Less than a week to go!

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Today's Wednesday and I leave next Tuesday. Less than a week to go!

A lot of work to get done before I leave, so I squeezed in an early morning workout on the elliptical - - 6 miles and expect to spend the rest of my day at my desk.

Tonight I'll empty my backpack and run down my checklist, to be sure I've got everything I need. I put my 'Credential del Peregrino' in my pack today. This is an interesting part of walking the Camino - - it's a Pilgrim's Passport that provides proof to the albergues - - dormitory-style lodging that exists on the route to serve those doing pilgrimage - - that you are official. As you go along your route, churches, cathedrals, convents, monasteries, albergues (and restaurants and bars!) have their own unique stamps.. When you show your Credential, they stamp it.

While the first stop on reaching Santiago de Compostela is the famed cathedral, the second is the pilgrim's office. There, they examine your Credential, record your journey in their records and issue a "Compostela" - a diploma of sorts for completing Camino. For some Catholics, the ancient Camino (which dates back to the middle ages) is one of three holy pilgrimages in the world - - the other two being Rome and Jerusalem.

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