Monkeys and Macaws and Jaguars, oh my! (o ¡Los monos y los Aras y los Jaguares, ah mi!)

I have a soft spot for zoos, always have, probably always will. My admiration most definitely stems from my childhood, when summer meant sunny days spent with family and friends at the Brookfield Zoo. I still remember watching the polar bears dive into the pool to cool off, and the monkeys on Monkey Island cleaning each other. And, with little prompting I could probably recite the Captain Planet theme from the dolphin shows (although I can't remember what year that was). I carried my love of zoos into adulthood and got a zoo pass to the Milwaukee County Zoo after college. One of my favorite Milwaukee Zoo memories is "Feast with the Beasts" (which, if you haven't been, let me know and we'll plan an outing this summer), and watching the wax animals being created in the 1970s machines.

So, why all this rambling about zoos? Well, I'm lucky enough to be living in a place with one of the best zoos in Mexico. ZooMAT (named for the first director, Mexican conservationist, Miguel Alvarez del Toro) is dedicated to preserving the local wildlife of Chiapas in a natural state. Before people came around, this part of Chiapas had a lot more jungle. The zoo highlights the variety of exotic animals that would have been seen roaming around less that a couple hundred years ago I imagine. For example, at ZooMAT, the spider monkeys swung from tree branch to tree branch out in the open, no cage, no glass. Granted, there was a mote around the large forest area, but I even spied the monkeys in non-exhibit trees. There were giant birds that flew into trees (pictured here), and crocodiles, pumas, cougars, an aviary, iguanas, three different types of macaws, and a creepy insect exhibit that I spent less than a minute in as to avoid terrible nightmares. One of my favorite exhibits was of a sign behind glass that read "Here you can see the most foolish and destructive species, that even threatens to annihilate itself." Of course, looking at the glass, all you could see was your own reflection. ZooMAT was also filled with several gems about protecting our planet and the environment engraved on rocks placed among the fauna. It was great to stumble across them walking on the tree covered paths next to the small flowing creeks.

I capped my zoo trip off with a trip to the concession stand, where I found quite possibly the best invention for a non-chocolate dessert ever: ice cream frozen inside of hollowed fruit. I chose a pineapple. The hollowed pineapple was filled with delicious pineapple flavored ice cream. I unknowingly would receive an entire pineapple (not just half like I thought) for about $3.50US. A bargain in my book.