I now know the difference between all three. Upon leaving Arequipa for the Colca Canyon/ Valley with a tour group of 16 arranged by a friend of Tanya´s who is a tour guide, we visited the preserve for Vicunas, they are wild and were going extinct until the government of Peru created a reserve and set big financial penalties for killing them for their wool, it is very very fine and of the highest quality. As you can see from the picture there is not much to eat here for the vicunas and they are very lean and graceful, they run very fast. They like this area because there is water from a recent rain. We could just see the vicunas from the road, no entry is permitted on to the reserve.
In front of the National Reserve for Vicunas.
This formation reminded me a little of the Grand Canyon, the colours are different.
A very barren landscape, nothing grows here, the vicunas live on very little. A beautiful sky above.
A field of alpacas found some green and a little water. They are domesticated animals and used for their wool and their meat is found on menus in restaurants as well.
Some llamas here as well, the llamas are bigger and are used for carrying loads. The poeple who live in this area depend on the alpacas and llamas for their livlihood and are very poor, the conditions of life are very harsh and it gets very cold at night at this altitude.
Snow on top, all in a day´s travel, lots of contrasts, that is the story of the geographic landscape of Peru.
Women selling their wares along the highway, chalinas/ shawls, knitted goods and weavings.
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