<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2>In a message dated 3/28/2002 10:58:25 AM Eastern Daylight Time, kesatotaSHAW.CA writes:<BR>
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<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">if the walk on the camino is<BR>
entertainment then by all means take your cell phone. It will keep you<BR>
connected to your old self.<BR>
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Totally agree. One of my peregrino friends received an "urgent" phone call from his wife asking whether he would allow his teenage son to pierce his eyebrow. It became an unnecessary family crisis that distracted him for days. He got conflicting opinions from peregrinos on the subject which only compounded the dilemma for him. <BR>
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This technology is wonderful, but I consider it intrusive for a Camino trip, even if phones are ostensibly used in private. Most of the conversations I've overheard are about trivial, banal subjects or repetitive like, "I'm fine, how are you." I overheard them because the same people who insist that they only speak in private usually do not realize that they speak so loudly that they can be heard by others some distance away. Howard Mends, NYC</FONT></HTML>