Santuario Animal Cochahuasi

On Sunday, August 17th, Colin and I headed into town and grabbed a taxi (arranged by someone from the sanctuary for 25 sols per person) to the Santuario Animal Cochahuasi. This place is an animal sanctuary, and they have a great collection of injured and abused animals rescued from peoples’ homes and caught in animal trafficking raids in Peru. Once we arrived, we were greeted by a friendly and bizarre-looking Peruvian hairless dog! Quite a few of them, actually – one of the dogs had strange tuffs of yellow or golden hair. They didn’t have any hair on their bodies (which felt leathery to the touch) which are naturally very warm (think 40 degrees C) to keep them comfortable in the altitude.

After seeing the dogs we went to view some of the other animals, such as a beautifully sweet Peruvian deer, a really old marabou stork, and some rabbits, geese, and ducklings. The sanctuary had llamas, alpacas, guanacos, and vicunas – and once seen together, it was quite easy to tell the difference between these camelids. The strangest was a alpaca and guanaco hybrid baby – a very cute “accident.”   

We also came across some small (but aggressive) wild cats, some baby coatimundi, 3 pumas (2 females and 1 male) and loads of different birds such as macaws, falcons, and a group of massive condors. Colin and I were able to go inside the condor enclosure and see an example of the condors flying. These birds’ wingspan was so huge – up to 3 meters!

After seeing the animals we made a deal (30 sols, a bit expensive) with our taxi driver to talk us to the Temple of the Moon (located between Qenko and Puku Pukara) on the way back to Cusco. This temple, also known as Salumpunku, is an Incan site I had visited before, but I wanted Colin to see the place as well. It is one of the only attracts (ruins) in Cusco that does not require the Tourist Ticket or an entrance fee. We explored the top, which contained various alters, and the cave inside, which was very cold inside and contained another alter. The front of the cave had some supposed “carvings” of an elephant and a llama, but it takes more than a little imagination to believe these are not just visions someone noticed in the rock face itself.

I also showed Colin the Huacas, or sacred stone alters. We also saw the Temple of the Frog in the distance, a small temple down the valley in the distance which looked slightly like a frog’s profile.

We returned back to the taxi, then our apartment in Cusco. There is no information or explanations at the site, and it is quite a simple spot. If you do go, you’ll get some great views of the mountains and can use your imagination!   

Francesca