--- product_id: 11313982 title: "Seriously Mum, What's an Alpaca?: An Adventure in the Frying Pan of Spain" price: "VT4227" currency: VUV in_stock: true reviews_count: 7 url: https://www.desertcart.vu/products/11313982-seriously-mum-whats-an-alpaca-an-adventure-in-the-frying store_origin: VU region: Vanuatu --- # Seriously Mum, What's an Alpaca?: An Adventure in the Frying Pan of Spain **Price:** VT4227 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Seriously Mum, What's an Alpaca?: An Adventure in the Frying Pan of Spain - **How much does it cost?** VT4227 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.vu](https://www.desertcart.vu/products/11313982-seriously-mum-whats-an-alpaca-an-adventure-in-the-frying) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Seriously Mum, What's an Alpaca?: An Adventure in the Frying Pan of Spain [Parks, Alan] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Seriously Mum, What's an Alpaca?: An Adventure in the Frying Pan of Spain Review: Careful, They Spit - This is a lovely little memoir of an English family that pulls up roots and trundles off to Spain with an eye toward alpaca ranching. There's nothing in the world quite like an English ex-pat. Certainly they're not immigrants in the usual sense of the word for they never quite take up the role of victim or beggar, but rather become strangers in a strange land, workers amongst alien corn. Wherever they go, whatever they do, they never lose the humor and confidence that makes them British, and such is the case with Alan Parks and his family. As one might expect in a memoir set in foreign climes, there are misunderstandings with the locals, both linguistic and cultural, but they are always told with an eye toward humor and optimism, self-effacing as only a traditional Brit can be. One of my favorite parts of the book was when the Brits were trying to explain to the locals exactly what they intended to do, at a point when the alpacas of the title were yet unseen by the farmers and olive growers. After long explanations in phrasebook Spanish and many drawings by Alan, the Spanish finally got the idea--these crazy Brits were going to let herds of giraffes cavort among their olive trees! When the true nature of the alpacas became known I'm quite sure the reputation of the English for eccentricity was not diminished one whit. The author takes you through the joys and tragedies of becoming alpaca ranchers when you have little going for you other than good intentions, enthusiasm and boundless optimism. It is a tale about making dreams come true, but also a chronicle of the travails that are sometimes necessary in making those dreams manifest. It is well-written, engaging, and told in a narrative laced with equal parts of hubris, humor, humility and naivety. If you enjoy memoirs or autobiographies, you'll probably like this one. And it won't hurt if, like me, you're also something of an Anglophile...an aficionado of an England that used to be. Review: Not as funny as I expected - I bought this book thinking, based on the title, that it would have to be funny. There were some funny moments in it, of course, but there were also some sad ones and a lot that must have been embarrassing. Alan and Lorna are an older British couple who, for health reasons among other things wanted to try a different occupation. They fell in love with alpacas and decided to move to Spain to breed them. Silly me, I had expected that the story would take place somewhere in South America. Anyway, they find a house with a renovated olive mill in a remote area of Andalucía and get to work. They have taken a brief course in Spanish, but, of course, this was proper Spanish which bore little resemblance to the language actually spoken in this poor rural area. This contributes to some of the mix-ups they encounter. In part because of the language issue, they wind up doing possibly too much of their business with other British ex-patriots there in Andalucía. Even the people from whom they are getting their Alpacas are British. This leads to some funny situations, and also to some not-so-funny episodes. Alpacas are supposed to be easy to breed and not suffer much from disease. But Alan and Lorna seem to have rather bad luck in this area and lose several of their valuable alpacas, including several of the new babies. This is particularly upsetting for them, as they are serious animal lovers. Over the course of a couple of years, however, things slowly get better – sort of. The alpaca herd begins to grow, and they become good friends with several of their Spanish neighbors. They acquire an interesting collection of other animals as well. Their solar-powered house mostly works ok when the sun shines – which it does quite a lot in this area. And the leaky roof is only a problem when it sets in to really rain…. The thing that most seriously disappointed me, however, was that I had been expecting the family to have at least two, possibly more children around ten years of age or so to get into funny situations with the animals. As it turned out, the children were something like eighteen and twenty-four. One of them didn’t even go to Andalucía, and the other one returned to England after the first year. They were very helpful in getting the alpaca business going but didn’t have any funny adventures at all. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #6,551,767 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #43,051 in Memoirs (Books) | | Book 1 of 4 | Seriously Mum | | Customer Reviews | 3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars (2,031) | | Dimensions | 5 x 0.41 x 8 inches | | Edition | 2nd | | ISBN-10 | 1482011603 | | ISBN-13 | 978-1482011609 | | Item Weight | 7.2 ounces | | Language | English | | Print length | 178 pages | | Publication date | January 17, 2013 | | Publisher | CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform | ## Images ![Seriously Mum, What's an Alpaca?: An Adventure in the Frying Pan of Spain - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61bTFIzwEnL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Careful, They Spit *by R***N on March 26, 2015* This is a lovely little memoir of an English family that pulls up roots and trundles off to Spain with an eye toward alpaca ranching. There's nothing in the world quite like an English ex-pat. Certainly they're not immigrants in the usual sense of the word for they never quite take up the role of victim or beggar, but rather become strangers in a strange land, workers amongst alien corn. Wherever they go, whatever they do, they never lose the humor and confidence that makes them British, and such is the case with Alan Parks and his family. As one might expect in a memoir set in foreign climes, there are misunderstandings with the locals, both linguistic and cultural, but they are always told with an eye toward humor and optimism, self-effacing as only a traditional Brit can be. One of my favorite parts of the book was when the Brits were trying to explain to the locals exactly what they intended to do, at a point when the alpacas of the title were yet unseen by the farmers and olive growers. After long explanations in phrasebook Spanish and many drawings by Alan, the Spanish finally got the idea--these crazy Brits were going to let herds of giraffes cavort among their olive trees! When the true nature of the alpacas became known I'm quite sure the reputation of the English for eccentricity was not diminished one whit. The author takes you through the joys and tragedies of becoming alpaca ranchers when you have little going for you other than good intentions, enthusiasm and boundless optimism. It is a tale about making dreams come true, but also a chronicle of the travails that are sometimes necessary in making those dreams manifest. It is well-written, engaging, and told in a narrative laced with equal parts of hubris, humor, humility and naivety. If you enjoy memoirs or autobiographies, you'll probably like this one. And it won't hurt if, like me, you're also something of an Anglophile...an aficionado of an England that used to be. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Not as funny as I expected *by L***. on June 1, 2020* I bought this book thinking, based on the title, that it would have to be funny. There were some funny moments in it, of course, but there were also some sad ones and a lot that must have been embarrassing. Alan and Lorna are an older British couple who, for health reasons among other things wanted to try a different occupation. They fell in love with alpacas and decided to move to Spain to breed them. Silly me, I had expected that the story would take place somewhere in South America. Anyway, they find a house with a renovated olive mill in a remote area of Andalucía and get to work. They have taken a brief course in Spanish, but, of course, this was proper Spanish which bore little resemblance to the language actually spoken in this poor rural area. This contributes to some of the mix-ups they encounter. In part because of the language issue, they wind up doing possibly too much of their business with other British ex-patriots there in Andalucía. Even the people from whom they are getting their Alpacas are British. This leads to some funny situations, and also to some not-so-funny episodes. Alpacas are supposed to be easy to breed and not suffer much from disease. But Alan and Lorna seem to have rather bad luck in this area and lose several of their valuable alpacas, including several of the new babies. This is particularly upsetting for them, as they are serious animal lovers. Over the course of a couple of years, however, things slowly get better – sort of. The alpaca herd begins to grow, and they become good friends with several of their Spanish neighbors. They acquire an interesting collection of other animals as well. Their solar-powered house mostly works ok when the sun shines – which it does quite a lot in this area. And the leaky roof is only a problem when it sets in to really rain…. The thing that most seriously disappointed me, however, was that I had been expecting the family to have at least two, possibly more children around ten years of age or so to get into funny situations with the animals. As it turned out, the children were something like eighteen and twenty-four. One of them didn’t even go to Andalucía, and the other one returned to England after the first year. They were very helpful in getting the alpaca business going but didn’t have any funny adventures at all. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review *by M***D on January 13, 2014* I really identified with this story about moving to Spain and rearing alpacas, because I've done exactly the same thing rearing goats, here in France. (I hope Alan's book sells better than mine has!) It's an enjoyable read which makes me want to find out more about what happened next. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.vu/products/11313982-seriously-mum-whats-an-alpaca-an-adventure-in-the-frying](https://www.desertcart.vu/products/11313982-seriously-mum-whats-an-alpaca-an-adventure-in-the-frying) --- *Product available on Desertcart Vanuatu* *Store origin: VU* *Last updated: 2026-05-07*