We visited the Mariposario de Benalmádena which is Europe's largest butterfly park. They have more than 1,500 exotic butterflies from around the world, a komodo dragon, tortoise, wallaby, and a couple chameleons. They exhibit all the life cycle stages and when they locate an egg or cocoon they will put them all in a case for safe keeping until they come out. As Eric Carle (a foremost expert on caterpillars) writes in The Very Hungry Catipillar, "[the caterpillar] built a small house, called a cocoon, around himself. He stayed inside for more than two weeks. Then he nibbled a hole in the cocoon, pushed his way out and he was a beautiful butterfly." Most species of butterflies have an average life expectancy of only two weeks.
An interesting neighboring attraction was the Buddhist Kalachakra stupa built in 2003. This was the first of its kind built in the western hemisphere. A stupa is a monument which represents peace, prosperity and harmony, as well as being a place for meditation. Stupas are typically sealed structures, the Benalmádena Stupa is unusual as there is a 100 square metre meditation room and a room that can be used for exhibitions about Tibetan Buddhism and Himalayan culture inside the structure. All of this was totally new, and unexpected, for us to learn.
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