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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzI9v_B4sxw

OZ Maybe he wanted you so much he was asking for 300 all night? I guarantee you get him next visit for 200 or less.!!

Thanks to my friend IHPGuy for suggesting I test out the Mercadao Municipal! The Mercadao Municipal is an amazing covered market in the downtown area of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The building is housed inside a gigantic train station looking building. The windows are beautiful stained glass and a series of vast domes. The market specializes in fresh produce and dried goods but for me, it is famous for the sandwiches that Anthony Boudain raved about. He suggested I get the mortadella sandwiches and pasteis, pockets of dough stuffed with meat, cheese or fish and then fried. The Italian mortadela sandwich is the signature item at the Bar do Mané, one of the oldest shops in the market. The sandwich is piled as high as the lines at Disney World. I ordered both today but didn't know how amazingly filling they were and thus, I had to take one home with me for dinner. The cost for each one is about 11R or 6USD. I also fell in love with one cheese place that offered me sample after sample. I tasted each one and then I bought some for sandwiches and crackers later. The place is abuzz with people and everyone ordering food, laughing and having a good time. It was enjoyable and such a great experience. I would highly recommend this to everyone! The Pasteis de Camarao (hot shrimp pastry pockets) were one of the best things I have even bitten! (and that says a lot) I'll be going back to this place on many many days in the future. Thanks ihpguy for this suggestion. It has become a favorite of mine!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJBQP62E2Es&feature=player_detailpage

I saw this license plate last night and just had to snap a photo.

Reading some bits on Christopher Hitchens, could not resist passing along this bon mot of his: "If [Falwell] had been given an enema, he could have been buried in a matchbox."

I didn't go with him to a room and cameras are not allowed in the main public areas. Plus, after I told him no thanks, I don't think he would be interested in me taking his photo. But, I have not lost interest in him. Hey, I am doing much better on this trip than the past one with photos. LOL My friend Firecat always bitches at me about no photo. Tom is the photo king. I'll never live up to his photos, but I'll try to take a few. I know most of us are visual. Esp. when it comes to boys.

Day 2 Woke up today and had breakfast at my hotel. It is free and it is very basic. They have fresh eggs, bread, meats and cheeses and juices and coffee. It is a typical breakfast with not too many choices but it is fine for free. The hotel I am at is costing me only 5k points per night. I normally book rooms that get me extra points and pay about 10 USD for 1k extra points per booking. So, this hotel basically cost me max of 50 USD. But, I also get regular points for free so the actual cost is from 0-50 depending on how you look at it. I will often do points games that get the extra points. Like last year I did a challenge to stay in 4 different brands of IHC Hotels and I got over 80k points. That would be about 16 nights free here. I had booked the Intercontinental Hotel in Sao Paulo as a backup in case the Holiday Inn Express doesn't work for me but that is 40k points per night. I save over 400,000 points by staying in one hotel verses the other. In other words, that would be 2 free months at this hotel for points and IMHO, this is a good choice. (although I do miss my regular hotel) For lunch I went to the Mercadao Municipal downtown. See the previous post for photos and report. For the afternoon, I went to Thermas Lagoa. Termas LAGOA | Rua Borges Lagoa, 287 | (11) 5573-9689 | http://www.thermaslagoa.com.br Some think it's gone downhill, while for others it's a beloved favorite; but sauna fans could easily spend all day, and most of the night, at LAGOA. In addition to the usual features – Turkish baths, Finnish saunas, heated whirlpool and masseurs – there are TV and video rooms, live shows, and cabins and suites with A/C. You can even get a hair cut, and have a meal at the bar. Admittedly, this is no restaurant but if you are looking for some basic food, this place is great and the boys love for you to get a large plate and share with them. Once you get to Lagoa, you need to know that it has blue doors and they stay locked. You need to buzz your way in. This is true for many saunas in Brazil. They have a buzz system at most of the place and you simply buzz and you will hear a click which means it is OK to enter. You enter and register at the front. Often they will ask for your name. You get a bracelet with your key to the locker and the locker number. You order your drinks, suites, and everything with this number. Upon checkout, always check your bill. This time, as in numerous times in the past, they added something to my bill that I did not order. This happens often at this place if they don't know you. I always wait to get the full receipt and I look over it and I tell them, I did not order this and I just wait. He looked at me for a bit as if waiting for me to pay anyway and I look at him like he is insane. He takes it off the bill and I pay. I would offer this up as coincidence but it has happened to me over 20 times over the years and I think just something they try with new foreign customers. The cost to get in was 50R I think. I can't find my receipt so I'll be sure to get it next time. The reports of it being dead were not what I experienced today. They had an entire slew of boys there. Many were the regular boys I have seen over the years but some very new faces as well. What I did find most interesting is that this is the most gay boys / obvious bottoms I have seen in the place in all my years of visiting. That does not bother me at all as I love a good bottom but many of the Brazilian customers prefer the much more masculine guys. There were several very large muscular bodybuilders in the place. It has at least 10 of these guys that looked like they just stepped off the Steroid train. There was one guy that totally caught my attention. His name was Zach and he was with another customer and when he saw me looking and smiling at him, he came over to say hi to me after his customer had went home. He was simply divine. So, divine in fact, I was planning our wedding and honeymoon. He has a face to die for and a sexy boy. He was tall with brown hair and a sexy smile. He came over and we chatted. He is totally versatile. Without even asking him he said his rate was 300. I asked a friend who was sitting with me the Portuguese number he said to be sure I understood correctly and he said that was what he asked for. I told him no thanks and he left. I was heartbroken. Yes, I know that is only 150 US and most likely a great deal for him but I wasn't willing to pay so much more than a regular Brazilian customer. From the moment he walked away, I regretted it. However, I was not willing to pay that amount for him on that night. I don't know if I'll break down just to find he is as tasty as I think he is, but if he is there next week, I guess we'll find out. I decided I wanted a massage and had the massage guy give me one. I think his rates are 80R but I gave him 100 without discussing fees and he was very happy with it. It was a solid 50 minutes and he was great at the massage. He was strong and worked over every muscle I needed worked on. For dinner, I ate my leftover sandwich from lunch.

I can't remember him that well. But, then again, I didn't remember the kid that spent a week with me until he mentioned it to me and told me his name. I still don't think I paid him 1k per night but to be honest, that is what he said and his memory is better than mine. I tend to live for the moment and don't remember much after. I do remember Peterson but don't remember going with him so that may tell you that I didn't fall in love with him or the fact that he was a top only made me not go with him. But, my been there done that statement was to your first post of not getting them at that moment. I have learned from this and if I see someone I want, I don't wait. In fact, in Thailand where the boys are on the stage, if I walk in and see my Mr. Right Now, before I even sit, I'll offer my hand to him and take him immediately. So many insist on this. So many change their minds. I would love any recommendations you have. Thank you. I get to Rio at the end of this month. Thank you. I love Fragata. It has always been a place that I can find great guys. The place is not as popular with may as the rooms are not as nice at Lagoa but I still enjoy it. A bed is a bed and while it is nice to be a nicer room, what happens on the bed stays the same.

I suspect this will separate me from most others but... I've always found a little creepy the idea of dying while surrounded by family. I find it a very solitary act as no one else is going (with me) or has gone through the experience. No one will know what it is like or have pointers about exiting. They will either be exuding ponderously heavy sadness, or morbid curiosity or conceivably making a mental accounting sheet of the estate. I find none of that comforting. Call me weird, I guess.

Here at 24, with little brother Zac, 22.

ATM wise, Banco do Brazil is the best. No fee, good ex rate. Was using my ATM card from TD Canada. Worked in every city I visited, Rio, SP, PA, Iguacu ... It's also nice to have a no foreign ex fee credit card when visiting Brazil, save 2.5%. Credit card is accepted almost everywhere in Brazil. In Canada, amazon visa offers that. Nice to hear another visitor saying good words about Fragata, thanks for the photos. I will spend more time there on my next visit. Have a wonderful time and please keep the photos coming!

Jerry Falwell had a lot of things going for him. However, I cannot think of one at the moment. I once met him in BNA (Nashville, TN) and was very impressed, unfortunately not favorably. Best regards, RA1

I don't know, I think he must have looked like a horse's ass pretty immediately.

Honestly, that is the translation of the headline in today's O Globo Show Section. Well, almost,,,,I did leave out the word "Codfish" The review mentions that very high quality of the draft beer that they offer. And that is offered really cold in four different ways as the spout is at the end of 90 meters of serpentine cooling pipes. Only problem is that the Adonis, sounds like a great name for a gay porn theater, is located in Benfica. An interesting neighborhood that is the location of the CADEG, the older wholesale fruit and flower market, now populated in large numbers by Yuppies and Guppies on Saturday mornings. And Sao Januario, the location of the Vasco de Gama sports club with an enormous swimming pool, gymnasium and architecturally-interesting(kind of like a smaller LA Coliseum) football stadium http://rioshow.oglobo.globo.com/gastronomia/restaurantes/adonis-538.aspx#