There will certainly be readers who, when they read these lines, will admonish me for getting used to talking about things that happen to me. This one is already here with its little wars… In my defense I will say that what I am going to do when I experience curious things, which also have a certain morality. That betrays me as an active entity; If it wasn’t for that, if I was locked up like Crazy Juana, I’m sure I wouldn’t be in for any surprises like I am now. Let’s get down to business. Recently I came across two or three camandulos that in themselves define a specimen that I thought was gone. Before you explain to them academically what these camándulos are, you will see what they did. I arrived at Barajas airport, off a transatlantic flight, when endless corridors led me to another baggage check, after the painstaking and efficient one conducted on American soil. Since these flights connect with other flights that take you home, and that time is necessarily limited, this procedure, which should have been just that, turned out to be a bit of a nightmare. A uniformed man tells me what I know very well (put your coat here, your computer there, nothing in your pockets, take off your belts, etc, etc), which you do with proven diligence. But behold, another classmate asks you to put the most absurd things on the tray. And they destroy you And you pass without the sensor going off, but when you pick up your jacket, your computer, your cell phone, your wallet… button your pants so as not to show them off, you realize that your computer bag is stolen links on the other side, and that you should go and claim it. The uniformed man who took everything from you to pass the arch had it so rich there. To ask for it, you have to retrace your steps, and then a woman in uniform appears and does not allow anyone to approach her. Start over. Take off your belt (you already had it in place), leave your cell phone and wallet on another tray and get back in line, the official commanded me forcefully: there was no point in having passed the checkpoint earlier , don’t even tell her that the flight to Alicante will elude you, nor oranges from China. Back. Only the courage I came from, I don’t know where, made me blaspheme in Aramaic, grab the bag and skip the damn line. These are the facts. So much so that the two uniformed men and the uniformed woman told me that the rules had to be followed and that they would give me forms to do so if I wanted to complain. And the plane from Alicante is waiting on the other side of the terminal. All these whom I call uniformed assumed excessive authority. In my opinion, and it’s not the first time I’ve experienced similar events, it all starts with wearing livery. Normal creatures, soft in everyday life, with their husbands and wives, children and stepchildren, they put on a cap and a coat and believe the milk. In the hotels of the big cities there are still doormen full of frills, which you do not ask for. We are faced with the best example of a saying that is often said in the theater: habit makes the monk, the opposite of ordinary life. An actor who is a simple creature, who does not raise his voice at home so as not to disturb, puts on Don Juan’s costume before going on stage and he is Don Juan! In the hotels of the big cities, doormen full of frills still survive, that’s what those camandulas believe, that’s the term I think best describes those uniformed men. The RAE defines them with four adjectives: hypocrite, cunning, liar, and scoundrel. I would focus on the last one, the bad guy, because he sees an older man, who when he combs something is gray hair, with the urgency of getting to his connection on time, and not only do they not help him, but they irritate. Therefore I do not think they are hypocrites, or cunning, or liars; what they are are villains. I guarantee you that I have barely used the term camandula or camandulero a few times in my life, although I have seen it in comedies. And that I hesitated until the last moment to call them mindangos, a term very typical of Jumilla, which García Martínez used like no other. But to go back to the dictionary, mindango is ‘carefree, sarcastic and lazy’. Too much dignity to be sarcastic, for those camundulas who make you particularly ungrateful for the wonderful art of travel.
Source: La Verdad
I am George Kunkel, an author working for Today Times Live. I specialize in opinion pieces and cover stories that are both informative and thought-provoking – helping to shape public discourse on key issues. My work is regularly featured across the network’s many platforms, including print media and social media.
