The Butterflies Were Everywhere

We learn the spicy secret about butterfly migration and I discover something I'm good at.

HOLA, HOLA, HOLA

Hello from Mexico City! If you like butterflies you’re in for a treat, because this week we saw a TON of them. I also ran a Storytelling Workshop and started Mexican Crossfit (which involves a surprising amount of babies).

It’s all in the story section below.

Also, if you’re afraid of butterflies this may not be the newsletter for you.

But first…

MADE ANYTHING COOL LATELY?

Yup! I impulsively decided to enroll in Mexican animation school and I have been very busy drawing cubes and pendulums. These are (apparently) the base of all animation — all movement is pendulums. I also feel bad for the paper industry, because we do everything by hand and I’ve used roughly 1000 pieces of paper already.

This is 72 pages.

However, the big highlight of my year so far (it’s only been a month so I can still say that!) is my workshop.

The Storytelling Workshop

I was nervous at first — 10 strangers were trusting me with their afternoon to learn from an “expert”.

That’s me standing up in case you’ve forgotten what I look like.

The idea for the workshop was simple: “How To Tell Better Stories”. I would go over the basic structure that all stories share (someone wants something, they try to get it, they succeed or fail) and then we would workshop a moment of their life and share it, spoken-style with everyone.

I set my expectations low. I’d count it a victory if a few people showed up. If they learned something and were encouraged to tell more stories in the future, that would be a double win. And, (if it went really well) maybe I could continue to do more of these in the future.

I posted the event… and it sold out that afternoon. Then, as I stood in front of them, I had a strange realization — it felt easy. It was as if I’d been running this event for years. I finally had someone to talk to about story structure. And they’d come willingly!

I think we just had a breakthrough in his story here.

The best part was when people started telling their stories. We did this open mic-style, and I coached them as the story progressed. This turned out to be both entertaining and enlightening. People improved in real-time, the audience got to hear a great story, and the teller learned a bit about themselves in the process.

But the best part, for me, was how natural and fun the process had been. So often, creative projects take a long time and feel disconnected from the audience that will eventually see them. Storytelling — especially spoken stories — results in direct response and feedback. A workshop allows people to improve (also an often lengthy process) in a single afternoon.

As I taught, a great story usually contains some message about how the character changed. As I type this it’s clear that I now have more confidence in myself as a teacher, a bit of direction about future workshops, and the excitement that this road could lead somewhere I never would have imagined a month ago.

I plan on sharing more about the details of “how to tell better stories” in a future post — this is already a long newsletter — so if you’re interested let me know!

THE BUTTERFLIES WERE EVERYWHERE

My fascination with butterflies started simple enough… one of my favourite shows has a character called the Monarch, who was raised by butterflies to become a supervillain.

Yeah, I’m very cool.

I know this is a very silly origin, but it made me more aware of the little creatures. This was then paired with a study of spiders in order to conquer my crippling arachnophobia. I came away with a healthy interest in bugs and an only slight aversion to spiders. However, butterflies are my favourite.

Luckily, in Mexico, everyone feels the same way!

This video reveals a few things: the hike up to the butterflies is a steep climb, people of all ages are present, and they’re willing to wear goofy wings on their back while doing it. People here really like butterflies.

We were in luck because there were a LOT there. Incredibly, these little guys (and girls) fly all the way down from Canada for their migration. It takes them three generations to do the entire cycle. When they get here (in the words of our guide), they “have lots and lots of sex, like a big orgy” before flying to Texas to lay their eggs and die.

What a life!

Don’t worry, this is the only educational part of the story.

Much like the butterflies, millions of people migrate to come see the butterflies in their most intimate moments. To me, this was almost more impressive. The hike was 2 hours uphill and there was everyone from newborns to ancient abuelas (grandmothers) making the climb.

Butterflies, like me, thrive in sunlight. When it’s chillier they clump together on branches and tree trunks, their thousands of bodies keeping each other warm. So, for the majority of the hike up, this is what we saw on the trees:

I borrowed this pic from the Internet. Mine are the same, but from way further away

Because of their orange tint, the thousands of wings made all the trees look like they were in the grips of an unprecedented autumn.

Avvai also got one good picture when we came across a little stream party.

Thirsty mariposas.

At the top we came to a clearing, where the sun was able to shine down. For the first time we got to see how many there actually were… and wow, this has got to be the only place in the world where people will willingly come to be surrounded by millions of flying bugs.

This video doesn’t even begin to do it justice, but it’s the best we have. You can see there are still a lot clumped up on the trees.

The little sign at the start “Hablar en voz baja” means to “speak in low voices”, and amazingly, people were actually listening. Despite there being a hundred people present, it was perfectly silent.

As we headed back down, I noticed that the crowds of people remained quiet, even sometimes shushing the hikers that hadn’t yet made it to the top. It was like we were all carrying down a bit of the awe we’d experienced at the top.

As I walked, I thought about how I would communicate the experience later. I knew the video wouldn’t capture it, and you can’t just say “there were TONS of them!”. Some people would attempt to do this through buying butterfly wing outfits and mariposa-stitched tea towels, while others would pick up the wings of dead butterflies and carry them home (there were quite a few butterflies who didn’t get the memo about dying in Texas).

But for me, I found myself struggling with how to communicate it. It made me want to write a poem, or to buy a better camera. In the end I settled on my usual format — a slightly rambling newsletter story.

BONUS STORY

I joined a gym here and there are many strange things that happen.

CROSSFIT CDMX — THE BABY

The first thing that sets Crossfit Mexico City apart from Crossfit other places is that the Gym Leader is holding a baby. The baby looks fresh, definitely less than a year old, and it's still in that helpless "if you put it down it'll stay down, squirming in the same spot" stage of life.

The Leader took us through the warmup, baby firmly held in her arm. After we were stretched out, and the baby thoroughly shaken up, she went and got a small foldable fence, placed it in the middle of the floor like a mini castle wall, and placed the baby inside of it. She then demonstrated the workout for us. I’m not sure what the purpose of the fence was, since the baby is not even capable of rolling, except perhaps to let us know to be careful in that area.

Then she put on the Crossfit music, which is famously loud. At the same time the people on the gym floor above us began to skip rope, an effect like being inside a blender at a techno concert. The baby stared up at the ceiling in astonishment as the Leader nonchalantly put headphones over its little head. Then, slinging the baby up onto her shoulder, she coached us.

How are our babies back home supposed to compete with this? This child isn’t even one and it can nap with loud noises, crowds, and the constant caresses of sweaty people. Meanwhile, I need a sensory deprivation chamber to have a good night’s rest! Yes, perhaps this isn’t good for its little brain, but there was no doubt that it was calm in the midst of chaos, a skill you need if you live here in Mexico City.

FUN STUFF & RECOMMENDATIONS

ORION AND THE DARK

We watched this last night and loved it. The movie seems simple — the kid who is the MOST afraid of the dark is approached by “Dark” to conquer his fears. However, this movie is written by Charlie Kaufman, who is famous for making complex, high-concept films. (He made Being John Malkovich, which is a film about a guy who gets addicted to using magic door that lets you go into the actor John Malkovich’s head and be him for a short time).

This movie was heartfelt, personal, and full of twists and turns. It’s about parenthood, storytelling, and fear. Definitely a fun one to watch with kids, but at its heart it’s one of those movies that parents are going to get a lot more out of. Highly recommend.

HASTA LUEGO

And there you have it! I hope your weeks have been productive and meaningful. My intention with this newsletter is to share interesting moments with the friends and family that I don’t get to regularly see… so if you have a highlight, win, or strange moment from the gym, please feel free to share it back!

It is a real highlight to hear from you all (Avvai reads the comments too!).

Love you,

Kyle