My first lesson in hedonism happened in Mexico. Not the Mexico of Cabo San Lucas. Same universe, different planet. You have to close your Sweet Valley High romance and instead open John Gray's Straw Dogs.

No, where my friends and I went to explore was a dimension away from Puerto Vallarta. Equipped with dry bags, back packs, and food for 7 days (but really more like five), we twisted and turned following the river's path in pristine water. Paradise to the kind of person that derives pleasure when they don't encounter anyone else. A wilderness of it's own intrepid beauty. Undulating canyon -- sublime and timeless nature. Macaw pairs squawking in the early morning and again at dusk. The elements of canyon, boulder, wind, and water working our white bodies.

Marcy was basking in the glorious sunshine, most likely nude, on a polished boulder of unimaginable comfort, when a voice preached that we were indeed hedonists. Post- lunch nap in the the heat of the day?

Walking along the river what does the hedonist collect? Penis and vulva-shaped rocks, that's what.

Wikipedia definition of Hedonism.

Hedonism is a school of thought that argues that pleasure and happiness are the primary or most important intrinsic goods and the proper aim of human life. A hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure (pleasure minus pain), but when finally gained of that pleasure either through intrinsic or extrinsic goods, happiness remains stationary.

Ethical hedonism is the idea that all people have the right to do everything in their power to achieve the greatest amount of pleasure possible to them. It is also the idea that every person's pleasure should far surpass their amount of pain. Ethical hedonism is said to have been started by Aristippus of Cryene, a student of Socrates. He held the ideal that pleasure is the highest good.

Hedonism is a sub philosophy of utilitarianism, which says to act in a ways that maximizes utility. Hedonists equate pleasure with utility and believe that pleasure is the master of all humankind, and acts as the ultimate life goal. Hedonists believe that there are only two motivators of human action, pleasure and pain and that decisions should only be made that further our pleasurable experiences and minimize or completely eliminate our painful ones.