Deb Arendas Tells about her peru adventure
PERU – My Heaven on Earth By Debbie Arendas
When my daughter, Char (a graduate of The Ohio State University School of Veterinary Medicine), first asked me if I wanted to go to Peru with her I thought OMG – I would absolutely love to go. Then I thought, would I be able to go? Is it fair to ask my husband to stay home and take care of my animals while taking care of his elderly mother? I mulled over this for about 2 weeks. Then I finally had the nerve to discuss it with him, only to find out he was totally for the idea and encouraged me to go – now I was really worried!! There was one other little problem that bothered me – last January my studs had gotten into the girl’s barn. Nobody looked or acted pregnant and he has delivered crias before – he assured me he could handle it. I left lots of phone numbers for him to call if he needed help – I have the best friends!!
We arrive in the Lima, Peru airport around 1am and will begin boarding procedures to Cusco around 5am so we just sit around in the airport and try to get some sleep. I’m so excited it will be daylight when we fly over the Andes into Cusco. I’ve been having a really weird feeling about going to Peru for the past couple weeks – not sure what it is, but it’s a really odd feeling. The flight into Cusco was absolutely gorgeous and the Andes Mountains are beautiful. It was arranged to have someone meet us at the airport to take us to our hotel. We are met at the hotel by our travel guide who tells us to rest and eat lightly, and insists we drink some coca tea now to help us with the altitude change – we are at about 9000 feet altitude. Dr Bravo will be around in the afternoon to meet with us and make plans for our visit. I’m in Peru and all I care about is going to La Raya…….is there anything else to see?
After meeting with Dr Bravo and our travel guide it was decided we would take a city tour of Cusco after spending a day there for altitude adjustment, then go to La Raya for 3 days. From there we would travel down to Puno and visit the floating islands at Lake Titicaca and then go back up to Cusco and visit Machu Picchu. Then back to Cusco to catch our flight to Lima where we would spend half a day before catching our flight back home. Did you know Lima has casinos??
Ok – plans are made so now it’s time to discover Cusco, so off Char and I go to shop till we drop……….and oh, did we ever shop! There are lots and lots of flea market type vendors set up all over the city in warehouses – some with dirt floors and others with skylights and fountains. You can find anything made with alpaca there as well as high end jewelry. We walked the streets of Cusco day and night and felt safe.
It’s time to test my willingness to partake of the local cuisine. I’m not an adventurous eater and have been a little concerned about what I would eat in Peru. Now we will find out. Char finds a little café she has eaten in before – yes – they have chicken…..I’m safe!! It’s hard to remember not to eat fresh vegetables or fruits – everything needs to be cooked. You can drink bottled soda, but not fountain drinks and only bottled water – even to brush your teeth with. In Peru you either get rice or potatoes as your side and they eat a lot of soup there also. And yes, I did have alpaca while in Peru – 3 times actually! It was delicious.
The day finally comes to go to La Raya. Dr Bravo has been in town and will be going back to La Raya with us. It is about a 2 hour trip and there is a little city called Sicuani that is the last stop before La Raya where we will stock up on water and any snacks we want for our stay at La Raya. It is also the last place for cell phone reception and internet service. A driver will pick us up at the hotel and take us to La Raya. We will be going to an altitude of about 14,500 feet and Dr Bravo is constantly asking us if we feel ok and if we are having headaches. We’ve been taking our altitude sickness drugs since the morning we left home and so far we’re doing great.
Can you hear me now?
As we travel thru the mountains and villages I’m so amazed at the way the people live. So poor and yet they seem content. The countryside is breath taking, the mountains are gorgeous, and the driving is terrifying. The police do not care what speed you travel and if you need to use the left hand lane to make that bend that’s perfectly okay………..and yet we saw not one accident. The city driving is even worse. It’s not uncommon to have 3 cars driving in 2 lanes. Stop signs are rare and traffic lights almost non-existent. What they do have is check points and there will be 4 police cars and 8 officers and they will randomly signal you to pull over – that was scary! They are checking for a drivers license and proof of insurance – I’m not kidding!!
We finally arrive at La Raya – we’ve been referring to it as the compound at home. It is laid out like what I think a compound would be too. Surrounded by towering mountains and set down in the valley is an array of buildings that make up the support area for the 10,000 acres of land known as La Raya, home to 3000 alpacas, 1000 llamas and 500 vicunas. The building we are staying in has about 10 rooms and in the center is the kitchen and dining hall for the students and guests. There are 3 female vet students from a Lima university staying in the same building as we are. The regular vet students are housed dormitory style in other buildings and graduate students have their own building way in the back. Dr Bravo and the 3 teachers have their own rooms in the buildings with the students. There are many other housing arrangements in the back for the workers and their families. Other buildings in the front house the offices and rooms where training and support is given to ranchers, and where the labs are for the students and for research.
La Raya Compound
Since we are the only visitors there at the time we got the room with the private bath and shower. Of course there is no hot running water for the shower and the daytime temps are in the low 50’s and evenings are in the mid 30’s. Thankfully, there is a hot springs to “sort of” bathe in. There are 3 really thick alpaca blankets on our beds – 2 would have been sufficient for me. It was nice to have our own toilet though – even if it didn’t have a toilet seat. Did you know that you do not throw your toilet paper in the toilet in Peru? There is always a trash can provided for toilet paper disposal (that’s when toilet paper is provided) – their septic systems can’t handle the paper.
La Raya Transport
Over the next couple days we visit the birthing alpaca and llama herds. It is a long walk and we are glad we are not having any altitude issues. Since it is the rainy season you go nowhere without boots or a rain coat. Most rains are short lived and just a minor nuisance though. Char got the opportunity to deliver 2 alpaca crias while we are there. It was amazing to see the little dog house type sheds on legs that the herdsmen live in while watching over their herds. They have just enough room to turn around in them and sit up. They are so vigilant over their herds. Every morning at dawn they climb to the top of the mountain that their herd is grazing on to check for anyone that may have strayed over the mountain during the night, and herd them back to the rest of the group. They carry notebooks in their shirt pockets to make notes on any problems any animal may be having, and to record births and deaths. These notebooks also let them know due dates for the individual animals in their herd. Crias are necropsied in the field to try and identify the problem as to why they were lost. Losses are down thanks to donations made to help La Raya develop their own vaccine for the pregnant moms. Every animal has a metal tag bent over their ear that identifies them by number. It also has their month and year of birth. Crias wear a numbered tag hung around their neck with string to identify them. It is placed on them minutes after birth when their navels are dipped in iodine. Pregnant moms are also painted with numbers on their sides for easier identification during birthing season. The attention to detail and record keeping is amazing – and all without computers. When a group of crias reach about 2 weeks of age they and their moms are moved to another pasture.
Coming to see the new cria
All of the breeding alpaca and llama males are kept together. I hear them screaming at each other and can see dots moving across the mountain side as they chase each other. All those acres and the males still find a need to fight with each other. Approximately 1-2% of the alpaca males are kept for breeding and the alpacas are bred to keep the colors true. More of the male llamas are kept – about 5% - based on their color patterns. The more colors they have the better chance they have of being used as studs. Llamas are bred based on 2 wool types – woolly and non-woolly.
3 Generations
On our last day at La Raya we help out with a research project they are starting on the male alpacas. Peru is also selenium deficient and they have developed a mineral shot they are going to inject into a test group of males to see if it helps with fertility. The night before the herdsmen brought down a group of about 40 intact males. Half will be the control group and the others will receive the injection. We help to capture and hold animals while they are recorded in notebooks, tagged and injected by the grad students. A couple of llamas have followed and decided they need to know what is going on and stay to watch the entire process which takes about an hour. Everyone is released, the llamas are happy, and the herdsmen take them back to the rest of the herd. Now we can have breakfast! The cook has prepared an extra large breakfast for us this morning since we will have a 5- 6 hour drive to Puno.
Clouds
Lake Titicaca which is on the Bolivian and Peru border and Machu Picchu are other stories in themselves. People – families live on these floating islands and thrive. The children are becoming educated on the mainland these days and are starting to leave the islands for a more comfortable life on the mainland. They predict that in another 20 years no one will actually live there anymore. It rained most of the time we were in Machu Picchu, but it was still extremely interesting. To think an American discovered it in the early 1900’s while looking for another lost city in the mountains, and the Spanish never discovered it when they invaded Peru. I will definitely have to return there and learn more, but now it is time to return home.
I do not want to leave La Raya. I have had such intense spiritual emotions here – it is my Heaven on Earth and I do not want to leave – ever. I will be back – hopefully this coming January – and I will visit Machu Picchu again, as I felt strong and intense feelings there also. To think I never had a desire to leave the United States, and now here I am ready to pull up roots and move to Peru…………what is pulling me there??
Oh – and when I got home I had 2 new additions in the barn to welcome me back…..and a very exhausted husband. Chuck did a wonderful job of taking care of 2 new female crias and their moms in some of the coldest weather we had all winter. They are named La Raya and Inca Kola of course. And my wonderful friends took a lot of phone calls from him and helped him through – thank you all so much!
