[Gocamino] bringintg things home

[Dennis Harrod]

Rosina, your advice for getting things home makes me have to share our  experience last spring. We had bought a cross of St. James in Santiago and  were bringing it home to give to our own parish priest at our own St. James.  We had it blessed by one of the priests at the cathedral and packed it in with  the other various gifts we'd bought.    When we got to the airport, we carefully moved items from our carry-on luggage  into our checked bags, and checked our walking sticks as well (which we'd  bought for 3 euros each in a hardware store in Villafranca del Bierzo). But it  never occured to us to move the cross. It's a cross after all. But as you  know, the cross of St. James is also a sword, and boy did we set off alarms at  security.    I explained to the guardia that it was not only a crucifix, but one that had  been blessed as well (we'd also had our sticks blessed, and the priest said  that now we were not allowed to hit anybody with them). Anyway, the guardia,  rather !
 big
 guardia, looked at the cross and listened to me and then said he'd  check. After a few minutes he came back and very apologetically told me we  couldn't carry it on. It was a lethal weapon and he indicated as much by  making stabbing motions with the very sharp point. But they very graciously  let me go back through the security check point and check it. The woman at the  desk put it carefully into a small box and checke it through and lo and behold  it came out in New York (our sticks didnt', but that's another story).    But I often think about that and how the fact that it was a blessed item  almost overrode it's lethalness. And the fact that nobody among the security agents, normally so dour and serious, got upset with us.      Dennis            --- Blaroli at aol.com wrote:    > Hi Patricia,  > My walking stick is 4 ft. long and it has a slightly bent knobby head which   > comes in very handy.  >  I've never used to defend myself from, or threaten, dogs since I've never  !
  > met
 other than sleeping or  friendly  dogs.  My only rather serious  > encounter   > with a dog happened  in Galicia one time when I followed a herd of cows that  > was   > being led through a town by a Galician woman and a big dog.  I stopped to   > look at them all and take pictures,  and the dog began to nudge me to keep  > on   > walking  with the cows. Being 5 feet tall and weighing 100 pounds I know  > better   > than to displease a large dog...I walked  "with the cows" trying to fall  > behind   > to talk to, and be rescued by,  the shepherdess.  The woman told me that the  >   > dog had interpreted my attitude and behavior as that of one belonging to the  >   > herd.  > Somehow I took it as a big compliment and couldn't wait to get home and tell  >   > my little four-pound Maltese, Chris, about it.  > The stick (or "third leg" as the Spaniards call it) has been of great help   > going up hills and mountains, but I have found it invaluable coming down,   > particularly w!
 hen it
 rains (quite often) and the water runs rivulets between  > your   > feet carrying little pebbles and becomes  terribly slippery.  I would  > estimate,   > conservatively, that the stick has kept me from sliding and falling and   > breaking bones, hundreds of times.   >   You will need to prepare to bring the stick back before you board a   > plane...., particularly if you get a long one  with a metal tip that won't  > fit in a   > suitcase. You may have to have it packed in a cut-up and   > retaped-for-the-purpose cardb oard box and hope that it doesn't get  > lost....... Or, if you speak   > Spanish (and it seems that you do) and you are flying Iberia, you can turn  > on the   > Latin charm and inform the "uzufratas" that your stick was blessed at  > various   > times in various places, etc., that you owe it your survival, etc and you   > don't want to risk its getting lost., and ask them kindly to put it in one  > of   > their cabins during the flight.  You may also give !
 them a
 shell or some  > other   > Santiago keepsake, show then your credential with all the seals, and, if you  > have   > it, your Compostela.. This is what I have done every time. and it has  > worked.  > As for your sons..... during my last Camino, through the Portuguese Way, my   > physical fitness nut of a son, who is  6'2" (yup!) and his equally tall,  > young   > and fit bride, gave up walking midway and had to proceed by rented car.  > It takes more..... lots more..... than just a body to be a   > pilgrim.....perhaps it takes the soul insights that come with age or with   > misfortune.  (Didn't   > Tolstoy wrote that happy people have no history"?)  I don't know.  > Warm regards,  > Rosina   >        > _______________________________________________  > Gocamino mailing list  > Gocamino at oakapple.net  > http://mailman.oakapple.net/mailman/listinfo/gocamino  >     
        
   




Dennis C. Harrod, Spanish Language Coordinator
316A H.B. Crouse
Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY 13244
(315) 443-5491
dcharrod at syr.edu
		
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