Xclay

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.

In a nutshell: I'd already deduced I was vaccinated in September (sore arm and an independent antibody test), so the January unmasking at the clinic was nice but anticlimactic. Then, as you stated, my only options were to drop out or to let them continue monitoring my health (two questions per week on an app and paid quarterly blood draws this year, maybe longer). With this chance to continue to do my little part to fight the scourge, I'm staying in the long-term study that will let Moderna discover how long its vaccine sustains resistance and how much it protects against new strains. Back to the card... Since yesterday, I've discovered that the leading digital candidate is called Common Pass, coming to app stores soon. See link below.

I've been to Alexandria four times and, unlike many other places in the region, I rarely felt being checked out by testosterone-filled young guys needing release and a few bucks. I did have a some hot encounters the first trip long ago that made me want to return but the later trips were pretty uneventful. Some of the previously lucky venues had been closed and I did not find any replacement. Nothing like elsewhere in Egypt. But sometimes it's just a roll of the dice of course. Maybe guru Santiaodc has some more updated tips.

In August, I volunteered for the Moderna trial, got lucky, and got the two vaccine shots not the placebo. But my vaccine verification "card" is slightly heavy paper with name and dates of shots printed by hand. Would take five minutes and not even require advanced software to duplicate my card and print a new name and dates. Surely Moderna will have to come up with something better than this to be a real "vaccination passport." But who know? The yellow fever vaccinations records are easy to fabricate (mine is real!) and they are accepted everywhere.

Say it ain't so. Big fan of Mezzaninu. Hate to see those great PA guys forced to retreat to the filthy, smelly squalor of Plataforma. Yes, wmcemdub, surely with a metro area of over 4 million people Porto Alegre ought to draw an entrepreneur to buy the purpose-built Mezzaninu building!

Sawadee krap! Promising news: Thailand is set to waive its onerous quarantine for tourists who have been vaccinated! https://www.ttgasia.com/2021/01/26/thailand-to-warmly-welcome-inoculated-travellers/ Next week would be better but the relaxed rules are supposed to start July 1. Excellent incentive to get your shots if you haven't yet. Impressive NYT assessment of the vaccine's potency here: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/18/briefing/donald-trump-pardon-phil-spector-coronavirus-deaths.html

Good to know about other options but -- while it is not as rainbow-clad as in the good ol' days -- I found the Tarntawan Hotel Surawong -- despite the new owners -- to still be ideal. Modest price, large rooms, and very quiet (way back from the street) yet in the middle of the main scene. And they continued the practice of returning visitor's ID only after calling my room and confirming all is well.

Thanks again for detailed info! You got them to last as long as two minutes sometimes! Impressive. My guys always blasted in less than a minute, sometimes somehow within seconds! I found that, rather than resident pros who know the score, it was always extra fun, when the opportunity arose, to connect with excited Egyptian tourists who had never talked to a white guy, such as young men from El Fayoum visiting Cairo, from Matrouth visiting Alexandria, from a western oasis visiting Luxor. I've been all over Egypt, including the western oases, with the exception of the Sinai. I figured: Why go see all French and Germans at Sharm El Sheikh when I can see plenty of Egyptians elsewhere? So... one more question to the master santiaodc: Have you visited Sharm and, if so, do you recommend it at a place to see and to play?

Based on a large sample of regular, masculine, working-class guys (not like the self-selected extreme who, in other countries, might display themselves online or in saunas or in porn) the answer is that most are a resounding average to slightly above average -- with the usual bell-shaped curve around the mean. Throughout the Middle East and Maghreb, nearly all are cut of course. Most notable was that they were invariably hard as a crowbar and so horny/excited that they often blasted very, very, very quickly.

Santiaodc, your most practical, detailed posts with cruising details yet! Thanks! When I was in Manila twenty years ago, I hooked up twice with very handsome, young salesmen who were working at Robinson's and came to my room at the Holiday Inn when they got of work. When I was there for a conference ten years ago, the sexy, mini-bar guy was hungry for white guys, stared at my crouch, and asked if he could help me in any other way. I screwed him every morning from then on.

santiaodc, There used to be one or two theaters where the balconies were filled with action. And even in the more proper theaters, when an action movie brought in almost entirely young guys, I'd always have a few come sit beside me for a hand job. Did you check out any theaters in your recent trip? I guess they are all closed. Are all the awesome hammams closed too? Those used to filled with horny young workers and soldiers looking for someone to drain them. Speaking of soldiers, I'll never tire of watching fit, masculine, young Egyptian soldiers kissing each other on each side of the mouth, holding hands, and walking along entwined.

Thanks for another brilliant north Africa post! After a five year absence, I'm returning to Egypt in April/March. It is indeed the working-class guys who love to be serviced, but the more middle-class guys are more prissy about it. However, the Nile Hilton health club steam room used to be a nonstop orgy. Don't you find that extra eye contact plus a grin will trigger a horny young Egyptian's interest on the street just about anywhere in the evening!? Be sure to check out santiaodc's Tunisia report too:

Wow, thanks for the thorough post! Any thoughts on pickup on sellers in the souk? A few years ago, I had some luck with hot guys working there. Do you go into the desert Berber areas?

Back to the subject of Tawan... If you do find a hunk you like at Tawan, my main recommendation is to get very explicit agreement, ideally in front of the mamasan, about consent to do X, Y, and Z. I found Tawan guys were the worst in BKK in terms of promising but not delivering. Their default is to just want to be blown.

Yes, the best way is Grindr, although at some hotels if you flash friendly, admiring glances at the handsome staff you'll get offers to help them out sooner or later, along with a tip.