Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, Mexico

MONARCH BUTTERFLY BIOSPHERE RESERVE (Mexico)

Every year in late-summer or autumn, monarch butterflies make a north-to-south migration. Hundreds of millions of these fly thousands of miles to overwinter in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve on the border of Michoacán and the State of Mexico, 60 miles NW of Mexico City. They breed along the way: no single individual makes the entire trip.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)

Campeche Fort, Mexico

CAMPECHE FORT (Mexico)

Campeche City on the western side of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula was founded in 1540 by Spanish conquistadores on the site of a pre-existing Maya city; that Pre-Columbian city had 3,000 houses and various monuments, but little of it remains. The Spaniards lived inside the preserved city walls, which protected it from pirates, while the natives lived outside, where their churches still stand.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)

Puebla, Mexico

PUEBLA (Mexico)

The Mexican city of Puebla was founded in 1531 in an uninhabited spot about 60 miles east of Mexico City (which itself was conquered only a decade earlier), at the foot of the Popocatepetl volcano. Its historic center is home to fine old religious architecture, including a cathedral, an archbishop's palace, and many more, as well as houses covered in tiles.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)

Casas Grandes, Mexico

CASAS GRANDES (Mexico)

Spanish for "Great Houses," this site (also called Paquimé) in Chihuahua was built after 1130, enlarged after 1350, and abandoned around 1450. It was linked to Mogollon culture sites in Arizona and New Mexico, USA. At its height it had about 2,000 adobe rooms, ballcourts, platforms, mounds, and a market area. About 350 smaller settlement sites have been found in the area.

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Tequila, Mexico

TEQUILA (Mexico)

For four centuries an industry in Tequila, Mexico, has grown and distilled fine spirits from the blue agave; for two millennia it has brewed fermented drinks (like pulque) and produced cloth from the plants' fibers. This culture is part of Mexican national identity. Remains of temples, ceremonial mounds, and ball courts of the Teuchitlan culture (200-900 CE) are also found here.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)

Popocatepetl Monasteries

POPOCATEPETL MONASTERIES (central Mexico)

Fifteen colonial monasteries in the central Mexican states of Morelos, Puebla, and Tlaxcala are located on slopes south and east of the Popocatépetl volcano. Built in the 16th-century by Augustinians, Franciscans, and Dominicans to evangelize the area, almost all feature a very large atrium--actually a chapel for outdoor services for the natives--in front of the church.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)

Teotihuacan

TEOTIHUACAN (Mexico)

Teotihuacan means "the place where the gods were created." It is a holy city located in a valley outside of Mexico City. It reached its zenith in the first few centuries of the Common Era, and may have been the sixth-largest city in the world at the time. It is known for its monumental temples and pyramids, built on a geometric layout.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)