ronjames

There are two gay guesthouses in Negombo -Dickmans and Gomez Place.  Both excellent and opposite each other. Lots of boys hang out at the beach and around bars like Rodeo. In other towns and resorts I have found you have to wait for guys to approach you. Sri Lankan guys are very friendly  but are wary of being seen by family and friends with gay tourists The going rate is about 3000 rupees ($US25). Oldies like me have no problems.

Getting out of the Rio/Sao Paulo Bubble
Even in non-COVID times, some of the other cities in Brazil are unfortunately neglected when it comes to the general public’s knowledge about visiting Brazil. Which would be a mistake, obviously, because there are untold riches out there that are not found in the doorsteps of Lagoa or Point 202, and even during the pandemic, this fact is still true.

The BF and I were discussing possible getaways to the Northeast (Nordeste) of the country to get away from the Southern (Santa Catarina) and the Southeastern (Rio and SP) parts of Brazil that we were staying in. With COVID still a big thing, not all cities had all the usual services open. At the time of our research, the usual reliable Salvador had their beaches still “officially” closed with the pandemic still raging there. The one city that held promise, as well as having open beaches and allowing street vendors, was the other big Northeastern city: Recife. We have been to this city once before, trip report here, and we had much fun traipsing through the beaches and I had fun with one of the saunas: Termas Boa Vista, report here.

So its my own damn fault that I decided to get a BF, while at the same time, whoring it up in Brazil. I’ll spare you the details, but as our Recife trip drew closer, the BF tells me to just go to the city alone, as we needed to “evaluate” our relationship. So I find myself getting on the plane to Recife, from Rio, alone, without my sidekick all this time. In all honesty, the break was necessary, and there was nothing like Recife’s beaches and sun, to help clear one’s mind of one’s mistakes and wrong-headedness. So my trip went from a lover’s getaway, to a whore trip, or so I thought. More on that later.

I’m gonna reserve my comments on Recife’s COVID response on maybe a future post, but for now, let’s focus on my first trip to Recife’s main sauna, Termas Boa Vista. It is named as such because it is in the Boa Vista district in the main part of Recife.  I’ve been to this sauna only once before, and have no qualms going back, especially since I am suddenly alone this trip. As with what other posters here have commented, even if this was a Brazilian sauna, this was not Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro, so therefore, maybe, there are less of the painfully perfect adonises here than in those other two cities, and, maybe, Recife saunas were filled with more of the cute boy-next-door types. Which meant that the boys here were a little bit cheaper, starting at 50 reais (!) to the standard 100 reais for a good programa with a decent boy.

Signage at the front door shows the hours and entrance fee:

At other saunas, the opening hours of 3 PM to 10 PM seems standard, but this is Recife, and pre-COVID, the closing time was 6 AM (!).  Yes, they have a per noite rate here, like a motel, and you can stay with your favorite boy toy till the morning (or you) came, for less than what you would in RJ or SP for an hour. If you go to their Facebook site for Termas Boa Vista, you see some regulars lamenting the fact that their per noite system is temporarily unavailable due to COVID. I don’t see any reason for me to stay in a sauna for that long, knowing that I find saunas, in general, kind of gross and unappetizing, but still, the option was at least intriguing.
OK, I take back the “gross and unappetizing” part of my comment earlier. Indeed, certain saunas need a little cleaning up (I’m looking at you Point 202), but Termas Boa Vista was then, and is still now, perhaps the cleanest saunas I’ve ever been to in Brazil. Also, the space itself reminds me of my days in Sao Paulo's Thermas Lagoa (the old location), which had more than ample open space, enough that you can get lost in, to frolic and mingle. They don’t have a pool here (unlike Thermas Lagoa), but everything else was pretty open and had its place.  For example:

The nightclub part of the sauna (every sauna has them), where there is a stage and seating are, is in a separate part of the building. There is even a short corridor that separates it from the rest of the sauna. Which is useful sometimes if you want to avoid this part of the sauna, or at least to avoid the "noise" of the entertainment. Places like Espaco Lagoa has both the main bar and the stage area in the same place, so if the upstairs bar was closed, you’d have to go to the fairly busy stage area to get a drink. A pain sometimes, especially if you just want to get a drink and not see the show.

The bar is, as I said, separate from the stage area and everything else:

And drinks are cheap(er) than what you see in SP and RJ:

If you were ever worried about COVID (and looking around in this sauna, it seems that no one is worried about it, due to no mask wearing, among other things), the bar area had very ample ventilation, as seen below.  You can see the sky and there was a healthy breeze going through the area, to mitigate transmission (I guess). The gods blessed the Northeast of Brazil with great weather, so they can afford to be open like this:

There’s a lot of other things I can say about this sauna, but let’s talk about the boys. There are less boys here than in SP and RJ.  And there are way more clients, proportionally (it is the opposite in the RJ saunas these days). And there are even less boys I would consider to be hot enough for me to pay for it. Last time I was here, I got a hot boy to fuck, but he would be considered average in Club 117. But I am not in RJ, so I have to adjust my expectations accordingly, otherwise I’d be just doing the comparison game (i.e. RJ has better looking boys!), which will make me wonder why I am in Recife in the first place.
So I order myself my usual drink – the Cuba Libre, and drink to my heart’s content while observing the clientele. I get some weird looks, and I am used to that, since I am probably atypical of what the average client is like. Still, the main reason they were looking was probably because I still had my tank top and shorts on. Everyone else in the sauna was in a towel. I was not ready to do that yet. I was just observing, drinking, biding my time. I see about one or two boys that was a maybe for me. But noone really stood out, so I just sat there, waiting.
And then, I feel a hand on my left shoulder. “Boa noite,” a deep voice behind me said. I turn around. I see a tall guy in a towel, with an outstretched hand. And he looked like he belonged in Rio de Janeiro, not in Recife. 
So next, my night with him…

Day 0: The Setup
My Sixth time in Brazil also marks the one-year anniversary of my first trip to Brazil, chronicled here:
 
I started my Brazilian conquest last year with a BF. He was Brazilian, living in Portugal, and was as handsome and as “Gaucho”-looking as anyone you could meet in the Rio Grande do Sul state. As you can tell, that relationship didn’t last, but my love affair with Brazil continued on long after my love affair with that Brazilian fizzled out. I have him to thank for introducing me to the country, but it is really this Boytoy board that made the trips all the more richer.
I am skipping “My Fifth Time in Brazil” trip report because I only went to the sauna once in that 9 day trip. I am going to try to make amends this trip, though it will be hard.
1. Planned or Whim
I’ve been to Brazil 5 times already this year, and normally my trips have fallen into either two types: Planned or Whim. The Planned trips have been booked way far in advance, including airfare, hotels and others (rental cars, tours etc). The Whim trips are booked more spontaneously, oftentimes when (reduced points) reward booking space for LATAM/AA or Copa opens up and I am free to use airline points for the airfare. Usually this is booked 1-3 weeks before the actual trip. Booking places to stay on a Whim are sometimes problematic, as the choice options have been picked upon and more expensive or lower-rated places remain. Tours are not scheduled on Whim trips usually.
This trip is a Planned trip through and through. I booked my Copa Air flight 300 days(!) before the trip, the earliest I could book it, and got the Economy Saver rate. I knew I was going to Sao Paulo first for Christmas, and will be staying with friends Leo and Alex, so no need for hotels there. After Christmas I’d be jetting off to Salvador, booking a pretty cheap flight from SP well in advance, as well as a flight to Rio just before New Year. I booked the Salvador AirBNB well in advance too. I got a good rate on an apartment in the southern Praia Barra area in front of the beach.
Rio de Janeiro over the New Year celebration is tricky. One would want to be as close to Copa as possible to join the revelry of Reveillon, but because of that the AirBNB prices are super expensive. To top it all off, Alex and Leo wanted a bigger apartment for all of us to chip in for, to be able to invite other people to stay with us. We were able to find a three-bedroom in Copa, but it cost us $1100 for 6 nights. I offered to pay for half and the rest was divided among the other two.
2. Boyfriends or Being Single
The eternal conundrum I always have when going to places on my own is whether is it worth having a constant companion with you if it means not being able to have as much slutty fun as I would like. I kinda like having someone there at all times. I sleep best when sleeping next to someone I like. For me, the trip is richer if you share it with someone else, especially if that someone is local and can act as guide/translator/safeguard. Oh also having someone there available for sex anytime is also great, though it is Brazil, so finding temp sex companions is not a hard proposition, between the phone apps and the saunas, and even the bars and clubs.
So I decided, as a greedy American, to have both modes of travel. I will have four days of alone time in Sao Paulo with my friends, free to hookup unencumbered, and free to sauna unbridled by Brazilian boyfriends. For the trip to Salvador, I decided to invite David, the ravishing 21-year-old kid from Manaus, who I meet at Club 117 in a threeway with my first boytoy Gabriel, and who needed a diversion from his boring Christmas with his parents in the Amazon. He will be with me the whole time in Salvador, but he is also fine with me going to the sauna once in a while to blow off steam.
Finally, for the 7-day New Year celebration, I decided on enlisting Diego for his company. Remember him? He’s the one time Pointe 202 hire turned 4 month companion. I have seen him in 3 different trips this year, and I am eager to get to know him more. The upside with him is he does not charge me a daily rate, and I only have to pay for his food and drinks (sometimes not even then). The downside with him is that I cannot hire anyone at the sauna (or anyone really) while I am with him. His logic is that he is forgoing a certainly lucrative week at the sauna, full of gringos with money in town for the holidays, to hang out with me for free, and it would be strange for him to see me spend money on sauna boys and not on him. I am fine with this arrangement, although as you will see it is not without complications.
3. Sauna or Friends
Initially when I booked this trip months ago, I was under the mindset of “I’m a gringo on a sex tour” and therefore I was going to maximize my time by going to saunas every night, possibly to multiple saunas, to take advantage of the flesh trade in Brazil. As I've inevitably have gotten to know friends through the trips, it was getting harder and harder for me to carve out time and motivation to go to the sauna.  The casualty was my fifth trip. There was only one sauna trip out of 9 nights in that trip, which is an embarrassment for sure, if you’re the type that likes to make it rain among the Garoto de Programas.
So I made a promise to myself, to go to each decent sauna in each city I was in at least once. That meant going to Lagoa and Fragata on my 4 nights in Sao Paulo (50% of nights), going to Club 11, Fox and 13 on my 6 nights in Salvador (50% of nights), and going to Clube 117, Pointe 202 and Manhattan Rios in my 7 nights in Rio (43% of nights). So I guess roughly that's half of my stay, my goal would be going to the sauna. The other half will be just bullshitting with friends. The only problem is I can’t hire anyone in Rio because of Diego. Surely a challenge. But I’m at the beginning of my trip. I’ll make it work somehow.
So this is the setup. Yes, I will continue! With Day 1 next.

I LIKE PINGA is my blog, you ignorant man.
By the way, here is the first post, just a warming up for what is coming.
https://ilikepinga.com/2018/12/26/best-kissers-mundo/
 

Definitely a dream location but where are the Spanish boys.

St Petersburg is a dream destination for me but it sounds difficult now because of the authorities. Where are the best places to cruise.

Friday (beach day)
I am very relief I am feeling better. I think my initial blaming on the sun was wrong, something else was affecting me. I am right now moving from the cetacean to the crustacean family (I am all red from the beach day I am about to report) and feeling perfectly. So I have no idea what to blame my weakness and lack of energy on. The medication I bought for my back is working great and the pain is now back to its regular chronic level (I am used to have it all the time, just at a tolerable intensity).
I was already feeling back to normal on Thursday, when I met Marcelo during my visit to Thermas Club 13. Right now I am waiting for his response to come over to my hotel, but he does not have wifi at home and I do not know when I will have an answer. Our meeting should be in about 4 hours, let’s see.
Yesterday my date with Italo to go to the beach was at 12. After all the warnings about Brazilians’ lack of punctuality in general, and GPs’ in particular, I had made my mind to patiently wait for a late arrival. I was wrong, he not only showed up on time, but started texting me 45 minutes before keeping me updated of his progress.
I would find out later that I was totally unprepared for the event. I put on sun screen only on my face, head, shoulders and chest. Those are now the only places that are not shining with a tempting red lobster tone. Besides, I took only about 40 Rials with me. I did not know that going to the beach involves a lot of expenses here, and I did not know that every single street and beach vendor In Salvador accepts credit cards. Fortunately, we will learn later,  I got a Savior.
Italo arrived on time, always smiling, always with an extra positive vibe, always trying to find out what I wanted and what I needed to make me happy. He is indeed a wonderful guy. Let me introduce him a little bit.
He is 23 years old, is not married but living with a White woman his age, and together have a 6 years old girl. He also has a dog that he loves very much. Italo lives at walking distance of Fox, and that is the main reason why he does not work there. It would be uncomfortable for him to be seen by his neighbors entering or exiting the place. He is a mix of Soteropolitano and Caipira, born in Salvador but raised in Bahia countryside.
Italo, as a paradigmatic example of the local fluidity of sexuality, does not identify as gay, straight, or bi. He just loves sex. Right now is saving to get his own house, because is tired of living with his female partner. He wants to move by himself with his dog, and stay single for a while, without a woman or "a gay” (SIC). He does love his girl and plans in keep helping his woman to support her.
Italo is not specially attractive physically, just an average sexy Brazilian boy, with a huge and very responsive dick, and very nicely rounded butts. His mouth is very kissable and, as I already shared, his kissing skills are out of the chart even for Brazilian standards. I ended with him because, fortunately, he chose me in my first day and I just followed. I said “fortunately” because should I follow my preferences regarding appearance, I would have probably never ended with him, and would have never had the privilege of being exposed to his wonderful heart and personality. He really looked after me (us) during our beach day.
When he arrived, we headed to the beach right across my hotel. He was open to go somewhere else, actually insinuated to go to other beach no far away, but I really wanted to experience the internationally famous Praia do Porto da Barra. As soon as we crossed the street we were headed by a guy offering us to rent a beach umbrella and chairs. Te price sounded good and affordable for my 40Rs, so we said yes and followed the guy, a sexy black man, short and probably in his late 20s or early 30s.
He assigned us what looked like a really privileged place, on the first line, the closest place to the water. He settled the umbrella, and offered us drinks. Italo was drinking beer and I asked for water. They brought us a little cooler with ice and extra drinks that we would pay when checking out. I was starting to get concerned about my budget.
When we were just settled, our local hero @numazu1 texted that he was joining us. We had been exchanging texts since earlier on. He would soon arrive with his own companion, and join us to spend the afternoon together.
While waiting for his arrival, I started to really enjoy the beach and Italo’s caring company. He was alert at every single gesture from me, trying to guess what I was needing. He ended being an outstanding host, taking care not only of me, but also of Numazu1 and his friend, as we all were visitors and he was the only Soteropolitano.
Surprisingly, he knew a lot of people in this beach, and later on would even meet his aunt and cousins. One of them was introduced to us, cute looking average Brazilian. One of the guys he knew was selling weed and Italo knew I was not a drinker but a pot head. For 10 Rials we got enough to roll a join, which we would smoke later on.
At this point, we were just arrived and I was already broke. I would need to run back to the hotel before leaving to pick up more cash or my card. Fortunately, the hotel was just a few steps away. 
The praia was full of incredibly attractive human specimens, of all genders. We were continuously bombarded by vendors offering us food, drinks, and all kind of goods. Something that picked my attention was that the guys who were renting us the chairs and umbrellas would come to us regularly with a watering can to refresh and clean the sand of our feet. I did notice that they would do it only to us, which should have been a clue that we were receiving preferential treatment (and probably extra pricing).
I had been there before other days, earlier in the morning, by myself. Now, we were taking shifts with Italo, as the first lesson he taught me was to never leave our stuff unwatched.
The water is amazing. Rather than the sea, it feels like a peaceful salt water lake, with no waves at all. The sand stripe is not very thick, and the slope is quite high, so you are forced to swimming after a few steps. Swimming is extremely smooth, even smoother than in a swimming pool, as the salty water makes floating easy and there are no waves. I do not think anyone can drawn in these waters, even if you do not know how to swim, the ocean just pushes you up. The sea temperature is refreshing without being cold, the water is clean and transparent, and you are able to see the bottom even when swimming in the deepest areas. So nice, it was my first experience in this kind of water.
Soon Numazu1 and his companion arrived. I immediately noticed that, unlike me, he knew what he was doing. They brought sun screen and money. I mentioned earlier on that a Savior walked me out of the troubles I would have suffer out of my lack of preparedness, meaning my empty wallet. He would paid the bill later on, and then walk with us to my hotel to get my part. If you are reading this, thanks a lot again, Numazu1.

praia porto da barra quick view.MOV I dared to ask him for the favor when we started ordering food and drinks and was beyond clear that I was out budgeted. My previous beach experiences with family and/or friends back in Argentina were quite different. We would not stay so long (I actually thought we would be in the beach only for a couple of hours, and not almost 7 as we did) and we would bring our own food. The beaches I have been too before were not serviced by such a wide range of beach vendors.
Soon after Numazu1 arrived, I rolled a joint that only Italo and myself would enjoy. It was my first weed since I left DC. If you know me, you know that I am a big pot head and was indeed missing it. The local weed, at least this one we got, is radically different to what I am used to smoking in the USA, although does reminds me to my old times in Buenos Aires, even its smell. Not only the smell was different, but this maconha was considerable less powerful than my American pot.
I had noticed how caring Italo was, not only towards me, but also to my two friends. He was constantly checking whether or not we needed/wanted anything, and now and then leaving us to come back with something we may want to enjoy. He was specially careful about us not getting too much sun, up to the point that he would over exposed himself as the umbrella’s shade was not enough to protect all of us.
It was great to be stone again. As soon as I smoked, I jumped into the water. I swam far from the coast to be away from where most of the people were. When I reached a distance where I felt comfortably lonely, I watched back to check my friends, and noticed that Italo seemed to be looking for me. I noticed he seemed to find me and walk toward the water in my direction. I assumed he was coming to join me, and started to float fully enjoying how easy it was, feeling the cool of the water on my back, and the warm of the sun on my front. In Spanish, we call this kind of relaxed floating “hacer la plancha”, I do not know in English.
Smoothly floating, stone in tropical waters, I had another of my nature blending insights. I have had a few before in different environments, and I recall of all them as moments of deep existential merging with the Nature surrounding me. Two of my memories are still strong and clear. The first one comes from my early adolescence, exploring with my cousin (my first love) the wild woods in Corrientes, in the Argentine Northeast. We reached a clear in the woods where we observed a fallen, dead tree. When we approached we noticed that the fallen tree had been taken over by a colony of aunts. They were so many, and the woods were so silent, that we were able to hear the march of millions of insects coming in and out of their base.
The second memory comes from 1993, when I was visiting the South of France, hanging out with friends in an abandoned farm near Carcaçonne. My friends left me alone to go buy groceries. The property was limited by a creek that had eroded the soil, running deep in a small canyon. I was exploring by myself the shallow creek of clean fresh water, observing the small fish swimming amongst rolling stones, when I felt the unstoppable need to take a shit. I did not to go back to the house. Instead, I set each of my foots on each sore of the thin creek, squatted, and took a shit right there.
I do have a few more of this kind of memories that are not as intense as these two are. All of them share an intense sense of merging with the natural environment, the clear feeling of being part of something much bigger than me, something beautiful and powerful that preceded me and would remain after my moving into the silence of non existence. Please, do not misunderstand and interpret I am talking about any god or supernatural being of any kind. I am not.
I was now there, peacefully floating in the sea under the tropical sun and had another of these moments. Merged with Nature, my thoughts started to ramble around the pleasant feelings I was enjoying. I thought of retiring and moving here, of completing my evolution into a cetacean to live and enjoy this magic, at the same time overwhelmingly powerful and peacefully welcoming, ocean. I thought of how our environment shapes who we are, who we want to be, who we are able to be, how our life experiences feed and at the same time limit our imagination and potential.
I thought of the Brazilians I was meeting, of their capacity to enjoy life, of being here and now. I thought of myself and my friends from other cultures, trying to define things, to categorize, to understand others from our own limited concepts, trying to fit everyone and everything in our already acquired understandings without questioning and expanding them.
I thought of our conversations with Numazu1, who shared the purpose of his writing. I thought of what the purpose of my writing was. I thought of how my recently passed away dad being a devoted and self righteous journalist limited and at the same time enriched me. I thought of how important to me is to be informative and useful, how providing a service to others is at the core not only of my writing but of my whole being. I also thought of how fragile my memory is and how important this logs and other pieces I am producing will be in the future to not lose my life experiences in the dark.
I thought of how connecting to the boys I was meeting involved letting aside outdated and out of place categories. I thought of how much they seemed to enjoy not only the sex, but the sharing of themselves with a strange, and how open and eager for learning about us most of them are. All these thoughts were burning in my stone and tropically warmed brain, when I remembered Italo, of course. I thought how lucky I was for meeting him. My shy, introverted, shelled, boring being, often needs the complement of an extroverted, talkative soul to make up for my lacks.
I do not know how long I had been floating lost in my stoned rambling thoughts. The last time I saw Italo, he seemed to be heading to join me in the water far away from the beach. However, now I could not see him anywhere. The beach was crowded but it was easy to identify our place, and Numazu1 and his friend were clearly visible there, right in the first line on the beach.
I started swimming back to our base. When I reached walkable depth and start walking out of the sea, I see Italo also coming out of the water at the same time. He looked very happy to see me and made a complimenting comment about my swimming skills. I suspect he had been looking after me. I think this sweet boy was concerned about me being stoned in the water, and was watching me from the distance to make sure I was OK. Perhaps is just a needy fantasy, but other than just a coincidence, I do not find any other explanation for the timing of the events.
Besides the guys watering our feet, the incredible number of vendors offering all kind of goods, edibles, and drinks, I did love a few more new things to me, quite different to my previous and very culturally limited (Argentina) beaches experiences.

praia porto da barra longer view.MOV Next to us, we had a guy renting boards and kayaks, and giving mini lessons to his clients. We saw those mini lessons so many times! With Italo, we were making jokes about being able to teach them without having ever actually used the equipment.

the party boat time lapse.MOV the party boat movie.MOV One of my favorite things was a party boat. It was a regular canoe equipped with a sound system and a cooler with beverages. It would sail the beach North to South and then back again and again since very early. The boat was pushed its staff and customers right where the depth of the water was ending to be walkable, playing local musical hits quite loudly. At the beginning of the afternoon, the boat was pushed only by the guys selling the drinks, but customers and beach goers were progressively join the sailing party. By the end of the afternoon, it looked like the attached videos. Bahianos are just the most talented people I know to enjoy life and have fun.
Silly me, I did not take a picture of him. One of the vendors was offering caipirinhas, caipiroskas, and other alcoholic mixes. He was very illustrative of the differences between the USA and the local culture. Where many Americans would be proud to hold a belt around their waist with their pistols, he was wearing a belt holding bottles of vodka and cachaça.
Towards the end of our beach experience I started to get really concerned about Italo. He had been all the afternoon long making sure the umbrella was in the right position, as the sun was going through his way, to protect his three companions. But he was not getting any shade and although was not complaining, I did notice he was not comfortable. When I asked him, he disregarded my concerns.
Went the sun went down the horizon and the sea breeze was making us cold (first time I had that feeling since my arrival), we started to leave. Our check was about 280 R, what we found a little bit expensive, as we were expecting to not pay the price for foreigners. When I told Italo that I found the bill expensive, his response was that it was not, that we rented an umbrella and 4 chairs for more than 6 hours, and ordered many drinks and food (he specifically mentioned two orders of shrimp as something that specially added to the price tag). I did not complain much, 70 bucks is not a lot, and I was paying only half. If we all were paying our part, each check would be less than 20 bucks for each, nothing.
The same guys who rented us the beach goodies escorted us up to leaving the sand area and watered our feet to clean out the sand one last time, saying goodbye. One of the boys, who was friend of Italo, came to ask me for a tip, and I gave him 10R, what made him very happy. They had really treated us as queens.
We walked up to my hotel, and I ran upstairs to get the money to pay back to our good friend. After that we parted our ways, making plans to attend together one f the street mega parties taking place at night.
Before leaving to the beach, I had dropped my keys in the reception, asking them to clean my room, and requesting two towels, as I was having a day beach with a friend and we would want to take a showers afterwards.
When I walked in with Italo, no one stopped me or asked me for anything. We entered the room and the two towels I requested were there. I really like the staff at my hotel, men and women are not only friendly and very much into serving you, but most of them are also sexy and attractive.
I was planning a photo session with Italo, but he did not bring his ID. Without it, I did not want to do it, but he was willing to. When I asked him what he was planning to do, he told me “sexo” and laugh showing me his big dick with a hard on. However, I was not feeling in the mood at all. The areas of my body where I did not use sun screen where soaring. Besides, any physical attraction I had felt for Italo, was now gone. It happens often to me, after having sex one with someone I do not want to repeat.
My sexual attraction was down, but my fondness for Italo was way up. The whole beach experience had been wonderful, and it was possible only because of him and his caring assistance. We hugged and sweet kissed, and talked for a while. This is the moment when I learned most of the stuff about him I shared by the beginning of this post, speaking in a mix of Portuguese, Spanish, English, and Italian (his grandma was Italian).
When he started to feel very concerned about his doggy alone at home and without being fed (his “wife” and daughter are visiting family out of Salvador), we decided to part ways. I am aware that the 300 R I paid to him are a generous amount, but I also think he deserves more.
We talked about connecting again to go out later on with Numazu1 and his friend, and said goodbye.
I went down to the hotel’s sidewalk to have diner. I had almost no eaten in the beach and was very hungry now. While eating, I enjoyed some of the party taking place all along the street, and then went back to my room to rest before going out. However, at 10PM I was deeply slept despite all the loud party noise coming from outside. No one called me, so when I am writing this report I had no idea of what he rest of my beach party is up to.

 
I am still waiting for smoking hot Marcelo to call. I see in my WhatsApp that he has not yet received my last messages, which means he has not be back to the grid yet.
I am afraid this trip will not be the source of pictures and video I was hoping for my JustFor.Fans account, but you know what? I do not care.
lesson_on_praia_porto_da_barra.MOV

Sabado
Marcelo finally called and we met in my hotel. I am definitely turning into an old crappy and grumpy lady. Lucky can switch the “lady” part to Bitch, if he prefers. He knows me too well. My point is that after having sex with this boy, I was done for the day.
I am liking my hotel more and more. Certainly not your choice if you are looking for 4 or 5 stars service. Several of the lights in my room do not work. The only one that I am really bothered for is the one on top of the bathroom mirror. I like to see clearly my unbelievably sexy face when I shave, which is impossible with the little light I have. At least twice the bathroom door handler dropped out of its place. There is no phone in the room to call the reception desk or room service. The hot water is slightly unpredictable. Most times you just have to let the water run for a while until I comes out hot, but a few times the warm water never came out. The wifi is also unpredictable. There is little privacy. Being a very small establishment, the staff can see everything I do and everyone I bring in to my room.
As this was my first visit to Brazil in many years, and this board seems to be specially fond of scary stories about dangerous exotic countries, I got a little bit scared. I had decided not to bring anyone to my room, and therefore did not discuss the visitors policy with the staff. Once here, my impression about safety is quite different than the picture often painted by many posters. Of course there are risks, but in my opinion they are not higher than in any other big city I have visited. I often feel in danger when I walk around DC, it has never happened to me in Salvador. Notice I am being specific about location. When people talks about insecurity in Brazil, or in the USA, I find it is a useless generalization. The general impression here is that the place is not only more affordable than Rio, but also significantly safer.
Therefore, once arrived here, once I perceived no extraordinary threats, I felt safe enough taking the same common sense precautions I would take in NYC, DC, o Buenos Aires.
Friday in the morning, before going out to enjoy our beach day, I asked the staff in the hotel to please leave two towels in my room because I would be bringing a friend to take a shower after my beach trip. When we returned and took Italo to my room, no one stopped me or asked me for anything. In my room, the two towels I requested were waiting for us.
Yesterday Marcelo joined me when I was having a meal in the hotel restaurant. I had dropped my keys early in the morning in the reception. When Marcelo arrived and I finished my food, we immediately headed upstairs. One of the cleaning ladies saw us and, when we were in the middle of the stairs, called me back. I thought we were being stopped for breaking the hotel policy and not registering my visitor. I was wrong. Laughing, she was calling me back because I was forgetting my keys in the reception. Today in the morning when she greeted me, with a full smile in her face, she asked me whether I had slept well, and I think I noticed a nuance of friendly, kinky complicity.
That is he main reason why I like this hotel so much now, after my initial conflicting feelings. The staff is friendly, sexy, and very into keeping me happy. I am the anti social visitor who does not mingle with other guests and quietly spends his mornings working in his computer. However, everybody seems to like me, even the other long term guests I am avoiding.
Besides the affordable price and the super friendly staff, there are other things that will probably make me return here in my next visit. Even when I did not get one with a beach view, my room is spacious and comfortable. I have been in 4 stars hotel with considerably smaller rooms and bathrooms. Even when the wifi is unreliable, I can switch amongst three different signals, and there is always one that works. The best thing is the location. We are right in the North end of the walk way along Praia Porto da Barra. The area is so nice and so alive, that I have dropped all my plans of exploring the rest of the city and I am enjoying a lot hanging out in the walking distance range of the hotel.
Praia da Barra is just across the street. Today I am still hiding from the sun, but tomorrow I will probably be swimming very early in the morning, to avoid the strongest sun later on.
The buffet breakfast is good enough to avoid having lunch. You always have fruits, potatoes, scramble eggs, a local variety of sausage, different rolls, and other local treats. Besides you can order omelets, panqueques, and a considerable variety of American and local breakfast dishes. Not only the kitchen will take your special order, but they will be happy to serve you, and extra happy when they see you are enjoying it. I told them I did not come to Salvador to eat American breakfast, and when I am in the mood for something different than the regular buffet offer, they are always excited to recommend me some local treat. I just enjoyed a delicious tapioca with grilled cheese and eggs.
I think the local fluid sexuality is contagious. I find a few women attractive now and then, one of my best friends at home is a Trinitarian Goddess I would indeed enjoy playing with. But I never really get to have serious fantasies with women, and the last time I played with one was more than 10 years ago.
Well, there are two of the ladies in the staff I am having fantasies with. Both are probably in their mid 20s, both are Brazilian sexy and friendly, one is Carla, beautiful dark skinned Black Soteropolitana, the other one is Maria, a light skinned Caipira. But I guess you do not care about women, and I do not think I am moving beyond fantasies land. I am not totally sure, I think Carla is trying to seduce me.
Sorry for the rambling, I am not here to review hotels or discuss my fantasies with women.
 
Communicating with Marcelo was a challenge. He does not have wifi in his phone plan, so you have to wait for him to hook to someone else’. He is a professional and certified therapeutic masseur, and travels around the city visiting his patients/clients. He is 26 y.o.the blackest boy I  have been with here, and the hottest for my taste.
Unlike Italo, he came well prepared with his ID, so we did a session of amateur pictures for my JustFor.Fans account. I will be publishing them sometime in January, once I am back, but I will share here only one. I have a written consent and prove of his age. I made sure he understood very well what I was doing to do with his pictures, his only request was to keep his face out of the show, which I did. It is a shame, though. His face and his smile are just as hot as his body is.

We took the pictures, and then we played. He was willing to bottom, but again like with most of the other boys I met so far, I did not feel he wanted me to fuck him. He would just let me do it, which it is not my thing, as I explained before. The passionate Brazilian kissing and oral sex were more than enough to qualify as excellent sex for me. I came all over his back, and he asked me to bust on my face. Beleza.
It was Saturday, and I wanted to go to one of the street parties or boîtes (dance clubs) at night. After saying goodbye to Marcelo, I retreated to relax. However, our fiend @numazu1, in his last night visiting Salvador, wanted to try a sauna. We went to Fox, and had my second visit there.
I was drained by Marcelo, so I had no intentions to have a pograma. We arrived after 8, which is a little late. They had music en vivo, a singer playing MPB (musica popular brasileira), which I do love. I saw some of the boys I had seen in my first visit, like my first one, Bruno, and tagged a few ones for my next, which will probably be tonight.
We left about 10, after meeting the owner and getting some recommendations. The best (it seems like the only) gay dance club to go to seemed to be San Sebastian Salvador, opening at midnight.
We went to a Japanese restaurant a few blocks away from the sauna to feed Numazu1’s friend with his regular dose of abundant sushi, and then retired to our bases to rest before going out. Italo was also connected, lobbing for us to go to one of the street parties instead of the club. By the way, the neighborhood around Fox seems to be one of the safest in the city to walk at night.
As you probably already guessed, we never went anywhere. We said goodbye by text, as our storyteller hero is leaving this morning to Rio de Janeiro.
Today I am still hiding from the sun. I will probably walk around the neighborhood looking for the sidewalk with shade. I am not into shopping, but probably will make a visit to one of the nearby malls. Marcelo recommended me an Art exposition in one of the local museums, but I am not sure whether I am in the mood for museums in this trip. Tonight I will probably go to Fox. Now that I know who the owner is, besides having one or two programs, I may hit an interview for the blog.
I noticed in other thread some interest on hooking up apps. They work quite well and you will have both, guys hitting you looking for a programa, and guys hitting you for a regular hook up. I played with the apps a little bit during my first couple of days, but I am not interested in paid sex through an app when we have the saunas, and the guys looking for just sex were not willing to have a meeting to check for chemistry. They just wanted to come to my room or wanted me to go to their place. I do not do that at home and I am not going to start here.

again one of my dream destinations knocked off its perch

Sri Lanka is very small. The best plan would be to stay a few nights in Negombo, get your guesthouse (Dickmans or Gomez Place) to organise a car tour with a gay friendly guide. This is not expensive - $60-80 a day. Then check the internet for gay guesthouses in Colombo. Cruising on the beach and Galle Face is easy. As earlier posts say discretion is still required. My main advice is to stay at gay guesthouses not big chain hotels where you may have difficulty bring boys back.

There are two gay guesthouses in Negombo -Dickmans and Gomez Place.  Both excellent and opposite each other. Lots of boys hang out at the beach and around bars like Rodeo. In other towns and resorts I have found you have to wait for guys to approach you. Sri Lankan guys are very friendly  but are wary of being seen by family and friends with gay tourists The going rate is about 3000 rupees ($US25). Oldies like me have no problems.

santiagodc it would be great to hear from you how your trip went

seems reposting photos is becoming a real issue. My view is that use of social media makes all fair game.

Bratislava, Slovakia, the headquarters of Bel Ami and home to many of it's stars, is practically an exurb of Vienna. If you sign onto Flirt4Free and go to it's BelAmi channel rooms, the guys there are in Bratislava chatting and would be good hook-ups or connections. I would search Hunqz for Bratislava as well as for Brno and Olomouc Czech. Also, many of the guys listed in "Prague" are in Brno and Olomouc and even Ostrava and are used to commuting a couple hundred miles for a date. "Bel Ami Land" is basically Bratislava and southern Czech across the border from Vienna. 

Lucky's post brought a rush of great memories of my first visit to Bangkok and Phuket in 1993. I was like a little boy in a candy shop. The boys came up to you on the street. Most were kind, polite and gave sensational service. My memory was the going price was 300 baht. My last trip was five years ago and I still had a great time curtailed only by the creep of old age.