Xclay

Nothing above but unanimous criticisms of the current sauna scene in Rio: Young11 "a lot less hot guys at 117 compared to my previous visits" Jake789 "I was in Club 117 these past two weeks and it was not like before the pandemic. Very few good looking." Riobard "Fewer and farther between but generally positive exchanges. Nobody that I absolutely need to repeat with. Not much evidence of 'new crop' phenomena." floridarob "not a fan of Rio" sydneyboy1 "My thoughts exactly about São Paulo over Rio." It is weirdly good to see that "it's not just me." I'm in Rio now and disappointed at how sad the GP situation has become at 117 and 202. Months ago I prepaid both my hotel and onward flight to São Paulo or I would race to Lagoa right away.

Scott, you are totally right that most people do not stay very long, certainly not ten days or two weeks like I often do, in Porto Alegre! (Recap here.) Regarding the language, I know men who spend many months in Brazil (for work or pleasure) and have learned surprisingly little Portuguese. An Aussie friend was recently in Brazil for six months and still could not distinguish between chupa and chuva. I do think it is interesting that one of the first question I invariably get asked by GPs is how long I will be around. That question is so widespread that I take it as more than a random inquiry. Maybe I'm wrong, but the answer (a couple of days vs. a couple of weeks) seems to me like the difference between the session being a one-night stand versus an audition. Or maybe I'm imagining things?

Update on new sauna Lux: Lux was going strong on Friday. Saturday it was packed with even more clients and GPs. Lively, genuinely fun, upbeat atmosphere all weekend. Music was actually played at a tolerable level so you could talk without yelling. Steam room has been adjusted so it is hot but not scalding. Happily, no lip-sinking while I was there. One phenomenal live singer only sang a couple of songs but both were dazzling. I met the owner who seems like a really nice guy. GPs tended to be more nice-looking "boy next door" types (not Iberian Idols as I called them elsewhere) but a few were more muscled. As you'd expect in the far south of Brazil, they are mostly, but not entirely, a pale to olive mix. Rooms come with lots of gel and condoms on the table included in the 50 per hour price and have large bath rooms with hot, strong showers. I was not charged for the occasional extra towel. Some GPs will accept 100 without blinking an eye, but 150 might get you a more enthusiastic session. Suggestions if heading to Porto Alegre: Focus your itinerary on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Thursday could be OK too but hit or miss. Depart Monday when both GP saunas are closed, unless of course you've lined up a carefully screened hotel visitor. Go to Lux early (by 5) on Saturday before it gets crowded and the top-tier GPs get exhausted. Don't announce that you are a short-term visitor. I find the prospects that you might be a longer-term repeating customer elevates you to the Platinum level for customer service. And of course you indeed may come back for more. I sure do.

That is encouraging. Glad to help. Let us know how it goes!

Lucky, I'm so sorry to hear about your outrageous nightmares with Lifemiles — but thank you for sharing this valuable warning! 😱 I had periodically considered diving into Avianca's Lifemiles and even got an account, but I'd never gotten around to accumulating miles and trying to redeem then. 🤨 Thanks to you and RioBard, I'm not going to bother. Life is too short. I really appreciate your help.

Here are two GP saunas that were going strong last year and are still shown as open in Google Maps: Sauna Opiniao R. Amintas de Barros, 749 - Alto da XV, Curitiba - PR, 80045-155 Club 773 (far more upscale) R. Ubaldino do Amaral, 1664 - Jardim Botânico, Curitiba - PR, 80060-092 The GPs at both are hit and miss are unlikely to be the Nordic Vikings and Iberian Idols you are seeing on the street.

Correction: Fortaleza's region should of course be the "Brazilian northeast."

A new sauna called Lux has just opened in Porto Alegre! Investors took over the seedy shell of the old Plataforma and have substantially renovated it, and I gather more upgrades are in the works. The new manager is outstanding. They have started a virgin Instagram account but no website yet: https://www.instagram.com/saunaluxpoa/ Old location is now new again: Av. Pernambuco, 2765 in Porto Alegre Open every day except Monday. Sunday when I was there, Lux had a good crowd of clients and maybe 10 (most very appealing) GPs. It seemed almost like time travel back to the building's glory days in the first decade of the 2000s. Alas on Sunday, it seemed like a wake at old Mezzanino which had few clients and few GPs in its big building. They have made a few decorative improvements on the rooftop terrace and elsewhere but it may be too little, too late. Don't see how PA can support two such saunas these days when even SP can only manage to have one serious sauna.

I just spent six days in Fortaleza (i.e. mid-June 2023) and I can confirm that everything reported by bcdaron from early February this year was still 100% accurate! California Thermas was still thriving with 12-15 handsome, toned GPs (and only a couple were not ready for prime time) and enough clients to lure them there. One thing to add: The GP gene pool at California was far more European than you might expect for the Brazilian northwest. Sadly, Dragon is still a spacious, empty shell with only two GPs (both overweight) in my brief visit. By the way, you get fingerprinted there. The beach was long, clean, and uncrowded and the city has come a long way since my only previous visit twenty years ago. I'll be returning!

You are right and I did forget about 555. Apparently 555 still survives: http://www.clube555.com.br/ We even had a thread about it in January. See below. Looking forward to you update after you visit next week!

Thanks for this update on Brasilia! I wonder if the other GP sauna is any better. Interesting that Brasilia can support two GP (or quasi-GP) saunas when massive Sao Paulo only has one. I would add Brasilia to my summer cities but my itinerary is fully booked. In July Goiânia will be my new place to explore, along with the usual cities.

Occasionally, I'll have to mimic the motion of flying from GP to GP.

The great word for hummingbird is literally "kiss flower": beija flor So sometimes, when nudged for a repeat session, I smile and say: "Eu beija flor!" or "Esta noite beija-flor"* along with ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It usually get a laugh and a nod. *Yes, I know I'm skipping verbs.

GOIANIA 1.5 million people 200 km southwest of Brasilia Lots of parks (not unlike Curitiba) A fair amount of art deco architecture February '22: Only GP place was big Sauna Botofogo. with nearly 300 lockers and 30 rooms! One visit my friend encountered 12 GPs vs. 30 clients But on a Sunday visit he only saw 5 GPs vs. 20 clients Locals pay 70 to 100, and my friend usually paid 100. And he photographed some very handsome GPs. Now I want to go there myself. Did Davet say I might get a prize?

My last BH trip: November 2022. Totally agree with you that 1097 is "disgusting." A couple of nights Olimpo is closed but 1097 is open (Mon/Tues?). In November I went to 1097 just to see if anything had changed. It was even worse than I remembered. I left after ten minutes. Regarding Olimpo, we may not entirely agree — or we may have different preferences. And, to me, the scene and GPs varied a lot from night to night. As I recall, Friday and Saturday were the best. But, of course, you never see the large numbers of GPs at Olimpo that populate SP or Rio saunas on the right nights.

Good point. Yes, I forgot to mention that location! I was referring to a different place: the small "dark room" at the far side of the sauna room in Olimpo. It is easy to miss.

That is exactly my assessment of Olimpo too. One additional interesting feature about Olimpo is the low-key client-on-client action. In each of my three BH visits (typically six days each) I've been shocked by attractive younger (nonGP) guys — who must be borderline blind — who wanted to go to a room with me. That has happened to me once per week so it is not a nightly miracle but quite memorable nonetheless. Lots of that client action starts is in the dark room at the back of the sauna, rarely in the steam room.

One thought about city selection: Almost every time I've gone to Brazil, I've visited SP, Rio, Porto Alegre (see my recent post here), plus one new city. Over the years, this has been a great way to explore this huge, fascinating country. So I've been at least once to Manaus, Belem, Fortaleza, Natal, Recife, Fernando de Noronha, João Pessoa, Salvador, Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Ouro Preto, Curitiba, Floripa, and several more. I do not regret any visits, except perhaps boring Vitória. I still want to visit Bonito, Goiânia, and a few others. But back to your original question: Of those three, I'd vote for BH

In another thread at the moment ("Sao Paulo and Rio in January 2023") some are discussing older visiting white guys doing unexpected well with younger non-GP free guys in Rio saunas. That has been my surprise in Brazil as well. In my experience, those of us who are pale males do not do remotely as well in Germany (or northern Europe in general) where we are not at all a novelty. Of course, your mileage may vary.

Exactly as FloridaRob describes. Moreover, it is located in fairly dark (middle-class?) residential area without a cafe or even a convenience store in sight.

Archer, I agree. Clube555 has a large spacious bar area with high ceilings that is maybe five or six time larger than the cramped bar room at Lagoa. And it has much larger steam and sauna rooms than Lagoa. The client dressing area is also far superior to the tiny cave clients get at Lagoa. But of course none of this matters since, at least so far, good GPs have been sadly absent from the terribly located "new Fragata."

Don't get me wrong: Plataforma has not had a renaissance! It's just that now it does not stink like a sewer as it did for several years. And you no longer feel at risk of catching the bubonic plague. You can, however, still experience the frisson of seedy, sleazy squalor!

One more Carnaval suggestion: Ten years ago I managed to experience Carnaval in Recife where it consisted of fantastic, totally immersive street parades, featuring a giant rooster. (I have forgotten the story of how this Big Cock was related to Carnaval.) Recife did have a few parades with small "floats" but you were up close ten yards away not a hundred yards away as you might be in Rio. The young man below adorned one such float. I've heard the parades in Salvador is similar. You mentioned maybe visiting Salvador, so you might try to catch one of the days of its Carnaval too.

Highly recommend doing it once in your life, so splurge and do it right! Let me make a few suggestions: ● Get a friend to join you. (Maybe invite guys here if you do not know somebody.) ● Buy three seats for the two of you. Allocated space is small and you'll be grateful for the extra room after an hour or more. ● Spent a few extra bucks and get good seats. Balcony seats can be good if they are the front balcony not the distant rows. ● Bring industrial-strength ear plugs if you want to avoid destroying your hearing. I bring ear plugs for when the saunas make it deafening but the Sambodromo's speakers are even more deadly. ● Of course take 10mg melatonin at noon, sleep for 8 hours, then chug caffeine! It will be unforgettable. Let us know how it goes.

Exactly! Well said.