hornyfrog

I recently went to the new Sauna Python and enjoyed it. The setting / layout / architecture is beautiful (I do think it’s a bit too well-lit, in a place like a meat market, a bit more mood lighting works wonders). The staff was very kind and accommodating (even giving a tour to me as a first-time client). The GPs are somewhere on the level of the old Fragata. The GPs tend to hang out by the pool table and socialize amongst each other when not on the prowl for a programa. The shows downstairs consist of the usual drag and strippers — but some of the strippers were new faces to me. IMO, the quality as well as the quantity of GPs at Lagoa has decreased dramatically. There is still a difference between those at Lagoa and those at Python — but arguably, not that much. It’s a 10 minute ride on an Uber between the two saunas Lagoa and Python. It’s probably worth it to check out both saunas while there in São Paulo.

Several years ago, I relocated to Brazil from the USA. I received a temporary residency from investment but I could have also qualified for a retirement visa using my pension and investment income. A few years later, my residency was officially made permanent by the Brazilian government (equivalent of a green card in the USA). I’m a natural-born US citizen with Western European ancestry. Although I moved to Brazil for an early retirement of sorts (I still like to work and be productive), I fell in love with this country years ago and didn’t want to wait until full retirement to enjoy living here. In retrospect, seeing what’s now going on in the USA, my timing couldn’t have been any more perfect. Brazil is a major cultural and bureaucratic adjustment and especially challenging if you don’t speak and understand Portuguese. It’s definitely not for beginners! Living here is different from visiting / being a tourist. But there hasn’t been a day in these years that I have regretted my move here. I live in Rio de Janeiro.

I think this is most likely the case. A higher entrance fee for sauna boys for Réveillon (and Carnaval) was to be implemented but by the time Carnaval came, management wisely rolled it back. Entrance fee and suite rental increases for clients, however, remain.

Two different working boys just told me it’s now 40 reais for them to enter 117.

True. However, I was talking about working boys, not clients. There are not any 60+ year old garotos de programa at the saunas!

15 reais ($2.62 US) might not seem like a big increase from 35 to 50 reais to YOU as a foreigner / US citizen, but an increase from $35 to $50 is a whopping 42.86%! And 15 reais is about the price of a round-trip on Rio’s subway. According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the per capita household income in 2023 in Brazil was R$1,893 per month. That’s currently only $329 USD. The average Brazilian household is now 3 people. That means that daily, each Brazilian on average makes only 30.44 reais or $5.30 USD a day. More than half of Brazilians make less than the country’s federal minimum wage, which is currently R$1.518 a month ($264 USD). That entrance fee increase for garotos is half what the average Brazilian earns in a day.

Wow. That was 13 to 23 years ago! That policy, if it is ever was one, is no longer in practice. There might be one robe still available at each club but if it is, it’s for rent and placed on the bill. I have recently seen a male client with breasts (presumably transitioned) wearing a white bath robe. I didn’t ask if it was sauna-owned or client-brought. The upscale hetero equivalents to the gay garoto saunas in Ipanema and Copacabana make it a practice to adorn each client in a house robe upon arrival. The working girls do the honors. That would be a nice touch at the gay saunas for men — but I think it’s a stretch to get them to add the robes, much less get the boys to be cooperative and attentive like that. My suggestion would be to bring one to the sauna if you’re hoping to wear one, because it’s not likely that one will be around for you in 2025.

What’s “cynical” about my response, or the one that I was actually responding to? You have any empirical evidence that there are fat, 50+ year old garotos de programa of any race, color or ethnicity working at Club 117 or Point 202 in Rio? I’m a resident here. You say you’ve been here 12 times. When is the last time you’ve actually been inside a working boy sauna in Rio? The clients — we clients — are the out-of-shape, older schlubs — and with very few exceptions. And that transcends race. The median age of the clients in these Brazilian working saunas has got to be around 60 — at the bare minimum, 55. And that’s actually not a bad thing. It’s only bad if you think aging is a terrible thing. I happen to think aging sure beats the alternative! And who else is going to pay these boys bills? iPhones and nice new tennis shoes are expensive in Brazil — and they sure don’t buy themselves!

To be fair, they’re not the fat 50 year old black, Asian or Latino guys either.

It is far easier to do it just for the entrance than for consumables or even for room rentals. But I only suggest that the club entrance prices for clients become two-tier. I wouldn’t suggest trying to make any other prices like menu items or room rentals two-tier.

There’s a huge discussion about this very topic at that *other board* (I don’t know the rules about naming it or linking it, so I will refrain). My opinion on what should / should have been done at 117 (full disclosure: Im also a small business owner in Rio, a brick-and-mortar shop that’s been feeling the squeeze of inflation): 1. Keep the entrance prices for working boys / garotos the same. If an increase is absolutely necessary for club survival, then make it incremental, like 5 reais. That would’ve raised it from 35 to 40. And that would’ve been less than a $1 USD increase. But IMHO, 50 R entrance fees is just too much for working garotos. BTW, how much is the current entrance fees for garotos at São Paulo’s Lagoa? Anyone know? 2. For clients, make a two-tier entrance fee: those with Brazilian ID, keep the previous price. For those without or those with non-Brazilian ID, give them the elevated entrance rate. I don’t think locals who get paid in BRL and have always been the steady flow of clients (especially during low season) will be able to enjoy too many nights out at the saunas with these inflationary rates (especially if everything else, like suites, drinks and garotos’ prices, are also increased). However, the difference for tourists is only a few dollars — and if you’re traveling to another country with an emerging, developing economy for fun and squabbling over a couple of bucks, then sorry, but maybe you should just stay home. I can also understand charging a bit more for card purchases because the vendor most often gets charged for processing cards (it can be as high as 8%, but it’s usually about 3-4%). And then there’s the customers who could later challenge the charge with their banks — causing bank payment chargebacks, delays or even refusals. Imagine trying to do this with an international bank. (Every customer is NOT a good, honest broker!) 3. Regarding suite pricing increases, I think it may have gone from 70R to 77R. Not a large increase on paper, but the building amenities have not been improved in ages (unlike some of her competitors, like Lagoa or Point 202, which are also not perfect but have made some renovations). I would not mind a slight increase on room rates if the building owner and management used it to actually improve / beautify the rooms. It’s a tough business to maintain in a changing, internet / app world and an inflationary economy. Like many of us, I just want these saunas to stick around and thrive. My opinions.

I’m a resident here in Rio, and I find that at Club 117 and Point 202, about half to 60% of the clients are wearing towels and the other half to 40% are in their street clothes or disrobed down to nothing but shorts or undies. Maybe about 80 to 90% of the working boys are in towels and the rest are in street clothes, shorts or undies. I find that a lot of Americans (from the USA) especially tend to stay in their street clothes, and some of that is cultural. Most of my friends visiting from the USA tend to stay in their street clothes or at the most disrobe to shorts. Of course, those that actually use the steam room or showers drop down to towels. I haven’t really noticed any upward trend, but now that you bring it up, I’ll try to pay more attention! BTW, if you are a client who was actually mistaken for a garoto, then consider yourself one of the fortunate few! The large majority of us schlubs would not ever be mistaken for one of the working boys. 😃

Interesting observation, funny you bring this up! Yeah. There are only a few of them … like you can count them on one hand — but that handful of clients that are handsome enough to get mistaken as a garoto by both the other clients and the guys who sell their wares at the saunas… they are quite popular and always get the rock star treatment at the saunas! Being here in Brazil a lot from the bar chatter and personal observations, I know of a few. One I know is a buff Russian businessman. Another is a biracial American retired Hollywood exec. I see them here often. They both own vacation properties in Rio. They are regular / semi-regular clients, both look like they could have worked at 117, 202 and Lagoa back in the time when they were of that age. Sure, there are the clients who post here and seem to be quite popular here on these message boards, maybe due to their history and storytelling, but in real life at the saunas, I haven’t really seen any clients with that kind of magnetism in the saunas with garotos de programa — except for the few I just mentioned. And I’m making these observations over lots of time coming to Brazil, as a regular-looking American schlub who’s pushing 60, and who has always a thing for hot-looking men. Of course, money always helps… 🤣 So… handsome, rich and charming guys always go to the front of the line. A reflection of how things work in the outside world, I suppose! 🤣

Unfortunately, for us who have regularly engaged in the hiring game, this is part of the deal: men (and women) who “borrow” money or expensive items with no real intention or reasonable means of ever paying you back. And there are those out there who would prefer to stop all communication with their lender than have to face the fact that they can’t it refuse to reimburse them or return what they borrowed. You met one of those. There are plenty more out there just like him. Only lend what you can afford to lose, or make it a policy never to lend at all (and risk whatever perception they will make of you in the process).

LOVE muscle, and I was a regular viewer of the Muscle Service Station and it’s popular Muscle Logbook forums — when it was really popular back in the late 90s to mid 2000s (before the advent of Facebook). Anyone else?

I have a vacay place in Rio and flew down here for the free Madonna concert. I was here for the 100 Year Anniversary Celebration of The Copacabana Palace. That resulted in over 200 arrests of pickpockets and assaulters in the area. The Madonna show, as mentioned, is also outside The Palace. Here’s hoping it goes on without (too much of) a hitch!