When I started talking about doing this contest months ago, Joseph Perling suggested a picnic at his Alpaca Ranch Bed and Breakfast, nestled in the Malibu hills. While his ranch is listed on airbnb, he also accepts cryptocurrency from guests as payment. He’s even willing to take dogecoin! Joseph’s a fixture to the Los Angeles cryptocurrency scene, and has probably been to more meetups than anyone I know. He makes the silver New Liberty Dollar coins. And he has alpacas. INCREDIBLY adorable alpacas.
Alpacas have a history with bitcoin, too. One of the first things you could buy with bitcoin were alpaca socks, and I’d like to imagine all these miners staying cozy rocking their alpaca socks. I think it was these Grass Hill Alpaca socks.. and there’s even a song about them. If bitcoin had a spirit animal, I’d like to think it was the alpaca, though many argue for the honey badger.
The alpacas on the ranch are all very inquisitive and friendly. They love carrot treats, and will line up at the fence with expectant faces. We learned a ton about them, and they’re really amazing animals. There were a couple 6 month old baby alpacas, and a tiny 4 day old baby! They all have unique features, and personalities. My pictures don’t really do them justice.
Alpacas make sort of a mooing noise, but when they’re scared they have a machine-like noise. They’ll stand alert and stretch their necks tall. We got to hear it in the middle of the night (possibly a coyote freaked them out).
If you’d like to visit Los Angeles on a bitcoin vacation, I totally recommend this place. It’s a bit far out of the city, but only an hour. It’s a very nice contrast to the craziness of LA, super peaceful and relaxing. It’s close enough to the ocean that it doesn’t get very hot. It’s surrounded by hills that are great for hiking, filled with birds and lizards.
Victoria did an amazing job decorating the house that was felt both beautiful yet homey. Both the bed and couch being incredibly cozy and comfy. There’s a full kitchen, so you can make anything you want. Water’s all local from a well. There’s also a treehouse in a rare Coral tree, with a sturdy ladder leading to a platform.
For the food challenge, Joseph and Victoria did an amazing job of stocking the fridge. We had roasted chicken, corn, and green beans. Watched netflix and snacked on crackers and cheese with pirate wine. Pirates make excellent wine. Dessert was french vanilla banana splits with stroopwaffels and Nestle chocolate. It was a good day to be eating with cryptocurrency.
While Joseph does take dogecoin, we went with bitcoin for this one to make it easier. A night with alpacas will run about 0.3348btc ($125)/night.
Do you want to see more alpacas!? They’re on my flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pinguino/sets/72157648152078202/
Day Seven: http://spelunk.in/2014/09/27/eating-crypto-for-a-week-in-la-day-7-2/
Day Six: http://spelunk.in/2014/09/26/eating-crypto-for-a-week-in-la-day-6/
Day Five: http://spelunk.in/2014/09/25/eating-crypto-for-a-week-in-la-day-5/
Day Four: http://spelunk.in/2014/09/24/eating-crypto-for-a-week-in-la-day-4/
Day Three: http://spelunk.in/2014/09/23/eating-crypto-for-a-week-in-la-day-3/
Day Two: http://spelunk.in/2014/09/22/eating-crypto-for-a-week-in-la-day-2/
Day One: http://spelunk.in/2014/09/22/eating-crypto-for-a-week-in-la-day-1/
