Chris and I went for a walk along the Costanera on our day off, and by chance happened to discover Jacar? beach just around the corner. It was busy time and there were hundreds of people crowded into that place. It was also very hot and the water looked great. The only problem was that we were not expecting to be on a beach, so we didn't have our swimmers with us.
For Chris this was not such a problem and he dived into the water with his shorts and all. My shorts however were huge and heavy and the idea of swimming in them did not appeal so much. So I stripped off to my undies for a swim. After all, the women on this beach were in g-strings and other such delicate webbing, what harm could it be to swim in my racing-striped undies. They even looked like cool swimmers.
It was for these reasons that I could not understand why I started to get so many stares as I started out for the water. In Australia, and even Brazil for that matter, what I was wearing (more boxer-short style but firm - hmmm, too much information here???) was extremely modest. Because I was still in a Latin-American country, I figured that this was a very safe bet and so disregarded the stares I was attracting and jumped into the water. They were probably looking at me because I was a gringo and very white.
With everyone at the beach normally seated to face the water, when I came out of the water again, I had a much larger audience this time. And the stares from the people, and especially from the girls, was very noticeable. Even as I walked up the beach, I noticed girls turning their heads toward me. Wow, I was certainly attracting some attention.
Now I am not averse to this type of attention really. It is quite flattering to think that other people would want to look at and admire you. But I was quite sure that they were not admiring my body by now. After all, there were plenty of much better looking boys on the beach that were attracting much less attention. When I walked past a line of three girls and they kept staring at me even as I passed them, I was sure that there was something not quite right with my attire. A quick look down told me that everything was covered as it should be so it wasn't that. I was obviously some kind of novelty however.
Why? Did they really know that my super-cool looking racing-striped undies were really just undies and not swimmers? No, that was almost impossible. They even looked like swimmers to me. As I stood at the back of the beach, waiting to dry off, the stares and looks faded but not completely. It was then that I decided to check out how many others were wearing my style of swimmers. I was sure there would be a significant percentage.
Well, in looking around, I suddenly realised why I had become the spectacle on the beach. It had nothing to do with the fact that I was a gringo, although arguably related. It turned out that there was not one single other male that wore anything less than big baggy boardshorts. Here I was, still standing in my skimpy little tight fitting undies. Gulp. No wonder I was obvious.
Thinking it wise to show a little discretion based on the culture I was in, I quickly slipped on my shorts and shirt and sat down. It was better to keep a low profile after that display. No wonder I had caught the attention of the entire section of beach where I bathed.
If I had been the bashful type, that would have been very embarrassing...
But now I just laugh about it, and put it down to cultural differences.