[Gocamino] Scallop shell

[Lynne Gilberg]

Ah, the shells.

On the second night of my first camino in 2002‹it was a dark and stormy
night, the night of the concrete floor in Zubiri, the night of 100 people
using one toilet with no seat‹I received my shell. Andrew from Ireland had
found it on a beach in the north of his country, but decided to give it to
me out of pity (61st birthday on a concrete floor: well, it WAS memorable).
For this I traded him a small rock that I carried from the Santa Monica
Mountains in Los Angeles. It turned out to be an appropriate swap: he was
working on his PhD on indigenous peoples and my little rock was from the
former territory of Chumash Indians, a gatherer nation now long gone.

I spent many evenings re-affixing my lovely Irish shell to the back of my
pack with dental floss. Just last week, I drilled holes in it. This time,
leaving from Le Puy in May, it will be properly displayed. I wouldn¹t leave
home without it!

Coquilles St. Jacques: we know why the dish is so named, but do we know
when? Is it just the traditional connection between James and the sea? Is
this a dish that has been served and named for centuries, or an invention of
Tour d¹Argent and the Terrail family?


-- 
Lynne
lgedit at sbcglobal.net