Although Tuesday the 20^th was a down day (unpack, do laundry, repack) I still have a little more to tell you about Hacienda Zuleta so will use this post to finish that story.

A few noteworthy items regarding the Hacienda is the fact that they have over 600 milking cows and total about 1000 head. They have a small yet very efficient and clean cheese factory where they produce 6 varieties of cheese. Although they have over 600 milking cows they do not use their own milk to make the cheese. They sell the milk which is used for yogurt production and they purchase the milk to make cheese with. Their own breed of cattle does not produce a fatty enough milk to yield cheese. I found this an interesting piece of information but they never did explain why they would have milk producing cattle yet it cannot be used in their own factory. The cheese factory itself was not much different than you would see in Wisconsin, just on a smaller scale. (Sorry, no photos.)

At the Condor retreat there were also horses and llamas. Yann our guide found llamas to be a useless animal. He did state that prior to the Spanish introduction of cattle and horses into Ecuador, the llama was used primarily as a pack-carrying animal, however now they are no longer needed or used for that purpose. The fiber really isn’t even used much because the fine coat of the alpaca is much more of a luxury fiber and the llama meat is not that great. The one trait Yann did credit the llama for is their protective nature which could make them very valuable for a Sheepherder to mix in with the herd. If the Hacienda dogs come to the retreat the llamas will line up in a tight row and ward off the dogs (and I understand they have a pretty serious kick.)

My next post will be about the Galapagos trip – I can’t wait to write about that trip and share some of the amazing photos we were able to capture.