We first came to know the phrase, "Goats do Roam," from a bottle of wine given to us by some dear friends from Zimbabwe. They explained the label name came about both by accident and parody. The story goes something like this. A shepard grazes his goats in open pasture near another farmers land. The goats continually breach the fence line to the frustration of the farmer and when he confronts the shepard about the situation he is met with the reply, "well...goats do roam." Accident. Then, some South African wine makers were searching for a name for their new product. They heard the phrase, "goats do roam," and found it irrisistibly close to the name of the award-winning French wine, Cotes du Rhone. Parody. They just couldn't pass up the opportunity to poke fun, and thus, a legend was born.
So what's that got to do with 2 backpackers traveling the planet? The answer. Empirical living. According to Wine Commune Platinum Seller, a website that critiques wines, Goats do Roam was voted the worst tasting wine in the world. They reported it tasted bland and insipid and described it as, "...purple liquid Maalox." But how would I know. The only bottle I've ever had is sitting in storage unopened. It could be the worst tasting wine I've ever tried. Or, perhaps I'll love drinking purple liquid Maalox. Ther's only one way to know for sure.So that's what we're doing. Tasting the world one wine at a time. Whether bitter or sweet, bland or flavorful, we are in search of first-hand experiences that can give us a taste of the world we live in. A little bit of reality-living to mold our perception of life before it's too late. Simply roaming can be a great start to developing as a humanitarian or philanthropist. If we can only put our fears aside and leave the comforts of our homes for a while, there is much to discover.
I've already learned so much. In fact, early this morning I discovered something that had managed to slip under my radar for nearly 30 years. It was 3:30 AM when I heard this strange loud sound outside our window. I heard it repeatedly every couple seconds and in more places than one. It was the sound of roosters calling. Odd. It was at least 2 hours before daylight and I had always thought roosters crowed just before dawn. But then, the only time I'd ever heard a rooster call before was after pulling the string on a See-and-Say toy. Ironic that I hadn't known this before, because where I live, I'm surrounded by farms.
-Mike