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Day 10: Vamos We went to bed around 3 AM. I set the alarm for 7 AM because I had to catch my flight back to US at noon, and we had to tidy up the AirBNB before we left, as well as getting some farewell Café da Mahna. One of the disadvantages of getting an AirBNB vs a Hotel. While one could leave the AirBNB with a mess, my mom raised me better than that, and we had a lot of beer cans and dirty dishes in the sink that needed cleaning. I am fairly sensitive with keeping my AirBNB reviews positive. At 5 AM, still a little bit tipsy, I got woken up by the doorbell. Took me a while to realize who that could be. It was Diego, trying to get his bag back. I tiptoe towards the door and look through the spyglass in the door. Yup, it was him. I go back to the bedrooms and look into Leo and Alex bedroom: both were sleeping soundly. I go back to bed and get a few more hours of shut eye. I heard the apartment phone ring a few times, but just assumed it was Diego trying to call us from the guard shack downstairs. The alarm rings at 7 AM and I get up and wake Leo and Alex. We all hear the doorbell ringing and I tell them it is Diego. “Serio?” Leo says. I am sure he wants his bag back, I say. Leo was thinking about what to do next. He then tells me to hide in my room. “He’s going to try to appeal to you. I need to get the truth out of him,” he says. I do what I’m told and go in my room to pack. I then go take a shower. I put on clothes and head to the living room. I see Leo texting and Alex doing dishes in the kitchen. I see Diego’s backpack still here, open. “What happened?” I ask. “Diego is taking a shower in the other bathroom,” Leo says. “What did he say?” Leo says that Diego was promised 500 reals to fuck the two clients who were interested in him last night. They bought him some beers and got to know Diego, before asking him to go to a cabina with them. But Diego said he had a problem: he said because of all the alcohol, he couldn’t get it up. The clients offered to buy him some Viagra and commence their tryst at a love motel nearby. Diego’s bill was paid off by the clients and they proceeded to buy the Viagra and then had a romp in the sack. It was 3 AM by the time they finished. He took a cab to Ipanema and slept some hours in the beach. At 5 AM he went up to the apartment to claim his bag. I shrugged my shoulders. Leo said he told Diego that I was very disappointed in him. “But I’m not,” I tell him. “Well, I am,” Leo throws his arms up. I can certainly understand his anger. To tell you the truth, at this point of the vacation I was just glad I did not get robbed or get swindled by anyone. A GP reneging on a promised night was hardly something I would be upset about, especially since there was no money involved. Diego emerges from the bathroom, in a towel. He goes over to shake my hand and I return the gesture. “Desculpe,” he starts, and I feign disappointment in my face. He says he will just change and then would want to talk to me. He disrobes, revealing his perfect body and his cock swinging, as he changes into fresh clothes that were in his bag. He then goes up to me and hugs me. He said he was sorry he left us. He said he had to do it for money. He asked that I see him again next time. I barely hug him back (still feigning), and tell him good luck. I go to my room. I hear Diego and Leo exchange some words before Diego leaves the apartment. All three of us clean the apartment up and finish packing before the AirBNB owners come in to retrieve the keys. We had breakfast next, at a nearby cafe, and made our goodbyes over coffee. Back at the apartment, the owners, who were also gay (and hot) were pretty nice to all of us and we had a nice conversation about our vacation. I will rent from them again. I Uber it to Galeao and check in to my flight. Another vacation done. Time flies. Some post-trip events that happened, proving that a proper Brazilian vacation stretches out long after you’ve left the country: 1. Leo, intrepid friend and bleeding heart, was really affected by Diego’s actions. He extended his Rio trip by another 4 days, about 5 days after I left Brazil. It was his mission to get to the bottom of Diego’s story. He managed to get Diego to come back to Ipanema at Leo and Alex’s new AirBNB, to talk it out. Diego’s story, as with most GPs stuck in this kind of work, is very complicated. 2. Since Diego did not have a phone, Leo had to call his “roommate” to set up the meeting. In turned out that the “roommate” was not really just a roommate. It was Diego’s pimp. Leo had to tread lightly. He pretended to be interested in becoming one of the pimp’s employee’s. Eventually the pimp was amenable enough with Leo, to deliver Diego the message of wanting to meet. Diego was able to visit Leo and Alex in Ipanema before heading over to Pointe 202 for work. 3. Diego’s story was pretty compelling. Without getting into too many details, let’s just say a tragic childhood and crushing poverty got him to Rio in search of a better life. Not being able to find work (and not having a place to stay and food to eat), he was recruited by his current pimp in a party Diego happened to be in. Citing his extreme good looks and bigger than average cock amazing ass, the pimp offered Diego a roof over his head and 3 squares a day, in exchange for access to a customer base, and 50% of Diego’s income. He was stuck in this prison ever since, not being able to leave because he didn’t have a cellphone and he did not have enough money to get an apartment. 4. Leo and Diego eventually were able to form a plan for Diego to leave the pimp. Diego had some money saved, and he could pool it with another fellow GP to get a room farther away (but cheaper) in Barra de Tijuca. But he needed help getting a cellphone. So Leo asked me for 300 reals to buy him a cellphone. I trusted Leo enough to do this. Leo used his own 200 reals and Diego and him went to the Centro area, near the Uruguaiana station, and Leo got Diego a cheap smartphone. 5. At the end of the week, Leo was able to help Diego move from his prison near Copacabana, and move into his new digs in Barra de Tijuca. I got all the scoop and photos and Whatsapp live video of the move (and Uber ride from Copa to Barra de Tijuca). Diego was pretty thankful of Leo and me. It’s amazing what 300 reals can do. 6. Diego, upon hearing that I was visiting Leo in Sao Paulo in 3 weeks, promised Leo and I that he will take the bus to Sao Paulo to stay with me, and us, for free, as thanks for all the help. I accepted the deal, but wasn’t really optimistic about this happening. Did it happen? I guess I need to write that next trip report for everyone here to find out. Sufficed to say, the Diego saga is still ongoing. In other news, of all boys I’ve had programas with this trip, Gabi was the only boy to hit me up for money while I was back in the USA: I forwarded my interactions with Gabi to Leo, and Leo was on his case as well. He found out that Gabi had not one, but TWO gringos who sent him money on a regular basis. Gabi even sent Leo some of his Western Union screenshots, in which Leo promptly send to me. The screenshots contained the person’s full name and address, as well as amounts sent from $200 to $500. I hope you guys trust your own GP’s in not exposing your identities to others. That’s it folks. I still have 3 trips to Brazil this year after this one.

I got 12 messages from sauna guys today all of whom I know well and they all had heard about the incident!(they are bigger gossips then we are! lol) and to a person they said I was really dumb to resist!....I agree!

This grindr guy wants R300. He doesn't say hi or any greetings. I guess I will pass. I know the going rate for out call is R200.

Which way to my parade?

Middle/end of Jan? I'm looking for a place to go for MLK weekend. If you're gonna be in Thailand around that weekend I'll plan to go. About status: for some reason I got status this year for both Star Alliance (United) and OneWorld (AA). Maybe I can shoot for Delta next year, though I am less familiar with their Brazil routes. You're right, we can't start too early. And my demons are numerous for sure. You've met some of them kkkkk. Too kind. Thanks for reading!

Those who follow the news about Brazil may know that back in 2013, Cuba sent 11,420 doctors to Brazil. The arrangement was mainly humanitarian because Brazil did not have sufficient doctors available to treat its citizens. The arrangement brought money to Cuba. The agreement also called for Brazil to pay the Cuban government for the salaries of the doctors sent to live and work in Brazil. The doctors worked mainly in areas of Brazil that desperately needed physicians. There was no "get rich" scheme with Cuba or Brazil allowing the doctors to work in Brazil. The Cuban doctors had a pay arrangement with Cuba. That worked fine since inception until Bolsonaro came along. Many of the Cuban doctors could not get work in Cuba. Then, comes along Bolsonaro, in a Trump like fashion, and angered Cuban officials. As we know, analogously, Trump has a habit of getting allies of America angry. Even though three fourths of the money Brazil paid to Cuba for the doctors salaries stayed in Cuba, it is understandable that Bolsonaro thought the arrangement that brought doctors to Brazil was unfair. However, if it worked for the doctors and worked for Cuba, who will it work for now that the doctors are leaving and Brazil will be without those doctors? Trump like method, indeed. Today, Cuba announced they are pulling out the doctors from Brazil "due to the ‘threatening and derogatory’ words of President-elect Jair Bolsonaro." Anyone interested in reading more about the riff - read this - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/14/cuba-doctors-brazil-withdraw-jair-bolsonaro