hornyfrog

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! 
 

I thought you had it covered and with sufficient class, without the need of an external boost.🤷🏼‍♂️

The difference is, on average, about 30 years and about 30 kilos.

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! 
 

Thanks for saying that. I really appreciate the thoughtfulness of your reply. And I agree with you on the last point. Reflection shouldn’t turn into in action or cynicism. Ideally, it should just help us engage a bit more deliberately, in ways that feel comfortable yet still respectful to the local community.
Wishing you well.

Thanks for saying that. I really appreciate the thoughtfulness of your reply. And I agree with you on the last point. Reflection shouldn’t turn into in action or cynicism. Ideally, it should just help us engage a bit more deliberately, in ways that feel comfortable yet still respectful to the local community.
Wishing you well.

@hornyfrog Thank you so much for your excellent post. It made me think. TBH I've never visited this site or posted here before LatBear's generous post about Patrick's tours. And I don't post often anywhere; I have a profound love/hate relationship with social media. Even moreso these days. So I didn't really think about the implications -- implicit or explicit -- of posting or even discussing an otherwise 100% nonsexual topic on a site called "companyofmen." Call me stupid. I often am. Given the editorial context, it would be natural to make a leap toward sex work or even exploitation, etc. I get it now. Thanks for helping me to that insight. I also was not aware of all the animosity that seems to be rampant in this place. In hindsight, I might have handled this all quite differently. Live and learn!
Having lived in the favela, and working now with Brota (the microentrepreneur business incubator in Vidigal) and Solar (the fabulous school in PPG) I'm super alert to the concerns you raise around narrative, access, and wealth creation/distribution. They're extremely valid issues, and I wish that more folks were able to think and speak as clearly about them as you seem to. I guess I only hope that potential visitors / contributors to the community are not paralyzed by them into inaction or cynicism. That would be a shame for them, and for the community.
Thank you again for opening my eyes. I'm grateful.

Rio gringo resident here. Oh, boy…here goes…
The topic of favela tourism and its potential for exploitation is a hot one here in Rio. Adding that this is posted on sites that largely discuss gay sex tourism adds an uncomfortable layer — but an uncomfortable truth.
On this thread, I don’t think either poster here is entirely right or wrong. There are valid points on both sides, but they’re largely talking past each other. I don’t know any poster history(ies) here, but let’s just remove any seeming personal animus that some might have toward each other and discuss plainly.
Part of the disconnect might be that, in spaces just as these message boards (or in the straight men’s scene, in Facebook groups with men like “Passport Bros”), these kinds of conversations don’t ever really happen in a vacuum. Many men who travel to Brazil even partly for transactional sexcapades and spend time in saunas, hunt ads or do the adjacent sexually-charged scenes might also struggle sincerely with where genuine support ends and exploitation begins. That doesn’t particularly make anyone a saint or a predator, or a hero or a villain. It possibly reflects real attempts to navigate the asymmetries of economies, power, desire, and access — all in good faith.
Because of this and because of some real, lived experiences, some clients might naturally be more cautious about or even suspicious of activities that blur lines between tourism, poverty, exploitation and the sexual economy, especially when “authentic local experience” narratives are attached to young men from more economically vulnerable communities. Ex.: years back, on one of the previous incarnations of these boards, there was a now pretty famous guy who posted about his Rio tour services company that targeted gay male sex tourist clients, and these young, virile male Brazilian tour guides were also openly advertised as offering sexual services to these clients. 
It’s obviously true that residents of favelas like Vidigal and Rocinha survive on very little money, like almost all favelados do, and that small amounts of money to us tourists and expats can matter a whole lot to them. At the same time, economic benefit alone doesn’t automatically make every comunidade tour or locally promoted experience ethical by default.
The questions that actually matter are structural, rather than personal:
• Who organizes the activity and who controls the narrative?
• How is the money distributed, and how transparently?
• What boundaries exist around sexualization, exploitation, photography, and access?
• Does it strengthen community autonomy, or mainly serve outside onlookers’ (lookyloos’) curiosity — or even worse, normalize blurred lines that already make the locals uneasy?
Declining a specific recommendation isn’t the same as refusing to support favela residents generally, just as participating doesn’t automatically confer any grander moral virtue. Even in forums like this one, it seems pretty reasonable for people to want clarity and safeguards, rather than just having hesitation or skepticism framed as indifference or some moral failure. However, it is worth noting that a case being made against exploitation and undue influence will be easily self-sabotaged if discussed with hostility and ego flexing.
If we are being honest, conversations like this one are not just really about Vidigal, or any other favela.
They are about uneasy guilt management among foreign men coming to Brazil and other developing nations, who sit at the intersection of wealth, desire, race, sex and power asymmetry. 
Many men, straight, gay and in between, resolve whatever discomfort they may have differently: Some by participation framed as solidarity. Some by refusal framed as ethics. Some by money as absolution. Some by mere intellectual distancing.
When those strategies collide, conversations can turn ugly very fast — like what seems to have happened here (and elsewhere, like at the other board). 
 

Rio gringo resident here. Oh, boy…here goes…
The topic of favela tourism and its potential for exploitation is a hot one here in Rio. Adding that this is posted on sites that largely discuss gay sex tourism adds an uncomfortable layer — but an uncomfortable truth.
On this thread, I don’t think either poster here is entirely right or wrong. There are valid points on both sides, but they’re largely talking past each other. I don’t know any poster history(ies) here, but let’s just remove any seeming personal animus that some might have toward each other and discuss plainly.
Part of the disconnect might be that, in spaces just as these message boards (or in the straight men’s scene, in Facebook groups with men like “Passport Bros”), these kinds of conversations don’t ever really happen in a vacuum. Many men who travel to Brazil even partly for transactional sexcapades and spend time in saunas, hunt ads or do the adjacent sexually-charged scenes might also struggle sincerely with where genuine support ends and exploitation begins. That doesn’t particularly make anyone a saint or a predator, or a hero or a villain. It possibly reflects real attempts to navigate the asymmetries of economies, power, desire, and access — all in good faith.
Because of this and because of some real, lived experiences, some clients might naturally be more cautious about or even suspicious of activities that blur lines between tourism, poverty, exploitation and the sexual economy, especially when “authentic local experience” narratives are attached to young men from more economically vulnerable communities. Ex.: years back, on one of the previous incarnations of these boards, there was a now pretty famous guy who posted about his Rio tour services company that targeted gay male sex tourist clients, and these young, virile male Brazilian tour guides were also openly advertised as offering sexual services to these clients. 
It’s obviously true that residents of favelas like Vidigal and Rocinha survive on very little money, like almost all favelados do, and that small amounts of money to us tourists and expats can matter a whole lot to them. At the same time, economic benefit alone doesn’t automatically make every comunidade tour or locally promoted experience ethical by default.
The questions that actually matter are structural, rather than personal:
• Who organizes the activity and who controls the narrative?
• How is the money distributed, and how transparently?
• What boundaries exist around sexualization, exploitation, photography, and access?
• Does it strengthen community autonomy, or mainly serve outside onlookers’ (lookyloos’) curiosity — or even worse, normalize blurred lines that already make the locals uneasy?
Declining a specific recommendation isn’t the same as refusing to support favela residents generally, just as participating doesn’t automatically confer any grander moral virtue. Even in forums like this one, it seems pretty reasonable for people to want clarity and safeguards, rather than just having hesitation or skepticism framed as indifference or some moral failure. However, it is worth noting that a case being made against exploitation and undue influence will be easily self-sabotaged if discussed with hostility and ego flexing.
If we are being honest, conversations like this one are not just really about Vidigal, or any other favela.
They are about uneasy guilt management among foreign men coming to Brazil and other developing nations, who sit at the intersection of wealth, desire, race, sex and power asymmetry. 
Many men, straight, gay and in between, resolve whatever discomfort they may have differently: Some by participation framed as solidarity. Some by refusal framed as ethics. Some by money as absolution. Some by mere intellectual distancing.
When those strategies collide, conversations can turn ugly very fast — like what seems to have happened here (and elsewhere, like at the other board). 
 

Rio gringo resident here. Oh, boy…here goes…
The topic of favela tourism and its potential for exploitation is a hot one here in Rio. Adding that this is posted on sites that largely discuss gay sex tourism adds an uncomfortable layer — but an uncomfortable truth.
On this thread, I don’t think either poster here is entirely right or wrong. There are valid points on both sides, but they’re largely talking past each other. I don’t know any poster history(ies) here, but let’s just remove any seeming personal animus that some might have toward each other and discuss plainly.
Part of the disconnect might be that, in spaces just as these message boards (or in the straight men’s scene, in Facebook groups with men like “Passport Bros”), these kinds of conversations don’t ever really happen in a vacuum. Many men who travel to Brazil even partly for transactional sexcapades and spend time in saunas, hunt ads or do the adjacent sexually-charged scenes might also struggle sincerely with where genuine support ends and exploitation begins. That doesn’t particularly make anyone a saint or a predator, or a hero or a villain. It possibly reflects real attempts to navigate the asymmetries of economies, power, desire, and access — all in good faith.
Because of this and because of some real, lived experiences, some clients might naturally be more cautious about or even suspicious of activities that blur lines between tourism, poverty, exploitation and the sexual economy, especially when “authentic local experience” narratives are attached to young men from more economically vulnerable communities. Ex.: years back, on one of the previous incarnations of these boards, there was a now pretty famous guy who posted about his Rio tour services company that targeted gay male sex tourist clients, and these young, virile male Brazilian tour guides were also openly advertised as offering sexual services to these clients. 
It’s obviously true that residents of favelas like Vidigal and Rocinha survive on very little money, like almost all favelados do, and that small amounts of money to us tourists and expats can matter a whole lot to them. At the same time, economic benefit alone doesn’t automatically make every comunidade tour or locally promoted experience ethical by default.
The questions that actually matter are structural, rather than personal:
• Who organizes the activity and who controls the narrative?
• How is the money distributed, and how transparently?
• What boundaries exist around sexualization, exploitation, photography, and access?
• Does it strengthen community autonomy, or mainly serve outside onlookers’ (lookyloos’) curiosity — or even worse, normalize blurred lines that already make the locals uneasy?
Declining a specific recommendation isn’t the same as refusing to support favela residents generally, just as participating doesn’t automatically confer any grander moral virtue. Even in forums like this one, it seems pretty reasonable for people to want clarity and safeguards, rather than just having hesitation or skepticism framed as indifference or some moral failure. However, it is worth noting that a case being made against exploitation and undue influence will be easily self-sabotaged if discussed with hostility and ego flexing.
If we are being honest, conversations like this one are not just really about Vidigal, or any other favela.
They are about uneasy guilt management among foreign men coming to Brazil and other developing nations, who sit at the intersection of wealth, desire, race, sex and power asymmetry. 
Many men, straight, gay and in between, resolve whatever discomfort they may have differently: Some by participation framed as solidarity. Some by refusal framed as ethics. Some by money as absolution. Some by mere intellectual distancing.
When those strategies collide, conversations can turn ugly very fast — like what seems to have happened here (and elsewhere, like at the other board). 
 

Rio gringo resident here. Oh, boy…here goes…
The topic of favela tourism and its potential for exploitation is a hot one here in Rio. Adding that this is posted on sites that largely discuss gay sex tourism adds an uncomfortable layer — but an uncomfortable truth.
On this thread, I don’t think either poster here is entirely right or wrong. There are valid points on both sides, but they’re largely talking past each other. I don’t know any poster history(ies) here, but let’s just remove any seeming personal animus that some might have toward each other and discuss plainly.
Part of the disconnect might be that, in spaces just as these message boards (or in the straight men’s scene, in Facebook groups with men like “Passport Bros”), these kinds of conversations don’t ever really happen in a vacuum. Many men who travel to Brazil even partly for transactional sexcapades and spend time in saunas, hunt ads or do the adjacent sexually-charged scenes might also struggle sincerely with where genuine support ends and exploitation begins. That doesn’t particularly make anyone a saint or a predator, or a hero or a villain. It possibly reflects real attempts to navigate the asymmetries of economies, power, desire, and access — all in good faith.
Because of this and because of some real, lived experiences, some clients might naturally be more cautious about or even suspicious of activities that blur lines between tourism, poverty, exploitation and the sexual economy, especially when “authentic local experience” narratives are attached to young men from more economically vulnerable communities. Ex.: years back, on one of the previous incarnations of these boards, there was a now pretty famous guy who posted about his Rio tour services company that targeted gay male sex tourist clients, and these young, virile male Brazilian tour guides were also openly advertised as offering sexual services to these clients. 
It’s obviously true that residents of favelas like Vidigal and Rocinha survive on very little money, like almost all favelados do, and that small amounts of money to us tourists and expats can matter a whole lot to them. At the same time, economic benefit alone doesn’t automatically make every comunidade tour or locally promoted experience ethical by default.
The questions that actually matter are structural, rather than personal:
• Who organizes the activity and who controls the narrative?
• How is the money distributed, and how transparently?
• What boundaries exist around sexualization, exploitation, photography, and access?
• Does it strengthen community autonomy, or mainly serve outside onlookers’ (lookyloos’) curiosity — or even worse, normalize blurred lines that already make the locals uneasy?
Declining a specific recommendation isn’t the same as refusing to support favela residents generally, just as participating doesn’t automatically confer any grander moral virtue. Even in forums like this one, it seems pretty reasonable for people to want clarity and safeguards, rather than just having hesitation or skepticism framed as indifference or some moral failure. However, it is worth noting that a case being made against exploitation and undue influence will be easily self-sabotaged if discussed with hostility and ego flexing.
If we are being honest, conversations like this one are not just really about Vidigal, or any other favela.
They are about uneasy guilt management among foreign men coming to Brazil and other developing nations, who sit at the intersection of wealth, desire, race, sex and power asymmetry. 
Many men, straight, gay and in between, resolve whatever discomfort they may have differently: Some by participation framed as solidarity. Some by refusal framed as ethics. Some by money as absolution. Some by mere intellectual distancing.
When those strategies collide, conversations can turn ugly very fast — like what seems to have happened here (and elsewhere, like at the other board). 
 

Rio gringo resident here. Oh, boy…here goes…
The topic of favela tourism and its potential for exploitation is a hot one here in Rio. Adding that this is posted on sites that largely discuss gay sex tourism adds an uncomfortable layer — but an uncomfortable truth.
On this thread, I don’t think either poster here is entirely right or wrong. There are valid points on both sides, but they’re largely talking past each other. I don’t know any poster history(ies) here, but let’s just remove any seeming personal animus that some might have toward each other and discuss plainly.
Part of the disconnect might be that, in spaces just as these message boards (or in the straight men’s scene, in Facebook groups with men like “Passport Bros”), these kinds of conversations don’t ever really happen in a vacuum. Many men who travel to Brazil even partly for transactional sexcapades and spend time in saunas, hunt ads or do the adjacent sexually-charged scenes might also struggle sincerely with where genuine support ends and exploitation begins. That doesn’t particularly make anyone a saint or a predator, or a hero or a villain. It possibly reflects real attempts to navigate the asymmetries of economies, power, desire, and access — all in good faith.
Because of this and because of some real, lived experiences, some clients might naturally be more cautious about or even suspicious of activities that blur lines between tourism, poverty, exploitation and the sexual economy, especially when “authentic local experience” narratives are attached to young men from more economically vulnerable communities. Ex.: years back, on one of the previous incarnations of these boards, there was a now pretty famous guy who posted about his Rio tour services company that targeted gay male sex tourist clients, and these young, virile male Brazilian tour guides were also openly advertised as offering sexual services to these clients. 
It’s obviously true that residents of favelas like Vidigal and Rocinha survive on very little money, like almost all favelados do, and that small amounts of money to us tourists and expats can matter a whole lot to them. At the same time, economic benefit alone doesn’t automatically make every comunidade tour or locally promoted experience ethical by default.
The questions that actually matter are structural, rather than personal:
• Who organizes the activity and who controls the narrative?
• How is the money distributed, and how transparently?
• What boundaries exist around sexualization, exploitation, photography, and access?
• Does it strengthen community autonomy, or mainly serve outside onlookers’ (lookyloos’) curiosity — or even worse, normalize blurred lines that already make the locals uneasy?
Declining a specific recommendation isn’t the same as refusing to support favela residents generally, just as participating doesn’t automatically confer any grander moral virtue. Even in forums like this one, it seems pretty reasonable for people to want clarity and safeguards, rather than just having hesitation or skepticism framed as indifference or some moral failure. However, it is worth noting that a case being made against exploitation and undue influence will be easily self-sabotaged if discussed with hostility and ego flexing.
If we are being honest, conversations like this one are not just really about Vidigal, or any other favela.
They are about uneasy guilt management among foreign men coming to Brazil and other developing nations, who sit at the intersection of wealth, desire, race, sex and power asymmetry. 
Many men, straight, gay and in between, resolve whatever discomfort they may have differently: Some by participation framed as solidarity. Some by refusal framed as ethics. Some by money as absolution. Some by mere intellectual distancing.
When those strategies collide, conversations can turn ugly very fast — like what seems to have happened here (and elsewhere, like at the other board). 
 

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! 🤣 

Hornyfrog check your email. Thanks.

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. 

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

Thanks for info @hornyfrog.  Let's hope it's a success.  

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.