The Animals In and Around Huancayo

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I just wanted to take so time to write about the amazing animals in Peru. I will write in my next blog about the animals I saw while in the jungle, totally fascinating, but I want to write now about the animals of my everyday life in Huancayo, Peru. I mentioned in my last blog that much of the Junin Region or state has an agriculture economy. Huancayo as a district has many smaller towns that are completely Ag based. even within the city of Huancayo there are small farmers. This leads to an awful lot of animal interactions or viewings during my day to day activities. the first time I saw a herd of sheep coming up my street I was in shock, what on earth was a heard of sheep doing on my mostly gravel very small city road. It turns out the older woman who owns them lives down the street in a small house with an even smaller courtyard and she grazes them on the small patch of grass at the end of our road. Herds of various animals are also an occasional reason for traffic slowdowns. During our several excursions outside of Huancayo to the smaller towns we always are stopped due to either a herd of cattle or sheep or donkeys. There are always some babies in the mix and they are so precious that my heart just lights up thinking about them. I think it takes me back to my days on Sunrock Farm.I was thrilled during the farmers day celebration when I got to hold a little lamb, it was so precious!!! Driving around outside of Huancayo you also see dozens of farm animals just tied up along the road, donkeys, cows, pigs, sheep and the occasional goat. I guess I as just a little shocked at the number and variety of farm animals here. I know they are very important to the agricultural lifestyle, but the number of them is what is shocking. I thought that because it is an impoverished area that there would be very few large farm animals that would be shared among many families, like farm equipment is here, but that is not really the case. Whatever the reason, it has been fun seeing all of the animals of my past mix with my future.
Dogs and Cats are the other set of animals that I must talk about. First I will say, do not worry I have not touched a dog or a cat while I have been here for fear that I will get bitten and get Rabies. I have avoided all touch, which is quite the accomplishment when there are hundreds of thousands of stray or partially stray dogs here in the city. They are everywhere and surprisingly they all look quite well kept. Some are what you would think of when I say a stray dog, but others look just like pure bred Huskies or labs, some like little rat dogs, but still pure bred, and a lot of what I like to call Sandy dogs, like the dog from Annie. The variety and quality of the dogs here is unbelievable. Anna jokes that she could make a ton of money if she brought some for the stray dogs home and fixed them up because they are most likely pure beds that are worth a lot of money. Cats are not quite as common as dogs, unless you live where I do, and then you are surrounded by at least twenty cats. Doña Elena loves cats has quite the assortment of breeds from a Siamese to several tabbies and a few long hair breeds. Derek is quite allergic to all shedding animals. Between Doña Elena's family's twenty cats and two dogs it is a wonder that Derek hasn't had a sever allergic reaction yet, for that matter when you mix her animals with all of those we run into in and around Huancayo it is amazing he hasn't had to go to the hospital. I know this blog was kind of off topic but the natural world here is so beautiful and fun that I wanted to share a bit of it with you. I am having the time of my life still and learning and experiencing so much. Less than one week left, I am soooo sad I feel like my time here has just begun. Miss you all. I would say look up at the sky and we can see the same stars, but that isn't true either because I get to see the winter constellations again, and boy are they beautiful and clear here, but that is a whole other blog entry.

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