Day 17- Train Adventures - August 1

Day 17- Train Adventures - August 1

 I got on the train in Santiago and went back over the route the wrecked train came down. I have to say at normal speeds you don't even notice a curve. They must have been traveling at a terrifying speed. Anyway, my scare was in consequential by comparison, but real nonetheless. 

I had to transfer trains at Ourense to go to Pamplona. I was  worried about changing trains because I only had five minutes to do it, but that was a piece of cake. However on the first train I realized I had lost my Tarjeta Dorado (a card which allows us old folks a forty per cent discount.) I figured oh well, I'll have to get another one. I hope that is allowed. 

Now the conductor is checking tickets. I am sitting on a different seat because it has a view, mine is about three cars forward so he gets to me and I go to pull it out and it is not there. I think maybe it dropped out of my pocket  at my seat. So I tell him my seat is  in another car and go back to look. Not there. I go around searching every seat I sat in,       I had gone to the cafeteria car for café con leche, not there. I asked the woman at the bar of she had seen it or if anyone had turned it in, no, I searched the trash no ticket! 

I knew I had it when I got on the train. I checked my pockets a third time and my fanny pack a second time. No ticket. And he is ever so slowly working his way up to my seat. 

Yikes!!! I'm thinking Spanish prison or, at least jail. Then I'm thinking maybe he would throw me off the train and I would have to buy another ticket and wait five hours in a dinky little station with no services to get another train. Not fun, but better than jail. He's still slowly making his way to my seat and everyone but the criminal in 4D is showing him their ticket. I'm trying to pull up my credit card web site so I can at least show hom the charge for the ticket, but he gets to our row before I can get to the web site. My seat mate shows him her ticket. Them he looks at me, gulp. I explain to him in the very best Spanish I can muster "perdí mi billette" (I lost my ticket.) He asks me how far I am going. I tell him Pamplona. He checks his list and moves on to the next row of passengers. 

So I am still waiting for the hammer to fall thinking he is going to call someone official to meet the train at a station down the way. But I figured there was nothing I can do about it now (Willie Nelson) so I put my ear buds on and listened to music whole watching a movie with English subtitles about  boy with leaves growing out of his ankles. 

OMG the RENFE Seguridad just came walking through the train looking from side to side in the seats like they were looking for something or someone. My heart stopped. But they went on by me. Holding my breath. I have visions of being held by the arms feet dragging off the train, to the Magistrate, then straight to the cell block. I've actually seen Security come on Metros in Paris and take people off the metros for crashing the gates, pushing through with another passenger. I had a guy come up behind me and do that stepping on my heal and scraping it then laughing when I said "ouch." He professed not to understand English until I dropped the "f bomb" then he was fairly fluent. Leea, my younger daughter dragged me off before I smacked him. Leea said she only dragged me out because she was so mad she was afraid of what she might do. She could have taken him easily. Heck, I think I had a fairly good chance myself. Great excitement in the Metro station. And neither Leea nor I had even been drinking, but he had.  

Some people travel for relaxation, me? You just never know. 

We finally got to Pamplona, I got off the train, no one stopped me or followed me to my hotel. I replaced my Tarjeta Dorado with out incident 

Whew! I really need to talk to Saint Anthony again, and maybe work out a system for holding things. The problem is my old hiking shorts have six pockets and the ones I have now only have four. I keep my money purse, phone and  passport with ATM card (inside) at all times. That only leaves one other pocket for tickets , tissues, etc. so when I get one thing out, I think I drop others. I need to work on taking everything out of the pocket,  being in the moment, removing what I need and putting the rest back in the pocket. 

I made it my hotel with the help of a construction worker. My map didn't help because there was major road work going on that shut down part of the street I was supposed to take.