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Published: January 27th 2017
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Today we took the bus back to one of our favorite off-the-beaten-trail places, Barra de Potosi. Our timing was perfect. We walked out of the hotel and the bus to Petatlan was just coming around the corner. Most drivers decorate their buses a bit. Some have religious icons by the front window, some have stuffed animals hanging. This bus had a lacy red curtain with birds and flowers over part of the window. It also had a baby shoe and small toy hung over the mirror. All buses play music, some much louder than others. $2 took us both to our destination. We knew where to get off and how to get the truck, but the bus assistant pointed the stop out, even got out of the bus to show us where to pick up the truck for the beach. Very helpful.
We jumped on the truck for our ride to the beach. If a passenger wanted to get off before the end, he stomped his feet on the floorboards of the open truck and the driver would hear.
We walked down the beach a bit and found a place with hammocks, a priority for Bob. This place, Margarita,
was a family-run business. Our server, a very friendly young lady named Chile, spoke very good English, so we didn't get much chance to practice our Spanish!
We saw on the menu that they had boat rides on the lagoon. We had a tour in a large, very comfortable boat with padded benches and a sun shade over part of the boat. Chile came with to give us some good information on the area and the bird species, while her nephew Nicolas drove the boat. The lagoon was lined with mangrove trees; there are four species of mangrove.
We saw many fishing boats, fishing for grouper, mullet, and pollock. They get their shrimp at night, or before the sun rises. There used to be shrimp farms in this area, but they are no longer allowed. We rode for about a half hour, but the lagoon goes back for about ten miles. You can see mountains in the background, so the area is very picturesque.
We saw numerous birds on our trip--egrets, terns, seagulls, storks, blue and green herons, pelicans, cormorants, and frigates. The male frigate is all black, while the female is black and white. Chile threw small
fish into the water by the boat and the pelicans came flocking in. A great trip for bird lovers like us!
A few vendors strolled the beach selling hammocks, peanuts, jewelry, and ceramic articles. We later had a delicious shrimp lunch. The shrimp were very large and very fresh, probably from last night's gathering. This was the perfect spot to enjoy the beautiful scenery, eat some great food, and do a little reading.
Bob
Etymology 101
Monarch butterflies mostly eat milkweed which is toxic to other animals and insects. They store it in their outer skin, so not only do they have little competition for it, it protects them from preditors.
The migration cycle for the butterflies is remarkable. If you start in the summer months in the Great Lakes region or Canada, they feast on milkweed until fall and then leave. People in the north did not know where they went until the 1940's when they finally traced them to the mountains of Mexico. They travel about 100 miles per day riding hot air currents in colonies of up to 4 million butterflies. They call these butterflies the Methuselah generation because they can live
up to 9 months. When they arrive in the mountains of Mexico in November, the people didn't know where they came from and folklore had it they were the return of their ancestors. They have a festival to mark the arrival called Day of the Dead.
In Mexico they are mostly dormant during the winter months until about February when the weather warms up. Until then they are usually clustered in huge clumps attached to pine trees.
Then they breed and then they and their offspring fly north to the southern US to feed on milkweed. These butterflies breed but only live for about a month but their offspring follow the newly grown milkweed north. This cycle continues until it gets cold and it is back to the Methuselah generation.
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