Washington state is home to 10% of the nation’s alpaca population. That’s a thing most folks wouldn’t know off hand, but for Duane, who runs Alpacas de la Flor with his family, it’s something right at the front of his mind. We leaned on the fence asking silly alpaca based questions while at the opposite end of the paddock, a brown alpaca paced back and forth. “Lindsey! Cut that out!,” he shouted at her. “They’re all pregnant. That one, ” – he points to a smaller dark brown one – “is about to give birth. We’ve been watching her all day.”
I can not explain the source of my llama obsession, but it has expanded to alpacas and I continue to learn more information about these wooly, funny looking, friendly critters. “What’s the difference between alpacas and llamas?” I asked. “Besides, duh, how they look, of course….” Llamas are pack animals, alpacas are raised for the wool. An alpaca just isn’t built to carry a load. Both llamas and alpacas come from the same family, they’re all from the camel branch, and they live in the same kind of climate. The wool is super soft and fine and warm on alpacas; llamas have a more hairy coat.
Keeping alpacas – and llamas – is increasingly popular in North America, especially here in Washington. We didn’t make it to Alpacapalooza, (run by Duane’s wife, Tiffany) this year, though I will be seeking out the llamas and the alpacas at the fair, you can bet.
Alpacas de la Flor was our second alpaca viewing stop for the day. The first was at Misty Ridge where a mom and a youngster, called a ‘cria’ grazed out in front of the shop. The rest of the herd was out the in meadow, singularly disinterested in anything I might say to them – until I walked to the back corner of the field when they all came running.
J’s first comment when we returned to the car was this: “You’re going to have a naming problem.” “No I’m not,” I said. “I will call the first one Lunch. And the second one, hmmm, maybe Suitcase. Or Toothbrush in Case We Stay Overnight. But I will call him Toothy for short.” (FYI, I didn’t think up Alpaca Lunch on my own. It’s the domain name for a fellow tech writer’s web site.)
This is the crazyiest thing about alpacas: They hum. No, really, they make this crazy humming noise. They walk back and forth and look at you and they hmmmmmmmmm. It’s pretty freakin’ cute. If you’re in Western Washington. you need not go far to find a place to look at – and listen to – alpacas. There’s a map on the AAWW site. And, oh, if you go up where we went to look at alpacas, there are tulips too. But tulips are not humming or furry, just so you know and are not disappointed. Also the tulips are not always there, but the humming alpacas are.
