Like Bubba Blu in Forest Gump, I can go on and on about llamas.  There are fluffy llamas, llamas with thick fur, llamas with thin fur, llamas that live in the mountains, llamas that live on the plains, llamas that are brown, llamas that are grey…. Well you get the picture.

It turns out I knew almost nothing about llamas let alone their cousins the alpacas and guanacos.  Pictured below is a guanaco.  I won’t point out the differences, because frankly I cannot.  We spotted this guanaco in the Patagonian region of Argentina.  Guanacos often live at very high altitudes, upwards of 13,000 feet.  They have four times as many red blood cells in a teaspoon of blood as humans – no wonder they survive up there!  Fortunately we didn’t have to go so high to see this one; we were practically at sea level near Penninsula Valdez.

IF YOU GO: Patagonian Argentina is a rough landscape, so it’s no surprise animals like the guanaco have not been domesticated.  Bring a good windproof sweater for any excursion into Patagonia.  Penninsula Valdez is relatively hospitable, and there are plenty of all day tours that will take you there.  Opt instead for a multi-day tour- you’ll be glad not to be rushed.