davet

If you travel a lot, you probably know how hard it is to answer that question. The crime statistics for Brazil are unquestionably worse than for the U.S. or most of Asia. It's a numbers game and one does not know when his number will be up. I've never had a problem acting like a stereotypical tourist (camera, iphone, backpack, shorts). However, I was mugged in Salvador - the guy flashed what looked like a crude shank and demanded by daypack. That contained the last dedicated point-&-shoot camera I owned. I've used a smartphone for pictures ever since with no problem - until that phone got pickpocketed in a different Latin country! Just be careful and smart. Accept that you may have to offer electronic sacrifices to the travel gods (and the local economy). Be really careful on any beaches in Rio. The colonial touristy part of Salvador was the sketchiest place I've seen in Brazil. On the other hand, I constantly have to remind myself to be more scared in Sao Paulo: Though the city is big, loud, and messy, I don't think I've ever encountered anything that felt terribly menacing in SP. People there seem to have jobs and things to do other than rob tourists. The middle-class Rio neighborhoods of Flamenco, Gloria, and Botafogo similarly felt more safe than the touristy ones in Copacabana and Ipanema. The smaller cities and colonial towns were never a problem.

A boy I met on the train invited me to stay with his family in the medina of Fez. They apologized for not having hot water (it was August in Marrakesh, for X's sake) and their shower was a spigot right over the squat toilet. One would stand in flip-flops on the foot placements and the water went right down the toilet, giving it an extra clean out too, I suppose. I forgot about the soldier I met while we waited hours for a transfer in an Algerian desert town. He looked like John Kennedy Jr. How I regret not taking up his invitation to his family home in Algiers.

As I mentioned, I found some action in a hammam in Marrakesh. You have to be careful and discreet and have somewhere else safe to take it. The only open sex I found in a hammam was in Cairo. Marrakesh was over 20 years ago, Cairo about 10 years ago.

The Arabs in their own country are far more friendly, warm, chatty, and welcoming. In Europe, they are just like any Westerners. Some seem sullen and beaten down by all the issues facing largely unwelcomed immigrants anywhere. It's not just about looks.

In the 90s, I played around some with guys in the Middle East and North Africa. Now that I'm older and craftier, I realize I could have had so much more sex. It was a very down-low, don't-ask-don't-tell culture but if you could handle the risk and hypocrisy (or like the excitement), there was almost too much. I chatted up a beautiful young guy in Tunis and kept running into him on the streets. I took him to a movie and my hand carelessly dropped from the armrest into his lap. His cock was rock hard by the time my crimson claw reached it. He took my hand away, but the reaction is not what one would think: "Must go to hotel," his whispered. I was young and risk averse and passed that up. In Marrakesh I noticed a buff guy in a hammam, not the usual clientele. He said he was a masseur. Um-hmm. In the cubicle he gave a desultory rub-down and had no objection when I said I wanted to give him a rub-down. Uh huh. My wandering hands, now aided by soap lather, just accidentally slipped under his boxer briefs. He immediately grabbed my hand, but guess what? "Au hammam, non. A la maison, oui." We went to a friend of his in the medina. The sex was meh, and there was a friendly little attempt at kidnapping when they blocked the door until I paid the friend the same amount for use of his den. But afterwards, it was tea and cookies. In Jordan, I chatted up a coffee-stand guy, one of the most beautiful 20-somethings I've ever known. I lost all shyness with this one and basically didn't leave him alone. The Arabs have such a deep culture of desert hospitality that they can't kick anyone out. This guy worked alone in an all-night coffee shop. By the time he betrayed the slightest bit of annoyance at my presence, he also knew what was up. What struck me was how normal and unoffended he was when the topic was laid out in the open. The issues were more who, what, and most importantly, where. Just when I was ready to give up, he motioned for me to come over while he was standing near the sink. There was a bulge in his crotch pressing against the sink. Those were probably the most exciting 30 seconds of my life, and he came in my mouth. I think the door of the coffee shop was open the whole time, but he thus managed to get rid of me and a troublesome boner. In Egypt I found a "gay" hammam, and yes there was all-out sex there, but they all seem to want to top. I blew a beefy guy with Samson-like hair who accepted the blowjob almost like a second-best to settle for. There was another incident at a major tourist site that I won't get into for risk of causing an international incident. Admittedly, much of the fun was in the long, risky chase, not in the quickie-capture. I cannot deny that it was all risky and I don't know if I would press my luck again. However, I look back and think about the gorgeous muscular French-Moroccan on the beach, or the cute orange juice seller in the Djemaa el Fna who produced a neatly typed strip of paper with his name and phone number (hmmm?), or the young Syrian whose arms rippled while he pounded ice cream (that's how they make ice cream) with a huge battering ram. Worst, the very first Moroccan I chatted up after arriving in Tangiers had a gorgeous bronzed body in a tank top. He was trying to lure me to some overpriced hotel that paid him a commission, so my alarms were all up. Looking back now, it would have been so worth it to pay the hotel's rate and offer him another, special commission that I'm sure he would have accepted. I also have the feeling that much of the uniformed personnel in those countries, especially the poorly paid recruits and the poorly-trained "tourist" police, are available. Half of them are always just lingering around listlessly with probably nothing on their mind but sex and money and the lack of both.

Brazil is shopping mall-crazy, though their malls are not as glittering as those in SE Asia. There are usually well-kept bathrooms in the malls. Finding the malls can sometimes be hard because they are often incorporated inside big office buildings. Most restaurants have toilets (most even have paper). The SP bus station might even have showers. Be very alert in bus stations. They are (or were) huge and busy, almost like an airport, because buses are the main mode of long-distance travel. Do not turn your back for one second on any possession. The Rio main bus station is in an inconvenient, dodgy-looking area.

Does anyone here drink tap water in Brazil? (I do so everywhere in SEAsia without negative effect.) I always bought bottled water. Then again, I drank juices at the hotels and luncheonettes and do I really think they blended them with purified, bottled water? Any hotel recommendations for SP and Rio? I like public transport, so it should be in walking distance to metro station and no problems to bring back boys. Price up to 20 USD per night. Ah, in 2001, I could get a decent room right in Consolacao (SP) or a colonial hotel in Ouro Preto for ~US$15. But now, mmmno. I haven't checked recent rates, but the very frugal hotels I went to most recently were in the US$40 range. In SP, there are the two Pantanal guesthouses near the Santa Cruz metro station (and very convenient to the former Lagoa). Consolacao/Rua Augusta area has a lot of cheap spots. Vila Mariana (metro same name) has a few decent, well-kept hostels. Note that most youth hostels also have a couple private rooms, with private or shared baths. If you really want to rough it, the dodgy Republica area downtown has many cheap hotels, or you can take your chances with the "motels" (love hotels), but bring earplugs. Other than the motels, I don't the guest policy at these places. I think in general if you pay the two-person nightly rate, you'd have a better chance of bringing a friend. I will fly with hand luggage only (hold luggage would cost 80 EUR more for round trip). Is laundry service widely available? I will need to buy a full set of clothes in SP, recommendation where? (And afterwards leave them in Brazil, or try to sneak them into the plane as overweight/oversize hand luggage.) The Brazilian versions of K-Mart and Dollar General are Lojas Americanas and Pernambuco. They, and similar chain stores, are everywhere, with lots of cheap disposable clothing.

numazu, wow! your post conveys all that I find best about the rodizio-de-boys that is the Brazilian sauna scene. Just when you think you've had it all, something new and unexpected. Just when you think you can't take any more, take more you do. Your Programa#2 is EXACTLY like my favorite (but still unrequited) fantasy: The two buddies, one training the other. I know there would be awkwardness in reality, but as a fantasy, your story hits the nail on the head. I also had a sentiment exactly the same as the one you expressed in #3: The best ones know what you want better than you do. They know how far you can go, how much you can take - better than you do.

Okay, that's more like it. If he's a stripper I hope he's not one of those who look down on doing programas. (Oh the hierarchy among bad boys!) I've wanted to check out the ABCD suburbs and he might finally be the motivation.

Whoa! That's cool.

I think most of us have done many things that were frowned upon by the State Department travel advisories. I guess I should start taking them more seriously, but they've always seemed designed for people who are afraid of anything foreign.

Keep us posted!

I first went in 2001. It was more or less the same in terms of quality, selection, and skills as now. Just prices go up and down according to the divergent graphs of exchange rate and inflation. That's why I hope that the scene will bounce back from covid-19. It's been a part of the culture for a long time. Despite the availability of online markets, I repeatedly meet guys who said they preferred the sauna because it was easier to bag 1-3 customers and go home. Then again, I thought about the Latin American porno theaters would never die, but they were done in by the internet, so who knows.

Question regarding "safe-foreplaying": If one is in that close body-to-body proximity for 15-60 minutes, I can't imagine that any prophylactic measure (masks, alcohol, whatever) is going to make much difference. You are in each other's aerosol and large droplets cloud, inhaling and exhaling heavily, with various respiratory tract fluids all over the place. Even a glory hole wouldn't be much less infectious.

The man with the numbers! This is actually better than I thought. Having come of age in the 80s, AIDS and safe sex are tattooed into my brain. I only recently caught up to the fact that the youth of today practically think that AIDS has been cured. Maybe it has. But I would rather slug it out with covid-19 than take my chances with the long, multi-faceted, major life change of AIDS.

Daayyyammn! This guy is the entrepreneur? But that means he won't have time to perform the other services for which he is unquestionably qualified. Have you confirmed that this will be a garoto sauna, whenever it opens?

The way I look at it is that I'm probably spending the same total number of pennies but spreading it around. Is there a Universal Economic Law of Rentboys? It seems the prices fluctuate but keep circling back to the US$30 range. But oh, to think of my first trip, when the rate was 3-to-1 and the quoted fee was 50R. And then to find out that was my sucker newbie gringo price - the fee they would have accepted was 30R, because the real during the 90s had been pegged 1-to-1 to the dollar. The real collapsed in the early-aughts but, surprisingly, inflation did not soar, so steaks were $3 and hotel rooms were $18! The current situation looks similar. The value of the dollar against the real has almost doubled since I was there in 2017, but the Lagoa entrance fee, comparing your receipt with my memory, has only gone up ~10%. Any other time, I would have flown down in a heartbeat.

@numazu1 Maybe the Golden Era is irretrievably gone, but what you describe is still probably the best concentration of talents in this field anywhere in the world. Nice as it was to leave the Old Lagoa counting how many other stunners I could have done had I not a flight to catch (or, frankly, had I not exhausted myself) but really, you only need 1-2 doable ones to have a worthwhile time and 4-5 to have a blast, and a few days of that to make it a worthwhile trip. It sounds like Lagoa can still supply that.

Hi Numazu, Are there public showers where the garotos can demonstrate their talents, as in the old days? I actually don't mind the semi-street-clothed atmosphere. Strange as it sounds, I find some guys to be hotter when clothed. As we now know, the unwrapping is part of any fetish (or compulsive shopping) and a house with 100 shirtless guys can get very same-same. Masks and face shields are another story. I don't know how I'd feel about that. But hey, hasn't the lock down caused you to notice how gorgeous some men's eyes are? And how do female hookers in Iran and conservative moslem countries (they do exist) do their marketing? With their eyes, of course.

There was a movie in the 80's called "Montenegro" about, IIRC, Balkan immigrants in Scandinavia. I've had a mental bookmark about Montenegrin men ever since. The other thing I heard when I was in the region was that Albanian men are gorgeous but utterly unavailable/unapproachable except, maybe, when they are outside their country.

Can you clarify this comment? I like the number of random people approach to statistic. Since any major Brazilian sauna on a good night has 100-200 people, and even post-reopening are likely to have more than 26 people, then, yes, there is likely to be at least one infected person present. However, since the attendees at a brothel-sauna swap spit rampantly with 1 to 10 or more others, how does one not assume that everyone present is at least seriously exposed if not infected?

Still eagerly waiting for the first on the ground (on your knees? on your back?) report from Paragonya and Thermas Barcelona.

@tassojunior - I know and share your feeling. However, I can't help but think that a mass choir is one of the most dangerous contexts for infection, and a rampant whorehouse would not be much different. YMMV. Maybe those full-body condoms will finally come into existence (now that the kids seem to have abandoned all condoms whatsoever).

Can you clarify? "Travel insurance" is mostly about trip cancellation so, yeah, if you want to cancel because the pandemic or your comfort level is getting worse, no coverage. However, wouldn't health insurance, whether you have such coverage on your own U.S. plan or you bought a specially-bought travel health plan, pay for medical expenses like these.?

I call it tongue-fucking. It's always been the top sensual activity for me. It's clearly very intense for the professionals because many would allow themselves to get fucked but not tongue-kissed. So yes, lots of fantasizing about kissing on my part.