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Day 10: Vamos We went to bed around 3 AM. I set the alarm for 7 AM because I had to catch my flight back to US at noon, and we had to tidy up the AirBNB before we left, as well as getting some farewell Café da Mahna. One of the disadvantages of getting an AirBNB vs a Hotel. While one could leave the AirBNB with a mess, my mom raised me better than that, and we had a lot of beer cans and dirty dishes in the sink that needed cleaning. I am fairly sensitive with keeping my AirBNB reviews positive. At 5 AM, still a little bit tipsy, I got woken up by the doorbell. Took me a while to realize who that could be. It was Diego, trying to get his bag back. I tiptoe towards the door and look through the spyglass in the door. Yup, it was him. I go back to the bedrooms and look into Leo and Alex bedroom: both were sleeping soundly. I go back to bed and get a few more hours of shut eye. I heard the apartment phone ring a few times, but just assumed it was Diego trying to call us from the guard shack downstairs. The alarm rings at 7 AM and I get up and wake Leo and Alex. We all hear the doorbell ringing and I tell them it is Diego. “Serio?” Leo says. I am sure he wants his bag back, I say. Leo was thinking about what to do next. He then tells me to hide in my room. “He’s going to try to appeal to you. I need to get the truth out of him,” he says. I do what I’m told and go in my room to pack. I then go take a shower. I put on clothes and head to the living room. I see Leo texting and Alex doing dishes in the kitchen. I see Diego’s backpack still here, open. “What happened?” I ask. “Diego is taking a shower in the other bathroom,” Leo says. “What did he say?” Leo says that Diego was promised 500 reals to fuck the two clients who were interested in him last night. They bought him some beers and got to know Diego, before asking him to go to a cabina with them. But Diego said he had a problem: he said because of all the alcohol, he couldn’t get it up. The clients offered to buy him some Viagra and commence their tryst at a love motel nearby. Diego’s bill was paid off by the clients and they proceeded to buy the Viagra and then had a romp in the sack. It was 3 AM by the time they finished. He took a cab to Ipanema and slept some hours in the beach. At 5 AM he went up to the apartment to claim his bag. I shrugged my shoulders. Leo said he told Diego that I was very disappointed in him. “But I’m not,” I tell him. “Well, I am,” Leo throws his arms up. I can certainly understand his anger. To tell you the truth, at this point of the vacation I was just glad I did not get robbed or get swindled by anyone. A GP reneging on a promised night was hardly something I would be upset about, especially since there was no money involved. Diego emerges from the bathroom, in a towel. He goes over to shake my hand and I return the gesture. “Desculpe,” he starts, and I feign disappointment in my face. He says he will just change and then would want to talk to me. He disrobes, revealing his perfect body and his cock swinging, as he changes into fresh clothes that were in his bag. He then goes up to me and hugs me. He said he was sorry he left us. He said he had to do it for money. He asked that I see him again next time. I barely hug him back (still feigning), and tell him good luck. I go to my room. I hear Diego and Leo exchange some words before Diego leaves the apartment. All three of us clean the apartment up and finish packing before the AirBNB owners come in to retrieve the keys. We had breakfast next, at a nearby cafe, and made our goodbyes over coffee. Back at the apartment, the owners, who were also gay (and hot) were pretty nice to all of us and we had a nice conversation about our vacation. I will rent from them again. I Uber it to Galeao and check in to my flight. Another vacation done. Time flies. Some post-trip events that happened, proving that a proper Brazilian vacation stretches out long after you’ve left the country: 1. Leo, intrepid friend and bleeding heart, was really affected by Diego’s actions. He extended his Rio trip by another 4 days, about 5 days after I left Brazil. It was his mission to get to the bottom of Diego’s story. He managed to get Diego to come back to Ipanema at Leo and Alex’s new AirBNB, to talk it out. Diego’s story, as with most GPs stuck in this kind of work, is very complicated. 2. Since Diego did not have a phone, Leo had to call his “roommate” to set up the meeting. In turned out that the “roommate” was not really just a roommate. It was Diego’s pimp. Leo had to tread lightly. He pretended to be interested in becoming one of the pimp’s employee’s. Eventually the pimp was amenable enough with Leo, to deliver Diego the message of wanting to meet. Diego was able to visit Leo and Alex in Ipanema before heading over to Pointe 202 for work. 3. Diego’s story was pretty compelling. Without getting into too many details, let’s just say a tragic childhood and crushing poverty got him to Rio in search of a better life. Not being able to find work (and not having a place to stay and food to eat), he was recruited by his current pimp in a party Diego happened to be in. Citing his extreme good looks and bigger than average cock amazing ass, the pimp offered Diego a roof over his head and 3 squares a day, in exchange for access to a customer base, and 50% of Diego’s income. He was stuck in this prison ever since, not being able to leave because he didn’t have a cellphone and he did not have enough money to get an apartment. 4. Leo and Diego eventually were able to form a plan for Diego to leave the pimp. Diego had some money saved, and he could pool it with another fellow GP to get a room farther away (but cheaper) in Barra de Tijuca. But he needed help getting a cellphone. So Leo asked me for 300 reals to buy him a cellphone. I trusted Leo enough to do this. Leo used his own 200 reals and Diego and him went to the Centro area, near the Uruguaiana station, and Leo got Diego a cheap smartphone. 5. At the end of the week, Leo was able to help Diego move from his prison near Copacabana, and move into his new digs in Barra de Tijuca. I got all the scoop and photos and Whatsapp live video of the move (and Uber ride from Copa to Barra de Tijuca). Diego was pretty thankful of Leo and me. It’s amazing what 300 reals can do. 6. Diego, upon hearing that I was visiting Leo in Sao Paulo in 3 weeks, promised Leo and I that he will take the bus to Sao Paulo to stay with me, and us, for free, as thanks for all the help. I accepted the deal, but wasn’t really optimistic about this happening. Did it happen? I guess I need to write that next trip report for everyone here to find out. Sufficed to say, the Diego saga is still ongoing. In other news, of all boys I’ve had programas with this trip, Gabi was the only boy to hit me up for money while I was back in the USA: I forwarded my interactions with Gabi to Leo, and Leo was on his case as well. He found out that Gabi had not one, but TWO gringos who sent him money on a regular basis. Gabi even sent Leo some of his Western Union screenshots, in which Leo promptly send to me. The screenshots contained the person’s full name and address, as well as amounts sent from $200 to $500. I hope you guys trust your own GP’s in not exposing your identities to others. That’s it folks. I still have 3 trips to Brazil this year after this one.

I just heard that a customer was murdered after going back to his place with 2 guys last Friday night...that's all I know so far.

Probably i have taken more guys back to my hotel and Apt. in the last 17 years , then most on this site. I have never had a issue, but a couple or steps i take to reduce a unpleasant issue from happening! 1) i never take a person back to my place alone the first couple times i am with him! I have usually 2 other to 4 guys staying with me all guys i know well! First rule never be with a person alone in your apt. the first time! Even if they are just friends not sex companions! why i always have a 2?’ bedroom apt!(aside from the fact that it is too difficult for 4 people to sleep in bed all night after the fun is done!) 2) Always make sure it is a sauna guy who ID is on record, and that several people know you are going back to your place together and he knows you have told them. 3) Almost all the guys i have met and stayed over who don’t work in the sauna i have met through sauna guys who are longer term friends of mine! 4) if it is someone you just have to go with that night because you are so obsessed then take him to one of the many sex motels! My current namorado i met through a sauna guy i have been seeing for almost 4 years! He brought this friend to Rio with him to spend 5 days with the 4 of us staying there together and it turns out we had a great connection and have been dating since!

The story that I’ve been getting, as it is sing fleshed out by garotos and sauna workers that I know, is that the client was an older BrazilIan man. One of the boys worked at both 202 and 117, but the client met him at 202. The other boy was a “friend” of the garoto, but it is still unclear whether he actually worked at the saunas. They all went to a hotel and he was supposedly murdered over money (either he didn’t want to pay, or didn’t pay enough for their demands). As for the boys, the description I have is that they were both “pequeno” not “forte” - meaning they were on the twinkish side, not muscular guys (yet another reason why I tend to avoid smaller guys — they tend to have tough guy / Napoleonic Complexes, but I digress). Never such a good idea to take two boys that you don’t know (even if you think you know one) to your hotel or apartment. Something similar occurred in The DR to a colleague a few years back.

https://www.passporthealthusa.com/destination-advice/cuba/ Colombia would fall under one of the countries, as far as I know. In my MANY years traveling to Cuba and dealing with Latin American/ South American airlines.....better to be safe than sorry. You NEVER can predict what rule they'll be enforcing at the moment.

You don't have to wait for the film to come to Thailand to see it. You can order the film from Amazon.com All you need is a DVD player and some friends to watch the film with you. Here is a link to the film order section of Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Boy-Erased-Blu-ray/dp/B07JX4SHRZ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542246486&sr=8-1&keywords=film+-+erased By the way, after you open the above link, click on the review that one person wrote after seeing the film. The review is very well written and touching. The reviewer ended his narrative by stating that conversion "therapy" is akin to "Trying to fix something that’s not broken." What is wrong with our world?

Looking forward to seeing it. I doubt it will come to Thailand but maybe. (otherwise, iTunes one day)

I have 79 pairs of Vans Sneakers.

Words matter. When judging a public speaker, you not only have words to judge, you have other visual things. Smart voters dig deeper. They tend to study everything before judging someone. I don't need to see the inside of someone's heart to determine whether he/she is a racist or a homophobe. Words matter. Behavior matters. I supported Obama when he was officially against gay marriage. I did so because I knew how he truly felt. The same is true for Hillary. Politics is complicated. You can't always express how you truly feel because the moment is not ready. On the other hand, if I know that a politician is a homophobe or anti-gay, or talks and walks like one, he/she does not receive one penny from me. No vote. I don't give a shit what the other ideas are. I know several struggling artists who developed serious illness in the past ten years. The ACA's Medicaid program has saved their lives thanks to Medicaid expansion in NYC, given to us by Nancy Pelosi, Barrack Obama, and our state leaders. When I think of all the red state officials who denied Medicaid expansion in their states, and I think of all the low-income people whose lives suffered, perhaps died, it sickens me to my core. IMMORAL. The Republican agenda is always about money: theirs, and nobody else matters. Both sides are not to blame.

I saw many Beto O'Rourke speeches. His lips moved a lot, but I didn't hear any lies. He even admitted late in the game that calling Ted Cruz "Lying Ted" was not his proudest moment. Very impressive man. Never, ever thought I'd consider voting for a Texan. I would consider Beto. Some would argue that lying, in one form or another, is necessary in the business of politics to succeed. One needs to WIN an election to make a difference. Some would also argue that lying is necessary in business, period. I have certainly learned that lesson the hard way. Personally, I hate liars, but I know now that lying has levels. There are moments when you simply can't tell a customer the whole truth, simply because they don't want to hear the whole truth, and telling the whole truth might put a bullet in your foot. Much negotiation of ideas in life is a calculated gamble. You can't always be sure of the outcome, regardless of the amount of homework you've done. A little harmless lying can build confidence, and often, you need confidence to cross the finish line. I've grown up to know that not all lying is intended to do harm. Intent matters.

It looks like you are not very well equipped to understand reality.

RH and Tartegogo- I agree with much of what you guys write. I am quite willing to rail against all pols, not just dems or repubs. If their lips are moving, they are lying. The mounting deficits and national debt is beyond disturbing. Both or all sides are to blame. Best regards, RA1

Grabbing it and fucking it are two different things. For the life of me, I don't get anyone who is gay being a supporter of Trump unless money is their only issue and they believe his agenda will help them keep a bit more in the end and they can zero about future generations of gays. I know men like this but I don't understand them.

Kjun - that's my thought as well. Real intellectual disconnect.

I have at least two gay friends who are conservative repiglicans. It is impossible for me to understand this. Surely they must realize that most of those super conservative evil bastards would put us in concentration camps if they had enough power to do so.