Alpacaaaaas!

Finally! Cuddling with alpacas! And at a reasonable price, too! Plus, a new hat made of alpaca wool… :)

There were two groups—one English tour group and one Mandarin group. Both guides did a great job and taught us a few interesting things about alpacas. For example, males are gentler than females. Once a female is pregnant, she won’t appreciate the father approaching her—she’ll spit on him. 😁 Alpaca wool is three times warmer than merino wool. And you should never approach alpacas from behind—always from the front.

Our tour guide even demonstrated this on one alpaca before we got to cuddle with the males. It was emphasized several times, in fact. That’s why it was both puzzling and increasingly irritating to watch one couple completely ignore everything we were told—all for the sake of a perfect photo of their child with the alpacas. The mother spent the entire hour yelling at her child to touch an alpaca for a picture, while the father kept touching them from behind, then acting confused when they didn’t like it. Infuriating.

Anyway, after our cuddle session with the males, we moved on to the mothers and their young. Each of us got a bowl of dried grass to feed the little ones—adorable! I had a particularly persistent one sticking with me for most of the time. While most alpacas had a little taste and moved on, mine powered through one and a half bowls of food. ^^

Watching the baby alpacas roam free with that breathtaking scenery in the background—just what I needed.Read more