Here is a photo of John's credencial showing the first of the rubber stamps we got in each town. Some are quite ornate and large. Each bar, hotel, and church has a stamp available. You must get a stamp from each village or city as proof that you passed through there on your way to Santiago.
We requested our credenciales - or Pilgrim Passports - in advance from the group, American Pilgrims on the Camino. Their website is a great resource. No charge - but they did ask for a donation if we felt inclined. We did.
At one point, we were afraid we might not have room for all the stamps we needed, but it worked out just fine. We presented our credenciales at the special office in Santiago - they passed muster - and we each got our special document with our name written in Latin attesting to our having completed the pilgrimage to Santiago by walking at least the last 100 km.
"An Actor Prepares" is the famous book by Stanislavsky on learning the craft of acting. Well, "a pilgrim prepares," too. Many things to learn and decide - including type of shoes, trekking poles or not trekking poles, and so on. For this year's walk I purchased trekking poles -- short enough to fit into my pack. Lightweight carbon -- thank goodness I had a 15% discount card for REI. We tried them out tonight as John, Holly the dog, and I walked a bit at the end of the road. They do seem to help with my ankle issue, but I am concerned that they are not tall enough for me to grasp at the right height. We shall experiment. Worst case, I buy a tall pilgrim staff when we get to France and use it instead. More on the ankle later. This is called blatant foreshadowing.
We leave on Friday -- the days are flying by!
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