morning a group from our university hopped on a bus at 4:30AM to see one of nature’s wonders: the migration of the monarch butterflies in Valle de Bravo. I was so excited to wake up early (well, somewhat), go to a place that’s four hours away and watch a bunch of insects that fly around and look pretty. How wonderful that there were two busloads of people crazy enough to do the same thing.

A butterfly decided to land on Mari's camera.

Absolute beauty.

We arrived in the countryside outside the town of Valle de Bravo at the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary. A group of us decided to go up on horseback (which made this country girl very happy) and after two hours of riding through woods we arrived at our destination to see the monarch butterflies.

We got off our horses and just stopped-in wonder. In the warm, morning sun we saw the mountains and we saw the pine trees. However, this colorful profusion of monarch butterflies fluttering around like busy people on a New York City street enticed us and lured all of our attention to their beauty.

Despite a large group, we quietly explored the area as monarch butterflies fluttered and landed on us providing several quality photo opportunities. We further explored the area, walking in silent wonder to see trees be replaced with thousands of monarch butterflies draped across their branches in orange and black. As they danced around likes leaves in the fall air, the movement of their fluttering created a soft and gentle noise. Here was peace and solitude.

Branches were draped with monarch butterflies!

It’s somewhat interesting because the ancient Greeks called butterflies “psyche” meaning soul or mind. Being completely surrounded by thousands (millions??) of monarch butterflies at one time somehow awakened my psyche. It’s neat to see one butterfly flying around but so many at one time is just absolute and pure beauty and you can’t help but feel something.

Nature has a funny way of making us feel that something. Maybe I sound like a weird guru talking about the power of butterflies, but think about it. It takes ambition for a delicate butterfly to travel the distance from the harsh north to sunny Mexico. It’s no trip in the park for sure. However, what amazes me is that the monarch butterflies have this inner strength that empowers them to complete such a difficult task yet still remain graceful.

It’s a unique lesson in how we should shape our minds and spirits. They still dance and flutter around despite their difficult journey. Stay strong for the long and demanding tasks for life, but always keep that poise and grace-always.

Crazy how a little butterfly can set our minds and souls right.