Llamas took us on an adventure of a life time. this is not a 'how to' book but a book of the adventures and lessons we learned and the joys of owning llamas. Included are stories that made an impact on our learning experience and our relationship with these unique creatures. Things that worked and things that didn't. I have also included some llama facts and interesting articles about llamas.
*WATERSTONES WELSH BOOK OF THE MONTH* My Family and Other Animals meets The Secret Life of Cows: this rediscovered gem tells the charming tale of how a baby llama transformed a Welsh farming family forever (with a foreword by John Lewis-Stempel). Things llamas like: Snaffling cherry brandy, Easter eggs, and the Radio Times. Fluttering movie star eyelashes at surprised visitors. Curling up in 'tea-cosy' position by the fire. Orbiting, helicoptering, and oompahing. Humming along to classical music. Locking victims in the lavatory. Things llamas dislike: Having toenails trimmed by a visiting circus. Being adopted mother to an orphaned lamb. Invitations to star on Blue Peter. Accidentally swimming. Snowdonia's rainfall. The dark. Ruth Ruck's family live on a Welsh mountain farm, no strangers to cow pats on the carpet and nesting hens in the larder. When dark days strike, they embark on a farming experiment to cheer them all up - but raising a baby llama proves more of an adventure than expected .
“Not only are readers given the opportunity to experience the sheer beauty and at times frightening dangers of the trail, but they also watch two children grow and learn to call the trail their home. Well written, captivating, and incredibly educational, this adventure is a lesson in the simplicity of life and the beauty of accomplishment.” —Publishers Weekly "This is both an epic adventure of the first order and the heartwarming story of the family who accomplished it." —San Francisco Chronicle Now available for the first time in paperback and ebook, Scraping Heaven is the story of a family’s adventurous trek over the rooftop of North America—a warm and heartfelt account with a powerful message for parents, long-distance hikers, and outdoor adventurers alike. The Continental Divide Trail, a rugged 3100-mile footpath running along the crest of the Rocky Mountains from Canada to Mexico, is infamous for its tricky mountain passes and snowy traverses. In 1993, Cindy Ross, her husband, and their two toddlers set out together on the Trail. Using llamas as kid-carriers and packers, they successfully hiked the entire route over the next five summers, covering the last 700 miles on tandem mountain bikes in 1998. A keenly observant storyteller, Ross deftly interweaves evocative descriptions of the landscape with dramatic accounts of sudden snowstorms, gale-force winds strong enough to lift a child, and heart-pounding wildlife encounters. Through it all, her intimate reflections on marriage, family, and children provide depth and interest far beyond the high Rocky Mountain peaks. Scraping Heaven features a new afterword by the author.
The Silver Llama is the final novel of the Tihuantinsuyo Quartet, and though it stands alone like each of the previous three, it has many of the same characters and winds up plot threads from the previous three books. The title refers to a llama statuette that the narrator and his friend discovered near Ocros, Peru, in 1969 before it was stolen from them in the first novel, Riders on the Nio Storms. It reappears two decades later as an object of obsession like the Maltese Falcon, a central symbol and flywheel of the plot. A plot is nothing without interesting characters, and specifically, Proust is a model for the analyses of their sexual relations and jealousies. Combining Hammett and Proust may seem an odd recipe, but the characters dont have inherited wealth like those of Proust, and though quite cultured, they live in a different world that sometimes requires them to get their hands dirty. The third novel, The Coca Bums, shows the dirt well and also plays on the gradations of morality the characters experience living in a developing nation, a continually readjusting slide rule of situational ethics. Most of the principal characters are Americans, so this novel says as much about America as it does about Peru, from a new and distant, hopefully engaging and entertaining point of view.
Featuring appalling rock overhangs, horrifying chasms, and waterfalls flanked by near-vertical precipices, this tale of travel through the wildest regions of the Andes is no Caribbean cruise story. The Panama Canal and the coasts of Columbia, Peru, and Bolivia are all described in a fast, furious fashion by a seasoned travel writer who survives a car ride along a mountain pass that claims an average of one vehicle a week. Also included are adventures to the last hideaway of the Incas, Machu Picchu, and a sail down the Amazon to the center of Brazil.
One of the most significant differences between the New World's major areas of high culture is that Mesoamerica had no beasts of burden and wool, while the Andes had both. Four members of the camelid family--wild guanacos and vicunas, and domestic llamas and alpacas--were native to the Andes. South American peoples relied on these animals for meat and wool, and as beasts of burden to transport goods all over the Andes. In this book, Duccio Bonavia tackles major questions about these camelids, from their domestication to their distribution at the time of the Spanish conquest. One of Bonavia's hypotheses is that the arrival of the Europeans and their introduced Old World animals forced the Andean camelids away from the Pacific coast, creating the (mistaken) impression that camelids were exclusively high-altitude animals. Bonavia also addresses the diseases of camelids and their population density, suggesting that the original camelid populations suffered from a different type of mange than that introduced by the Europeans. This new mange, he believes, was one of the causes behind the great morbidity of camelids in Colonial times. In terms of domestication, while Bonavia believes that the major centers must have been the puna zone intermediate zones, he adds that the process should not be seen as restricted to a single environmental zone. Bonavia's landmark study of the South American camelids is now available for the first time in English. This new edition features an updated analysis and comprehensive bibliography. In the Spanish edition of this book, Bonavia lamented the fact that the zooarchaeological data from R. S. MacNeish's Ayacucho Project had yet to be published. In response, the Ayacucho's Project's faunal analysts, Elizabeth S. Wing and Kent V. Flannery, have added appendices on the Ayacucho results to this English edition. This book will be of broad interest to archaeologists, zoologists, social anthropologists, ethnohistorians, and a wide range of students.
Known for their woolly charm, sure-footed strength, and a propensity to spit at you if you bother them too much, llamas have had a rich and diverse history. Since their domestication high in the Andes, they have been farmed, smuggled, sacrificed, and sometimes kept around just to be petted. They have functioned at different times as luxury commodities, literary muses, and national symbols, and they have served by turns as beasts of burden, circus performers, and even golf caddies. In this book, Helen Cowie charts the fascinating history of llamas and their close relatives, alpacas, guanacos, and vicuñas. Cowie illustrates how deeply the Incas venerated llamas and shows how the animals are still cherished in their native lands in Peru and Bolivia, remaining central to Andean culture. She also tells the story of attempts to introduce llamas and alpacas to Britain, the United States, and Australia, where they are used today for trekking, wool production, and even as therapy animals. Packed with llama drama and alpaca facts, this book will delight animal lovers, fans of natural history, and anyone who just can’t resist these inimitable animals’ off-the-charts cuteness factor.
Zookeeper Theodora "Teddy" Bentley takes Alejandro, the Gunn Zoo llama, to a Monterey Bay area Renaissance Faire. Soon after, Teddy stumbles upon the still-warm body of the Reverend Victor Emerson, owner of the local wedding chapel. He is dressed in his royal robes as Henry VIII. At first it appears as if Alejandro stomped the man to death, but a closer look reveals a crossbow dart in the man's back. Teddy's investigation proves the "reverend" is really an escaped convict, and every marriage he's performed in the past twenty years is null and void. He twice married Teddy's ex-beauty queen mother Caro to wealthy men, and when both marriages failed, Caro received large financial settlements. Now she may have to give all that money back. But Caro wasn't the only person with a grievance against Victor. The child of the man Victor once murdered may have wanted to kill him, too. Then Teddy's embezzling father flies in from exile in Costa Rica to help spring Caro from jail, putting his own freedom in jeopardy. Can Teddy solve this case before someone else she knows is implicated?
Are You an Ostrich or a Llama? Written by one of the world's most published authors in the field of hospitality, this book represents a radical departure from traditional texts in the industry. Targeted at hotel management, this book is intended to serve as a platform for discussion on current issues relating to the performance of hotels and resorts. Through a combination of real life examples and an examination of current challenges facing the hotel industry, the book comprises approximately one hundred individual segments each dedicated to a single thought or concept. These stand alone articles are then combined into ten chapters, each dedicated to a specific topic. The book has been written so that hoteliers of any level, from apprentice to seasoned general manager will be able to gain value from the contents. While the bulk of articles deal with marketing aspects, many of the items relate to core operational issues. A theme common throughout is to recognize the importance of guest service as it relates to the industry. For those who are not involved in the hotel industry, but have careers that involve customer service, s the practical hints provided throughout the text, serve as excellent training pointers. So, why the title? Ostriches are classically known as avoiding conflict by putting their head in the sand. While probably not true, the stigma remains, and those who are considered an ostrich, are living in the past. Llamas, on the other hand, are considered utilitarian, hardworking and reliable. This is what you want to strive for. By reading this book, and digesting the contents, the hope is to move from ostrich to llama.
