Xclay

Yes, the beautiful weather of the prior week turned rainy and cold. 😢 And (causation?) Monday night was also the worst Lagoa scene, as you accurately described, since I've been here.

Yes, it is crazy. It's inconsistent however. Sometimes fee people are in priority line but other times it's ridiculous. My pride used to keep me from joining the line but finally I said "screw it" (I need overhead bin space) -- since I qualify I'm in. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

Yes. Bem vindo, Tex. SP is hurricane-free. Weather is beautiful. GPs are hot. I'm about to go on my Sunday morning stroll down pedestrian Paulista Ave. and enjoy the sun, sidewalk shows, and shirtless studs.

Campo Grande is a surprisingly upscale city of nearly one million people. It has wide boulevards with handsomely landscaped medians, numerous large parks, and an extraordinary aquarium. I am visiting Campo Grande for three days in between seeing the jaguars in north Pantanel (a few hours from Cuiabá where I did not overnight) and going south to Bonito to see the macaws, giant anteaters, grottos, and drift snorkeling in crystal-clear waters. In Campo Grande, I found two saunas and went to both last night: Sauna Espaço Relax and Sauna Titan. Both have nice, clean two-story facilities. Titan is a little larger, but Relax has a pool. Last night neither place had GPs. However, Relax had a handsome, full-service masseur (R$120+100tip). Relax had only two customers, but one was a thirty-something, fit sub btm eager to be used. Both the masseur and the sub were fun. Sauna Titan had about 16-18 customers, about half were early 30s and half were 45+ and on the heavy side. No sign of the Afro-Brazilian gene pool could be seen. I was spent from Relax, but I did play with one beefy 30ish guy who needed his pecs worked over while he jacked. Outside of Sao Paulo, Campo Grande has probably the largest proportion of descendants of the many Japanese immigrants who came to Brazil a century ago. A couple of them were at Titan. Apparently, Bonito has no sauna with or without GPs, but if you have any tips, please share!

I will give a quick recap of my experience since I don't see any discussion of Campo Grande on this forum since Tomcal posted this below is 2018:

Brazilians are very comfortable with physical contact even with "strangers." This morning in Campo Grande my handsome young waiter who seemed pleased to meet an Americano gave me a side-hug after I patted his shoulder on the way out. I touch and get touched by Brasileiros all the time. It is one of the cultural things that makes Brazil so warm and wonderful.

Maybe "taxi/Uber seductions" should be a new post! For what it's worth, here are my tactics... Is the driver parked and waiting near a sauna? Then I'm tempted to say based on my experiences in Prague, Salvador, and SP, it's a sure thing that they want to be seduced. 🟢 Sit in the front seat. If the driver is not eager for you to do that, then he is probably not going to be too open.🟥 And my approach depends on physical contact. A little small talk is OK. But I don't like to get them thinking (potentially feeling guilty) about their wife and kids. After where are they from (Você é daqui?) or how long in town (Quantos anos aqui?), I prefer the topic of Brazilian football (Você gosta de futebol?). While talking about football (favorite team, etc.), I put my hand on their leg for just a half-second longer than a quick tap. This step is pivotal. If he move his leg away from you and lowers his arm to block access: 🟥 Forget it. If he moves his right arm higher and keeps his leg accessible (or even opens it wider): 🟢 Green light. So, return your hand to his leg (a solid confident placement not a scared light touch) and ask if he plays football. Squeeze his leg and praise is strength and power. 💪 Now leave your hand to slowly massage his muscular leg. Unless he pulls away, proceed slowly upward. Conversation stops. Soon you will find him rock hard. Enjoy. I only do this once every year or two when I am attracted to the driver, feel the right vibes, and am not exhausted from the sauna, but my success rate is 100%.

In the Pantanal with jaguars now, but will follow-up later. 😉 🚕 👍🏻

Starting at the end of October, American will fly nonstop from JFK to Rio. Of course, you can save about $1,400 taking Copa with a short layover in Panama City. You invited recommendations, so mine would be to relax and enjoy spending all ten days in your priority Rio. Plus, that avoids the expense of more flights and the hassle of packing/unpacking.

Apologies for reversing the numbers. Sunday = 117 Monday = 202 Too much sex = dyslexia.

I'm in Rio now and I know quite a few posters have complained about 117/202 these days, but -- even though Sunday night was very slow at 202 -- I had three amazing encounters with hot, handsome young men who were eager to make out and really into it. Monday night at 117 was also slow and yet my sexy guy was awesome, horny, and passionate. Tomorrow heading to the Pantanal, Cuiaba, Campo Grande, and Bonito for a couple of weeks... then SP and back to Rio.

Any updates on Cigano’s Lounge? Last IG posts were from March.

When I was there last (2002), I too wss disappointed in the sauna, but hit the jackpot with a young taxi driver and with a guy at my hotel.

In case the narrow lanes of Tokyo sound dark and risky to anyone, here is a photo I took last night of the bright, clean side road/walkway viewed from the Family Mart (on your right coming out of the Okubo Station's south exit) looking toward the discreet destination.

I'm in Tokyo now. Thanks to all these valuable tips, I had fun this evening. Used "Independence" as recommended. You can just send an email. No need to use the elaborate form. The location was not on a back alley, but just about twenty yards from the train station exit on the street that runs parallel to the train route. Otherwise, Draden's account above of his experience with Independence was identical to mine. . I took the ¥ 18,000 option ($115 thanks to the very weak yen) for a one-hour "swap": 30 minutes with one young man, then 30 minutes with a second one. The price is all inclusive and covers the room and all fees. No extra tip is expected. Both guys were good at kissing and sucking. Both were good bottoms, although one was small and extremely tight. One looked like his photo. However, the second guy was 6' and looked nothing like the 5'9" Dylan I'd picked, but he did speak fairly good English as was claimed for Dylan. And he was enthusiastic and talented. I was erroneously thinking that the cost in Tokyo was wildly higher than the cost in São Paulo. But on reflection, that is not true. At Lagoa my total for the entry fee, two rooms, and two garotos could easily be 600 reals ($116, almost exactly the same price I paid in Japan this evening)! Of course, in Brazil we get to do more preliminary screening — but that does not always guarantee the ace performances I got tonight in Japan. I still prefer Brasileiros and their saunas, but I'm happily surprised that my days in Tokyo will include some good company in bed.

Especially the first several. But the winner was the most different: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLy4bsX8/ Really long hug, loser had to be pushed away.

Since it's been fairly slow on here the past week, here for your amusement are candidates for Mister Brazil: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLy4FHG3/

The Boate Casa Grande is in Bangu outside Rio, about 45 minutes from Copacabana. Last April, pauleiro started a very good thread about it with lots of helpful photos. Search for Bangu.

Maybe they are catching up with the backlog because the turnaround time for my e-visa (received yesterday) was only two weeks. Happily, it was also a ten-year visa. Because the e-visa is not a stamp or glued into my passport, I'm going to make multiple backup copies for my computer and physical files. I do not want to misplace it! Plus I'm going to save the PDF as a JPG and store another copy on my phone in the album where I keep photos of my passport, vaccinations, etc. Incidentally, quite a few seemingly authoritative visa companies stated that you can use your credit card report showing your maximum and available balance instead of sending your bank account details. That is what I did. For my Chase Visa, I only sent the one "cover page" that shows the max and available balance (in Acrobat I added yellow highlights), rather than the additional pages that list all my specific monthly credit card charges. Apparently, that was fine. Nice to have this wrapped up.

Huge hassle getting physical SIM cards in Brazil. Airalo is the leading electronic SIM (i.e., eSIM) company. As TravGuy noted above, If you have a fairly new phone that can accept eSIMs this is a convenient way to go. I travel to a variety of countries and use the Airalo's global option that covers 124 countries for one year for 20GB for US$69 (lucky number too). Along with lots of country specific and regional options, Airalo also offers a Brazil only deal for one month and 10GB for US$26. Tips: Airalo's "top off" options can be expensive, so it is sometimes better to get a new eSIM instead of topping off the current one. Also, you usually need to restart your phone when you land in a new country to let the eSIM sort itself out with the new local provider (usually Claro in Brazil).

Extremely valuable report, especially regarding the terra incognita of São Luís! Similar experiences in Fortaleza, except in December '23 the GPs did not go naked on Thursday. My Recife experience at Boa Vista was not as positive as yours. Hardly any GPs on the night I visited. Thanks again for your review.

Thanks for your candor. I'm sincerely puzzled that you are surprised. Poor people asking for help on the street is almost universal, including the US and Europe. It might be rare in some affluent suburbs and small towns, but you cannot walk down an urban street (or sit in a sidewalk cafe) in Washington, DC or Milan or Helsinki without encountering an outstretched hand. It is not a Brazilian phenomenon.

Certainly true (or quite rare) at the big three saunas in Rio/SP. As FloridaRob said, "thank goodness." However, for the record, in smaller cities GP saunas do have client/client action as well -- for example, not long ago, definitely in Natal, Brasilia, João Pessoa, in both GP saunas in Recife, sometimes in Belo Horizonte, and in the past if not present in Curitiba and Floripa. In some cases, saunas that are predominantly guys not looking for GPs still have a few overt GPs. So I guess these are "hybrids" not exactly true "GP saunas."

I love avoiding the whole hassle of SIM cards, especially in Brazil, and just use a downloadable eSIM. Airalo (www.airalo.com) is the leader.

If this is your first trip to Brazil, let me strongly recommend against bringing guys back to your hotel. Even many frequent visitors prefer the safety of the sauna. You will find lots of similar warnings on this forum.