The moon had not yet risen when at midnight we were gently shaken from our sleep by Nikos’ wife, Eleni. It was during this six days’ walk that our friendship was forged in the dust and heat of the road. He finally agreed to my accompanying his family and flock of six hundred sheep and goats on their return trek to the summer pastures high on the shoulders of Ziria, the greatest mountain in the northern Peloponnesos. When we first walked out of the mountains into the open yard of his winter home with an introduction from his brother-in-law, Nikos had been naturally skeptical of two young Americans who were genuinely interested in learning from him. I had first met Nikos in the spring of 1972 when my wife and I conducted extensive research on both contemporary and historical systems of herding in the Argolid. ![]() If so, the summer pastures on these mountains might offer the rich natural grazing necessary both to extend milk production and to ensure that the ewes and does would be in good condition and bred when the flocks returned to the Argolid next November. Perhaps the dark rain clouds were also massing one hundred kilometers to the west on the steep slopes of Ziria and Aroania. Nikos’ only hope would now lie in the possibility of late spring rains. There had been little milk to sell this winter. Why bother when the reward was sure to be a few bare and stunted stalks? There would be no joy this year when Nikos would make the day’s walk down from his winter home on the slopes of Ortholithi to settle his account with Kapetanos Andonis, his cheese merchant. ![]() The life-bearing winter rains had been late and inadequate. Now, just after Easter, when the grain fields should stilt have been a rich green and delicate wild flowers should have touched the land with a variety of subtle colors, the fields wore a mixture of yellows and browns. As the parched and brittle wheat fields flashed by the window and familiar smells of rock rose, thyme and pine blended with the diesel of our bus, my mind turned to Nikos and his family, It had been a had winter.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |