Paradise Village | Footloose Adventure

Duke

We are moored in the Paradise Village Marina which is part of the Paradise Village Resort in Neuvo Vallarta. We take a walk every morning before hiding out in the Air Conditioning for the hottest part of the day. As you leave the Paradise Village Complex, You pass a sort of mini zoo. Two Bengal tigers Daisy and Duke live in large cages that include his and hers water features where they often lie to cool off. You might not care for the idea of caged tigers, but if you can get past that, it is a rare opportunity to stand next to a mature tiger. In the morning Duke takes a walk along the front wall of the cage. Say his name and he will often respond with a kind of deep purring sound. He seems very interested in our metal dock cart which we often roll by on our way to the market. I don’t know much else about the tigers although there is a book available here. They seem to be in great health, lean and sleek with clean teeth, and paws the size of salad plates. Did you know that male tigers have a white spot on the back of their black ears? Sometimes they sleep on their backs inviting you to rub their belly.

Carolina – Parrot Caretaker

There are also several cages full of parrots. I would guess at least 15. Today I met their primary care taker, Carolina. Carolina gets the birds out of their cages to sit on perches, creating a great opportunity for some parrot portraiture. In my broken Spanish she answered a few of my questions. She was hand feeding them pieces of whole wheat bread. I asked about fruit and she said they get fruit every evening. She also gave each bird some water out of a hose, she thought the birds might drink as much as a quarter liter of water every day. I asked her where the birds come from and she told me that many are rescues. A parrot can live for as much as 60 years, and if an owner dies they sometimes come to the resort where they are carefully cared for. Some of the Parrots are hatched there. Currently there are several youngsters in the population.