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Greetings to all! Yesterday I visited Sâo Paulo's new sauna, Rainbow Thermas Hotel. It is located on a corner, at 154 Peixoto Gomide Street with the gay street Frei Caneca. It is a ten-storey building, mostly a hotel for gay customers. Access to the sauna is through the 7th floor. There are lockers, hairdressing and massage service and a large suite with bathroom and jacuzzi. On the upper floors there are two large lounges (in the style of the bar on the upper floor in Manhattan Rios, RJ), the dry and steam saunas and an open terrace with another bar and views of Sâo Paulo. It's been just a week since the sauna opened, which explains why, even though it was Friday, it wasn't very lively. There were about nine or ten boys and very few clients. The boys, thin young people (some quite handsome). Strangely enough, I did not see any quartos other than the big suite at the entrance floor. I didn't stay long. I hope that in the future it will be a good addition to Fragate and Lagoa. Epi

Previous posts: I felt that I wanted to share my third “newbie” trip to Brazil. This is my third visit in 9 months, and by this time I have found a winning formula for my Brazil trips that enabled me to eventually visit all the states in Brazil. My trips averaged about 10 days each, and I am thinking I will always want to visit either Rio or Sao Paulo in each of those trips, since these two are the major cities and have all the good saunas, but since I was interested in visiting all the states in Brazil eventually, I had to pair my trips to those cities with a city that was not in RJ or SP state. Since my trip 4 months ago was in Sao Paulo, with companion state Rio Grande do Sul, visiting Porto Alegre and Gramado and Canela, this trip I decided on Rio de Janeiro as my base city. Choosing the companion state was easy. Belo Horizonte was one of the few cities in Brazil that had international flights flying directly into its airport. Copa Air had flights to Belo Horizonte (BH, or Beaga) from Panama via a 6.5 hour flight, and it was easy enough to get flights to Panama from California. So my 6th state will be Minas Gerais, the state where BH is located, joining RJ, SP, Rio Grande do Norte (Natal), Bahia (Salvador), and last trip Rio Grande do Sul (Porto Alegre). After booking my California to Belo Horizonte flight outbound, and RJ back to California inbound on Copa Air, I booked my BH to RJ flight on Azul airlines. Azul was an easy choice. I had a great experience with them flying to and from Porto Alegre on Azul on my last trip, and eager to erase my horrible LATAM and Avianca Brazil memories. As for touristy things to do, my search of Minas yielded a shit-ton of tourist places to visit, like Capitolio and Ouro Preto, so I had to narrow down my choices because of the limited time I had. For Rio, I wanted to check out the beaches outside the Ipanema-Copa-Leblon cluster, and I had to figure out how to get these places as well. As you will see in this report when you read it, my choice of travel to these RJ beaches was a semi-life changing one. With companions, I was of course eager to meet new men, but two guys who I had tremendous rapport with in past Brazil trips will be making appearance this trip. Gabriel, the 117 Garoto de Programa who was featured prominently in my last trip, is going to be in this trip as well. I’d be remiss if I didn’t see him while I am in Rio since he lives there. Also, a free boy I met last December in Sao Paulo, a cute/handsome Paulista cabeleleiro (hairdresser), upon hearing that I was coming to Brazil, invited himself to the Rio portion of my trip. I didn’t mind his company, because he bought his own plane ticket from SP to Rio, as well as promising to pay for his food and drinks and fixing my hair. I just made it clear to him that I was going to be a slut this trip. He said he would do the same. As far as saunas are concerned, I was really motivated to check out more than just my 1 visit to 117 in Rio last January, my paltry 2 visits to Sauna Mezzaninu (in which I did not get a programa with anyone) in Porto Alegre, and my 1 visit to Lagoa last trip in Sao Paulo. For BH, Sauna Olimpo seems to be a favorite with BoyToy members, so I was excited with my choice of city this trip. For Rio, I want to see what all the hubbub was about with Manhattan Rios, and I also wanted to visit Pointe 202 and of course re-visit 117, where I met my superstar GP, Gabriel. You’d be surprised how many saunas I went to this trip, and with whom. So this is the setup. I write very detailed trip reports because it is the only way I know how. Continue or no?

Why, of course, you should continue. You write very well. Your previous first and second trip reports were filled with adventure. You know the proverb - three times is a charm. Looking forward to your report -

I'll be the first to admit that my memory is not the same as it use to be. However, recently I got a PM on Romeo from a ladyboy. She said I met her 15 years back on my first trip. I was surprised as I didn't remember and she gave details of our meeting and friendship. I still didn't remember but she said she use to be a boy. I asked to see a photo of when she was a boy but she got upset and said that she hasn't changed at all and still looks the same. Well, I did remember her in the end and she is not the same and her looks have changed dramatically. She now has a full boob job, a nose job and wears full make-up. But, what I found most interesting is that she would think I should remember her from back then when she looked so different but I guess this is the way she always has seen herself. It really got me to thinking of how others see you and how you see yourself. I may meet up with her for old time sake. But, it was nice chatting and her telling me a few stories from yesteryears.

i heard from a reliable source that there was over 100 guys working at 117 last night! but a lot of the guys didn’t make $$ because there were so many working guys and only 10 rooms so the waits were long!

Yes, of course, continue! Great start. I can't wait to read more.

My understanding is that sauna culture — gay or straight — was thriving in Brazil even during the era of military dictatorship.

On Tuesday, 9/11, it was very crowded. However, on Tuesday, 9/18, it was not nearly as crowded. The weather was similar on both days. The crowds have been very unpredictable.

I am forever baffled by why people feel so emotionally invested in being nasty to other people in forums like this. Can't you just ignore someone who annoys you?

But the fact is that Larstrup claimed to be under investigation for a donation to Daddy. That should concern all of us, if it is true. I never envisioned the thread going the way it did. We learn nothing more about the investigation.