Goats

Faviana, the Baby, Dad and I went in search of goats. We drove out to Chalakia, past Pippino's house and continued the dirt road half way down. We met with Ameralis, who had already parked his truck. He stepped out on to a rock outcrop and bellowed, "Ελα, Καλλως Τα!" (Come, Welcome!) The goats did not need a second call. They started running from everywhere. Little goats were skipping down the road, bigger goats were jumping from the stone walls. Goats that were down the mountain, came up. Goats that were up the mountain, came down. Within minutes, about a hundred goat had surrounded us. Ameralis pulls a small white sack out of his truck and starts to walk down a ways, to his land. There he starts to toss corn kernels to the sheep. Faviana even tossed kernels to the sheep. She had a small ceramic plate and was meting it out. One goat didn't want to wait and nudged her then licked her hand. She tossed the entire plate of kernels on the ground and cried out for help as the goats surrounded her to gobble up their snack.

Once the feeding frenzy had ended, we stopped to admire the location. It was high up the mountain and there was a great view of Panormos and the light house, of Andros and of the perimeter view of the island. The sun set while we were there and there were pink and orange hues on the mountains. Then the stars started to peek out one by one. It was a meditative quiet there and I quite liked the location to build a summer house - the kind without electricity or running water but with all the spiritual amenitites.

We walked away from the goats and they all stopped and stared at us as we left. They stood stock still. All of them in the herd. They stopped what they were doing and stared. I think they were saying 'goodbye' but odds are they were just waiting for more food....