Torres del Paine National Park

Towers of Paine

Day 17: Sunday, January 20, 2002
Paine is pronounced piney, locally.
Like the piney woods.

Guanacos!

At 11:30 we stop for a herd of Guanacos. Everybody piles out of the bus for whatever photo opportunities they can find. This was taken from in the bus, and a red glare resulted.

Camel Cousins

Guanacos are closely related to llamas, alpacas, and Vicuñas, and camels.
Llamas are useful pack animals. Alpacas have the softest wool of any animal. But the guanaco has no known use to mankind. He is a wild animal, and will not carry your burdens. His hair is awful, and his meat is so foul-smelling that people will almost not eat him to prevent starvation! They are protected on park lands, but they can't seem to keep them there. Without permission, they wander into privately held ranchlands, and compete with the livestock for the food grasses. So, they're not too popular with ranchers.

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