We heard the trip would take at the most four hours, but at some point skipped the main highway and ended up traveling the entire way on back road with annoying Mexican speed bumps. Mick and Ula drove their sweet van, and the two of them, myself, and three Dutch people crammed in. Don't tell my grandma that I sat in a fold up camping chair in middle of the van all the way to Michoacan — a journey that ended up taking over 8 hours. The Dutch people layed on the mattress in the back and spoke German to each other. We called it a "dutch oven."
In Morelia, the capital of Michoacan.
Stopped for some sandwiches and blended jugos...
I got distracted by great lighting and orange walls...
On the more "scenic route" we stopped a couple times on the side of the road.
Pulled off and camped somewhere close to the sanctuary. It was wet and rainy but we cooked dinner out of the van and drank metzcal. 
The next morning, I realized we were surrounded by pine trees, reminding me of home sweet home.
Finally arrived to the park that morning and got immediately hounded by people selling butterfly trinkets and hiking sticks. (It seriously was a 20 minute hike, all on concrete stairs.) We kept saying, "no gracias," distracting the kids by inviting them all to play hacky-sack. Rosario is the sanctuary that we visited, there's a lot of junk for sale, and a few cool things. 
Giant clumps of monarch butterflies clustered together in tree tops.
Kidnapping number 1.
Kidnapping number 2.
We weren't satisfied with the tourist trail, so we ducked under a roped off area and headed up...
And became eye-level with the mariposas...
In the little town, on the way back from hiking. Kidnappings number 3-4.
She kept getting in my face and grinning and giggling. I gave them all the pesos I had...
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