The Camelids
I probably don’t talk about the animals as much as they make their way into my life on this trip. Sure, when I get hit by a gorilla, that makes news, but I do see a lot of animal life. I’ll discuss what I saw in Manu National Park soon. For now, I am a bit peaved over the Manu experience due to the operator and what happened getting us out of Manu (I am suppose to be in the air going to San Francisco right now, but I am instead in a hotel in Lima) and I’ll wait for that to pass. I have been quite happy with most of my camelid experiences so here we go…
There are four South American Camelids – Llama, Guanaco, Vicuna and Alpaca. The llama and guanaco are closely related as are the vicuna and alpaca. Of the four, I saw the least amount of guanacos. I only saw them in Patagonia. They are wild and live in open areas. I saw quite a few of them in Patagonia mainly in herds of bachelors or single males with his harem and offspring. They look a lot like a llama to this untrained witness until they are running. They seem to run a lot like a horse to me and I saw them jumpiong over two meter high fences just like I see horses in jumping competitions. They rear up on their hind legs and then gracefully leap. I was quite impressed. Since they are wild, I was never closer than in a car when they were near a road.
The llama is everywhere in the Andes. It is domesticated so you see them in fields like cows. They are used for hauling things so you also see them with native people. They are also used as props in touristy places like Cusco where a native woman or child in full indigenous clothing is sitting on a corner with their llama ready to be photographed… for money. Once in a while you will also see a child with one in her blanket on her back – a baby llama that is. They are incredibly cute especially the younger ones although I am usually quite wary expecting one to spit at me or for a parent to attack me when I am petting their child. Llamas are a big animal so they deserve the respect even if they are normally quite friendly. Whereas guanacos are not used for their wool, llama wool is used regularly and they are sheared like sheep.
A more superior wool is harvested from alpaca and vicuna. In fact, baby alpaca is on par with cashmere in quality and vicuna is considered the best wool in the world. Vicuna wool is also incredibly rare and expensive. Alpaca and vicuna are smaller relatives of the llama and guanaco. Alpaca, like llama, are domesticated while the vicuna is a wild animal. Alpaca are relatively common although I understand they must live above 4000 meters and you don’t see them in Cusco parading around with indigenous people for photos. I find it difficult to tell some of these animals apart other than by size and that can even be difficult when they are not together or you’re talking about a young llama and large alpaca. Locals know the difference right away. Something for me to work on. Alpaca are common enough for many relatively inexpensive, but high quality products like sweaters and blankets to be on the market especially in Peru. Sheep wool is quite low-quality in feel (rough), smell (sheep wool gets stinky) and water-resistance (none) than llama and alpaca and baby alpaca wool is really easy to identify due to the feel. I have not touched anything vicuna, but it must be quite amazing. There have been die-offs of vicuna lately in Peru so their use for wool becomes even rarer.
Supposedly, all of these camelids will spit at you. I kept my distance and warned others to do the same even when they seemed so cuddly. I started to think it was a BS story. I know when I saw Liz taking photos of a baby llama and it was getting way too close I pulled out my camera thinking I would be able to catch her getting spit on or being attacked by mama llama. I was too far away to warn her so I resorted to at least trying to catch the moment! Nothing happened except we pet the baby and mama llama and papa llama seemed pleased. Some good close up photos, too. That was in Argentina Puna when the bus broke down so it wasn’t too much later in Bolivia’s southwest that I finally let my guard down. A vicuna (at the time I thought it was an alpaca since vicuna are wild) walked up to me in a village with a salt museum somewhere around the salar. It was obviously a pet regardless of which camelid species. He was so cute and came up within a couple of feet of me so I stuck my head down to his level and talked to it just like Dr Doolittle. All of a sudden his mouth formed a perfect O and he let a loogie fly hitting me directly in the face. Why you little %#@!^&*()((*&&^(*&&)^&#!!!!!!!!!!! I was kind of pissed off, but more stunned than mad after months of being wary for no reason and one finally got me and it was a little cute guy at that. Luckily, I had my glasses on and it did not get in my eyes. I’d like to think that he saw two of his kind in my glasses and that is what he was spitting at, but that’s kind of wishful especially since he soon thereafter kicked another tourist catching him in the thigh very close to what I am sure was the intended target. I think it would be better to keep the wild vicunas wild.
Tags: south america, Travel
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