I’ve been thinking and thinking about this for weeks, and I’ve finally made the commitment. I am heading to Morelia Mexico!
The tentative plans for the trip are to visit two different Monarch Butterfly colonies in addition to a bunch of cultural activities.
You may remember that last year there was severe flooding in Mexico and I’m hopeful that this doesn’t occur again.
Honestly, I’m quite excited about this trip, but also extremely nervous. I’ve hardly been out of Texas before, much less a foreign country. Yea, there’s that little issue about drug cartels killing folks too, but I’m not as worried about that.
What I am most worried about is lugging around all my camera equipment and hiking several thousand feet up the mountains. I plan on bringing my 17-55mm and 100-400mm lenses, and possibly my 100mm macro lens, and possibly even renting a 500mm lens. So let’s add this up, 500mm lens weighs 8.6lbs, 100-400mm lens weighs about 3lbs, and let’s say another pound or so for the 17-55mm lens. Then you add in the camera, additional camera equipment and I’m guessing I’m going to be lugging around about 17-20 lbs.
Lugging around 20 lbs for a short walk may not be so bad, but a few miles over a few days? Something tells me I’m going to be exhausted! It’s too bad I can’t bring Sascha with me, I could just attach all my equipment to her and have her pull it up the mountains.
Oh, speaking of Monarchs, we have 5 Monarch caterpillars right now. They are in the outdoor Butterfly enclosure. We’ve had some cold and rainy weather here lately, so we’ve been covering the top of the enclosure with a clear shower curtain. It actually makes a nice little rain cover, and hopefully it’s been keeping some heat in there.
The weather is also the reason for the lack of pictures lately. There hasn’t been a Butterfly in sight, it’s just too cold for them to fly I think.
Next week is vacation time, and I’m planning on getting my immunization shots and heading off to a view locations to take some pictures of birds (and Butterflies if it’s not too cold). I decided to practice with this 500mm lens, so I’m renting it all next week. We shall see if I can actually hand hold this monster while taking pictures, or if I absolutely must use a tripod. If I have to use a tripod and decide to replicate this in Mexico, just plan on more weight being added to my pack (and the pain in my back).
So, next week I should have quite a few postings with pictures if the weather cooperates.
By the way, has anyone reading this blog ever been to Mexico to view the Monarch colonies? If so, I’d love to hear about your experiences, any advice you may have, etc.
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