Zoo day

Hungry gorilla

Today, in an attempt to cheer up Tom, we decided to go to Loro Parque, it was voted Europe's best zoo and the second best in the world so we were expecting it to be good.  It was certainly the most pristine zoo I've ever been too, felt like it had only just opened as all the facilities looked brand new.

First of all we had to get there, what better way than on a bright yellow road train which was free?  It only took about 15 minutes, all up hill.  A lovely way to see the town.  We joined the queue for the tickets and then headed in.  We started off saying hello to the gorillas - who were very good to us, walking on 2 legs to get leaves from the middle of a bush - they must have been good.  The on to the penguins where we stood on a moving walkway to take us around.  Here they had real snow falling onto the colony where there were a huge mix of penguins: Marconi, Humboldt, King and others.  One of the keeper's jobs was to shovel the snow around the colony for the penguins - must be a bit of a surreal job to have on an island where it is never winter!  We really enjoyed watching them, and then noticed an area where there were puffins.  I have never seen puffins in a zoo before?  When you watch them diving under the water, they look exactly like penguins, just smaller.

Smiling sloth

Next stop was the sloths.  We were really excited to see them as they are Tom's favourite animal at the moment and we didn't tell him they were here just in case we didn't find them.  They were actually really good to watch, they were moving around their enclosure, albeit slowly, but they were doing things, and with their goofy grin, they really are endearing.

Next was the Sea Lions and a show which was very well done, all done to music and well choreographed (in fact all the shows were like that, which is probably why they are so high up the list of the best zoos).  We then found ourselves a German restaurant for lunch.  Meatballs for the boy, schnitzel for me and roast chicken for the the big boy - we all stuffed it down and then headed for the Orca show which was very well done, we sat at the back of the splash zone, thinking we would probably be OK.  We got a little splashed, but nothing too bad (Matt's camera got a bit wet which was worrying, but it seems to be working OK).  Tom loved it.

Orca show

Next we went to see the big cats including a white tiger, but we couldn't see it.  However, the dolphin show was just about to start, so we sat down for that (very well done again) and by the time we came out the white tiger was prancing around, much to our joy - both Matt and Tom love a big cat.  There was also a Black Jaguar, but it was hiding up a tree and was not going to come down!

We then stopped for an ice-cream.  Tom decided on an ice lolly, somehow the ice lolly got stuck to his lips (think of the effect of licking a piece of frozen metal).  I couldn't get the lolly unstuck by pulling etc so in the end had to lick his lips to warm them and the lolly up to get the lolly unstuck from his lips.  What a carry on, have you ever seen that happen to anyone else?!  Luckily he didn't get upset, he just laughed, but how bizarre.

Dolphin show

Next up was the Loro show, Loro meaning parrots which was fun.  There was a great sense of humour running through it which was quite an achievement considering they were doing everything in 3 languages.  I think this was my favourite show as the parrots and other exotic birds got to fly directly overhead us all, we could feel their wings flap as they zoomed past us.

By now it was getting on for 5.00, so we quickly did what was left, which was the alligators, more parrots and the aquarium.  However, Matt was beginning to feel really tired and washed out so we headed back to the entrance and got our little yellow train home.  When we got back to the hotel, Matt crashed, he said he felt really tired and he didn't look great to be honest.  He had a bath and then we headed down for dinner at 7.30.  Today we didn't have any alcohol as Matt was feeling so bad (he really must be ill), they had fresh calamari on which was really good, I ate loads of it with salad.  Tom did well too - he plumped for pizza and battered calamari.  Matt had a small amount of salad and calamari too.

White tiger

We then went to reception so that Matt could have some tea (he has been missing his tea - poor thing) Matt fell asleep straight after drinking it, we had to wake him up to take him back to the room!  Tom went straight to bed and Matt followed not long after after taking some drugs.  Let's hope he has a good night's sleep and is feeling better in the morning.