Who is the delay llama?

You may not know that our Jeff is a great animal lover. He says he loves animals because his face makes small children cry. I don't know about that, but when it comes to animals, Jeff is the Got Questions Disney princess.

How much does he love animals? This summer for the staff retreat we went to a Rockies game. Jeff noticed a hullabaloo a few rows above us and went to check it out. It seems a little bat had found itself trapped and overwhelmed by the seats and people and noise. Jeff gently scooped the bat into his hat, took him to the parking lot side of the arena, and let him go.

When the game was over, as we were walking toward our parking lot, coworkers in line for the shuttle caught our attention and pointed at the ground. There was the little flopsy bat, flopping on the hard cement. Jeff gave a great dad-sigh, shoulders rising and falling and mouth grim as if his toddler had asked him to tie her shoe for the 57th time that day. He once again gently coaxed the bat into his hat and let it go in a bush.

We saw this side of Jeff when we went on a trip with Compassion International to Peru. Peru is full of dogs. Dogs everywhere. You are not supposed to touch the dogs because 99 percent of them are feral and many of those are rabid. But when we saw one of those hairless dogs with a mohawk, Jeff couldn't contain himself. He spent ages trying to coax the dog, a family pet, to let him pet it.

After we visited the Compassion centers, we were fortunate enough to be able to visit Machu Picchu. I was in awe of the setting and the architecture. Jeff found animals. First, a dog in the courtyard in front of the entrance. He gently crept up to her and pet her until her mate saw him and crouched and growled. Then, inside, he found a millipede. Not like an American lift a rock and there's a tiny caterpillar with no fur. Like a GIGANTIC MILLIPEDE. A Bug Of Inappropriate Size. I can't remember if he got it to crawl on his hand or not.

But his favorite was when he met one of the llamas that live in the ruins. It was standing near the exit, looking irritated and chuffing at the tourists. Jeff saw its white fluffy fur and thought to himself, "I wonder where the fur ends and the llama begins." So he decided to test it.

It was hot, and the llama wasn't going to move if it didn't have to. Jeff took one finger and touched the fur. The llama stamped. Jeff slowly moved his hand into the fluffy fur. The llama narrowed its eyes. Jeff took a step forward.

The llama tipped a back hoof.

Jeff slowly packed away.

The llama walked off, following a woman who had a cookie in her backpack.

We're grateful the llama delayed. If it had kicked Jeff, he would have had to travel 45 miles of narrow, twisting roads to get to the hospital in Cusco. As it was, we were able to stay and enjoy the beautiful ruins in the majestic Andes. It made me wonder if the Himalayas looked similar. If the Dalai Lama has such a view, no wonder he's always so serene.

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