35 and paranoid

We'd been properly warned before our trip to be very careful with valuables in Rio. "Put everything in the safe as soon as you get to your Hotel. Don't wear any jewelry on the beach, not even earrings -- the natives'll yank them right off our ears." Needless to say, paranoia reigned supreme, even to the point of my feaverishly tracking down the hotel manager and asking him to investigate a "person of suspect" in a University of Oregon t-shirt who seemed to be following us from floor to floor, escaping furtively through glass doors in the lobby onto the beach. The Manager said he'd check it out and report back to me. "Do not be alarmed", he assured me. "He is our own hotel security!" "Whew!" -- I sighed.