CaliPexx

Make that at least two countries headed by Presidents with an anti-science, anti-medicine agenda.

I agree wholeheartedly with you on the need for medical evacuation insurance, in particular, when traveling to medical resource limited destinations, e.g., Brazil. This was true prior to Covid-19 and will continue to be true when the pandemic seems like a bad nightmare in our distant memories. The problem with this disease, however, is that hypoxia and respiratory collapse occur suddenly and without much warning. So, there wouldn't be time to do all of the following requisite steps: -- (1) to make the call to the evacuation insurance company (2) to have them do your insurance verification and medical qualification for international air transport (3) to round up and dispatch the air ambulance and its qualified medical crew (4) for the evacuation crew to fly from, for example, North America to Brazil (at least an 8 hour trip from the nearest U.S. cities and, I imagine, much longer from Europe and Down Under) (5) for the crew to travel through urban traffic in Brazil to your hospital (6) for the crew to do the medical handoff with your Brazilian ICU care team (7) through (10) then to repeat all of the steps above in reverse until you are safely inside an ICU in North America or wherever you wish to be transported. (11) and (12) Oh, and I forgot the time spent to facilitate your passage through Customs and Immigration for Brazil and your destination country. Now, let's assume that you have survived in Brazil up to the point of loading you and your rapidly failing organ systems onto the air ambulance. Remember that your air ambulance will be pressurized, like any other jet, to a high altitude barometric pressure. This will place an additional strain on your capacity to breathe. And I see that @SolaceSoul: has already provided the answer to my following question: In the fine print legalese that none of us non-attorney types understand or take the time to read, is there not an exclusion in these medical evacuation policies for illnesses caused by declared epidemics and pandemics? [@SolaceSoul indicates that, yes, there IS an exclusion for Covid-19. Thanks!] TL;DR Travel to Brazil is not advisable unless and until you have been demonstrated to be protected against the SARS-CoV-2 virus as a result of either symptomatic or asymptomatic Covid-19 acquisition OR as a consequence of having received a safe and effective vaccine.

No one knows what the situation will be in October 2020 but the Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is saying a second wave is likely in autumn and/or winter and that we could see simultaneous epidemics of Covid-19 and influenza at that time. That would be devastating to health care systems everywhere. This story linked below, about the current status of Covid-19 in hospitals in Rio de Janeiro, is heartbreaking. The young doctor in the more affluent Zona Oeste who is interviewed reports that he has only one ventilator per 30 Covid-19 cases and that they are having to make decisions about who receives - or doesn't receive - respiratory support. Another hospital in the more economically challenged Zona Norte, where many of our GdePs live, reports that facility's ICU beds are filled to capacity. It's a tragic state of affairs no matter how you look at it. And I suspect that much of Brazil is still on the upslope of the Covid-19 case and death curve. G1: Médico do Rio diz ter só um respirador para 30 pacientes: ‘A gente acaba tendo que escolher'. https://g1.globo.com/rj/rio-de-janeiro/noticia/2020/04/22/medico-do-rio-diz-ter-so-um-respirador-para-30-pacientes-a-gente-acaba-tendo-que-escolher.ghtml

Totally agree. Why would you gamble recklessly until you know that you are protected, either through an effective vaccine or by proof that you carry sufficient protective levels of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies? Oh, and BTW, the situation with testing right now is scandalous -- and not only because we are doing inadequate testing of critical populations. My front line friends tell me that they are seeing unacceptable false negative tests on Trump's ballyhooed 15 min Abbott Labs test for acute infection and lesser but still significant false negatives on the (Roche and other laboratories') nasopharyngeal swab PCR acute Covid-19 test you have undoubtedly heard about. And the current panoply of tests for anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies is a joke. The FDA has abrogated its responsibility for quality control on the antibody test by allowing virtually any lab to market its own homebrew assay. Many of those are completely worthless, showing high rates of false positive and/or false negative IgG assays. And the other extremely troubling but fundamental issue is that we really don't know at this time whether certain levels of SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies are, in fact, protective. Guys, I can't speak to the extent or accuracy of acute and convalescent Covid-19 testing in other countries but, in my opinion, what we are seeing right at this moment in the U.S. is frankly criminal. Why would you even consider planning a trip right now, at a moment when we know so little about the future course of this pandemic in North America, Europe, and Asia, let alone in Brazil?

While there are a few great medical centers in Brazil, the emphasis is on the word, "few". The descent from a little cough and fever into respiratory failure can happen so rapidly with Covid-19 that, even if you have the best medical evacuation insurance policy, it's likely you wouldn't have time to get back to U. S. hospitals. So I ask you: Would you really want to spend your final days of life on a ventilator in a Brazilian ICU?

In 2018, The Rio Times ran a story on hotels closing in Rio's Zona Sul (Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon). The article had a focus on the Ipanema Plaza, one of the favorite hotels of my travel buddies and me for many years. At that time the fate of this Rua Farme de Amoedo property wasn't clear and it sounds like, based on your reports in this thread, the building has been sitting empty for nearly two years. https://riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/rio-business/hotels-in-rio-close-due-to-economic-crisis-violence-lack-of-investments/

Surubas are designed for any men who like to play with other men, not solely for brasileiros, although Brazilian guys will understandably constitute the overwhelming majority of attendees. Anyway, if my own experience several years ago in similar orgies in Rio de Janeiro is generalisable to these events in São Paulo, when you attend a sex party, you don't need to advertise your non-Brazilian nationality to gain entry.

Vanity Hotel, along Av. NS de Copacabana, is mixed gay and straight and I've used it on three occasions over the past 5 years. The suites include large beds, a sex chair-hassock thing, TV with both gay and straight porn, en suite bathrooms, and towels. The rooms are kept very clean in my experience. Vanity is a great option if you want to spend just a few hours with a "friend" in a safe environment. If you prefer to do an overnight with the GP of your dreams, my travel buddies have used several of the inexpensive off-the-beach hotels in Copacabana, not far from the Vanity or from Posto 4. Just open Google Maps to the area 1-3 blocks inland from Postos 4-5 and search on "hotels". Google now posts same-night prices directly on the map, so you can readily compare prices and distances. The off-the-beach hotel will take or copy your GP's ID upon registering at check-in, so my buddies have felt very safe taking an acompanhante to those accommodations. And you get the added benefit of being able to treat your GP to a nice breakfast the next morning without revealing to him all of the worldly possessions (e.g., electronics and cash) you are keeping in your regular hotel room or rented condo apartment.

Or a well-hung gang bang?

This is an interesting article (with a few dimly lit photos) in the Sunday 17 November 2019 issue of The Rio Times about the recurrent gay sex parties (and the individual party "flavours") that take place regularly in downtown São Paulo. https://riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/sao-paulo/the-mysterious-gay-underground-world-of-sao-paulo/ I get the impression that the author personally enjoys these parties and is not a Bolsonarista or Evangelical zealot trying to do an exposé of the orgies but I could be wrong about his motives. There are a few points the reporter makes that might present concerns for some of us: • He considers the parts of São Paulo where the parties are held to be dangerous. • Party drugs and alcoholic beverages are consumed at these events, substances that may impair one's judgement. • Condomless sex is the norm at these orgies. While the author makes the point that PrEP is now more widely available in Brazil, lowering one's risk of acquiring HIV when used properly, PrEP does NOT prevent acquisition of other sexually transmitted infections via barebacking. • Perhaps this author is blind to the financial transactions of other soruba (orgy) attendees. That said, he makes the point that there is no sex being exchanged for money at these parties and that it is all about "free sex". Sorubas were popular at one time in Rio de Janeiro and I've been to a couple of them in Catete and Glória. But these São Paulo sex parties appear to be events of an even greater magnitude. Have any of you attended the parties described in the author's review in The Rio Times?

I wonder if anyone has tried logging on to Câmera Privê using either a VPN emulator and/or a Fake GPS app? Either could be set to appear that the user is located in Brazil and, therefore, the site might then display the BRL denominated pricing structure. That said, I bet the "Gotcha!" is that -- and this is pure speculation but based on other tedious Brazilian financial transactions we've encountered over the years -- in order for users to access the more favorable Brazilian pricing plan, the site likely would require a CPF as well as use of a credit card issued by a Brazilian bank.

I've often wondered why more Brazilian guys with their amazing physiques and sizeable "attributes" don't display their wares on Chaturbate. I have considered the possibility that they might be congregating at a similar website but have never looked into that. Today's BBC Brasil (em português) had an extensive article by Leandro Machado and Mariana Alvim about a site called, "Câmera Privê", which they report millions of Brazilian clients visit each day. BBC Brasil compared the site to a kind of "Uber" for online sex. The report even noted the substantial incomes (for Brazil, anyway) earned by some of the top modelos. https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-49886712 Are any of you familiar with Câmera Privê and, if so, how is it similar or different in comparison to Chaturbate? I just checked out the Câmera Privê site and, while there are many stunning modelos, it seems that very few are actually online compared to Chaturbate.

Thanks for your superb detective work! Any idea what type of business was in this location previously?

Did this link to a physical address of the new Lagoa? Or is that still a state secret? BTW, "cozy" in real estate parlance, signifies "really tiny". If that is the case, many of us will miss the spaciousness of the old Lagoa.

I see what you mean from this Reuters article about the CNT/MDA poll, but I wonder how reliable that poll is when Reuters notes that the trucking lobby (CNT) commissioned MDA to do the poll. If CNT/MDA is accurate, however, a plunge in Bolsonaro's approval rating from 38.9% to 29.4% would be significant. While Bozo is not yet in President Temer's popularity territory (5%), he does seem to be heading rapidly in the direction of opinion poll "hell".