SolaceSoul

The STEP notification I received did not discuss Metro subways at all. Although it used “public transportation” as a general heading, the main body of the warning focused on public buses in Brazil, and especially singled out the dangers of buses in Recife. Public TransportationCrime statistics and trends indicate that persons face an elevated risk of robbery or assault using public bus systems throughout Brazil. Consider avoiding the use of public, municipal buses in Brazil at any time of day, and especially at night. The U.S. Government recommends against personnel using public, municipal buses in all parts of Brazil, and prohibits personnel from using public buses in and around Recife. It also specifically warned of walking or hiking the mountainous trail of Corcovado (Christ statue) — which just recently had a very high-profile crime / mass robbery incident involving large groups of international tourists.

I agree with almost everything you said — especially the part about tubes and Fox News. However, to be fair, if one is only going to Rio during Carnaval every year, that is a time of the year like no other (except Reveillon), where the police presence is all over the streets, especially in the well-traveled tourist areas. Gauging the safety of Rio in totality by comparing annual visits to Carnaval misses the point of OP’s post. Also, Brazil is much more than just Rio. The STEP warning I received was unusually thorough and detailed about particular areas in the country, including but not limited to Rio.

I just received the same or similar email. Mine is from the STEP program of the US Department of State, which I signed up for in every country I visit semi-regularly a few years ago. Perhaps you did too, but forgot? I have received STEP advisory warnings and notices about Brazil before, but they are usually due to a military issue or political demonstration that US citizens need to avoid. This is the most extreme and detailed one I’ve ever gotten in 10 years. It was mostly a stern and specific warning about crime and violence in very specified areas of Brazil.

Again, for clarification: There are two beaches and two beach-side neighborhoods in the Barra section of Salvador. Praia do Porto da Barra is the name of the beach on the port (“porto”) side of Barra, that runs north and south, parallel to Av. Sete de Setembro. It is marked by the two prominent historic forts that the beach area sits between. The area in Barra around this beachside and along this street may often be referred to Porto da Barra. Praia do Farol da Barra is the name of the beach on the lighthouse (“farol”) side, that runs east and west, runs parallel to Av. Oceânica. It is marked by the lighthouse on the east end / corner and keeps running west of it until the hill with the small Christ statue. The area in Barra around this beachside and along this street may often be referred to Farol da Barra. When thinking of a capital L, Porto da Barra is the vertical part, the lighthouse is the converging point, and Farol da Barra is the horizontal part. There is no beach in Salvador only called “Praia da Barra”. I don’t want new people to get confused when booking or trying to communicate. For the purposes of this group, the Praia do Porto da Barra beach is the most dense, is the most crowded, and towards its most northern end, is more “gay”.

I’ll correct you slightly. Porto da Barra and its related Praia are on the Av. Sete de Setembro side going north and south. It connects at the bottom to Farol da Barra (lighthouse) at the corner, and the Farol area and its related Praia runs east-west on Av. Oceânica. Two different beaches and two different areas, but both have lots of restaurants and bars (Farol da Barra area has more). It’s a matter of preference but I like the Porto side better.

Just to be clear, the Rodavaria station is the closest station to Pituba and Sauna Fox And that’s about a 20 minute walk. In no traffic (HA!), you can almost drive from Clube 11 to Fox in 20 minutes. Yrs, the Campo de Polvora station is about a 2-4 minute walk to Clube 11, no biggie at all. But the whole station to station, door to door trip from both saunas by subway is about 45 minutes. In light traffic, that could be double the time of an Uber or cab. If you’re in a rush, that matters. If you don’t mind braving a brisk city walk and have the time, it’s very suitable. By bus, from point to point it’s maybe a little less than an hour. That’s just way too much valuable time for me on a short trip, but for an extended stay, I don’t mind taking those long rides. But as with everything, your miles (and budget) may vary.

Another suggestion that would solve that problem: Get a virtual phone number in Brazil (or whatever country you travel to a lot). Like a Google Voice number, it is a unique number with the Brazil country code and area code, so local Brazilians can call without incurring any long distance charges. However, the phone number rings to whatever number you assign it to ring to: your cell phone, your domestic home phone, wherever. I use my VPN for local business while I am there, and those locals an keep communicating with me by phone no matter where I am. if they also use WhatsApp, I simply provide them my main number to call or text me on that one. VPNs run in cost anywhere from $1 USD to $10 annually, and will rebill automatically if you want so you can just forget about it and keep the number forever. I have VPNs for several countries that I travel to often.

As far as I know, Sunday is best, then followed by Saturday and Friday. The rest of the days of the week I am unsure but it’s probably moderate activity. I can confirm next month.

I now use it too. It’s called the T-Mobile One Plus Plan with the Internstional Add-On. Plus with the international add-on, you get calls from North America to international countries at deep discounted per-minute rates, some countries as low as .06 a minute. I also highly recommend it. Before that, for years I used AT&T, which now has an international unlimited data and calling add-on (your phone will behave and bill as if you were still in the USA) for only $10 each day you use data or cellular while abroad. That’s not a bad deal at all if your trips are short, like a few days a month. But for me, with so many extended trips, the T-Mobile add on is the way to go.

— You missed one of Clube 11/Planetario’s best days by one day. Wednesday, Friday and possibly Saturday are the days to go to Clube 11. Thursday is considered a slower day. If there were many more garotos there than clients, then for me, that would be jackpot (assuming there were enough boys there that were my type). I don’t get why that in and of itself would be a problem, but to each his own. — Re: Metro in Salvador. The subway system is really new (I believe it opened in 2014) and only runs on 2 lines — neither of which are very close to Barra or the southern or southwest tips of the city near the popular beaches like Barra. On the train, it would take longer to get from sauna to sauna than just taking an Uber or can. You can take a bus if you know the city (it’s actually not that bad if you’re used to buses in places like NYC or Chicago), but that will take a little longer than a car, of course. It depends on how much time you’re trying to save. Most people on vacation usually want to get where they’re going fairly quickly — unfortunately, Salvador ain’t never been that kind of party. — Consider getting a phone plan that allows you to use cellular data for cheap or preferably, unlimited, when traveling internationally. Wi-Fi is not going to be as plentiful there as it is in São Paulo or Rio. — The beaches along Barra should be amazing, especially Praia Porto da Barra. Visit Pelhourinho, particularly the square where the slave auctions occurred and the salves were whipped publicly (this the name in Portuguese), as well as many other historic monuments there. If you’re still there on Tuesday night, the historic weekly party in front of the church after feeding the poor is a must-do. There’s two non playboy saunas that you can hit if you’re interested, Rios and Paradise. If you’re a clubber, there’s a gay disco in Rio Vermelho that is best on Fridays and Saturdays called San Sebastián. Try the moquecos, which are unlike any other.

We definitely know some of the same people in the DR.

Try the wi-fi park on the same block as the corner of Toke (next to Las Vegas) — at the corners of Calles 25 y O. Things move slowly in Havana, but with the advent of wi-fi and now data plans, this seems to be the newest, shiniest hookup / hustler spot, day and night.

Bolsonaro HATES Greenwald (because he has reported negatively about him), so it will be interesting to see how that works out.

Here’s the New York Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/24/world/americas/jean-wyllys-brazil-gay-lawmaker.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur

Soon after Jean Wyllys, Brazil's only openly gay congressman, announced his resignation, President Jair Bolsonaro and his son, Carlos Bolsonaro, sent out tweets that showed they were very happy to see him leave. What is Brazil coming to? These cretins in power are going the way of the deplorable MAGAts in the USA. https://blogs.oglobo.globo.com/politicando/post/jair-e-carlos-bolsonaro-ironizam-decisao-de-jean-wyllys-de-sair-do-pais.html?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=O Globo

For those who cannot read Portuguese, the only openly gay politician in the Brazilian federal government is now leaving Brazil (and his position as a congressman) because of death threats. https://veja.abril.com.br/politica/temendo-ameacas-jean-wyllys-desiste-de-mandato-e-vivera-fora-do-brasil/

All the Brazilians I know who supported “Tropical Trump” Bolsonaro did so while ignoring his racism, misogyny and homophobia — all because they claimed that he would clean up the crime and political corruption. Sound familiar? Well, lo and behold, it turns out his son Flavio already has his hand in the corruption cookie jar, and is in business with murderers. Sound familiar? Also, Bolsonaro was a major FLOP on the world stage with other world leaders at the World Economic Summit. Sound familiar?

It’s been a few years since I have even communicated with him at all, and I don’t know if the number I have for him is still good, so I don’t feel comfortable publicly listing the one I have. However, his email is still listed on a few websites and that most likely is still the same: alwaysreadyfreddy@hotmail.com

The times I have been to Juan Binbin, both alone and with friends, there were never any workers there that I found attractive. However, I’m not into twinks or average looking / average built guys. I would say that, in my opinion, Binbin has those there. There were guys listed on either their website or Facebook page (can’t remrmbdr which one they had at the time) that were more my type. I called in advance to ensure those guys were available. They said maybe, but no guarantee. Whenever I arrived, those guys weren’t there. tl:dr — if you like average or twinky types, you might like BinBin. Muscle, hunks or models? Forget it.

I would suggest that, for twinks, your go-to guy is Freddy. He does the same as Manny (there are a number of Dominicans into the business of offering “multiple services” to tourists), but he tends to focus on the twinkies.

There’s nothing wrong with some rough trade every now and then, for some of us! The problem is: the general public, which includes many of the posters here, might not be well-suited for those kinds of “AYOR” situations — and its best fot them to stay away from them.

*Parque Duarte. Also, photos #2 and #3 are good friends of mine. They are very good guys. I’m glad you treated them well (IOW, weren’t cheap).

Believe it or not, there actually are other reasons someone might want to go to a big mega dance club other than pick someone up and have sex. But here’s a rule of thumb: if you’re not successful in picking up shirtless hunky patrons at the largest circuit parties in your own home country, then it most likely isn’t going to be happening for you at The Week, either.

A fraud and a grifter, just like Don, Jr., the son of Drumpf.

Please stop doing that by yourself — for your own safety. When I am out and about drinking in Brazil, I always make sure I’m with a trusted person or two. I’ve been going back and forth to Brazil for 10 years. I was very recently in Rio and São Paulo for 3 months. I went to The Week (Rio) only once this trip (I’m over the “big giant dance club phase of my life — been there, done it all over the world, had a blast), and that was because some visiting friends wanted to go. It’s not really a great place to go alone — almost everyone goes there in groups (or meets up with a group of friends once there). The few who do venture and leave there alone tend to be turistas. Drunken solo tourists alone at night in Centro is just a powder keg of opportunity for malandros lurking around the corner. If you are traveling alone and really, really, really need to go to The Week, I suggest you ask a (relatively) trusted garoto to go with you, pay for his night out, drinks and all. ESPECIALLY if you don’t “look the part”. It might even help you meet other guys there, since everyone there travels and moves in packs of shirtless flesh. ... and please, for the love of God, only catch a taxi or an Uber right in front of the club! Everyone knows The Week! There should be no need to have to walk to meet a ride.