ShivRoy

That was with regard to Russians. And Ukrainians are really everywhere in Europe, with visible numbers in Poland and Czechia

Most abundant post-war Russian gay communities of recent exiles would be (in this order) in Berlin, Thailand, Buenos Aires, Belgrade, Dubai and possibly Yerevan (however Armenia, as well as Kazakhstan, could be less of this case now than it was in 2022 - those who moved there initially found a way to move further into the EU or elsewhere since)

When I was there a year ago, Grindr offers were not abundant. I did hook up for smth like 50e, but some offers were in the 100-200 territory that I didn't take. Be mindful it's a conservative country with a full history of recent anti-LGBT protests or outright violence (and at the same time with a fascinating underground alternative culture that skews towards decidedly queer)

Fully agree. But that Colombian guy was not budging at all - he was not even a fan of small talk or touching his impressive chest: "if you decide to go with me, come back and we'll go to the cabin when you decide", he said taking a step back . Wrapping a towel around the hips was also below him, so he was in longish jogging shorts with a towel around his neck. So I gave a hard pass - my experience shows that this attitude will be even more present in a cabin and the experience will be actually sub-par, even though he was certainly #1 in the sauna looks-wise. I had two other guys in the sauna that night, and it was a blast, so no regrets, it's a full experience what counts after all, not just the looks

Don't panic - power blackouts are only in Russia-occupied Transnistria, which is a breakaway part of Moldova since the 1990s. There have not been any blackouts in Moldova proper, they are getting electricity from Romania On gay life in Moldova - there are no gay bars or anything of that sort. Everything is online on apps and everything is possible. Russian is widely spoken, much much more so than English especially among the target audience of sex providers (i.e. no master's degrees most likely), so Google Translate is handy

I was there last week. Still there, nothing changed much - the roster of guys could be uneven, depending on the day. There was a guy from Medellin - I think his name was Wilton or smth like that - who was stunning but with plenty of attitude, and he was charging 80e, saying "it's fine if you pay 50 here, but that's not the price for me" - and he was still in great demand, I saw at least 3 clients taking him to the cabin/suite. Good for him.

Excellent reports @travguy - we overlapped on some days in Rio. My two cents: 117 on Tues (we were on the same day) was amazing and full of so many hot guys - it's been a while since I remember it this way. Other days at 117 were not that spectacular - not that bad, but Tues blew it all away. It's good they built even more more (dingy) suites downstairs so infamous waits for a suite are much shorter from what I've seen. I've been to the Junior BDay at 202 - it was the most people I've ever seen at 202 in all those years, more than I've seen on Carnaval or around New Year's - the pasta buffet was pretty weird (it was very heavy and just plain weird to have a heavy cheap pasta with a cheap sauce to stuff your face with while you are in a towel amidst some great GPs). I see they bought even more monitors to show Cher on and put them everywhere - from the clients' perspective, I could already see Cher from everywhere, so that investment going into making suites nicer would be more appreciated lol. Another interesting point from that night: there were lots and lots of people, but not many were hiring - at no point there was a queue for the suites. That was interesting, I wonder why. I was at 202 on Monday, and it was OK - by Weds I was gone already.

I agree, there are a few hot locals who are not interested in the whole GP thing - and I remember I was mistaken a few times too: one guy I presumed a GP turned out to be just a local stunner on a sex binge, and another guy whom I presumed a local cruising with friends turned out to be a GP. A key thing for me in these cases is eye contact. If you try to establish eye contact and show your interest, a GP would maintain eye contact back or even approach you or smile, whereas a non-GP local would not maintain eye contact and his body language would be he's not interested. GPs normally do not ignore your eye contact, unless they are booked by someone else already at that particular moment

Many of those travels were during that sabbatical, and I was not posting then. I did post recently though about Fortaleza, Recife and Sao Luis. In many other places everything is apps only, or otherwise very underwhelming (like a GP sauna in Belem which was a ghost-like place even those 8 or so years ago when I visited). In places like Barreirinhas and Jeri (which are both tiny) you pretty much are in the tourist central (Lencois Maranhenses are though one of the most beautiful places that I've seen not only in Brazil, but in the whole world - and that's Barreirinhas). Another good non-gay place which is awesome is Lensois in Bahia with its incredible hiking and day trips in Chapada Diamantina. Beaches in Bahia (Taipu de Fora especially) are some of the best I've seen anywhere in the world. Maceio (and vicinities) has stunning beaches too. But in terms of gay saunas or places, out of these secondary cities only Fortaleza, Recife and Sao Luis stand out, I think.

The jury is still out on Dragon though - I've been only that one time within a week, and never been back, so not sure whether it was quite active because of the special show, or whether it finally got some success after all these years - I really don't know. With the much discussed notion here that Brazilian saunas are slowly dying, Fortaleza is exhibit A. California was fantastic garoto-wise 8-10 years ago, it is a shadow of those times now. There are still some good guys, but honestly if not for that star guy from Goias my week there would have been slim pickings. And he will be gone soon - he told me he doesn't like Fortaleza (he's been for 2 months here now), and he'd been to Rio and Sao Paolo each once before and said those are too chaotic and huge for him, so he will be going back to Goiania. He's incredible though - I'm getting a programa with him every night, he's incredibly athletic with a smiley face and obviously very straight, but a job is a job is a job, and yesterday he told me in a suite: we met a few times already, and I'm very grateful, so if you want you can fuck me now (which I did - an incredible experience with a model-like straight hunk) - when afterwards I gave him 120 instead of 100, he attempted to chase me across the sauna trying discreetly to give me back 20, saying "this is too much, you didn't have to do that". So in short Xclay, enjoy these times while they still exist, because in some not too distant future they won't anymore.

This was exactly my attitude after my 1st trip to Brazil - I think in 2010. I spent one week in Rio and did not like it at all - and having traveled a lot around the world, I thought, ok seen that, goodbye, I don't think I'll return. And then told everyone that Brazil was a disappointment. Several years later, I had a sabbatical between the jobs and spent pretty much the whole northern winter in Brazil - I traveled all the country and have been almost everywhere. And I loved it then. I've been going maybe once a year since (more during covid as it was the best destination in an otherwise closed-off world). The exchange rate helped to enjoy the country too (when I came in 2010, real was 1.6 to the USD, it's 6.04 today) That said, unlike for many other forum members, for me SP is the city in Brazil I like the least. As I often travel through GRU, I used to do stopovers, but then I thought, I'd better skip it and fly on as I enjoy other places in Brazil much more than SP

I've done that!!

Okay, back in Fortaleza. So far, a few days in - California is still the garoto central, though crumbling even more as before. In one suite, I almost laughed during sex when I saw above me a ceiling that clearly fell off in two or three spots since I was in that suite last a year ago. I have to say garoto-wise, it's also slower than it was a year ago - however, there is a great defined guy from Goias who promises to save this trip for me. Initially, I thought he was arrogant as he never responded to my hinted advances - but then I found out he's just super-timid, plus I'm a foreigner. He told me he thought I'm Finnish as I look like someone from Finland - for the record, I don't look like Finnish at all, but I suspect the only foreigner he met before was from Finland. Interestingly enough, there was a very decent night at Dragon last night (on Saturday). There was a live bareback sex show with two local porn stars, but there was a decent crowd and I think there was a wider and better selection of garotos than at California. First I was at California where I hooked up with the Goias guy, then moved on to Dragon and I thought it was better. I hooked with another guy and could have done with more guys there - but then got involved in the live sex show which then continued to the cabins with the full-on orgy. The price is still 100. The guy from Dragon said, "oh you are gringo, so for gringos it's 200". I said, cut the gringo shit, it's 100 here. He said, 150. I said, maybe mais tarde. He immediately said 100 and was super-happy during the session and afterwards, and we talked more later in the bar, so 100 is the market rate. By the way, is there a member of this board currently in Fortaleza? I think I saw someone at California that I saw quite a few times before in Rio, mostly at 202? If he is on this board, well-done with the choice of the guy I saw you today with at the beach at the Orbita Blue beach club - that's a sweet guy I saw at California for a few years and thought, if he gained some muscle he would be a great looker, and I see that finally he did, so you caught him at the exactly right time lol.

Sorry, no info on that. I don't think there are saunas with working boys aside from Thermas in Barcelona - or at least I'm not aware (the Madrid one went down the drain, as I heard)

Malaga is one of Spain's hottest gay destinations, probably third after Barcelona and Madrid. The village in the suburbs - Torremolinos - has a good beach and a strong gay vibe. They have what they call "Boys Town" which is a couple of blocks of gay bars, a gay hotel or two, and a gay beach. Depending on the season, there are usually quite a few escorts both online and cruising outside the gay venues or beaches. I think it was much more lively in that sense maybe a decade ago with immigrant escorts cruising in the afternoon near a gay cafe on the beach, but I haven't seen that action in my last couple of visits. Still many escorts are available (100E) - with an interesting caveat that pretty much every one of them is on meth.