When the two younger women with the older guys got up and headed for the powder room, Thalia gave me one of her impish grins and said she thought she would go "fix her face" at the same time. I could tell she was dying to find out what the other two were up to.

The three women were gone about 10 or 15 minutes. The other two guys were having an animated discussion and were looking over my way every once in a while. I caught the one guy's eye one time and we simply nodded at each other.

When the gals returned they were all three talking together on their ways back to the tables.

Thalita plopped down in her chair and filled me in. One of the couples were from Spain. They were a boss and his assistant here to go on the cruise I was going on.

The other guy was a German that lived in Rio and his girl was a local Brazilian girl but she wasn't sure if she was his girlfriend, mistress or a paid companion. He was some kind of a business associate of the Spaniard. He was not booked on the ship.

She stared out the window toward the cove by beach. I could see the wheels turning inside her prety little head.

She started hesitantly in English and gave up switching back to Spanish. She asked me what I was planning to do on the cruise and I related some of the normal cruise type things people do. She gave me a playful gentle kick under the table and said, "...not that".

"What are you planning to do when the ship stops in those ports?"

I told her I intended to see the sights in each place and if I was in the mood I might look for some female companionship. After all that was the original purpose of the trip. She couldn't hold that against me - after all what were we doing in Rio??

She asked me to name the places we would be going and she listened intently to each one. She was familiar with them all and I could tell she was thinking about something.

Slowly she begin asking in a sort of round about way if I would rather do what I had just described or would it be better to have a friend along for the trip. (I had mentioned early on that my son had cancelled out too late to get his money back and I had basically an extra non-refundable, fully paid for passage.)

If you wanted to bring someone besides your son, could you change the ticket, she asked?

I told her honestly that I didn't know for sure but that it might be possible.

She changed the subject and suggested that we go get ready to go take the cog train up to see the statue of Christ the Redeemer.

We went back to our room, I collected my camera and we packed a small bag with some bottled water and a few odds and ends.

She was a little quieter than usual and I was pretty sure I knew why. She got back to her normal happy self as the day went on but I got to wondering: #1 if a substitution could be made and #2 did I want to do it if it could?

We got back to the hotel in mid afternoon and she told me she wanted to go get her hair done as we were going to an classy place along the beach for dinner. I kissed her goodbye and told her I was going to take a nap.

I laid down and gave the situation some careful thought. On one hand, I'd like to score some fresh senoritas in Uruguay, Argentina and Chile. On the other hand on those long cold nights at sea or in out of the way places like the Falkland Islands it would be nice to have someone to help warm my bed.

It wouldn't hurt to find out if this whole thing was academic or if it was actually possible. I put my shoes back on and went down to the cruise desk to find out how to get a hold of someone who could answer my question. I got the name and number of the local manager responsible for the embarkation procedures and posed the question to him.

He thought briefly and said that as long as everything was paid for and the alternate person was over 21 (or had parental consent if under 21) and had a passport that it could be arranged but would need to be finalized before 5PM the following day.

It would have been easier if he'd said "no way"!!

Thalia got back a little later and looked great. I unpacked my tux that I had brought along for the formal nights aboard ship and we were both dressed to the nines as they uswed to say.

We were quite a good looking couple that night. She looked older and I looked younger the way we were dressed so we were hardly out of place in Rio. Dinner was great and we followed it with some dancing and a little drinking.

The sex that night was especially good for me. She seemed to reach inside for a little something extra and really put everything into it. My back was lightly raked with fingernail scratches but not to the point of it being a problem.

For the first time all week I sensed that she might be faking a climax. Obviously something heavy was going on inside that pretty blonde head.

The next morning after our early morning ritual she propped herself up on her elbows in the bed and asked if I had found out if I could bring a substitute on the trip.

I answered that I had, and that it was possible if certain conditions and deadlines were met.

She looked at me in a way that felt like she was trying to literally read what was in my brain. She then asked if I would be interested in discussing some kind of an arrangement where she would accompany me.

I looked back at her and said it was certainly a tempting idea but that I was going to have to give it some thought. By the clock next to the bed I had about 9 hours to make a decision and work something out with her if the answer was yes.

It was going to be a long day without nearly enough hours in it...

...to be continued

You're going to the Falkland Islands! Now I'm really jealous. I've always wanted to go there and continue on South Georgia and the other British Antartica islands.

I was pleasantly surprised by how nice the Falklands were. We spent a whole day at Stanley on East Falkland and it was a really pretty place. I doubt there is any P4P action there but that's not what folks go there for anyway. The only thing spooky about the F.I. are the signs "Danger - Minefield" all over the place. Lots of folks got to see King and Magellenic penguins.

I've been to South Georgia (really primitive) and some of the Antarctic Islands (Joinville, Deception, Anvers) but never the other British sub-Antarctic ones like the South Shetlands, etc.

BTW, I managed to get laid in Stanley by arranging a liaison with a gal from the ship. She needed some money and I had had a hot streak at the casino. We chose Stanley on a lark - just so we could both say we'd done it there. I had a repeat session with her aboard the ship last night at sea even though she would have to place last on my scorecard for the quality of the sex on the overall trip.

FWIW, I saw a report somewhere that the minefields have produced new breeding grounds for some of the local fauna since the landmines aren't set off by their light weight, but they tend to keep the fucking biologists and other Discover/PBS idiots from pestering them...

Maybe there's something to be said for just designating all the existing minefields as "nature preserves" and letting it ride for a few hundred years.

Dem Eco-Gnomes