Is it a Llama or Alpaca?
“What on Earth is this?” I yelled, laughing at the funny-looking animal. “Is that an alpaca?” I questioned the farm worker. “What do you think it is?” he said back. There was an echo of people saying alpaca to the animal. 
“Actually,” he said, “It’s a llama.”
This 5.5-foot tall animal he had brought in, fluffy with matted hair, was a llama. It was impressive, just a little funny looking. We were sitting in a room with a llama and two dogs. I looked at the dog in front of me. It bit the air, trying to catch the flies surrounding it. The man working on the farm went into an explanation of what the difference between llamas and alpacas is.
“A llama may have soft hair, but an alpaca’s hair is even softer,” he told us. He went on with the story of the farm. A family that had lived in Israel went to South America. They met llamas and alpacas and brought them in not for a tourism spot, but to make clothes from the alpaca wool. After he finished his story I walked outside to look at the other llamas.
Feeding Our New Friends
Our guide, Ron, came with a box with brown paper bags inside. “Take a bag and feed it to the llamas, alpacas, and goats,” he explained. I grabbed a bag and ran off to a few llamas. I took some food from the bag and put it on my hand. I laid my hand out flat, and a llama scarfed down the food from it. I ran on to another and did the same thing again. I walked over to another spot, where there were alpacas. Once there, I looked at the alpaca. It had funny teeth. I laughed at the funny way it’s teeth looked and remarked on them needing an alpaca orthodontist.
It did not take nicely to that and bared its ugly teeth. I laughed once again, in hysterics over this funny looking alpaca. It was clearly offended by that and spit at me! I jumped over to the side, careful to avoid this big wad of grass coming from its mouth. “It just spit at me!” I screamed.
I walked on, still feeding animals as I went. I saw more funny looking 
animals, laughing at them. I came across a llama. I put out my hand to feed it, and it spit at me! I had once again been spit at! I gasped, now covered in llama spit. I gave it the mean eye and walked away.
I kept walking around. Occasionally I would chuckle at a llama or alpaca. I came across the goats eventually. They were all big, with horns the size of my arm. As soon as they saw me, they nearly jumped over the fence, clearly ecstatic to see me. As soon as I put out my hand, five goats came over, wrestling and jostling each other to try to reach my hand. The biggest one of the group finally owned this “fight” and ate from my hand. My eyes grew wide as I realized what was in the middle of the enclosure. “A pig!” I yelled, snickering. It was funny, in a goat enclosure, a big fat pig. I looked in my bag and realized that I was nearly out of food. As soon as I realized, my dad yelled, “Time to go!”
I sighed, sad we had to leave so soon. I started walking, quickly emptying the remaining food in my bag into the animals’ mouths. I finished the bag as I reached the entrance.
The farm worker interjected, “But first, do you want to see puppies?”
Never Enough Animals
There was a chorus of yes from the kids, and we went over to the puppies just born from one of the dogs we met when we first arrived. The man opened the gate, and two tiny puppies met us. We all yelled our oohs and awws. I walked over to one and gave it a tummy rub. It gave me a look of pure joy. I smiled at it. It was so cute! We kept playing with the dogs, but after 15 minutes, it was time to go. We all yelled bye at the dogs and went on our way. I pet all the llamas and alpacas on the way out, careful to avoid the two that spit at me.
“תודה,” I said. That was thank you in Hebrew. The farm worker replied with a “בוקשה.”That was you’re welcome. I smiled and walked into the van. I grinned, and then we got on our way to the next stop.
More articles written by David
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I haven’t had much exposure to Llamas, but I did visit an alpaca farm and had quite the experience! They are truly unique creatures, and some of them have the biggest crooked teeth I’ve ever seen. Thx for the post.
So funny pictures and such beautiful creatures! I would love to see these animals in real! Thanks for sharing and making us laugh!
I encountered alpacas (wait, was it a llama?) in Peru on the Salkantay Trek. Lovely animals. Your visit to this farm sounds like something that my daughter would love.
I love alpacas and llamas, such funny looking animals and fascinating to see them, I have never fed them though. I definitely bought some sweaters made from their wools in Peru, a great alternative to sheep’s wool!
Lovely story, yes indeed they do spit. I was spat on by llamas throughout my travels in South America – still think they are cute though 🙂
Very nice read to know about Alpaca and Llama Farm. I don’t have idea about this animals. Looks very cute and seems worth to visit.
I’ve only seen Alpaca and Llama in pictures and read about them in blogs. I would love to see these funny and equally cute animals in person, avoiding their spit though. The farm sounds like a great spot to meet these lovely animals – the llamas, alpacas, goats, a big fat pig and cute little puppies – sounds like a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing this unique experience. 🙂
Loved reading the post. It brought back my own childhood memories and interaction with animals. The spitting from the Alpacas and Llamas sounds quite an experience in itself. What is fascinating is that you had such a great farm experience in the middle of the desert.
Even I thought Llama or Alpaca are same I am not much of a fan of captive animals. I would like to see these cute creatures in its natural habitat some day. It is funny to know that they spit. I would not mind seeing one do it. It is so curious.
Like goats and sheeep, most Llamas and alpacas are domesticated animals. I too am not a fan of captive, but most of them had run of the farm. They were fun though.