This round of travel pics features cats, dogs, and a couple of guinea pigs. Some are strays and some are pets.
I was taking a little ferry across Lake Titicaca from the Peru side to the Bolivia side, and a local lady had this adorable little kitten. Lake Titicaca is supposedly the highest navigable lake in the world, but I’m not sure what the bar is for navigability.
It’s high in this part of the world. Cusco, Peru is at 3399 metres above sea level, and La Paz, Bolivia, is the high world capital at 3640 m. I flew into Lima, Peru, which is only a smidge above sea level. I spent time in two cities on the way up to Cusco to avoid going straight up to altitude, but I still ended up feeling pretty gross my first day there, although that cleared up quickly after I took acetazolamide, which is a diuretic used for altitude sickness. La Paz wasn’t that much higher than Cusco, but it was enough of a difference that I was exhausted. On top of that, La Paz is very hilly, and you can’t go anywhere without having to walk uphill.
Fun fact: people living at high altitude have thicker blood than us wimpy folks. Their bodies make more red blood cells so they have more hemoglobin to carry oxygen.
A guesthouse I stayed at in Peru had a guinea pig enclosure. Cute cute, but in Peru, guinea pigs aren’t pets, they’re food. That was a bit traumatic.
This is at a park in Lima. I like the little white cat poking out from under the bush. The sleek grey cat looks kind of like my blogging friend Emilia’s cat Misha. These cats are strays, but clearly well fed strays.
On the not so pretty end of the stray animal spectrum is this rather sad canine specimen in Thailand.
Below are some happier dogs from Thailand.
This seemed to be the local resident at a guesthouse I stayed at.
This catlet was in India, and specifically Mumbai, if I recall correctly. I feel like I probably saw as many assorted animals in India as I did on safari in Africa. Not the same kind of animals, but there were just a lot of them.
Well, that’s it for this week. Happy travels!
All photos © 2021 Ashley Peterson.
I love learning about different parts of the world and how different their culture is from mine. Thank you for sharing!!
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So many stray dogs in Thailand! It made me really sad when I stayed there, but on the island I was staying on,Koh Tao, the bars did look after a lot of the dogs. Mexico is very similar although I don’t think they are cared for as much. As if those poor Guineas are food! I freaked out in Spain once when I touched a crab on the fish counter and it moved.. I wanted to buy it and put it back into the sea! I think I’d have a heart attack if I saw a *pet* being bred for food! Xx
Yeah, it’s pretty yucky to think of.
How did you decide on these extraordinary places to travel to?
There were a bunch of places I wanted to see, and it was sort of eenie, meenie, miney, mo…
People eat guinea pigs? They have no meat on them so that makes no sense to me. Then again, eating meat doesn’t really make sense to me at all 😅
Ang | https://loseweightwithang.com
Yeah, I really don’t get it…
Ashley, thanks for posting these pics of animals. It is hard to imagine that guinea pigs are for food. It is just hard to grasp.
The dogs are my favorite, I may be bias, but they always bring a smile to my face.
Gotta love dogs!
Thanks for the blast of cuteness! 💕
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Lovely photos.
I knew there was a country that ate guinea pigs, but couldn’t remember which. But shocking all the same and I would be so distraught.
I knew going in to expect that, but it was disturbing all the same.
Ahh poor piggies :'(
I saw a lot of skinny stray cats when I was on holiday in Corfu, I ended up walking around the town with a bag full of cat biscuits! There are often charities trying to help though, so that’s good.
Yeah ,good that they’re not totally on their own.
Oh nooooo to the guinea piggies! Noooo!!! AAUGH!!
I experienced altitude issues, too, when I visited my aunt and uncle in Denver in 1995. Wow, I’m a believer in the sensation of it. If I recall, they had to cook their food for different lengths or at modified temperatures because of it.
That kitty really does look like Misha! Oh my!!
I love the last doggie, who looks very sweet and loving!! Very snuggly pup.
I wonder if there are health benefits or costs to having thicker blood, or if it’s solely an adaptive trait? Huh. Well, people take blood thinners, so maybe people with thick blood are more prone to clotting? [Shrug.]
Great photos!! It seems like you’ve really been everywhere!! Go you!!
The increased red blood cells is adaptive to increase hemoglobin and oxygen-carrying capacity. Blood thinner is a bit of a misnomer because they don’t reduce cell counts the blood; they make blood less likely to clot.
Neato!! You learn something new every day!!
You’re like a world renowned celebrity traveler! 😉
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This is actually a pretty topical post from my perspective, lol. I was just reading sites about coming up with a short photography project and one of them said just pick a theme like animals you see while about the town. There aren’t any here; it’s still way too cold, but I have a few ideas.
Sounds like fun!
I haven’t traveled as extensively, but this would be me, taking photos of the animals.
Gotta love animals!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
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One person’s pet is another’s food. Cultural differences can be interesting if not startling
Definitely. I found all the insect-eating in Cambodia to be very bizarre, but then again, during the Khmer Rouge times, people were eating whatever they could get their hands on.