It is my desire to travel the world someday, to experience and see different places and cultures. Mark and I have talked about visiting Italy and the food and architecture. I would love to go back to Switzerland, taking Mark with me, to see the majesty of the Alps against the blue sky. To experience an African safari, seeing the animal that I have grown up seeing in zoos, running in the open is mind blowing. We have also talked about visiting our Compassion children which would take us to countries like Indonesia, Philippines, and Honduras.
I don't know if our life will ever allow us to travel to the places that we dream about, however, there is one more place that has been added to my wish list of destinations.... Mexico. I would love to see the migration of the monarch butterflies to Mexico.
One morning this week, while on the treadmill, there was a documentary on the television about this migration. I was not listening to it, rather looking at pictures as they flashed across the screen. The life of a butterfly intrigues me as I have written about a little here. For me the transformation from the caterpillar to the butterfly is such an amazing metamorphosis. From "ugly" caterpillar, to colorful butterfly, or, being confined to the ground, perhaps even one plant, to a few weeks later having the ability to fly across the continent seems to be one of the ultimate transformations to me.
The closest I have come to this experience was a couple of summers ago when the Minnesota Zoo and Como Zoo had the butterfly garden exhibit. Yes, I did go to both!
To walk into a habitat built just for the butterflies, was so peaceful and soothing to my soul. It didn't matter that there were forty to fifty other people in the exhibit at the time, I didn't even notice. I was transported to a different realm, one where it was just the butterflies and myself. Butterflies floating through the air, resting on shoulders, hats, bags, even hands. It was like a little peace of heaven on earth for me.
When I saw the video of hikers visiting the areas of Mexico where the Monarch Butterflies migrate, I knew, in that moment, that Mexico was added to my list of places to visit. Image so many butterflies filling the air, flying together, meeting up at the end of a great journey to warmer climates. I imagine is an awesome view and a place filled with peace.
Photo from http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/news/2007/june/news_11893.html
Photo from http://idiosynchrony.wordpress.com/2008/01/08/the-butterfly-clock/
Photo from http://standeyo.com/NEWS/10_Animals/100330.butterflies.battered.html by Chip Taylor
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