Journey Mexico Blog

At Journey Mexico, we take a responsible approach to tourism. In addition to luxury vacations, we offer the best options for eco-minded travelers interested in discovering the true essence of Mexico. If you’re new to this term, ecotourism has been defined as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people.”

Ecotourism combines sustainable travel, environment conservation and community improvement into a unified approach that follows these principles:

• Minimal impact to the environment or native communities
• Fosters awareness and respect of the environment and diverse cultures
• Creates a positive experience for both native hosts and visiting tourists
• Raises funds for local conservation efforts
• Empowers the local residents and improves their financial welfare
• Increases awareness of the social, political and environmental climate in the host country

If you’re looking for a true adventure that combines fun and education with community involvement, we can help you find it! Here are the top five ecotourism trips operated by Journey Mexico:

Chiapas Adventure Trip – Ziplines, Waterfalls and Ruins
Immerse your entire being in the allure of ancient Mexico! This tour provides an up-close look at the ancient Mayan ruins of Palenque as well as the surrounding jungles. Discover the thrill of flying through the canopy on a zipline and swimming at the foot of a majestic, 100-foot waterfall as you traverse this rugged terrain.

Hiking Oaxaca’s Mountains to the Pacific
Over the course of this nine-day trek, you’ll discover remote mountain villages and explore several archeological sites as you bask in the tropical warmth of Mexico’s Southwestern coast. In addition to a very active vacation, you’ll leave this lesser-traveled region with the knowledge that you helped contribute to the progress of the traditional Zapotec communities that populate the Sierra Norte.

The Migration of the Monarch Butterflies Trip
During this tour, you’ll travel to Michoacan to view the fields filled with elegant Monarch Butterflies. Each year, millions of these gentle creatures converge on this single part of Mexico to spend the winter. Your tour guide will tell you more about this miraculous feat, and you’ll also have the chance to explore neighboring Patzcuaro, the legendary “door to heaven.”

Sea Turtles and Whale Watching Adventures
Join the Ocean Revolution to help preserve the delicate ocean ecosystem that lies along the western coast of Mexico. This trip gives you the chance to spot sea turtles and a variety of whales in both the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez as you travel along the coastline of Baja California.

Oaxaca Cycling Excursion
Combine your love of bike riding with your desire for adventure with this tour! Along the way, you’ll travel through a variety of Oaxacan cities, towns and forests to learn more about the interesting culture, delicious cuisine and amazing natural resources of this part of Mexico.

At Journey Mexico, we’re committed to sustainable travel. Whenever possible, we create engaging tours that provide our clients with the trip of a lifetime while minimizing any negative impact that our presence could create. In addition to promoting local prosperity, our eco-tours help increase cultural understanding and cooperation. Join us in preserving the pristine natural areas that make the remotest regions of Mexico truly special! Give us a call today to plan your next adventure.

It’s hard to believe that the dramatic orange-and-black monarch butterflies that flit around your garden make an epic journey each year. Before you even notice a change in the weather, these majestic creatures instinctually start their trek south to sunny Mexico. For many, this is a 2000-mile trip! To provide a safe haven for these annual guests, this country has set aside over 200 square miles of protected land to serve as butterfly reserves.

To witness this spectacle, plan to visit the Michoacan region between November and March. Each year, the majority of the butterfly reserves open their gates from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. during these months to allow the public to get a closer look at the billions of monarch butterflies nestled in the native oyamel fir trees. Near the end of February, the Festival Cultural de la Mariposa Monarca celebrates the peak of butterfly season. Although this week is a great time to experience this phenomenon, it is also the most crowded time to visit.

The two most popular butterfly reserves in Michoacan are El Rosario Reserve and the Sierra Chincua Reserve, but many smaller venues are also open to the public. If you’re visiting Mexico City, a day trip is all that’s needed to enjoy these butterfly reserves. Angangueo, a nearby village, also offers overnight accommodations if you’re staying farther afield or would like to spend more than a single day in the butterfly fields. Most visitors drive to the reserves or take a tour bus. The buses only go as far as Angangueo, but you can easily hire a driver to take you to the field of your choice.

If you’d like to learn more about the monarch butterfly and its annual migration, here are few interesting facts you may not know:

• Temperatures below 40 degrees Fahrenheit can paralyze the monarch butterfly.
• During the migration, these butterflies can be clocked at up to 30 mph but average 12 mph.
• The monarch butterfly can soar up to two miles above the ground.
• Monarch butterflies have a small amount of a magnetic substance in their tiny bodies. Some think this acts as an internal compass to lead them to their winter grounds.
• When the monarch is on the move, it can cover 80 miles each day.

This winter, head south to picturesque Mexico to escape the winter weather just like the monarch butterfly! While you’re there, make it a point to visit these heavenly insects in their vacation home. Contact Journey Mexico today to plan your journey:

From Mexico or international: +52 (322) 225 9821
Toll free: 1-800-513-1587

#MexicoToday: Mexico was recently featured as one of the world’s top five destinations for family eco-travel in a recent article from the Kansas City Star. The article showcases only Playa Viva, an all-inclusive coastal eco-lodge near the Pacific paradise of Ixtapa, yet due to the country’s abundance of natural phenomena, Mexico is home to endless opportunities for families to enrich their knowledge of the way the Earth, its animals, and its people are interconnected.

Focusing on “preserving the cultures, traditions, communities, species and habitats that make this planet worth exploring,” Playa Viva offers a sustainable boutique hotel for families interested in enjoying “Guilt-Free Luxury” while exploring the hotel’s Sea Turtle Sanctuary, where thousands of endangered sea turtles come to lay their eggs each year.

Like Playa Viva, many local initiatives in Mexico have joined together with international non-profits like SEE Turtles and Earth Watch as well as with operators like Journey Mexico to offer travel enthusiasts an opportunity to enhance their holidays with hands-on interaction with many of the Mexico’s ecosystems and their wildlife.

The goals of these trips include:

• To Educate travelers about the fragility of the natural ecosystems of the world and about what we as individuals can do to build positive relationships with these ecosystems
• To get travelers physically involved in the solution through volun-tourism activities like helping aggregate sea turtle census data and monitoring endangered animal populations
• To expose children to new cultures and languages in order to facilitate cultural understanding
• To inspire a lifelong desire to travel and learn about the cultures and ecosystems of the world

Another benefit of eco-travel is that it can often be incorporated with a child’s science, social studies, foreign language, even art and music lesson plans. The Rainforest Alliance, of which Journey Mexico is a member, offers curriculum guides for kindergarten through eighth grade students, which parents can use to enrich the life-learning experiences of their children.

We all know that Disney World is a blast (and I hear the butter beer at The Wizardry World of Harry Potter is awesome) but how much of a real benefit are these mass-market attractions for children? If you’re thinking, “Not much,” I agree. But imagine your children actually petting a Gray Whale in the Sea of Cortez; running, arms raised, through a blizzard of Monarch Butterflies that have migrated thousands of miles to the Mexican countryside; or exploring a Mayan pyramid built hundreds of years before the Common Era. Now those are experiences that change lives for the better. And in Mexico, they happen every day.

The Peggy Notebaert Museum Nature Museum is celebrating the annual migration of the Monarch Butterfly as a natural link between Mexico, the US, and Canada with an exhibit that debuts this Saturday in Chicago. The exhibit is being put on in conjunction with the Consulate General of Mexico and is entitled Sanctuary: Flight of the Monarch Butterfly. The exhibit is designed to “transport visitors of all ages on the wings of the Monarch Butterfly through the perspectives of award-winning Mexican artists” via paintings, photography, multimedia video, and sound installations.

Every year, millions of Monarch Butterflies travel thousands of miles from Canada, across the US, to a sanctuary in Michoacan, Mexico. This unbelievable feat attracts visitors to Mexico from around the globe as the sight of the millions of Monarchs is truly unforgettable.