Mara returns to the Mountains

[Ravenlocke]

They have cute , long eyelashes😍

[Bill Ryan]

Llamas again, but this time a VERY long way off.

You can just see them here, tiny figures on the center skyline. Mara is low down, in a dip and almost hidden, in the center foreground. (Of course, she had no idea they were up there. ) It's actually a high resolution image, so you can zoom right in to see them better.



And here they are at full telephoto — watching us carefully, as they always do.

[Bill Ryan]

And this new llama encounter (yet another one!) was a bunch of fun.

First, here's a nice photo of Mara. But to the right of center, in the distance, you can see a family of llamas grazing, who hadn't yet noticed us. (The gray thing in the exact center is just a large rock)


(high-resolution image: https://avalonlibrary.net/Bill/first...amas_again.jpg)

But soon after, the llamas sent one of them over to check us out. (Llama families often have a designated large male 'lookout'.). As he came nearer, Mara sensed he was there.


(high-resolution image: https://avalonlibrary.net/Bill/Mara_...amas_again.jpg)

What happened next was very interesting. The whole family didn't gradually retreat into the distance as they usually do, but this time they came right up close towards us, recognizing us from the last time, all very curious from less than 20 feet away. (I'm hardly a llama expert, but it seems clear to me they have the same kind of intelligence as horses, far greater than sheep or cows.)

You can now see these were the same ones we met just the other day. There's the blonde super-cutie with the long eyelashes, and the brown-coated one on the left with the chocolate-and-vanilla nose.




(high-resolution image: https://avalonlibrary.net/Bill/llama...lose_again.jpg)

[Kryztian]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
What happened next was very interesting. The whole family didn't gradually retreat into the distance as they usually do, but this time they came right up close towards us, recognizing us from the last time, all very curious from less than 20 feet away. (I'm hardly a llama expert, but it seems clear to me they have the same kind of intelligence as horses, far greater than sheep or cows.)

Since they recognize you, you could always try becoming better friends and leaving them some treats?

Llamas are herbivores. They eat grass, hay and other grains. Some llamas enjoy treats like fresh vegetables and fruits, such as broccoli, sweet potatoes, carrots and apples – cut into small bites.

[Bruce G Charlton]

Very interesting! As I'm sure you are aware, llamas (usually male) are used (e.g. in the USA) to protect flocks of sheep against attacks by stray dogs and similar predators. It seems the llamas do this quite instinctively. There are some videos on TY of llamas driving off dogs, and people, who get too close.

So I am a little surprised that these wild llamas are so relaxed about you and Mara! Maybe because there did not seem to be any "lambs" (apparently called cria)? Or are these wild ones not aggressive in defence?

Note: I am pretty deeply afraid of llamas - i.e. I used to have nightmares about them - probably due to being spat at in Bristol Zoo when I was young!

[Bill Ryan]

Some more light relief.

As I've shared on some other threads, the record 150-day drought is over at last and the long-awaited 6-month rainy season is in full swing. For a couple of weeks it's been endlessly gray, wet and cloudy, but the other day we had a welcome blue-sky morning.

However, this is the waterfall we have to cross to reach the high Puma Valley. There was a lot of water, but we could still do it. (No puma prints for a while, so maybe I should rename it the Llama Valley?)


(high-resolution image: https://avalonlibrary.net/Bill/waterfall_panorama.jpg)

With Mara's lead and my poles in one hand, and my little camera in the other, this not-very-good video shows Mara (who for any new readers here is 100% blind) crossing the waterfall with ease.

https://avalonlibrary.net/Bill/Mara_..._waterfall.mp4


And sure enough, the llama family was waiting for us — the very same ones we've seen several times now.




(high-resolution image: https://avalonlibrary.net/Bill/the_s...amas_again.jpg)

[RunningDeer]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

That's a way-cool trust system you and Mara have worked out.

[Casey Claar]

Goodness, that was terrifying. lol Whew!

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Casey Claar (here)
Goodness, that was terrifying. lol Whew!

We did again this morning, this time Mara going solo with no lead. I was 100% completely certain she could do it — and indeed, she negotiated it all perfectly. But it was all quite exciting.

(For anyone with slightly raised eyebrows here, she and I have done this many dozens of times, and I was always close enough to grab hold of her if needed. I know exactly what she can and can't do, and she astonishes me all the time. She always loves the water, has phenomenal senses, awareness and instincts, and isn't fazed at all by the noise, the rocks or the heavy current.)

First, on our way up to the Puma Valley...

https://avalonlibrary.net/Bill/Mara_...Jan_2025_1.mp4


... and then coming back an hour and a half later.


https://avalonlibrary.net/Bill/Mara_...Jan_2025_2.mp4

[Casey Claar]

That is just unbelievable, EVERY time I see it. How does she know where to step even in water ?????

[Kryztian]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
We did again this morning, this time Mara going solo with no lead. I was 100% completely certain she could do it — and indeed, she negotiated it all perfectly. But it was all quite exciting.

Bill you have had some interesting stories about meeting people with psychic superabilities, but I think Mara tops them all. In spite of her total blindness, she negotiates the world so gracefully well. Are you sure she isn't an alien? You said you bought her from some people in a passing vehicle - are you sure that vehicle wasn't a spaceship? Perhaps they were bringing her to you from another realm far higher than the Andes?

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Kryztian (here)

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
We did again this morning, this time Mara going solo with no lead. I was 100% completely certain she could do it — and indeed, she negotiated it all perfectly. But it was all quite exciting.

Bill you have had some interesting stories about meeting people with psychic superabilities, but I think Mara tops them all. In spite of her total blindness, she negotiates the world so gracefully well. Are you sure she isn't an alien? You said you bought her from some people in a passing vehicle - are you sure that vehicle wasn't a spaceship? Perhaps they were bringing her to you from another realm far higher than the Andes?

Made me laugh!

Her senses really are superhuman, and maybe even supercanine. I've been thinking of making a little video of how perfectly she navigates all the little obstacles that we regularly encounter in the mountains: sudden steps up and down, holes in the ground, little streams that she knows are there and take a careful long stride to cross, steep rocky climbs up and down, trees that she always knows are there and sidesteps, dangerous steep drops that she stays well clear of, and more.

Six weeks ago, I posted about one most remarkable incident where I lost her in a sudden violent hailstorm, the first time that has ever happened. We were several hundred yards way higher on the other side of the very same waterfall in the videos above.

Mara, unable to find me in the hailstorm, made her way all on her own back down across the waterfall and then another half a mile way down towards the trailhead where my young friend Pema found her shivering in the long grass, very cold but otherwise just fine.

Somehow she knew that this was the way home and back to safety, though she was alone, I was nowhere around, and the journey she followed downhill was really very complex.

The amazing thing about her waterfall crossings are that I can't possibly imagine that her sense of smell would be any help at all, nor her hearing as the turbulent water is just as loud as in the videos. Yet she still knows how to make her safe way across, both ways.

I really do think that most other dogs, even able to see perfectly, would be very frightened.

And yes, she really is 100% blind. She has no physical eyes at all, and the vet tells me that her optic nerves are dead. And though she navigates her way around my house and the surrounding fields exactly as if she can see, sometimes when she's excited (like when I'm about to feed her her breakfast!) she loses her orientation and crashes into things, the only time she ever does so. (I have soft sheets of foam padding in place round the doors and table legs just in case.)

She has her own little fridge full of goodies in the storeroom adjacent to the house, which is where I feed her from. The fridge is maybe 6 feet from the open door.

She stands in the doorway, waiting — and 'looks' straight into my eyes. It's uncanny. She knows exactly where my eyes are.

And then when I silently throw her a chicken piece, over her head and out the door into the grass, she follows it in the air, 'watching' it closely, exactly like a baseball fielder tracking a ball to catch. She has some kind of inner 'radar', nothing at all to do with optical sight, that just works perfectly for her almost all the time.

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
Her senses really are superhuman, and maybe even supercanine. I've been thinking of making a little video of how perfectly she navigates all the little obstacles that we regularly encounter in the mountains: sudden steps up and down, holes in the ground, little streams that she knows are there and take a careful long stride to cross, steep rocky climbs up and down, trees that she always knows are there and sidesteps, dangerous steep drops that she stays well clear of, and more.

A fun example of exactly this. It's not a good photo (it was as gray as it looks!), but you can get the idea.

If you squint at the picture (or better still, click on the high-res version and zoom in), you can see 6 ducks on the lake.

Mara is 'looking' at them too. She knew they were there. But they were gliding in the water 100% silently, making zero noise, and hadn't flown in and landed or anything like that. They were just very quietly there all the time.

But Mara knew. How she knew, I have no idea... it's hard to believe she could smell them, and they really were absolutely silent.


(high-resolution image: https://avalonlibrary.net/Bill/Mara_and_the_ducks.jpg

A similar thing happened a few weeks ago, when we were near the same lake and Mara very suddenly galloped off to the left as fast as she could.

I thought it had to be a llama, but there was nothing there that I could see. About 15 seconds later I spotted a pair of small hind legs kicking up as something ran through the long grass about 50 yards away.

As best I could tell, it was a rabbit — which we usually don't see as they're largely nocturnal. But somehow Mara knew that was there as well, and sprinted off immediately to try to catch it. This is the kind of thing that amazes me every day.

[wondering]

it's a joy to think that her life is as full and rich as it ever was.

[Michel Leclerc]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

(...)

Mara is 'looking' at them too. She knew they were there. But they were gliding in the water 100% silently, making zero noise, and hadn't flown in and landed or anything like that. They were just very quietly there all the time.

But Mara knew. How she knew, I have no idea... it's hard to believe she could smell them, and they really were absolutely silent.

(...)

A reduced version of Mara’s feats is mustered by my 15-year old Basile, practically blind since a year now. Reduced, because no mountains. Similar because navigating 2-D obstacles very well (also when running) and, indeed, looking me in the eyes.

What I think is that they have sonar. (Or rather, that we all have sonar.) It is activated when needed. I have noticed that Basile’s abilities get better over time. As if he were learning to work with his previously dormant instrument. (Or was it, really?)

After all, don’t blind people say that they sense obstacles?

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

Posted by Ravenlocke (here)
Ecuador faces a severe crisis due to the winter, with 22 rivers overflowed and 32 on alert status. So far, the storm has left at least 14 dead and has caused landslides, as well as considerable damage to homes and infrastructure.
https://x.com/andresvillalval/status...36421134045519

Yes, these are accurate reports. After a record 150-day, almost-zero-rain drought last year, the winter rains are now far heavier than normal. (Not so much here at high altitudes where I am, though mountain hikes with my dog are often very wet adventures. )

Here's one of those very wet adventures, which we enjoyed just a few hours ago. The waterfall leading up to the Llama Valley (which we always have to cross, the only way to get there) was swollen and raging, but I could see from the trailhead that it might just be possible. It was a nice sunny morning, so I took the chance. The little video shows our return journey, heading back home.

Mara was on an improvised long lead this time. but it never really helped her at all and probably just got in her way. (Note to self: far better would be one of these!)



https://avalonlibrary.net/Bill/Mara_...March_2025.mp4

[Casey Claar]

Just astounding. I am always on the edge of my seat when you two do this. Shall we do a round robyn (to collect) for the better harness? ( ??!!!!!! ).

[wondering]

She is truly fearless....I'd help out with the harness in a heartbeat if need be....like us all, she is not getting younger.

[Casey Claar]

Posted by wondering (here)
She is truly fearless....I'd help out with the harness in a heartbeat if need be....like us all, she is not getting younger.

I found the exact harness in the photo up there : on Amazon

Does anyone know if Amazon ships to Ecuador?

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Casey Claar (here)

Posted by wondering (here)
She is truly fearless....I'd help out with the harness in a heartbeat if need be....like us all, she is not getting younger.

I found the exact harness in the photo up there : on Amazon

Thanks for the typically kind thought! Actually, that was simply the first image I found. She really needs something very simple and lightweight, like this, which she'd barely notice and I could just clip on her quickly and easily if ever needed. I'd be certain I can find this in Ecuador, probably very cheaply.



And yes, she's not getting any younger. :flower. Right now she's about the same human age as I am(!), and in another 2-3 years, which will quickly pass, she'll be in her late 70s or early 80s. She loves and lives for the mountains, but I'm mentally and emotionally well-prepared for the time when she might start to find all this rather more difficult.