P&C friend and contributor ilb recently returned from a medical mission in Peru, where he still found the time to take these pics for posting here. All of my contributors should be so generous!! And he gave me my first Alpaca! Thanks much ilb! His commentary precedes his pics, (or picks, an inside joke between ilb and I) without all my exclaimations (my apologies for the coding I can’t make disappear)……take it away ilb:

The first 2 pic(k)s are of working animals. They are called Alpacas. It’s a domesticated version of Llama — a bit smaller. For some small change the tourist can take a picture of the girls with their Alpacas. Even small change is a big deal for some of the locals.9” title=”photo⁹” width=”225” height=”300” class=”aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3672” />8” title=”photo⁸” width=”225” height=”300” class=”aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3673” />

He was my breakfast buddy.7” title=”photo⁷” width=”225” height=”300” class=”aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3674” />6” title=”photo⁶” width=”225” height=”300” class=”aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3675” />

Some animals are lucky in Cuzco.5” title=”photo⁵” width=”225” height=”300” class=”aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3676” />

Some, not so much. But what was reassuring is that all stray dogs (we didn’t see too many stray cats) looked well fed. Not groomed, but most of them are hanging out close to many local restaurants, so they get their share.4” title=”photo⁴” width=”225” height=”300” class=”aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3677” />3” title=”photo³” width=”225” height=”300” class=”aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3678” />2” title=”photo²” width=”225” height=”300” class=”aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3679” />
Crossing the streets in Cuzco isn’t an easy proposition, seemingly the cars have much more privileges than pedestrians, let alone animals. So the dogs adapted. These dogs have nothing to do with me (well, maybe except we gave them some lunch leftovers). But they waited patiently until I started to cross and after we all got to the other side of the street, they just continued on their own.1” title=”photo¹” width=”225” height=”300” class=”aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3680” />

I’ll tell you, our pets do not know how good they have it! This pic(k) demonstrates that well. It’s the latest picture of Casey after we returned home. I hope you are comfortable, buddy!

Ilb, it looks like wee Casey wouldn’t last half a day on the streets of Cuzco! Thanks again for the effort and the great post.