SolaceSoul

Suggestion: first, save the contact info in your phone’s main contacts. It will or should save to the phone before uploading to a cloud. Therefore, it will be saved regardless of Wi-Fi, cellular or internet access. Later, when you have Wi-Fi or cell service, you can check to see if the contact transferred to WhatsApp, or just copy it there.

Not surprised at all.

We definitely do not want São Paulo and Rio to go the way of New York City. I say this as a property owner and officeholder there — it is now nothing but a playground for trust fund babies. The edge and sleaze are completely gone. The nightclub scene is dead and the sex trade has been driven to the World Wide Web. A sanitized Brazil would be a boring, sexless Brazil. The sauna scene for gays and brothel scene for straights needs to be preserved. They both are part of its charm and its attraction.

Did you seriously just spell the Italian word capisce as “capish”? Did you seriously just denigrate indigenous’ people's social structure as “grass huts”? Ugh.

Please. It’s “garoto”. With an o. With an a, it refers to a girl. If you were to use the feminine version to a garoto in person after you were already corrected, it would be highly offensive and could be problematic for you. Know your audience.

You have a right to live your life the way you wish, but as someone who makes a good living doing cost-benefit analyses, I’d call becoming persona non grata at a Sauna with a revolving door of 100s of potential garotos over the loss of what amounts to $30 USD a “phyrric victory”. In the USA, $30 is two tickets to a bad movie, the price of a cheap pair of jeans at Marshall’s, or a hand car wash without detail. A simpler solution would be never to hire that guy again. There are plenty other fish in the sea.

Also, I read the topic headline and OP to a fellow traveler who isn’t a forum member. His response: ”There’s a place where you can go to find a lot of European men. It’s called Europe.”

Southern Brazil, which includes the city of Porto Alegre and its larger state of.Rio Grande do Sul is predominantly “white” — as in European-descendent and European-looking men and women. The census states that PA is 79.2% white, and the state of Rio Grande do Sul is 81% white. That should tell you all you need to know. ”According to a genetic study from 2013, Brazilians in Rio Grande do Sul have an average of 73% European, 14% African and 13% Amerindian ancestry, respectively.”

I’d much prefer it not to be a competition. Rio is big and great enough for 3 payboy saunas that can coexist.

1. Keep the cash in your locker. I like to carry my iPhone, and I do it in my hand. 2. 117 is right around the corner from the Gloria Metro station. The neighborhood is not unsafe — especially if you are just going in the well-traveled path directly from the metro station to the sauna and back. But if you are a Nervous Nelly or if you think you stick out like a sore thumb as a target, then just Uber it after dark. You might have gotten 117 confused with 203, which is in a decent area of Copa and right down the street from the Siguero Campos Metro, but if you make the wrong walking or driving turn , you’ll end up going up a hill to the favela — and you don’t want to do that. Especially not a Nervous Nelly turista who looks like a gringo! 3. I can’t help you there. You really should be taking the same precautions you do at a Brazilian sauna that you would during a casual sexual encounter in your hometown or anywhere else. 4. All of the saunas you mentioned have free WiFi access in certain common areas of the clubs. Ask an employee or the front desk for the network and customer password. But Google Translate works without WiFi if you preloaded language dictionaries. And you should consider getting an unlimited cellular data plan for your international travels as well — that way you can use apps (like translators or WhatsApp) without WiFi. Hope this helps.

Thanks for your input, but FYI, many guys do love that kind of scene. My favorite travel buddy from a few years back couldn’t get enough of Cine Rex in Cinelandia and places like it — as he preferred the “edge” or even the sleaze anout it all. The men there tend to be more street. I just can’t get into any dark rooms at all — even the ones at nice, clean, pristine saunas like Rio G are bothersome to me — because my eyes don’t adjust well in darkness, and I need to see what I am getting. However, some guys love the darkness and the mystery. As was said here earlier, to each his own. “The Boyfriend Experience” isn’t for everyone.

It is a classic sci-fi novel, first published in 1967, and had a few sequels. It later became a major motion picture, a TV series and a comic book series in the late 1970s and early 1980s. “Logan’s Run” is often discussed in modern lit or film classes due to its extremist ageist solutions. In the book series, all citizens were mandatorily killed at the age of 21 at a city-wide festival showcase using a Ferris wheel-like Carousel. The film and TV series modified that age to 29 — presumably because to find marquee actors to play the roles.

My friends and I LOVE Jacqueline. Consummate professional. I will definitely give the new place a try just because she is there.

Perhaps it’s a cultural thing, but calling the police on something like this seems really petty. With many people, the police aren’t always seen to have their best interests at heart, at best, and corrupt and murderous, at worst. Brazilian police also aren’t always the fairest to those that they know they can extort for money — like European or American gay tourists at a brothel.

As much chatter as there is on this and other boards about garotos or escorts ripping off customers, I see just as many, if not more, instances of tourist clients cheating GPs by trying to get free or additional pleasures out of the garotos.

Don’t be daft. He’s referring to physical violence or robbery outside the sauna.

Reads like a domestic dispute. He was probably fucking her.

Why single out garotos who may be a bit “long in the tooth” for their ptofession? There are plenty of advertising escorts here in the States and elsewhere who have been plying their trade for well over a decade and some may say that they have long worn out their welcome. Some of them may be on various message boards... even here! The point is that although many here may prefer young, fresh and freckle-faced, straight-off-the-showroom-floor garotos / escorts / gogo boys / hustlers, there are also clients who may prefer the “seasoned” (in either actual age or look). Maybe this business should just be like “Logan’s Run” and have a carousel that murders everyone at the age of 29 (and I just dated myself with that reference)?

My version has lines that end with “fuck it” and “suck it”. And there’s no woman anywhere to be found!

“There once was a man from Nantucket...”

Rob: i agree with your observations. I will also add that some casa owners are more particular about Cuban guests signing in than others. It is probably best for your own safety and protection to get the ID and sign in — this way, the Cuban hustler or guest is less likely to do anything like rob or maim you, knowing that la policia could cause them grief. The boys don’t even like walking with foreigners on the street, as this could create suspicion and harassment from la policia. In any event, my experiences have been that casa hosts and police are much more on the lookout for female prostitutes, trans prostitutes and underage sex trafficking than male-male visitors. So, make sure they have their ID, get a copy and a willing casa and you should be okay.

The kilo (or quilo) restaurants are everywhere. They are buffet-style and the cost is by the pound (or kilo). Just Google “kilo / quilo restaurant Copacabana / Ipanema”. Names escape me but two off the top of my head because they were close to where I have stayed are: Temperarte Posto 6 on Nossa Senhora in Copa, and Fronteira on Rua Visconte in Ipanema. There is also a good kilo on Sigueira Campos, the same street as Point 202, but about a 7-10 minute walk east from it. But the name escapes me. I’m sure Google knows.

Get yourself an additional casa particular or arrange a room at a casa where the host doesn’t mind guests having Cuban “visitors” (check with the host in advance). You can also just wait until you get to Cuba and ask around — there are plenty of Cubans that are renting apartments and rooms as a side hustle, and many don’t mind if the foreigners have Cuban guests (with restrictions, usually they must present their ID and the name must be written in a book, by Cuban law). Cuban locals are restricted from visiting hotels. Also, if you’re American, be extra careful about going to Cuba as a “tourist”. Follow the regulations and be sure to leave a paper trail of your accepted activities.

If you are trying to save money on food and want to eat like a true Brazilian, avoid most tourist-trap, Euro-American styles restaurants (many in Copa and Ipanema) and hit the kilo restaurants — where food is charged by the pound. Some are pricier than others, but the locals know the better, less expensive ones. A good, hearty, tasty meal can be had at a kilo restaurant for much less than $40 USD for 2 people — I’d say half that price.

Personally, I would only give contact info on a good apartment to a friend or someone I trust, and not just to some rando on a message board on the Internet. When they might book the place is not my greatest concern. What I’m more cautious about is how they might treat the place or how they might abuse the unspoken or spoken rules of the place — which could affect others’ ability to rent that place freely in the future. If I know you and trust you, then sure. If not, then do your research like everyone else. So, I guess I treat this info about apartments the same as I do for men that I might meet. I have become fairly good friends with the owner of one of the places I rent regularly in Ipanema. If I were to recommend his place to someone, and that someone abused the place or caused grief, my chances of staying there again would be diminished. And the only response I’d have is, “I didn’t know the guy either. He was just some rando on the Internet!”