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CROSS POSTED at: http://www.gaythailand.com/forums/topic/11100-bangkok-trip-report-to-butterfly-or-not-to-butterfly-part-2-–-the-devil-and-the-angel/?p=119540 Part 1 of 4: Marking My Territory As a newbie, I wanted to share my experience in visiting Brazil for the first time, specifically my first paid encounter in Brazil. This post is fairly wordy and heavy on details, so it is not for everyone. But I hope this post is useful for anyone wanting to visit Brazil for the first time. Just a background, I’ve been a regular contributor to the GayThailand.com, having been a regular visitor to Bangkok up until recently. This was the post of my last trip in May: http://www.gaythailand.com/forums/topic/11100-bangkok-trip-report-to-butterfly-or-not-to-butterfly-part-2-–-the-devil-and-the-angel/ Brazil has always been a dream vacation location of mine. Apart from the obvious draws of the country (great beaches, delicious food, and exotic places), the fact that I’ve always thought Brasileiros are the most beautiful men on earth has always been in my head. They seem to be this Master Race of people (in that they are a delicious mix of the best of two or three or even four races) who are both beautiful inside and out. My main stumbling block in not taking the plunge all these years is the prevailing opinion that Brazil is a very dangerous to visit by yourself. Bangkok, and Thailand in general, has always been relatively safe, and the language barrier, which can be an issue, is not as intimidating of a prospect as I think Portuguese is with Brazil. But I have been easing into visiting Central and South America these past few years. I popped my South America cherry for the first time last year, with an exploratory trip to Medellin, Colombia in August. This deserves a post in and of itself, but sufficed to say after 4 trips to Colombia in the past 6 months, I feel that I am totally comfortable with the country and boys. I had the incredible fortune of getting to know the owner of a Chaturbate studio in one of the bigger Colombian cities, and from there the availability of cam boys as my companions just took off from there. So after all this Colombia experience, I am thinking that it has prepared me for my first trip to Brazil. Also, I have been casually dating a Portuguese/Brazilian guy for the past 7 months, and when he told me that he was visiting his Brazilian mother over Christmas and New Year, and he asked me if I wanted to go with him, I thought that this would be a great way for me to finally break my Brazilian virginity, through the BF. The only problem with this plan was manufacturing some alone time in the country, without the BF. So I tried to book this alone time at the beginning and at the end of our trip, so I can enjoy the sauna scene, theoretically, in Sao Paulo (early December) and Rio (Early January). Things, however, don’t turn out as planned, as my vacation became: Sao Paulo (3 nights alone) – spent some time on Grindr and immediately found 2 guys (2 handsome twenty-something Paulistas, one hairdresser who spoke little English, the other an English teacher who was a little bit too hipster for comfort), so could not carve out any time for the saunas, sadly. Rio (first 4 nights) – flew to the city and met the BF and we pretty much just hung out together, watching Cariocas make fun of his European Portuguese accent, no sauna time for me sadly Natal (3 nights) – nice beachfront hotels, accents way more nasal, are there even saunas here? Grindr yielded a healthy mix of free boys and paid ones Salvador (3 nights) – met some of BF’s friends; Grindr was bursting with locals just wanting to get laid, probably won’t need a sauna with all the hot black Brazilian cock just available for free Back to Rio (2 nights with BF, 1 night alone) – Back here to catch my flight back to the USA. It was super cloudy so beach was not an option for most of the two days with the BF. On third day, BF took an Uber to GIG to catch a flight to Florianopolis to visit his family. When he left the AirBNB, I text him on his way to GIG, just to make sure he made it (and to make sure the coast was clear). I then whip up Grindr to check on the current lay of the land so to speak. We chose an AirBNB in Ipanema according to this post: https://www.boytoy.com/forums/topic/28263-rio-and-sao-paulo-common-hotel-guest-policy/?do=findComment&comment=176437 We did notice that Ipanema was super-duper gay, just by walking around. And Grindr was predictably dense with so many gays as well. Very hot guys. So there was less chance for me to score something really nice since the competition was fierce. Sure enough, I didn’t get as many bites in Rio as I did in Natal and Salvador Grindr. Maybe because there are more Asians here in Rio, so I was less of a novelty. Which was fine. I did not want to get anyone online anyway, because today was the day I was going to go to Club 117. Before the trip, I asked floridarob and planetime, two Boytoy members I have met in Bangkok, what sauna I should try, and they both recommended Club 117 as a good starter sauna. It was 2 PM at this point so it was too early to go to the saunas (I think). I got into some conversations with some guys on Grindr, and was even got close to meeting a handsome Carioca who lived in Sao Paulo (accountant), who was visiting family for the holidays. We exchanged WhatsApp contacts and added each other on Instragram, and continued our conversation from there. Made a mental note to meet him in Sao Paulo on a future trip in April. I did some laundry and pre-packed for tomorrow’s 11:30 AM flight back to the USA via Panama on Copa Air. Set the alarm for 4:30 PM and took a nap. Woke up, put some bottled water in a mug and microwaved it to make some 3-in-1 brazilian coffee to wake me up. While drinking my coffee, I checked BoyToy’s Latin section intensely; making mental notes on where the saunas was, how to get there, how much money to bring, how to approach and negotiate with boys etc. The combination of caffeine and adrenaline suddenly rushed to my head when I realized that, this was it, I was finally going to a Brazilian sauna to get a guy. I got nervous all of a sudden. I read the Boytoy posts again and again. I was psyching myself out. I finally snap out of it and turn on the shower and wait for the hot water to kick in. Over analyzed things again in the shower. At 5:30 PM I was finally able to put on shorts, a t-shirt, and a pair of Havaianas I bought at JK Igautemi shopping mall in Sao Paulo. I fired up Uber on my phone to get my ride to Club 117. I’ve used Uber since the first day I arrived in Brazil, going from Guarulhos airport to my AirBNB in Sao Paulo, and it was also my first taste of the lack of English usage in Brazil from my Uber driver. The Uber driver was a woman named Daniela, and she was eager to talk to me for the whole ride, language barrier notwithstanding. My Portuguese was as good as her English, which is to say not very good. Preparing for this trip included me being overly paranoid about the language barrier, so 4 weeks before the trip start, I paid $450 for 10 skype Portuguese lessons with Streetsmart Brazil, a San Francisco based company that offered personalized lessons online. It was for me to get the travel language basics for the trip, but also to be able to communicate with my BF’s Brazilian friends, so as not to rely on him as the translator the whole time. 10 hours was not enough, of course, but surprisingly Daniela, the Uber driver, and I were able to carry a very rough conversation with only individual words, and no sentence construction, and with lots of hand gestures. I knew right then that I was going to be alright, coz the interaction between Daniela and I was hella funny. In the Uber app, I see that my Uber was about 4 minutes from my condo building so I panic a little bit. I take my wallet and look inside. I take out all the credit and ATM cards except for my driver’s license and one ATM. I also take 500 reals with me. The prevailing opinion on this board is to only take what you need, but I was not really sure how much dick and ass I’m going to get tonight (and I have a vague idea of how much a room in the sauna is), so I thought of taking the ATM for emergencies. I leave the condo, lock the door, race out to the hallway, take the stairs, wave goodbye to the doorman (Boa Tarde!) and see that my Uber is waiting for me in front of the building. I get in the back of this Chevrolet Cobalt. The usual greetings were made. The driver asked me if I was the person who hailed him, saying my name. I say an assertive “Sim!”, and then he repeats the address of Club 117 that was on his phone. I again say “Sim, sim!” and we were off. After 2 minutes the driver looks at me through the rear view mirror and then turns on some trendy reggaeton music on the radio. I guess he thought I wouldn’t mind the music. He then asks me the usual stock questions, in Portuguese, asking where I was from, what was I doing here, and what my impression of Rio was. I got used to this line of questioning throughout the trip, so I recognized the PT words and answered appropriately, in PT, to the best of my ability. When I told him I was from United States, I got the usual reaction of shock or disbelief. The word “Chines” always is uttered, presumably because I look somewhat Chinese, even if my heritage is not Chinese. There was always a ton traffic on this way to the airport (or to the sauna), so I exclaimed my disgust to the driver with a hearty “Transito!” to at least show commiseration with the driver. He was impressed that I was able to say this word so he started talking to me in rapid fire Portuguese. He caught himself mid-sentence and repeated his sentence again, this time in slower, bite-sized words. And with some hand gestures and saying the words for “five” and “two,” I was able to infer that he was telling me that the traffic in this part of Rio was due to the number of lanes in the highway going from 5 to 2, and therefore the congestion is pretty bad. I made a remark on the rainy weather as well (muito chovendo) also contributing to the traffic, in my horrible attempt to have a conversation with the driver. The traffic eased up and we were well on our way. After 30 minutes in the Uber I grew concerned. This was kind of out of the way from Ipanema. Where is he taking me? Is it safe there? Am I going to get kidnapped? These thoughts were in my head. But the driver kept to the prescribed route with Uber, so I guess it was going to be OK. Pretty soon we made a right to a smaller street where the sauna was. The drive points to the sauna façade and said that we were here. I thanked him for the ride and got out. My ride was R$29.79, or about $9: I took a deep breath, looked both ways, and crossed the street to get in the sauna. Next, my sauna experience…

i found kind ot is best to set all expectations out before you go on the trip! i set a initial amount usually a daily rate i am going to pay and i gave them about 25% of the total amount on the first day so they have money to buy souvenirs or whatever! i pay all expenses, food, drinks, admissions, etc. (which is not much in Mexico!)and then usually i give about 20% more then i initially tell them at the end, and they are happy!

Your report reconfirms my decision to not go to Rio during Carnival. I went during Carnival only once - in 2004. I have visited Brazil more than one hundred times since that one visit during Carnival,. During my one carnival visit, other than my hearing loud music and noise, my view was totally blocked by enormous crowds. All I could see when I went out in the crowds was the backs of thousands of people in lines in front of me. If I looked straight up in the air, I could see occasional fireworks. I waited for the excitement of Carnival to begin while I could hear the crowds screaming and yelling in happiness. After I while, I thought to myself, is that all there is to Carnival? I get no enjoyment from being in Rio at Carnival time when prices are doubled (or more) and crowds are unmanageable. I am glad you are having a good time. Carnival is a good thing to experience - once.

They should hang Trumps in the RUSSIAN portrait gallery. It's a travesty to display them in America.

Fingers crossed he won't be in office long enough to get one.

I learned today that I do not need to rely on the BF to drive me everywhere. I had a wonderful drive while he was sleeping this AM and only tried to go in the wrong lane 2 times. All I wanted was some fresh watermelon. Luckily, the cops noticed I was foreign and just shake their heads.

The way I always looked it was they each stayed with me for at least 6 months. One of the things that benefits Thais more than anything is a phone and a bike. I buy a phone for them the first month and the bike after 6 months. The bikes are around 1k USD and it changes their life as does the ability to have conversations in English. It was a win/win for me. As for trips, the money I spent on the Brazilian boy going to Paris was much more than a bike, a phone and 6 months salary. But, all is relative and life can be worth these big trips from time to time. I once took a boy from Atlanta to Las Vegas and told him I'd only pay him his hourly rate when we had sex. I figured that would save me a fortune. Needless to say, I was wrong as we were having sex so many times a day that I did not want to have sex again for months. But, when you plan a trip for a boy, you need to have all expectations up front and everything lined up. I have made mistakes in the past. There is this one boy from Dubai I fuck when I am in the Middle East. He is amazing and he wants to come to Thailand. I am considering this as my next boy on a trip.

Oz, I too have experienced that totally hairless, puckering pink hole on that Cambodia boy in that pic. He was a delight. Sense of humor, sexy grin, and just a nice guy. A couple nights later I ran into he and a friend grabbing a bite to eat late night after the clubs closed down and joined them at their table chatting about the scene about town.

I am here carnival now and having a great time as always—but I thought this warranted a separate topic. In the last 24 hours I’ve witnessed the following—I was tear gassed at the base of Farme de Amoedo as the police tried to clear the beach street— it was a near riot as the locals were throwing bottles and cans at the police who had riot shields. . I saw two people having their cellphones lifted including that of a very savvy Brazilian friend of mine who was standing right next to me on Farme de Amoedo. I saw numerous fights on the beach with the beach vendors bringing out long sticks to go beat people who they thought were stealing To top it all off my two friends who are staying with me were mugged on the way back from dinner at midnight by the General Osario station in Ipanema. One was placed in a chokehold and the other broke free to assist his friend and use their army self-defense training to escape unharmed with all their belongings intact. I love carnival and it it is are still a lot of fun but coming to Rio at carnival is not for the faint of hearted. You’re definitely not in Kansas anymore… . ps—the saunas are still fun!

As mvan1 said....do not use google translator for this kind of things (even if in this particular case it might work). Keep it for the simple and risk free interactions between garotos and the commercial side of the holiday (if in front. of a non english speaker). Google's translations from english to portuguese can be easy to misunderstand. Some weeks ago i've posted some examples of completely wrong (and also offensive) translations made by Google when facing portuguese. I don't wanna be the usual lowballer but keep in mind that even the bad guys can find your passport. While the idea is good, more precautions should be taken to keep it safe, since you do not want to expose yourself directly while in Brazil to a stranger who's "returning" your passport and also...do not disclose the address where you're staying. Some kind of proxy can be found (a GP for example).

Be careful when using a computer program to translate something precise as offering a reward for a missing passport. "Google is your friend" has become a proverb . Google is excellent with respect to finding locations and information. Google translate is good but it often translates sentences in a way that the translation becomes ambiguous or incorrect. Using Google translate for simple conversations is great. If you want to include a note similar to what OZ discussed, it is better to have a trusted native speaker prepare a handwritten note for you to insert in your passport.

For Adam Smith... Originally posted by Lookin...from over there.

Yes, but I can't wait to see Trumps. Golden showers?

I’ve been to Carnival twice. The first is memorable because it was the first time I met TotallyOz. My friend that was with me knew him and we all met up. Many years ago. Now we hang out in Bangkok. First Carnival we had seats high up in the bleachers. Just an amazing time. We made it till about 5 am. Went back for second Carnival a couple of years later. We bought seats in a box at ground level. Up close and personal, felt like you were part of the parade. Unforgettable evening. Now I live in Bangkok for 6 months a year and haven’t been back to Brazil for awhile. But I think a trip back is on the horizon.

I really enjoyed this article and was glad to see that great things are happening to help those whose families are not in tune with reality. http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-brazil-gay-youth-2018-story.html

I absolutely loved those portraits. I think it resonates with the black community and as the first black President, I thought fucking amazing. I thought both were beautiful.

My first... a '67 Mustang coupe. Pulled out of the junkyard (put there because of a cracked engine block), then to have the native 287 engine replaced with a 322 (if memory serves). To overcome the inforgivable situation of the car having an automatic transmission...! My repressed little Southern Baptist ass in 1977 caused a lot of 'trouble' in that little vehicle!

Yes...the 600 Grosser was even the preferred car of Papa Doc Duvalier and Shhhh Idi Amin, but who's really counting.

For a change of pace...literally. I'd rather own and drive a Grosser than have sex...No literally.

I know you've bought motorcycles, that's why the 1st thing that came to mind was that,lol I knew a guy in Houston (oil money) that used to buy condos for guys he liked.....one guy even got a townhome AND a Rolls, silly money at that point....

"My Heart Will Go On" Every night in my dreams I see you, I feel you, That is how I know you go on Far across the distance And spaces between us You have come to show you go on Near, far, wherever you are I believe that the heart does go on Once more you open the door And you're here in my heart And my heart will go on and on Love can touch us one time And last for a lifetime And never let go 'til we're gone Love was when I loved you One true time I hold to In my life we'll always go on Near, far, wherever you are I believe that the heart does go on Once more you open the door And you're here in my heart And my heart will go on and on You're here, there's nothing I fear, And I know that my heart will go on We'll stay forever this way You are safe in my heart And my heart will go on and on