Llamas at Machu Picchu~

Being an animal lover, I enjoyed the llamas running free at Machu Picchu. They are the oldest and longest inhabitants of Machu Picchu. They are not intimidated by human visitors and although they don't want to be touched, they will let you up close to take pictures.

When I was taking this picture, the llama was on a level about to my shoulders and I was on the lower part. The llama was grazing and I was shooting pictures. I was moving around and he/she was just nonchalanting grazing. There were some steps and I moved in front of the steps to get a little closer. He/she decided to come down to my level and I was in front of the steps, blocking the way. She paused, looked at me, looked at the steps, turned to the wall, and jumped down. She (he) landed, buckled her legs a bit, and hopped up and strode off continuing to graze.

Two days before we visited Machu Picchu, there was a baby llama born! Although this isn't a great picture, you can see him on his still wobbly little legs. That's his mother in the lower right hand corner. Needless to say, he doesn't ressemble his mother.
The area that mother and baby were in was more of an enclosed pen and people weren't allowed up close.

I love the expressiveness of the llama in this picture. The taller one displayed the typical aloof attitude of most of the llamas. The one in front looked at me as though to say, "Whatchu lookin' at?"

Here you can see llamas grazing on the agricultural terraces.

Here we are leaving Machu Picchu and you can see Grant telling the llama good-bye. The llama did not want to appear interested in Grant.

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