Paraty bay trip

Paraty turned out to be a nice little town and good place to get away from the larger cities. I took a boat trip out to visit a couple of secluded beaches, one of which was complete with an amazing little cottage that looked like it must have been dropped out of the sky into that place, since the beach back up to steep hills covered in jungle with no roads or trails leading up. The only way in or out was by boat.

And so I spent the afternoon swimming around little coves and talking with the 8 or so other travelers on the boat. The boat could have easily held 100 people, so you can imagine that we are in the low season. The water this time of year was just the right temperature, although the air temp could have been better. It was a little chilly at about 70 degrees all day with no sun and intermittent rain. All in all though, it was well worth doing. Would be a great thing to do with a girlfriend.

As for other activities in the town, I went out to dinner last night with a group of Argentines that I was introduced to from a guy I met on the bus ride over here. Can't say I found them to be very friendly or inclusive, but I'm accustomed to that from people from Argentina. One interesting thing did happen though.... I had the hiccups for a few minutes, when one of the girls I was eating with said something to the effect of, "Ok, that's enough; we need to get rid of those hiccups." She then proceeded to take my hand in her hands and briefly caress my forearm up to my elbow. For those brief seconds she was touching me, I was staring at her with what must have been a quizzical look on my face, thinking maybe I had misinterpreted some Spanish somewhere along the line. At any rate, she quickly stopped, said that I should be all better now, and then looked at me with an expectant look on her face. And sure enough, no more hiccups. Not sure how that works, but I for one have never been one to underestimate the power of a woman's touch, so I guess I'm not too surprised she somehow produced in me a physiological change enough to rid me of the hiccups.