SchoolsEstela RomeroFebruary 10, 2021

Ambassador Monarchs landing at "Sierra Chincua" Sanctuary!

SchoolsEstela RomeroFebruary 10, 2021

THE VISIT

Dear friends from the North: The treasure box with your Ambassador Monarchs headed next day Sunday, to “Sierra Chincua” Sanctuary. This, as you all may know, is where the second largest colony overwinters at ten thousand feet elevation in the mountains of Central Mexico. This was the second colony discovered by American Scientist and Doctor Lincoln P. Brower after the first colony discovered, “Cerro Pelón” colony, by Dr. Fred Urhquart. The program was very welcomed by parents and grandparents all Ejidatario title owners at their own Sanctuary. Further ahead, an extraordinary group of representative children and grandchildren to Ejido “Cerro Prieto” was already awaiting for Estela to arrive, just as it was with the children from Ejido “El Rosario” the day before. They all were restless not imagining how it would be to receive their Ambassador Monarchs, for the first time, at the very Sanctuary’s facilities!. Had schools been opened, perhaps there would have been no time or no chance to meet here!. Preparations to set the stage with extraordinary guide Constantino’s help took a couple of minutes! Some Ejidatario dads and grandpa’s free at the moment, waiting for visitors to hire themselves as guides, or to hire their horse for a ride, could attend the lesson nearly until the end. Visitors were already arriving and the rest of the staff had to be very attentive welcoming and providing the best service and personal attitude ever. This very special visit right at the Sanctuaries facilities, required, as well as in “El Rosario” Sanctuary the day before, of a thorough review on Monarchs life cycle. “Great-grandpa says that his great-grandpa then used to say that Monarchs were believed by some people to be an inoffensive kind of plague in the forest, arriving in the winter and leaving in the spring. He says they would have never imagined this could be a thing of interest for anyone to come and see, least of all to study!” –Margarita, a young mother bringing her little one stated to the rest of the group--. The rest of the group on the other side, did proud mentioning of our old, pre-Hispanic legend of Monarchs being our souls of our dead ones. “It has got to be so, they arrive accurately on the Day of the Dead, its arrival is so mystical, so impressive, it is one of our favorite festivities!”, students took turns in commenting how they celebrate our ancestral festivity, recognizing Monarchs as main symbol of it; little children listened very attentive, getting little by little, talk after talk, the old legend, just as we pass our beliefs and traditions from generation to generation, by telling stories and listening to them making them main part of our own identity as we are brought up in our families. On we went with the lesson of the season, “The benefits of trees” and a view to the several trees which surround Monarchs at their overwintering spots, besides the Oyamel tree in these coniferous forests, repeating, as in chorus by: “Pinos, Encinos, Tepozanes, Madroños, Cedros, Eucaliptos, Ailes and Sauces and Fresnos”. It was clear that the favorite to Monarchs are the Oyamel trees. The satellite map showing the vegetation of México, would, as at every visit, impressed children telling them how rare and unique this location of ours is for the rest of the world. “¿The benefits of trees?, oh, mmm… water!, air! (o x yg e n, --Estela corrected and made clear for them when mentioning “air”--), erosion prevention!, protection and security!, rain for sure!, contribute to excellent pollination process!, the more trees, the more mushrooms in the summer!, the more medicinal herbs for our medicine practice at home!, protection for animals!”. The group resulted a really extraordinary and participating one as in most cases. Fruit trees were perfectly identified by our students, making clear that creole avocado trees are the only ones considered as being original from our land, always growing wild and not the huge nurseries and farms developed nowadays. Young girls again, identified themselves as former elementary school students receiving their Symbolic Monarchs at school, and now in their 16’s and 18’s, some continue attending school, others decided to learn to run their own businesses with their mothers at the Sanctuary during the season. “We never imagined that our forests and Monarch butterflies would show us that our own natural surrounding, our forests, would provide us with a living being us our own masters, our own little businesses administrators, meeting so many people who admire our peaceful and natural way of life here… Monarchs opened this new world to us and to our children. Our parents were far from imagining this 30, 40 years ago. There is so much to learn around Monarchs and conservation of our local natural reserve…”, parents and a grandpa standing at the back of the group said participating with this testimony before they left and hurried because clients arriving required their services… As at every visit, the group knew that their ambassador Monarchs were right in front of them in the white box, and could not hide their excitement, at writing their own letters to their friends in the North, wondering themselves, asking to each other, if letting them know about their own location, if sharing with them their knowledge on their own forests would give them and idea of their learning and their conservation awareness… “of course it will be very interesting for all the students in Canada and the United States to get to know all of your participation here today; they will get impressed about how your lives are different now to that of your grandparents and great-grandparents, and how your future shall be as long as we conserve all this natural treasure”, --Estela responded to them--. “It is so. The fact that our parents, brothers, husbands and sons can stay at least half of the year working here at our own homeland and if lucky, making a living so that the other half of the year working our fields and growing our backyard animals allow us to not think about leaving our land anymore in search of a job in big cities… that is such a blessing…”, another girl added. These would be the most outstanding participations--. The moment to say good-bye came; delivering them their Symbolic Monarchs, hearing from Estela that “a real plane ticket bought by students and teachers at every school participating in spite of the terrible pandemic conditions ,bringing their Ambassadors in a real plane to our international airport in México city… that every Ambassador is hand designed and represents a singular message, identity, life and description of an area, city, farm, school, back yard at a family home where real Monarchs pass by, make a halt, nectar, sip some water to continue their way south to reach them here after a nearly three month journey looking for the hands of a child, of a girl who, altogether with them in the North, sponsor and adopt the wonderful life commitment of conserving Monarchs’ habitat on this end, of making from nature the main reference in our every-day life…” that is how the goal is reached after flying over 4 thousand kilometers! At doing the group photo, children held their Ambassador monarchs tight in their fingers, lest they could fly off and go into the Oyamel woods right there to join their real Monarch sisters in there, which peacefully spend the peak of their winter staying awaiting for the moment to fly back north and accomplish their mission just as Ambassador Symbolic Monarchs are just doing at a time!. Book donation on “Arboles” an “Escucha hablar a los árboles” was delivered with special respect and memory to the legacy of Doctor Lincoln Brower, founder and pioneer on Monarch butterflies research. Its foundation has made a really special gift to the Ejidatario community of “Cerro Prieto”, whose great-grandparents to our participating children today, got to know him. Two assigned Ejidatario men received the donation with scarce words, but deep emotion and proudness and gratitude. Please find here Symbolic Monarchs 292-300 and 351-358