After enjoying the full morning at the Leon International Hot Air Balloon Festival, we had to find a way to keep the kids entertained for the rest of the afternoon (until the evening balloon show). The Leon Zoo was doing a small exibit on the balloon grounds, and the kids clearly enjoyed looking at the amphibians they were displaying.
Next up? The Leon Zoo!
We bought a joint pass for the general zoo, as well as their “Safari”. We first ran into this big dude–a tapir named Scooter. Apparently he is a seasoned actor–and was featured in Mel Gibson’s “Apocalypto”. Apparently his character was hunted killed in the movie (well, his animatronic replica was killed), because a tribe needed to eat the tapir’s testicles for fertility reasons. Yeah, seriously.
Groups of teenagers were everywhere–notebooks in hand–obviously there with a school group, with an assignment. This lone kid was feeding some animals, and kindly shared his treats with the girls, so they could feed them, too!
This giraffe cracked us up. He was very social, and liked munching on the top of the security gate.
Ella made friends with a deer. Whenever she would run by his gated field, he would run alongside her. Over and over! Who knew deer could be so friendly?!
Ethan enjoyed the animals, too.
This guy was totally at peace in his painted oasis.
Perhaps one of the highlights was feeding the bears. I know it goes against all we have been taught from our Alaska years…but at least the bears were a moat-distance away! We purchased big pellets, and the kids tried to throw them far enough for the black bears to eat them. The bears had to go swimming for most of them.
Next, we went on their African Safari at the Leon Zoo. It is an entirely different gated entrance and requires a separate pass. We all picked up a bucket of food, and got in a safari bus with bench seating and no windows to separate us from the “beasts”.
The animals are well-accustomed to this special attraction (meaning, us in the bus), and came to get food from all of us! Funnily enough, the hard part was keeping the bucket in our hands, because the animals would start chomping on the plastic bucket, and almost tear it away from us! We were really hoping the giraffes would come eat, but they were disinterested in us that day.
But this guy? He was BEGGING for food! He was soooo pushy, I almost didn’t want to give him any.
But how can you turn down a face like this?!
love your blog….and your move to Mexico:-) Congratulations! My husband (Mexican born) and I (US born) lived in Mexico for almost a year…in Leon to be precise and loved it. We are now blessed with a 2 year old daughter and are desperate to get back to Mexico for good-we too love the lifestyle, the family, the culture-we love it all! Curious what it is you do to make a living….we don’t need the fancy life but a simple one with a minimum income would be great! We just can’t seem to make the plunge until we have some idea of how we can exist financially once we make the move. Your thoughts–appreciated:-) Take care and enjoy Leon. We will be there next week to visit my husbands’ family!!
HI Kelly! Yay—you’ve lived in MX! You know how wonderful it is! I hope you can swing things to return there soon!
Yes, work in MX is not easy to find. We were just interviewed on another blog regarding how we make our income. You can read the details here.
Our work situation is great–because we brought it with us (and get US-style wages…which makes our stay here easier). Any chance your job/jobs in the US could become portable? Leon is such a fantastic city when it comes to making leather goods…there is surely an opportunity for export! Enjoy your vacation to Leon!