Juan Corriolis

Well, it is happening again. I am making my next trip plans and find that Marriott (Renaissance) is back to nearly $400.00 daily. What is causing the price hike again? Brazil is having a recession, of sorts, which would normally bring down their hotel rates. What can one do except pay those high prices? Does anyone know why the rates are so high again? I am aware that the garotos in the Lagoa sauna have increased their prices, but the increased prices are nowhere near the increases that Marriott charges for rooms in Sao Paulo.

Great hotel. I have stayed there many times. If you have at least Platinum status, that hotel treats you very well, including upgrades to suites, its gym, its lounge access (where you can get a decent breakfast without paying extra). The location is perfect, only one block from Avenida Paulista, but, Lucky already knows these things. I posted in case other readers might want to stay at that hotel. Even if you do not have high status with Marriott's loyalty program, the hotel is very nice and in a great location, and it has a decent restaurant. It is likely that readers are going to visit Rodolfo's Lagoa, which is only a short Uber ride from the hotel. I was once talked into walking there but I doubt I will do it again (about two miles). There is a taxi stand across the street on the corner, but if you have Uber, you will get a better price and better service. Uber meets you in front of the entrance to the hotel. An odd thing happened when I was booking that hotel again. A month or two ago, I was making a reservation for Sao Paulo. At that hotel, the daily rates were around $400.00 U.S., but last year, the daily rates were around $200.00. I hesitated to book a room at twice the price and waited. Now, I see that the rates have come down to a little more than $200.00 daily. During the day, MASP is within walking distance of the hotel. MASP often has some excellent art on loan from various museums around the world.

Marriott, are you writing about the one in Morumbi? I am not aware of a Marriott in the area around Avenida Paulista.

Not too many years ago there were seven nice saunas in Sao Paulo. One by one five saunas closed. The last nice sauna of the seven to close was Fragata. There are two remaining saunas, but they are not doing well and will likely close. For some strange reason, Rodolfo, of Lagoa, has a gift that keeps on giving because he (and Edgarde) ran the original Lagoa which was a wonderful, large sauna comprised of three houses that were joined together to make the three houses appear as one large sauna. Most know that the lease ran out and the three houses were later sold and torn down. Now, in the place of the original Lagoa, there is a huge condominium and office structure built where the original Lagoa stood. Following Lagoa's move to its smaller current location, the other six saunas in Sao Paulo closed, one by one (four closed and the remaining two will not last long). Rodolfo must have some magical quality that keeps his sauna the only sauna in Sao Paulo that survives for more than twenty years (the original Lagoa and the smaller current sauna). Remarkable!

As shown in the previous post, it confirms that the medical community learned more about the gene than it thought it knew back in 1995, when I took the test. As I stated, I believed that I was immune based on what I was told by the literature and by the laboratory that administered the test back in 1995. Although I gained a lot of resistance, as the articles show, I was not totally "immune" as I had been told. Thankfully, I never acquired that awful disease, even though I likely was intimate with many who were HIV positive. I appreciate the posting of this updated and corrected information.

You will find many different percentages. Each percentage is an educated guess. Some articles might say the resistance to HIV is only 1% while other writings say 2% and some even say the number is 5%. Who really knows the actual number? Unless an entire population is tested, every estimate is an educated guess.

Members 3k Posted just now I am puzzled why I have never seen, in any gay forum or gay news reports, the fact that there is a certain group of people who are lacking a specific gene that prevents them from becoming infected with HIV. These people can have sex with thousands of HIV positive people and never get infected with HIV because of the lack of a certain gene that prevents HIV from infecting them. When HIV was raging before and into 1995, there was no HIV medication that prevented most HIV patients from dying. Several of my friends died from HIV in 1995 and prior. About that time, the CDC and other reliable medical sources (Medical schools) wrote articles about a lab test that would let a person know if they lacked a specific HIV gene receptor ( CCR5-Δ32 mutation). Most who lack the HIV receptor gene were Northern European, however, some were not. A friend and I hunted for various articles written about the lacking receptor gene. We also hunted for a lab that administered the test to see if we lacked the HIV gene receptor. You can find labs on the internet that administer this test. Some labs require a doctor's prescription while some do not. Happily, my friend and I found a lab and took the test. It was determined that we lack the HIV receptor. Needless to say, we were pleased that we could never become infected with HIV. We are not completely Northern Europeans. We are a mixture of Northern European and a bit of Southern Europe. If you are concerned about being infected with HIV, you might consider taking that test to see if you lack the receptor. For convenience, next is a copy of a response that I got from the internet about the receptor. Yes, a small but significant number of people lack a specific gene mutation, the CCR5-Δ32 mutationCCR5-Δ32 mutation mutation, which prevents HIV from infecting their cells, making them naturally resistant to the virus. This genetic variation, more common in Northern European populations, results in the absence of the CCR5 co-receptor that HIV uses to enter CD4+ T cells. Individuals with this mutation, even when exposed to HIV, cannot become infected with the virus. AND CCR5 Δ32 Mutation The CCR5 Δ32 mutation is a deletion of 32 base pairs in the CCR5 gene, which encodes a protein called the chemokine receptor 5. This mutation is found primarily in people of European descent. Function and Significance: HIV Resistance: The CCR5 protein is used by HIV to enter cells. The Δ32 mutation prevents HIV from binding to and entering cells, making individuals homozygous for this mutation (carrying two copies of the mutated gene) resistant to HIV infection.

In the saunas to a garoto?

In the saunas to a garoto?

In the saunas to a garoto?

That might be one of the reasons. However, my schedule is flexible. Therefore, I checked different times during the year. The other "safe" hotels that I checked are all over $400 nightly. Sao Paulo is nice, but I do not see why the hotels are charging American prices. By the way, even the airlines are charging much higher rates than last year.

I have stayed in Sao Paulo many times over the years. Usually, the hotels like Renaissance (not far from Lagoa) charged around $200 U.S. nightly or less. This year, the rates are more than $400 nightly. Does anyone have an idea why the rates doubled?