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This past December I had a chance to spend three weeks in Greece and one week in Turkey. I’ll write about my Athens and Greece experience in another post when time allows. I had travelled much of Turkey several times before with tour groups but had very little luck with finding guys. My one bit of luck was on a previous expedition where I was in a hot air balloon over the Cappadocian mountains with a sexy Turkish balloon guide. When he found out that I was single, he started rubbing his dick. I was able to play with it a few minutes until we had to land with the other balloons. Had a been a little quicker and started on take-off, I could have given a blow job to a Turk as the sun rose. Alas, those are missed opportunities. My most previous visit to Turkey has been to Istanbul for one week about one year ago. I had one bad and one good experience. The bad experience happened when I met a sexy Turk in Taksim Square and we walked over to Taksim Park for sex. As we got on the back side of one of the trees on the back section, it became clear that he had a knife he was holding in his right pocket as he walked. Now I understand the need for his own protection, but I was not keen on finding out if he was going to rob me. I stopped, pointed to the area, and then said NO. I then pointed to another section (the east side near the hotels) and motioned for hm to walk with me there. As we walked I was trying to think of a way to run or exit the place. At that moment two policemen were walking through the park. I saw them and just waved and started saying “Hello, hello, can you help me?” The young man immediately started walking away and when the police arrived, I simply asked them to give me directions to my hotel. I had read on the internet about horror stories with guys in Istanbul, so I was very wary of future street action. The good experience happened happened on my last night at the Aquarius Sauna which is quite famous. The place seems to close and reopen every few months. It had just reopened and I ventured into the place. I had a great experience with one Turkish guy that was mesmerizing. Fast forward to December when I decided to try my luck again in Istanbul. I first went to visit the three bars/clubs and two caffes you can find on the internet. Even with Covid, they were open and quite busy. I immediately had a few young Turks come to talk with me at each place. Their English was not that great but sufficed. Because of my not knowing Turkish, I decided to not chance an encounter with any of the guys. I considered a blow-job for one, but the bathroom could not hold the two of us at the same time. At another bar I finally met two Turkish guys that spoke English. Suddenly this older British man said hello to me and asked if I would join him for a drink at his table. He then proceeds to tell me that I was about to fall prey to a scam. The Turkish guys/escorts had been making it a habit of taking a foreign guys back to their hotel and robbing them. He warned me that they also spiked drinks and had carried a French guy out the previous week when he seemingly looked to be drunk. This British man and his partner are retired living there. He said it was not very safe in parts of Istanbul right now for gays, so even they introduce themselves as “business” colleagues. He did give me one interesting insight. He said that Grindr and Planet Romeo would have plenty of straight, masculine, Turkish guys available for sex, but there had been too many horror stories in Istanbul about what happened when these guys got to a client’s hotel or apartment. Instead, he said I should choose a gay man that was clearly a bottom and maybe even effeminate. They said I would have a better chance of not having a gay attack another gay. Well, I tried it and found one sexy university student on Grindr who joined me at my hotel with no problem. He was a bottom, gay, slightly effeminate, and had an amazing body. He told me many sad stories of openly gay men trying to live in Istanbul. I spent three evenings with him and still keep in contact. I also decided to return to Aquarius Sauna during the day hours. I had one bad experience and three sexy experiences. The bad experience was a young Kurd that had the body of a God, promised to kiss on the lips, and would allow me to suck him for 700 lira ($99 USD). When we got to the room, he would not kiss at all. I tried to leave and he pushed me into the wall and wanted the money. I said NO and motioned that first there was the blow job and then the money. He laid on the table, I gave him the blow job, and then we exited to the cabin. I gave him the 700 lira and he demanded more. I told him NO and immediately walked to the bar area. The guy did not follow, but the bar guy heard me and asked (in English) what had happened. I explained and he said he would ask the guy to leave since he had followed me to the cabin (notice… NOT because he had lied!). I was then offered a drink and two other Turks came to talk with me. They offered themselves as a top and a bottom for 500 lira each ($70 USD) if I wanted some group action. I was soured on the prior experience at this point so I left. I returned the next day and those same two Turks offered themselves again. I decided to take them up this time and we had a great experience for four days in a row (kissing, cumming, sucking, fucking, getting fucked). AQUARIUS SAUNA: This can be a bit scary if you have not been there before. Search on the internet under google maps for photos. The entrance is off Istiklal pedestrian road that connects with Taksim Square. The street is Katip Mustafa Çelebi, Sadri Alışık Sk. No: 29/1, 34433 Beyoğlu/İstanbul, Turkey. You can find a marker in Google maps for the location, as well as a 360 view where you can walk through the sauna. You enter off the main road, pay your fee of 50 lira ($7 USD), and then go down a set of steps to the cabin area. You are given a cabin with your own key, a towel, and sandals. You disrobe in the cabin, wrap the towel around you, leave your valuables in the cabin, and then lock the door. You then can walk into the lounge area where all the boys will be sitting. There were about 10 boys on each visit I was there. I then went to the bar on the right and got myself a drink watching carefully how it was made so as not to be spiked. At that point I had brought the International Herald Tribune so I started reading it. The boys will immediately start to approach you for business. The whole place is very dirty to my taste, but they were trying to keep it clean as you can see from the photos. The rooms for sex required you to go up the very narrow set of stairs to the left of the bar area to what I can only describe as an attic. Once at the top, there were a series of 8 rooms that were about 10 ft by 20 ft. each, with a table/mattress (see the photo on google…the room you see there is CLEAN if you can believe it!). This was the most cramped I have ever been for sex. The guy will spray the mattress with a disinfectant, and then place a large towel/blanket over the mattress. When you are finished, you return to your cabin to retrieve the money. The guy is not supposed to follow you back to the cabin. WEBSITE (the photos in google are better): www. aquariussauna.com PAY: The gay guy from Grindr asked for 400 lira ($56 USD). He was so good I gave him 800 each time and also met for some meals. The Aquarius guys wanted 500 lira per person for the package deal, but the others were all asking for 700 lira ($99). I was told by the British couple that the going rate paid offered a Turkish client at Aquarius was 300-400 lira ($42-$56 USD). Good luck!

Just spent ten great, very warm days in sunny Cartagena, Colombia. Highly recommend at least three days to see one of the most beautiful cities in South America. Inside the walls of the Spanish colonial old town are block after block of colorful, elegant houses, along with excellent restaurants and cafes often with live Latin music. Everywhere you look is another photo-ready, IG-worthy scene. Visit for the sunshine, architecture, food, and culture — but not a Copacabana-type beach or for anything resembling saunas with GPs. But how was the "scene" or at least my experience of it? I'm not keen on the hassle of Grindr but, alas, that seems to be a main means of solicitations. One skinny, online guy wanted $180 (US) and called me "cheap" when I politely declined. At the other extreme was an average-looking guy advertising for 40K pesos ($11). I did go with six Grindr guys who did not present themselves as escorts, and discovered later that three of the six wanted a "taxi" allowance (typically about 50K pesos or $14). OK, not too bad. One problem for hookups is finding a room. Nicer hotels are strict and don't want their properties to become known as havens for prostitutes of either sex. To be more active, I should have booked an AirBnB apartment. I finally found two sex motels but they were 20-30 minutes away from the old town. ● Motel la Cangreja was slightly closer and fine, but not quite as nice as ● Motel Star Suites. Both seemed like bargains for around $15 for a couple of hours. If you know of one closer to old town, please let me know! One guy whose profile emphasized that he not a "scort" took me to a nearby, small, dirty room in Getsemani (the barrio next to old town) and claimed it cost 150,000 pesos which suddenly dropped to 100,000 pesos when he realized I wasn't buying it. In fact, her rate for the filthy room is 35,000 (I later ascertained). Out of curiosity I paid the 100K ($28) anyway to see where this would go. First, he tried to get me to shower while he would wait on the bed near my phone and wallet. I declined of course. The sex turned our to be so perfunctory that I left after a couple of minutes. At one point, I made some moves on a tall, handsome Venezuelan working on commission getting passersby into an emerald store. He figured out what I wanted and off we went. He found a taxi driver who know where an hourly motel was (turned out to be Star Suites) and he was surprisingly good in bed and earned his 150K. Giving credit to macdaddi for his post a year ago, I'll update two places he cited: Le Petit (Calle Cabal, Cra. 6 #32-34) ● Late night bar and dance club ● Some working boys, especially from Venezuela But de facto midnight curfew cut down on the late night action. Gabanna Club (Calle Cabal, Cra. 6 #32-34) ● Mostly serves the black gay population, but not entirely Over half were older guys; a few of the younger guys hoped for money. ● Offers upstairs and downstairs darkrooms as well as a bar Miscellaneous: Did not experience as much begging as I expected based on previous posts. Sellers (almost inevitably hats, cigars, sunglasses, necklaces) were numerous but were not too aggressive, IMHO. A smile and "gracias" (not slowing down at all) was usually sufficient, but sometimes "ya lo tengo" (I have it already!) and a shoulder shrug was needed. Nicer hotels will arrange the Covid tester to come to the hotel. I paid $110 with results emailed back within 16 hours. As earlier posters have noted: The city beaches are small and not particularly clean. I did not take day trips to go to the islands where the beaches are supposedly great. Reminder: Cartagena is very, very hot. I did not think 90° would be so hot, but the humidity kicked it up to steam bath level 11-3:00.

Hey guys, wanted to see if anybody knows specific labs or pharmacies that do reliable pcr and antigen tests in SP. I know there is a place at the GRU aiport, but wanted to see if there are other reliable options. Thanks

The building ?

Buenos Aires' sex offer is remarkably improved thanks to the Venezuelans. There is even a little hood in BA called "Little Caracas", in Palermo.

Interestingly, here in London, everyone I know who has had the Pfizer jab, including me, had no side effects, and we are all 70 or over. I believe Pfizer is an mRNA vaccine. Many people I know who have had Astra Zeneca, have had moderate side effects, rigors, nausea, fever etc, though none of these lasted more than 36 hours.

Saladang One is beautiful and totally new with lots of apartments available. The Met has some of the cheapest rates I have seen in ages. The Ascott is a place I love in that area and the rates are to die for!