solacesoul

On the other hand, and not to “victim blame”, there are some really obnoxious clients who probably do deserve to have their asses kicked. There is one gringo tourist clown who sits at the sauna bar and lures garotos into doing a lot of public displays of affection / practical public sex acts by promising them a programa in a suite if he can feel a “connection”. Then, after practically getting his rocks off and having each garoto one-by-one go through humiliating intimacy with him in public, he sends them on their way without even as much as a tip for their time, saying, “I’ll think about it” or “maybe later”. I doubt many of the more obnoxious visitors understand that South / Latin America — and especially Brazil — has its own set of rules when it comes to meting out justice, and the machismo culture calls for avenging shame. I wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of some of these streetwise, favela-connected boys.

Club 117 and Point 202 have cameras and attentive locker room attendants. Locker room thefts there have been pretty rare. But you should always exercise caution. Just bring enough cash and one card for your sauna expenses for the night. As for your phone, it would be fine in a locked locker as well and also on your person, as long as you don’t get it wet or go in the showers / steam rooms with it. Honestly, you should be more concerned about carrying those items / cash outside on the streets than inside the saunas. Other than this (possible, unconfirmed) incident reported in the OP, the saunas are (relatively) safe and secure.

As far as I or my local sources in Rio can tell, nothing like this occurred at either 117 or 202 in Rio in May. If this did occur, it most likely happened at a sauna in another Brazilian city. BTW, there’s a shit ton of crimey / violent things that go down related to saunas, ads, GPs, massagistas and/or gogo boys in Brazil that never make the media rounds. Most of it goes unreported to law enforcement (because frankly, almost everyone knows they can be pretty useless and the others are not interested in going public), so most problems like this are handled internally. Example: over the last year or so, a popular gogo boy in Rio was robbing and attacking sauna and ad clients, targeting gay tourists who either would be too embarrassed or too frightened to come forward, or who wouldn’t be around town long enough to go through a lengthy process of filing charges. He did this so much that he was banned at both major saunas. But no news or announcements were ever made.

The actor-client might have been considered “hot” by most as well. The comments sections of various news reporting sites are filled with questions from readers about why a handsome, successful guy like him would *need* to hire a male prostitute — these commenters not understanding at all the dynamics of transactional sex. Clients run the gamut in physical appearance and attractiveness. Some pay for ease, for discretion, for variety. Some prefer to pay just so that the sex partner will go away afterwards. Some are into sex partners that are not in their social circles and thus, are not easily obtained. In any event, not every client *looks* like they have to pay for it.

More on the suspected murderer here at O Globo. Use the Google Translate function in the Chrome web browser to translate these articles into English. Saiba quem é o segundo suspeito da morte de Jeff Machado OGLOBO.GLOBO.COM De acordo com depoimentos, Jeander Vinícius da Silva Braga era garoto de programa, conhecido...

Caso Jeff Machado: Garoto de programa muda versão e revela 'frieza absurda' de produtor - Hugo Gloss HUGOGLOSS.UOL.COM.BR Jeander Vinícius da Silva Braga foi preso na última sexta (2), pela morte de Jeff Machado, e deu...

Adult, sentient human beings should be able to gather all forms of information — sometimes this info is competing and contrary, some info will be shiny, happy and positive, and others will be gloomy, dark and negative — and use all these points of information to make their their own informed decisions. Anything else ventures dangerously into propaganda territory.

If we had to make a comparative analysis where most USAmericans might understand, São Paulo is more on par with New York City crime stats, while Rio would be more of a Chicago — more violent crimes and gang-related activity uncontrolled by police. That being said, in Rio, one is far less likely to be the victim of a violent crime in one of the Zona Sul neighborhoods (Ipanema, Leblon, Copacabana, Lagoa, Gávea, Botafogo, Flamengo, Jardim Botânico, etc.), but this doesn’t take into account the many non-violent petty crimes in the tourist-rich areas. These crimes are common in São Paulo as well. Every person who resides in or stays longterm in one of the major cities in Brazil has been a victim of at least a petty theft. Those who have not been are the part of the lucky few. We are talking all ages, races, shapes and sizes. Especially in Rio (but São Paulo is certainly not immune), it’s not a matter of if — it’s when.

Don’t forget about the Chilean tourist that was drugged (boa noite Cinderela), robbed and murdered in Lapa… in May. One Chilean tourist dead, another injured after they were drugged at a bar in Brazil WWW.DAILYMAIL.CO.UK Ronald Tejeda, of Chile, was drugged, severely beaten and found dumped in a ditch in Rio de...

I think you’re being a bit facetious here. We aren’t discussing New York City, but even if we were, all cities aren’t equal. Although crime is on the rise in NYC, it is still objectively far less dangerous per-capita than Rio de Janeiro, or than any major city in Brazil. Statistically, there’s simply no comparison between Rio and New York City when it comes to the crime levels and safety. Objectively, Rio has double the crime and is less safe. In spite of its many issues, I absolutely love Rio and all of Brazil, but please… don’t blow smoke up anyone’s behind about it. https://www.numbeo.com/crime/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Brazil&city1=Rio+de+Janeiro&country2=United+States&city2=New+York%2C+NY

This is what we DO know: Two men checked into the same room of a love hotel (hourly motels, used mostly for sexual affairs / hookups and possibly drug use) in the Lapa district of Rio, an area popular for adult partying but also considered dangerous and sketchy. One of those men was a European tourist. The other man was a Carioca with a recent-past (not current) history of working as both a sauna garoto. A few weeks ago, a Chilean tourist was found murdered on the streets of Lapa, the victim of robbery and the “boa noite cinderela” scopamine knockout drug. His assailants were women believed to have met the victim while partying in Lapa. In January, a beloved gay sauna worker (a bartender, not a garoto) was found murdered in a Lapa hotel. The assailant, caught on camera but not yet apprehended, is widely believed to be a garoto or hustler that the victim met on the street or on online (it has been ruled out that the assailant worked at a sauna). It doesn’t take much to connect the dots. The two didn’t check in to a love hotel in Lapa as part of a deep-sea diving expedition. Those who reside in Rio / Brazil or stay here for extended periods are not the ones saying, “let’s wait until we get the full story”. You are not likely to get a full story. Those who reside in Rio / Brazil or stay here for extended periods are the first ones to tell you / warn you about the many dangers lurking in this beautiful city / country. One of the biggest dangers is meeting strange men or women for sex hookups in uncontrolled environments. I’m not about telling grown men what to do. We are all supposed to be adults here. But you should be aware that Rio and other parts of Brazil can be very dangerous, and certain activities require a heightened level of vigilance / caution. Going to love hotels in Rio for sex (or for recreational drugs) with a newly met or an unknown companion is now on that list (if it wasn’t already).

Well, apparently there are plenty of stupid and desperate killers getting caught on camera these days. As intimated in the title of this thread, In Rio, just this past January, another garoto murdered a beloved sauna employee at a love motel in Lapa — and his entrance and exit was caught on hotel cameras as well.

I know that in the recent past, the assailant Wallace de Oliveira worked as both a gogo boy and a sauna boy in Rio. I am not familiar with how the two met.

Video of the two checking into the hotel: eca99c25-b271-4bf0-b9d3-802ffd55c08e.mp4 0b473169-5e6e-448e-aa32-de1a3918d4cb.mp4 58cd4e4b-1da4-4922-abd8-c61d8873618d.mp4

Man arrested in Rio suspected of killing European tourist Ilia Kakhaberidze, 31, was found dead in a hotel room in the Lapa neighborhood (image below)  05/31/2023 at 10:15 am | Updated 05/31/2023 at 10:34 am The Military Police of Rio de Janeiro arrested a 42-year-old man suspected of killing a tourist from Georgia, in a hotel in Lapa, in the center of the capital. According to the PM, Wallace de Oliveira was arrested on Tuesday (30), in the act, with the help of witnesses. With the suspect, the police seized documents and cards of the victim. Wallace de Oliveira has nine passages through the police. Ilia Kakhaberidze, 31, was found dead in a hotel room in the Lapa neighborhood. His body was tied up and had signs of violence. According to witnesses, the tourist arrived at the hotel accompanied by the suspect. Four hours later, Wallace left the scene. Employees suspected the attitude, went to the room and found Ilia dead. His body was taken to the Legal Medical Institute (IML) in Rio and the case is being investigated by the Homicide Police Station of the Capital as robbery (robbery followed by death). Ilia Kakhaberidze was a ship engineering officer and worked on board. To CNN , the Honorary Consul of Georgia in São Paulo, Carmen Ruette, informed that the Consulate is aware of what happened to the citizen of the European country and that the Embassy of Georgia in Brasilia is acting in the case. For its part, the Embassy of Georgia in Brazil informed CNN that it is aware of what happened and has already made contact with the victim's relatives. Georgia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was doing what it could to help transport the body to its home country.

As I stated above, it’s very difficult for Brazilian men with no ”legitimate” non-sex related permanent job in Brazil to get a visa for legal entry to the USA.

So much of this is inaccurate and misleading. The highest sauna entry fee in Brazil is 70 reais on a certain night. The most expensive suite rate (which happens to be at a different sauna) in Brazil is 55 reais per 30-40 minutes (the time for 1 sauna programa). Even if you combined the highest sauna price with the most expensive suite fee from two different Brazilian saunas, that’s only 125 reais — which, as of today, equals only $22.55 USD. That’s NOT $40 USD and not even close. Not even with New Math. The only way to cross $40 USD is to add the separate costs of the programa / session that the client pays the garoto / sex worker individually — which would be about 100 reais and up ($18 USD). Or if you’re not adding in the costs for the garoto, then the math could only get to $40 USD with entrance + suite if you overstay your suite stay by an extra 90 minutes. By comparison, at Sauna Thermas in Barcelona, the entry fee is 18 EUR and the most expensive room is 15 EUR a session, so that’s a total of 33 Euros for entry and suite. That’s $36 USD, $14 more than the highest cost in Brazil. Just entry to Thermas alone would be $19.65 USD— only $3 USD less than the costs of entry AND a suite at the most expensive sauna night in Brazil. If you toss in the cost of a sauna session at Sauna Thermas in Barcelona, paid directly to the sex worker — about 50 euros or 55 USD — it’s STILL about twice as expensive as a sauna programa in Brazil, at 100 (minimum) to 150 reais (more common) — which is $18 to $27 USD. As for the specious claim that “the top Brazilians often go to the US and Europe”, this also is untrue. Only a few are able to travel to Europe (usually on the dime of a paying client or club), and with current stricter immigration policies in the USA (especially for unemployed BrazilIan men in a certain age demographic), even fewer go to the USA. The overwhelming majority of Brazilian garotos do not travel to Europe or the USA, and that has very little to do with looks or build (no matter what that preference of look or build is). The truth is the number of Brazilian sauna garotos who both travel to either Europe or the USA AND who still work in the sex trade when they are there is very small — it tends to be the same ones. Just because you see some “top BrazilIans” at two saunas in Europe, that doesn’t mean that’s most of them in Brazil — a country of 210 million people!

I get what you might be trying to convey here, but it is not really an accurate depiction of how modern young brasileiros interact with and respond to each other and others they are familiar with. Also, it comes across as a distant academic assessment from someone who hasn’t spent much time interacting with or observing BrazilIan men in their own element (i.e., away from turistas and gringos, and not in a hotel room or a suite in a sauna). They do say “thank you” to other BrazilIans and others whom they are socially familiar with ALL THE TIME. To suggest that young brasileiros do not commonly say “thank you” is “cultural” would be straight-up offensive to BrazilIans and is veering into xenophobia territory — in addition to it just being a false observation / conclusion. Casual tourists and non-locals wouldn’t be expected to know this, but modern brasileiros don’t often use “obrigado” with each other. They use “valeu” or the often shortened sound of “bri-ga “ which is shortened from “brigado” which was shortened from “obrigado” (the “verbal” thanks that you post about in your cigarette or pizza slice “favour” example above). And on the “connective” side that you also bring up, they have handshakes (which vary by region) that they only do with those brasileiros with whom they are already familiar and friendly —- not very likely to be an older sauna tourist client who is not a regular conversationalist in BrazilIan Portuguese and not “in the mix”. I also have to add here that although these are things you may hear, see, or pick up on, they are very casual and informal between familiar brasileiros — and as an outsider, you (yes, that means you, reader) should never be so presumptuous or familiar to say or do them with other brasileiros. I’m not trying to be mean or troll you here, just being direct, hoping that readers will better understand this than academic treatises.

A good policy is to give from the heart without any expectations. As a wise woman told me years ago, “expectations create disappointments”. A corollary to that policy is to give only as much as you can afford to lose. If it brings you joy to send $150 USD to 6 different BrazilIan garotos de programa through Western Union — knowing that doing so won’t make your relationship with any of them any closer or any more intimate or special than the ones they have with clients that do not — and it doesn’t cause you any financial pain or discomfort, then do it to your heart’s content.

This is the part where reading the link provided and the citations in the footnotes would be most helpful. The information is there. The Wiki article linked states: “Article 5, sections V and X, of the Brazilian Constitution states that the privacy, private life, honour and image of persons are inviolable, and the right to compensation for property or moral damages to the image is ensured.” This is supported by a footnotes citation, which links to The BrazilIan Constitution. This is from The Constitution of Brazil (English translation), found here (see the boldface): http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/br00000_.html Title II Fundamental Rights and Guarantee Chapter I Individual and Collective Rights and Duties Article 5 [Equality] (0) All persons are equal before the law, without any distinction whatsoever, and Brazilians and foreigners resident in Brazil are assured of inviolability of the right of life, liberty, equality, security, and property, on the following terms: I. men and women have equal rights and duties under this Constitution; II. no one is obliged to do or not to do something other than by virtue of law; III. no one is submitted to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment; IV. the expression of thought is free, and anonymity is forbidden; V. the right to answer is ensured, in proportion to the offense, besides compensation for property or moral damages to the image;”

Helpful advice to Brazil travelers, as well as those living or staying there for extended periods: Please be careful NOT to yield to any temptation of taking photos of and / or posting photos of guys you see or meet in Brazil without their advance consent. Posting, publishing or taking photos of someone without that person’s permission is not only highly unethical, but also it is a crime in Brazil — that is enforced and is punishable by fines and jail time. The law in Brazil on this subject is one of the strictest laws in the world that criminalizes, with monetary and civil penalty, posting or taking or publishing an image of a private individual without their express consent. The only 3 exceptions are for (1) public figures performing their public functions or activities (not in private life), (2) people who are present in a public space or participating in a public event (unless the depicted person is the main focus of or singled out in the picture), and (3) people related to news events of public interest (only if necessary and reasonably justified and if the reported facts are true). [ NOTE: none of these 3 exceptions would apply to escorts, sex workers, sauna workers, Grindr profiles and/or guys whose photos that you may find on social media and think they are so hot that you feel tempted to post their photos on the internet without their permission. ] Even if the photo was previously taken, or was posted at another place, like that individual’s Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp account, if you do NOT have prior authorization to post that person’s photo in Brazil, do NOT even think about posting it. It doesn’t matter if the person is nude, shirtless or fully clothed. It does not even matter if your intentions were pure and innocent. If the Brazilian subject of the photo did not authorize you to post or publish the photo, then don’t do it or else you risk being criminally and civilly liable in Brazil. However, if the unauthorized photo is published in a derogatory or sexual manner or at a site related to sex, sex work, or pornography (like a site such as this one, for example), that makes the likelihood of conviction even easier and the penalty even harsher. “The generally accepted doctrine, legalized by case law, specifically recognizes the image right as an autonomous personality right. This means, the right to one’s own image is protected as such. Just taking someone's photo without their permission (in private or public space) can violate their image right and gives them a right to compensation for moral damage. Of course, copying, reproducing, transfering, distributing, publishing or commercializing such a picture are illegal and anti-constitutional acts. Simultaneous prejudice to honour or reputation is not necessary. If the image is commercially exploited or used in a derogatory way, this will only aggrave the situation, but it is not a requirement for infraction complaint.” https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Country_specific_consent_requirements

As someone who is / was in both Rio and SP at or around these same times, and regularly is, I would not agree with this statement at all. For my type of garoto, due to my frequent travels and visits, I pretty much know all the players in several BrazilIan cities — and I was still able to find and meet “fresh new faces” at these saunas. In fact, I have met more at 117 and 202 during this trip than at the new Lagoa. But again, maybe this depends on the type of garoto you seek — as I’m almost exclusively into well-built, muscular, masculine men. The others aren’t really on my radar (although I have enough of a memory to remember if I have seen a certain garoto in person before). Agreed! Although I do know a few gogo boys who danced there. But they also dance at other clubs and saunas in Rio and SP — it’s a rotation, so nothing exclusive. I commented about this earlier. In the 3 busiest days I went in December, 2 of those days had more clients than garotos, and only 1 day (Friday) was reminiscent of the old Lagoa in its heyday. Yes it is very new and very clean — I will concede that, but “lots of guys”? Hit or miss! My opinion is it is no longer the premier sauna in Brazil in quality / quantity of garotos and ease of use, having lost that to 117 (even in the last year or so of the grand old Lagoa), and competes now with 202 for a second / third place finish. But yes, still worth a visit.

Fragata was always known as an also-ran sauna, with garotos that were more of average or twink builds. If the new Lagoa is featuring more of these types, then I wonder if there is a place in that space for Fragata at all. Perhaps the new Fragata will change its focus? Maybe it will pick up where the old Lagoa left off, and feature more masculine, built garotos instead?

I was at the new Lagoa for three of its peak days in December (Wednesday 11th, Friday 13th, Saturday 14th). My observation was that only that Friday was a day that was reminiscent of the old Lagoa, coming close to the quality and quantity of garotos from peak years of 5 years ago, and that the other days had too many clients versus garotos, and the garotos were not (IMO) very exceptional. Regarding new garotos, I am a regular traveler to Brazil (at least twice a year, minimum) and of the ones I saw that I liked, only 2-3 were new faces to me. The others I was familiar with and were very good regulars for me. Of course, if you are not a frequenter of BrazilIan or European saunas, these garotos would all be new to you, anyway. It matters what type of garoto you prefer in determining what kind of experience you’ll probably have at the new Lagoa. Although there were still a few, there are less muscle boys at the new Lagoa than there were at the old Lagoa from 3-5 years ago. There seem to be more skinny twinkish types, or just average builds. If you’re like me and more into former and not at all into the latter, then the new Lagoa, especially compared to the old one from a few years back, will be a bit of a disappointment. Also, it’s more “hit or miss” than a true guarantee for visual pleasure like before. I will return, yes, but with lowered expectations.