todopoderoso
You get up in the morning and take a taxi higher into the mountains to the reserve, getting out and walking further up the mountain's roped off trail.
The trail terminates into a small, flat observation area. And if you go early enough, you might wonder where the hell all the butterflies are. But on closer inspection of the tall trees around you, you'll notice most of what you thought were leaves and bark are really clumps and clumps of sleeping (and half-frozen?) butterflies.
Once the sun comes out, these masses of butterflies seem to wake up and stretch their wings, warming them up before descending the mountain in one never-ending flock, landing in a grassy clearing (about 50m back down the trail) to drink from a stream and frolic in the sun. Butterflies will be everywhere, swooping past you in incredible numbers or landing on you -- especially if you're wearing bright colors.
Cool experience, charming little town, and beautiful landscape. As things become more dire for these little guys, might be worth a visit.
I thought Angangueo would've been warm since it's a migratory winter destination, but it's super cold and colder than most of the climates the butterflies abandoned in the north. The place we stayed at had no hot water or fireplace. But a little bit of adversity, like seeing your own breath while trying to fall asleep, makes a travel experience a little richer upon recollection. :)
More serious crime is unlikely to target you. Stay out of the north. And you can always live where the wealthier mexicans live in a city if you're nervous.
Quiet towns like a lazy beach town are pretty safe.
I'm currently based in Pto Escondido, a beach town in Oaxaca.
A good way to get your feet wet is to book an airbnb at one of the beach cities you can fly into, take a taxi down a highway that runs parallel to the shore, and get off at any of the smaller beaches/towns for a day trip. You could do a different one every day and get some work done at a cafe/bar on the beach there.
That way, worst case scenario, you're still at the beach with your touristy creature comforts (e.g. easier to find good network if you need to `npm install` -- half-joking!). But if you end up feeling more adventurous, you can take a taxi and find yourself alone on a tiny beach, which as far as I'm concerned, is one of the remaining wonders of the world.
Of course, the hardest part of travel is taking the first step at all. If it wasn't for finding a job in Guadalajara at a small incubator run by an American in /r/IWantOut, I would probably still be miserably working from a Starbucks table in Austin wondering when I'll have the balls to do something new.
Have you considered just moving somewhere much cheaper? I work from a beach in Mexico, pay almost nothing, and have a nice and slow life. And... it's a beach!
Obviously, there are plenty of places in the world to do this from if Mexico isn't your thing. I have a buddy in Triste, Italy, and another one down the coast in Croatia.
Anyways, I only write this because it seemed like something you want to do but are just looking for some "today's the day" chutzpah. I hope you end up where you want to be one day!
It was truncated in the url-bar enough to look like "www.apple.com".
The landing page, of course, was a clone of the apple.com website with a "Scan Computer" button that did the ol trick of showing you some animations before suggesting you use MacKeeper to clean up 17 viruses.