Day 8: Loro Parque

The clock alarm went off at 7.15, and after breakfast we went to the bus stop waiting for the tour bus to pick us up. Other buses stopped by in the meantime to pick up other guests. All of them were going to the Loro Parque! We finally were picked up too, and the 1.5 hours of drive went by quickly.

The weather was cloudy. Right at the beginning we were queued for a picture with two large parrots. We went to the gorillas first, but the penguinarium fascinated me much more: They had built an artificial (or arcticficial) iceberg island for the penguins, surrounded by a glass cylinder, outside of which the visitors could stand on a treadmill that slowly drove them around the island. Some animals stood right below artificial snowfall that came down from dedicated holes in the ceiling, and they really seemed to enjoy it. They didn’t mind the workers in their water that cleaned the large windows from the inside.

We attended the entertaining orca show, as some visitors didn’t seem to have noticed the warning signs indicating the “splash zone”. Generally, we noticed that the name of the park doesn’t reflect the current situation anymore, as it is more a family entertainment zoo today, rather than just a bird park. However, there are still lots of colorful birds in many aviaries all around the place. The signs read that some of them only have a tiniest natural habitat left. You really fall in love with those beautiful birds, more than ever when you see them babbling in their cages or when they fly over your heads in the loro show.

The park also shows a variety of local vegetation, tropical plants and alien cacti. We had a snack, and at the exit we attended a poll. However, I think that the visit of such a place is just more fun if you have children at your side. The drive back to the hotel went by quickly again, but the air conditioning in the buses is much too strong for the feel of a European.

Back to Adeje I had the pictures burnt on CD, and we went out for dinner to the La Gran Paella again. We noticed that this restaurant was rather popular, as the guests were waiting in groups for the next table to be cleared.