Llamas, Peru

After a couple of days trekking across the Peruvian Andes, our group had an unusual encounter at 4,600 meters, on top of the narrow, windy, and freezing Huacahuasi Pass. While we had not run into a single soul for days, we had to give way to a flock of llamas and their herder, basically coming out of nowhere: a real culture shock between us Occidental folks in search of adventure and the local Quechua mountain people going about their daily business. —Antoine Bruneau