hornyfrog

Yes, Campos in “Os Donos do Jogo” is short for Campos dos Goytacazes, a city in the interior of the state of Rio de Janeiro. It’s got a population of slightly under 500,000 and it’s the 5th largest city in the state of RJ. It’s a 7 hour drive from Rio, the city. I don’t see why anyone on a short stay in Brazil would venture out there.

This is turning into a very different conversation than the OP intended, and I don’t mean to thread jack. But Barcelona, Spain, Lisbon, Portugal and Medellin, Colombia are all going through an anti-tourism, even anti-expat wave right now. Much of it is fueled by rising housing prices and costs of living, but some is also cultural — many non-locals seemingly disrespecting or disregarding local customs, etc. I am hyper-sensitive to this in Rio and other parts of Brazil, as a gringo expat here. I have yet to experience this much here, but I think it’s important to try to prevent it as much as possible: keep prices affordable for Brazilians, speak in the language, watch out for my Europeanisms / Americanisms. And call out bad behavior by my fellow non-Brazilians whenever I can and try to be a good ambassador / steward. After all, when they are all gone, I still have to live here — the tourists don’t.

Not completely sure I’m understanding you, so maybe that makes two of us! What I meant by “stem” (maybe it was not the best choice of words) was starting self-regulation at the building level so that when or if it ever comes to a vote at the prefeitura (city hall) level, additional legislation would not pass because it would be deemed unnecessary or repetitive. Condo buildings and apartment buildings have their own rules that are voted on from within (by the owners), plus there are city, state and federal laws. I can’t speak to the wishes of every building in my area, but of the ones I do know, most owners would vote to keep short-term rentals as long as it is well self-regulated. But enough bad incidents with bad actors in the toniest, priciest areas of town — especially if given lots of bad press, and even more especially if they involve foreigners / Westerners! — will drive a vote at the government level for more restrictions. Possibly even “the death penalty” for short-term rentals, like what’s going on in Barcelona (although I don’t think this will happen, as there are too many local owners here who enjoy renting their places out). Those regulations could include or exclude room-only rentals. I doubt they would. It is likely to be an “all or nothing” thing. The buildings like mine and the others I am aware of did not exclude rooms-only. And regarding buildings with no doormen, I imagine they would still have the same regulation, but enforcement would occur at a local resident or staff level (meaning, “if you see something, say something”). I do know of one Airbnb male guest who tried to “sneak in” an unregistered pro (female) into a doorman-less building, and after she left (after the deed was done), the owner was asked to remove the guest or be fined. That was probably a very embarrassing conversation for both the Airbnb host and the guest.

I own an Airbnb apartment in Ipanema, so I will give the perspective of a local / investor — who is also quite familiar with why most traveling men who post at these message boards choose Rio. In my neighborhood of Ipanema, as well as in Leblon and some grander parts of Copacabana (the big touristy areas), there have been some high-profile incidences involving Airbnbs / short-term rentals with some very bad actors — and a few of them ended up deadly, but most of them were violent robberies or home invasions. These have placed the other residents of the buildings in greater harm and risk, and it’s just another reason for those who hate the existence of short-term rentals to get city government involved. As a result, there is proposed city regulation on the table, and many of the condominium associations (they have group meetings) decided to be proactive and self-regulate, hoping to stem any potential laws restricting short-term rentals. Many buildings in the area, mine included, decided that they will place greater restrictions on short-term rentals — one of them being that only those who are registered as the Airbnb guests can have access to the building and apartment. Others have voted against allowing any short-term rentals at all. I would estimate that, in my area alone, in the past 2 years, over half of the buildings either added the no-guest policy for short-termers or banned short-term rentals altogether. So, my advice is first, to carefully read the house rules of the listing before booking. If a listing does not allow guests, then the host needs either to place that in the rules in advance, or directly after booking, send you a message with any restrictions. if you find an Airbnb in the area that allows you to have guests, if that’s truly important to you, then you should book it — because they are much fewer and more far between in Rio than ever before. I also will add that this restriction has not reduced my bookings at all — and with less added risk. So, from the perspective of a host / investor, the threat of income loss from gay and straight male tourists who prefer the company of strangers is minimal to nil. And as a tourist that comes and goes, you should understand there are very good reasons why these rules are in place. Even with my listing explicitly saying up front “no guests”, I still get men (because it’s always men, gay or straight!) asking me the same old “can I have a Brazilian friend up for a drink?”. The answer is always no. Look before you book!

Sundays and Thursdays are about the same at 117. The quantity and quality on both nights are unpredictable.

Oh Em Gee. How did I know exactly who you’re talking about? 😆 While the average client is certainly no male supermodel or physique competition champion — including yours truly — those creepy guys definitely bring down the group average! 😳 But my mother always said it’s what’s inside that counts….

In English, this is frotting.

Regarding the use ‘bromance’ in garoto ads or Grindr profiles from garotos in Brazil, that exact term wouldn’t be used — but you are likely to see Brazilian Portuguese phrases like “carinho”, “companhia”, or “namoradinho”, all terms which could loosely translate to “bromance” or “boyfriend experience”. If this is important to you as a client, you should probably confirm directly with the advertiser before agreeing to the hiring.

I moved to Rio on an investor visa. I bought an existing business (from a retiring local) and an apartment in Ipanema — each one was over the R$ 1 million threshold needed (R$ 700,000 in NE Brazil) for the investor visa — and I used the business to qualify for the investor visa. But I most definitely could’ve used the property purchase, it just needs to be structured as a business purchase (creating an LLC like structure in Brazil for yourself and that company making the property purchase that way, same way you would with a business). It’s definitely best to use a local knowledgeable lawyer in Brazil, because there are a lot of steps. If you need a referral, feel free to send me a private message. More of my expat friends here have done either the retirement visa, the investor visa, or the marriage / family visa, and converted them later to permanent residency. There are a few others here I know who are here on digital nomad visas, but those are temporary (a year, renewable for 1 more), student visas or are here on work visas with international companies (none of these are permanent and immigration status has to be adjusted to stay after expiration). I know a couple of foreigners here on arts or sports visas, but those are rare and usually require documented lauded skills. I will also add that being in your 40s may sound young to do this, and for a retirement or investor visa it surely is, but most of the digital nomads and student visa recipients here are younger than that. So, it’s not completely out of the ordinary. One of the foreigners I know here on a retirement pension visa did it right before 50, another on an investor visa is about 50, too.

Never, ever, under any circumstances, go to the residence of a GP that you do not know well.

In São Paulo (city and state), the minimum age for free public transit is only 60.

USA, Canada and Australia — the only 3 countries whose citizens are required by Brazil to obtain an e-Visa for entry for tourism, business, or transit purposes — make up only 14% of its total international tourists, and its tourism economy. Citizens of over 100 countries, including the EU, UK, most South American countries, New Zealand, South Africa, Russia, and Singapore, enjoy visa-free entry to Brazil for up to 90 days. The rest do traditional visa through their Brazilian consulates or embassies in their respective countries. Meanehile, Brazil’s tourism has had 48% surge in international arrivals and a 62% increase in tourism arrivals compared to 2022. Brazil’s doing quite alright on tourism — with or without the 3 countries whose citizens are slightly inconvenienced by the e-visa process.

Even if you’ve seen a GP around for years or hired him before, don’t assume that means zero risk. The less time you spend here, the less you’ll know. I know of both tourists and residents who let their guards down and ended up robbed, threatened, drugged, or even injured in their apartments in Brazil. It’s not super-common — and it’s reported less here when it’s two men involved than when a woman garota de programa robs a male client — but it happens enough to stay alert. Filing a police report, an arrest, or even a sauna ban doesn’t always make someone vanish — the same faces can reappear later. Saunas at least provide some accountability. Outside of that, lock up your valuables and never assume that past good encounters guarantee the next one will be safe.

When a CPF number or an ID number is “sunk” (dirty) in the Brazilian banking system (overdrawn, reported or suspected fraud, sometimes even theft), any Pix with that CPF number are suspended. Any deposits into that person’s account immediately go towards paying off the debt. Brazilians who ask for this are usually in this kind of situation. It’s best not to get involved at all. But there’s always the client who wants to be seen as Santa.

You can also do this with Mercado Pago. It requires a minimum pre-loaded balance of 1000 reais.

I’m not trying to sound like a gatekeeper here, but most GPs want to get paid immediately after the service ends, unless they know you well and trust you enough that they will get paid soon enough. As a non-Brazilian resident, if you’re using Pix through Wise, Remitly or another remittance transfer service. It can take hours to even a day for the transfer to complete… and the first time you send to someone, you need to have a whole lot of info on that recipient in Brazil — full name, residential address, CPF, banking info, sometimes the address of bank — the exact Pix code the receiver uses (CPF, mobile number, or email) for the bank account to deposit it into. If you already have a Brazilian bank account, Pix is very fast and reliable. The speed is NOT reliable if you’re remitting it from an international bank. Most of these working guys do not have hours to wait for their couple of hundred reais from you — especially not from a tourist that could skip town the next day without payment (yes, that happens!). Also, there are times when certain garotos can’t access their Pix or their bank accounts are blocked, and they need to get paid in cold hard cash. It’s no guarantee who this will be, so you had better know this upfront before booking the date! Don’t assume everyone accepts Pix at all times. As a Brazilian resident with a bank account here, I use Pix, Wise and Remitly almost all the time — but when I wasn’t a resident, its reliability and speed of arrival was a lot less predictable.

Wow. Well, I’m glad to see the term still being used, because I only heard it in the UK a few decades ago — and thought it sounded much more refined and less derogatory than other nicknames more popular on the other side of the pond — like john or trick. Although here in Brazil, it’s just a simple “cliente”.

Sorry, I’m not sure if you took offense to my comment or not. But if you did, I didn’t mean to offend.

My Brazilian immigration attorney here just told me that there is no indication in available sources that a vote is scheduled in the Chamber of Deputies regarding the revocation of the visa reinstatement. All recent reports here indicate the bill has stalled after passage in the lower house, the Senate. There is resistance in the Chamber of Deputies due to the US tariffs issue, and allies of Chamber Speaker Motta have indicated in the Brazilian press that the bill is unlikely to come to a vote there soon.

My point is that they could very well know the difference — but not care. You as a US citizen think a millionaire is poor compared to a billionaire. To a working-class (or poor) Brazilian, it’s all relative. To be in the top 1% of income earners in Brazil in 2024, an individual needs only a monthly minimum income of approximately R$35,000 - R$45,000, which is around $6,480 - $8,300 USD a month. The average monthly income for a salaried individual in Brazil is around only 3,343 BRL ($620 USD) and the minimum monthly wage (of which 1/3 to 1/2 of all Brazilians receive less than) is only R$ 1,518, or $280 USD, per month. So, after a certain threshold, those pedantic numbers about millionaires and billionaires in the USA that you’re posting would not even matter to the overwhelming number of Brazilians. Still, there are enough Brazilians (some of them are garotos) who associate wealth (and class) — at the very least, lots of disposable income or credit — with anyone from certain countries like the USA. “Trailer park trash”, “house and car poor”, and “nouveau riche” are not concepts that they are vert culturally familiar with. When Calvin Klein visited 117 and Lagoa he was generous to the boys as well as to the house, but it’s not like he was paying in proportion to his net worth. Which was the point of my previous post. if Geffen were to come to Brazil for his boy toys (and who’s to say that he did not?) , he most certainly would not pay $10,000 USD (R$ 54,000 BRL) on Garoto com Local. Yes, word gets around who the clients (whether local and visiting) who are very well-off, and who the pretenders and the stingy, are.

Slightly off-topic, but possibly interesting nonetheless: I haven’t heard that term “punter” used to mean “a man who hires sex workers” outside of United Kingdom ever, and not in maybe 30 years.

I don’t think you’re understanding. The point is that to many Brazilians, there is no difference between billionaire David Geffen and an American schlub who works in a cubicle. That average-to above-average earning cubicle supervisor at a paper clip company could be a 1%(a milionário) in Brazil. Try telling a favelado in Jacaré that you as a traveling gringo staying in Zona Sul are not rich.

Be careful if your point is that clients should proportionally pay according to how much they are worth. Because in Brazil. many regular, average American, Canadian and Western European income earners would place at or near the top 1%. So, using a sliding scale, that garoto de programa who charges a Brazilian client R$ 150 should charge a US client 5 times that much!

There are some muscle boys and physique model types in Rio and São Paulo who are asking for and getting R$ 500 - R$700 for a 30 minute to 1 hour outcall (at your place). Going over an hour with one of them could run you 1000 to 1400 reais. I have heard of some tourists at saunas paying 500 reais for the half-hour sauna sessions for what they consider top-notch garotos de programa. But these prices are not the norm, not even close. Geffen paid his soon to be ex-husband $10,000 USD on their first date after meeting him on the Sugar Daddy website, Seeking Arrangements. So, keep it all in proper perspective!

I honestly can’t really advise you properly on all of this. Maybe you just need a sounding board? — which is fine, we all do every now and then. But you’d probably be better off contacting some of the larger Brazilian-based as well as global medical insurance companies, asking for an English-speaking agent and getting a custom quote. These sound to me like intensely personal decisions based on very personal preferences, as you do seem to have great options that others in your age group might not be fortunate enough to have. If you truly do love your life where you are now as you say, then maybe just keep traveling at your leisure instead of uprooting to another continent for a host of unknowns is better for you? The expats (permanent residents) that I know here either have a private insurance plan, use SUS, travel back to their own countries for healthcare, or a combination of these. No one I know says that healthcare costs here in Brazil are more expensive than they would be in the USA. But I get that you live in Canada — which is not close to being the health insurance hellscape that is the USA. Full disclosure: I have a global medical insurance plan, and I also have my private health insurance back in the USA from my pension plan but that is not global and can’t be used abroad. And then I have more than half a decade until Medicare kicks in (if it’s actually still around when I become eligible — the way the US government is going, no one can be confident), which also only works in The States. But I have had my global plan for years (like 15), and I have been here in Brazil for several years and am approaching 60. I would imagine that someone seeking a similar plan starting in their 60s and beyond would pay significantly more than someone who initiated the plan in their 40s. Good luck in your journey!