SolaceSoul

February is a whole 8 months away. I suggest reading the main forum’s posts on Brazil to get some leads.

I’m unfamiliar with any way for a local or a tourist to access the internet in Cuba other than the scratch cards, and that internet is very spotty and weak. I doubt you’d have much success getting any work don, as most US-based sites are blocked (email is hard enough, but transferring files is next to impossible). My advice would be to skip the trip until you can go without having to use the internet for work. Cuba is a great place to unplug.

Those rules pertain to US citizens and US legal permanent residents only.

But the point is, you’re NOT a local! The average Dominican makes only $4,080 in US dollars every year (which means 1/2 of all Dominicans make even less than that). This is about the same as what the average US resident makes in one month. What the average Dominicano makes in a month, I often spend on just dinner and drinks on a night out in the US. Keep that in mind when you're piddling over a few pesos in the DR. #FirstWorldProblems (I’m preaching to the choir here, I realize. Not targeting you, personally. There are readers and lurkers that might not get this.)

This web page answers all of your questions. https://www.ndangira.net/steps-to-get-cpf-number-in-brazil-as-a-foreigner/

Thermas Lagoa is permanently closed. However, its replacement, Espaço Lagoa, is still very open.

Exactly! I don’t get why some clients (current or potential) don’t get this. Viagra like a lot of pharmaceuticals are available at any farmacia in the DR without a prescription. Just go up to the pharmacist and ask for Viagra and pay for it. There are at least two farmacias on El Conde alone, even more all through Zona Colonial. If you’re not bringing your own stash on the trip, go get your blue pills when you go to the ATM or to get a cup of coffee. Clients looking like Thomas Jefferson or George Jefferson expecting young hot studs to show up to their hotel rooms / AirBnBs all turned on with massive erections. Oy vey! OK, even if you resemble George Clooney, Chris Evans, Ricky Martin or Michael B. Jordan (and if I had a nickel for every time a poster said they were “handsome and fit”…), the same rule applies! (P.S. The garotos at the saunas in Brazil and Barcelona also are all using viagra to maintain those hard dicks. Don’t flatter yourself.!

I guess they both wanted more nudity!

The only coffee table book I’m aware of is “Dominicanos”. And the photography of the men is beautiful and an absolute work of art. I doubt he did it for the money. https://www.amazon.com/Dominicanos-Ernest-Montgomery/dp/3867876630

I agree with you. I’ve been at the client game almost all my adult life, and I’ve witnessed and heard about some terrible client behavior. I’m not suggesting that every “hooker has a heart of gold” — just that there are a lot of clients and wannabe clients that simply are up to no good and are not to be trusted. Guard your good reputation with the locals, and guard your connections. Well, you have shitty non-client photo collectors who waste the time of the procurer and the worker — some even going as far as to pretend they’re in Santo Domingo and having Manny or Juan Bin Bin (or Freddy, and probably even other procurers) showing up with the working guy to fake addresses — wasting expensive fuel and time (which the procurer then has to then pay the guy out of his own pocket for showing up to the fake date). Then, you have potential clients who demand that Manny exclusively drive them all over the city and island for a week and introduce them to guys, insisting on multiple photos and videos before committing to payment, but then refuse to pay for a reasonable day’s or week’s work of exclusive time from a driver and procurer. Then, you have a relatively new poster here accusing Manny of being a “scammer” for simply doing what any good procurer does for those who don’t have the time to scour the island for various available guys. Wouldn’t you bake in a bit extra to give yourself some insurance from an unknown entity, given all the flakes, the snakes, the shady, shifty characters? I haven’t needed a procurer’s services in years, but given the behavior that i have witnessed or heard about from some traveling clients, I completely understand the business move of reasonably increased rates.

I doubt this will do much good. There are a few posters (here and at other similar travel boards) who post under different screen names / accounts (it’s obvious because of their writing style / almost exact word-for-word comments, etc). The offender will probably just create a new username and use a VPN blocker to hide his IP address. The best strategy is for posters to be circumspect and cautious about what they post here — and to be careful about what they share privately in private messages, as well as with whom they share.

It may be the same poster that gave you the problem. OR it could be yet another poster, or just a lurker, or someone not even on the message boards. My global travel experiences have taught me that — unfortunately — there are more than enough shitty travelers to go around, usually (but not always) Americans (the term “Ugly Americans” wasn’t just invented out of thin air). As I mentioned in another post, the DR has been invaded by these kinds of bad travelers in the past several years.

Do you understand the risk/reward calculation made by the victim here?

“A source with knowledge of the investigation told NoticiasSIN that the alleged killer was in Jeffrey McMahon’s car when they arrived at the complex before he fled in it.” https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10779325/Minnesota-cigar-brand-exec-stabbed-death-Dominican-Republic.html

This story has “crew involvement with drug smuggling” written all over it.

I stopped sending for Ubers to guys I do not already know (not just Santo Domingo, but any city or country). Not because of any scam — but because too often, the guys would not abide by Uber’s policy of mandatory mask-wearing in the car. The driver would report the passenger to Uber as violating the mask policy, and the account holder (me) would get a ban — first one, 24 hours, the next one, 48 hours, the next one, 72 hours and possible lifetime expulsion from using the app. I like keeping my Uber account, so I limit who can use it (or ride with me).

It’s nice to pay. AND it pays to be nice.

I believe I was the one who said here that it happened to Manny. It also happened to Juan Bin Bin — which is why neither of these procurers send out photos to anyone — unless it’s directly to a highly trusted, regular client of theirs.

I already discussed giving intrusive or private information in Private Messaging with people whom you don’t already know or trust. BAD IDEA. I think this is what happened in the OP’s case. I have had unknown posters contact me through PM and ask me leading or invasive questions about particular workers. I don’t take the bait.

Sure, ask them if they want “referrals”, but also be very clear with them on how you intend to make those referrals. Don’t be vague. If you tell them, “I’m going to post information about you on an internet message board” and they fully comprehend that said board is publicly accessible, then it’s arguably fair game. But let’s be honest here. There have been quite a few posters and lurkers who have NOT done this. There are garotos who work at saunas who rely on relative anonymity, and this trust has been breached by some posters — whether well-intended or nefarious — who didn’t seem to care that these guys have families, local reputations or other jobs to protect. Of course, most readers here are not like that. But it only takes one bad apple. And for those who can only view things through the lens of self-interest, look at it this way: the less that working guys can trust clients not to “expose” their identities or other personal information, the fewer hot, rare-breed, hard-to-find guys that will work in the field. And that ultimately harms clients seeking the newest, best and brightest talent.

One-on-one, private referrals are fine. However, the overwhelming majority of providers that I have encountered are not interested in having identifying information about them posted on the internet. That means they do not want the information posted on message boards, and would consider that a breach of trust. The ones who advertise publicly on sites, do OnlyFans, or make commercial porn are the exceptions to this rule. And even some of those have boundaries — no personal information beyond what they disclose publicly, no face photos if they don’t publicize their face, etc. So, what’s wrong with simply respecting the boundaries of the providers? How about this? Practice The Golden Rule. Would clients like to be exposed, have their photos posted, or discussed in such fine detail that they could be identified, on the internet? If the thought of this gives you the creeps, imagine how it might make a provider (who wishes to maintain a level of discretion) feel.

These garotos’ poor, clumsy grandmas always seen to be getting into motorcycle accidents, don’t they! 🤣

I have built my relationships of trust with locals over years of regular visits and stays in several different countries. I don’t jeopardize those relationships just for the sake of sharing specific information with people I do not know and trust. I have gotten many requests here (in public and in private), and if I feel they are too invasive or they feel like a fishing expedition, I just ignore them. I really don’t care to be the Most Popular On Message Boards. I’d rather remain liked, trusted and well-respected by the locals.

Yep. I learned that lesson YEARS ago on another board and carried it over to this one. It’s why I keep my information shared about individuals to a minimum. Some posters and clients are really shady characters, others are just a little off their rockers.

Lagoa wasn’t checking for either IDs (unless you looked close to 18 or under) or for vaccination cards when I was last there in December and January. It didn’t check for them last July and August, either.