Peruvian Experience - Page Three
The Allianza co-op Anticalla outpost. We each had a mattress, two blankets, and a pillow. No heat is the norm.
In the morning we look at llamas here then stop at Kantu’s on the way out. I think we then go to Paraca. We rise at 5:30, have breakfast of tuna, French fries & onions mixed and rice. It was pretty tasty. We stop to look at a herd not expecting to find much but end up buying 2 males and 3 females. They had some pretty good Suri llamas and I bought 3 good ones. We head towards Nunoa and stop at Kantu’s on the way. WOW! What a selection. All other Suri’s I picked paled in comparison to what I bought here. I bought Kantu’s mom who looked extremely healthy and her female cria, 2 months old. The cria looks exactly like Kantu, I couldn’t believe it. Then I looked at Kantu’s sister but had to reject her because of a J tail. She looked good too. I then bought another Suri female that had great ears and conformation. They had a very large red Suri male but he was GELDED, Ahh!! I bought another female with a female cria. The mom is an excellent Suri fibred female and the baby is by Kantu and gorgeous. Another female I bought because she had a 2 month old female Kantu cria that is close to perfect. Mom is excellent too, and is white with red patches. All 3 cria, if by Kantu can be fully registered. I took tons of pictures at this stop. We then drove through Rural Nunoa to Paraca where a festival of sorts is going on and we will wait till after lunch to select llamas. The people brought down roasted beef pieces and potatoes for us to eat. Groups started coming and I was hard pressed to find anything to choose. I ended up choosing one after a while just to keep the peace. I also bought a whip for $20 for the hell of it. The weather was fantastic. It was bright and sunny and I got too much sun, but couldn’t avoid it. The festival on the hill continued thru to after noon. There was dancing and music playing all day. We finished up at 2:30 and I was glad to be leaving. I had looked at so much shit today, to get to the seven that I bought.
After the festival, we did select some nice suri stock including this nice suri females from Sebastian Checmapoco Quispe.
The people that didn’t sell acted like I didn’t know what I was doing but they just brought their whole heard hoping I would buy something. You have to feel for them because they came from far away to have me choose but I’m here to buy what I need not make the natives happy. We left to go to Ayaviri and arrived an hour later. We drove thru a hail storm for 25 minutes. Hail the size of peas. Our defrost didn’t work well so Havier had to keep wiping the window with paper towels so he could see. When we arrived at our hotel Rufino informed me I could go to Juliaca with him for the night. I accepted and we drove for an hour to Juliaca where I took luxury in the fact that I had hot water, telephone service and TV.
2-13-98
I met Rufino in the lobby at 4:45 for our trip back to Ayaviri. We arrived at 6:15 but Miguel and Havier had been out partying late and Miguel could not get up out of bed, at 7:15 he finally emerged. We stopped in Santa Rosa for breakfast, had eggs and rolls. I took pictures of a Coca Cola sign so Hernan could look around Arequipa for one like it if Nico Paz doesn’t come thru. I Will also send pictures to Gus who promised he would get it.
An antique Coca Cola sign in Santa Rosa, Peru. Not your typical souvenir, but after much wrangling, it now hangs in my office. Niko Paz, who we bought some nices llamas from, was the mayor of Santa Rosa. He helped to persuade the lady that owned the sign to part with it along with an identical one that hung on the side of the building over the alley.
We drove out of town to a staging area where many alpacas and some llamas were gathered for selection. The weather was sunny and gorgeous. My neck was burning by 9:00 AM. Selected 2 llamas early then sat around waiting for miracle llamas to arrive. I kept busy by watching construction crew remove side of hill for highway. They rolled boulders down by hand then bulldozed them to a lower level.
A rural staging area used by local ranchers to sort and trade livestock. On this day, it was used to showcase llamas and alpacas for American buyers. Just south of Santa Rosa Peru we had met here on several other llama buying trips.
At 11:30 Maximo Diaz showed up with my black Suri and 2 other Suri’s that are great. One other male has not perfect ears but he is large and red and white. The third is white with perfect ears but I haven’t seen if it’s a male or female. The sun is so intense there is no shade as there are no trees and the sun is straight overhead. Maximo Diaz is my new hero. I bought all three Suri males and two are near perfect. I almost came to tears when I finally had them tagged and the deal was totally complete. We tagged them and I thought it was over then noticed Maximo talking to Hernan again like he had second thoughts. I went over and finally negotiated an additional $350 to seal the deal. My first offer was going to be $1000, go figure. After we were done we had lunch in Santa Rosa, just past my Coke sign. Maximo and his wife ate with us and we had pork and rice and potatoes. I’m naming my new black Suri male MAXIMO. I think it is totally appropriate.
This is the first time that I saw Maximo at the World Camelid Festival in Arequipe Peru in 1996. We eventually purchased him for the 1999 importation.
Just off the truck at their staging area, near Santa Rosa Peru these three suri males were a sight for sore eyes. Maximo, Keno, and New Wave.
Keno, New Wave, and Maximo had finally arrived and stretched their legs for a few moments before being pre-screened and tagged for later pickup.
Former owner Maximo Diaz Bustinza with "Maximo", the newest addition to our suri selection.
We then went to the Nico Paz farm and bought hopefully my last llamas of the trip, 6 females, 3 Suri and 1 male a quasi Suri. You can't avoid the sun. It is really intense. Right now there is a slight breeze to make you feel like you’re not really getting toasted. I saw several males that we passed up before and they got no better. We are going to LaRaya when we’re done here, hopefully soon.