[Gocamino] [saintjames] Re: Starting, Walking, Stamps Etc

Sat Apr 27 23:34:53 PDT 2013

Hola
Greetings from the Pilgrims' Office. Insults notwithstanding let's go back to Howard's original point:
"My experience with the Pilgrim Office in SdeC is that they are slavishly bureacratic and inflexible about NOT gving you the Compostela unless they are satisfied that you walked the last 100 km. to Santiago. If you demonstrate that you have walked more than the proscribed 100 km. along other routes or previous segments of th same route, they will scoff at you and be dismissive."
If anything causes controversy in the office between pilgrim and member of staff it is frequently this very issue. Sometimes pilgrims appear and explain that although they may have started in France for example their last stamp/sello is from Burgos or Sarria or somewhere short of Santiago. The reasons for this range from pilgrims running out of time or simply not liking the Camino when it gets busier nearer to Santiago.
In these situations my colleagues explain patiently that the Compostela is a document which records pilgrims' arrival at the tomb of St James in the cathedral in Santiagio. The pilgrimage is a pilgrimage to Santiago and not to Burgos or Sarria. Sometimes people do not see the logic of this and whilst we understand their frustration there really isn't anything that we can do about it without devaluing the efforts of the 200,000 pilgrims per year who walk to Santiago.
Best regards
John   

http://www.johnniewalker-santiago.blogspot.com

To: Gocamino at oakapple.net; saintjames at yahoogroups.com
From: Blaroli at aol.com
Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2013 20:00:27 -0400
Subject: [saintjames] Re: [Gocamino] Starting, Walking, Stamps Etc

Now I understand Faffner's grumbles about being woken up.

But some perspective might help:

Unlike Motor Vehicle and other government employees who have fairly good salaries, pension, sick-days and health benefits, those who tend to the Pilgrims Office in Santiago are mostly volunteers; the few who get paid are paid a pittance, and yet they are expected to speak more than one language, be as patient as Job (with tired, or sick, or achy, or over-excited pilgrims, who are often frustrated and irascible by an inability to express the overflowing sentiments in their hart in a language understood by all ), and must be knowledgeable about practical needs, as to how to help[ a pilgrim that can't walk because of blisters, or where to direct a pilgrim who lost his/her money/passport/ cell-phone or whatever.

Further, you would think that those who put their sentiments and emotions on the line by meeting such an array of pilgrim souls would at least have a modicum of practical comfort....... 

Well, they do not.

I have been in their "offices"  untold times and have been saddened by the fact that in their "staff" room they only have a rickety card table, a few broken down chairs and a hand-me-down refrigerator that contains only sodas, or milk, or some fruits, which one or another of the Pilgrims' Office "workers" bought out of his or her own pocket for the others.

What they do have is the desire to be part of the Camino some way, and to do so they forgo other career or professional pursuits.

(A talented and notable organist from the UK presently devoting a lot of his time to the paper-pushing and asking-questions of Pilgrims' Office duties comes to mind.)  

In my long life the living people that I continue to admire barely number one of my hand's fingers.  But one of them is a woman as talented, beautiful, educated, charming and intelligent as anyone  can ever be.   Yet, she forewent offers and opportunities for wealth, renown and success that most of us can only dream of to go back to Santiago and work, for next-to-nothing, handling the administrative needs of the Pilgrims 'Office with the pitiful supplies at their disposal.

When, once, I asked her the reasons for her astonishing, and,  to me,  in comprehensible , life-defining decision,  she answer with one word:  The Camino.

Not possessing her spiritual qualities I do not fully comprehend what she meant, but I profoundly   admire and, indeed, envy, her reasons.

While for now she has vanished into motherhood (together with another equally admirable and Santiago-devoted friend), I am sure that the seeds of concern and understanding that she nurtured at the Pilgrims 'office go on  bearing fruit.

And, for sure  she is still   there somehow.

And so, my dear present and future fellow pilgrims..... take heart. The whole Camino is about it.......all the way up- to the Pilgrims; Office.

Hugs!

Rosina

ps. If someone wants me to elaborate on the Faffner's mention I should be soooooooo delighted that you asked.

aol.com

-----Original Message-----

From: sillydoll <sillydoll at gmail.com>

To: Howard <HMe347 at aol.com>

Cc: gocamino <gocamino at oakapple.net>

Sent: Sat, Apr 27, 2013 7:31 am

Subject: Re: [Gocamino] Starting, Walking, Stamps Etc

On the contrary - on my 7 arrivals in Santiago I have always had a warm welcome 

in the Pilgrims Office. In 2010 the Amigos volunteers were established to meet, 

greet, hug and welcome every pilgrim as the arrive. They need volunteers Howard. 

Maybe you could offer your services and be a part of the warm welcome. 

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

-----Original Message-----

From: Howard <HMe347 at aol.com>

Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2013 07:11:22 

To: Sil<sillydoll at gmail.com>

Cc: janehgoldstein at gmail.com<janehgoldstein at gmail.com>; jpcrim1974 at gmail.com<jpcrim1974 at gmail.com>; 

gocamino at oakapple.net<gocamino at oakapple.net>

Subject: Re: [Gocamino] Starting, Walking, Stamps Etc

Sil - they may not be Inquisitors, but they act like they were trained by the 

folks at  the Motor Vehicles Dept. in NYC. You do not get a warm, fuzzy welcome 

from them. Take off your rosé colored glasses, Sil, and be honest with folks 

seeking assistance here.  

Be prepared, Jeff, for a humiliating, demeaning experience. As I indicated 

previously, the compostela is just a piece of paper that will probably lose its 

importance to you over time. Not worth getting a negative experience over being 

denied to you for "non compliance" with the rules. Sil does you a disservice in 

misleading you.

Howard Mendes NYC

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 27, 2013, at 1:06 AM, Sil <sillydoll at gmail.com> wrote:

> "they are slavishly bureacratic and inflexible about NOT gving you the 

Compostela unless they are satisfied that you walked the last 100 km. to 

Santiago.  If you demonstrate that you have walked more than the proscribed 100 

km. along other routes or previous segments of th same route, they will scoff at 

you and be dismissive."

>  

> Ha! Ha!  Howard you are so funny!  You make the good people in the Pilgrim's 

Office sound like vengeful inquisitors!  Jeff, the exact opposite is true.  

While its true that they don't issue the certificate to pilgrims who take buses 

or taxis on the last 100km, the people in the pilgrim's office are not there to 

punish anyone and every pilgrim is assessed as an individual according to the 

effort they put in to walking the last 100km.  I know pilgrims who started in St 

Jean but who were unable to walk every km of the last 100km (for various 

reasons) who were given the Compostela.  

> 

> 

> On 24 April 2013 19:30, Howard Mendes <hme347 at aol.com> wrote:

>> My experience with the Pilgrim Office in SdeC is that they are slavishly 

bureacratic and inflexible about NOT gving you the Compostela unless they are 

satisfied that you walked the last 100 km. to Santiago.  If you demonstrate that 

you have walked more than the proscribed 100 km. along other routes or previous 

segments of th same route, they will scoff at you and be dismissive.

>> 

>> 

>> I have my original Compostela stored away somewhere; but, in truth, it is 

just a piece of paper. It is like a high school diploma.  No one ever asks to 

see it, but you know you earned it. The real evidence of the Camino will be in 

your heart and your mind.

>> 

>> 

>> Howard Mendes, NYC

>> 

>> 

>> 

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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