Animal Mania

We are trying to tie up loose ends before we leave Peru and that includes hitting some sites in Lima we haven't yet visited. Thus, the last two weekends have been spent amongst the animals at the 2 "zoos" near our home. I say 'zoos' because one is an actual zoo and the other is a bunch of cages on the campus of a catholic school. Really. Right outside the grammar school classroom windows are the puma, bear and panther cages. Across from the main auditorium are pens of goats, llamas, alpaca and emu. In the center of the campus is a fenced area with ducks, geese, caged birds, cabybaras (world's largest rodent), deer, a monkey island, more llamas, vicunas and some sort of rodent - called a ronsoco - that looks a lot like the mythical jackalope, sans horns of course. And, on the main road leading in and out of the school is cage after cage of exotic birds - toucans, macaws, parrots and a bunch I didn't recognize and don't remember the names of now.

The main appeal of the zool (zoo school) is that you can feed the animals - well, not the pumas, bears or panthers, but everything else is fair game, no pun intended, and they expect it too. The zool animals were not shy in the least and Caleb had a blast throwing bread at anything that moved. The emu were very aggressive, however, and I was sure wouldn't be able to distinguish between squishy day old hot dog bun and squishy two year old flesh.

Apparently the zool is open daily, but during the week can only be visited after classes have let out for the day. I'm a pretty relaxed parent, and while I appreciate the concept of bringing the field trip to the students and thus eliminating the hassle of buses and permission slips, I'm not sure I'm relaxed enough to send my kid to school just feet away from carnivorous, predatory animals.

spotted jungle panthers sunning themselves - notice the "highly secure" double
chain link fence barrier separating them from us

monkey island

feeding the geese

capybara, world's largest rodent - this one was the size of a labrador -
and clearly the inspiration for the ROUS's (rodents of unusual size) in
S. Morgenstern's The Princess Bride

keeping our distance from the emu

ronsocos...

...and the eerily similar jackalope

petting the goats - everyone's favorite zoo animals