This is probably not going to qualify as a trip report. First, I am not sure how much I will post, but my intention is to post a little bit each day. Also, most of it has already been posted before. So not sure if my ramblings will help anyone, but here it goes.

I just made my connection in Miami, but my bag didn’t. I had to go three days with the same clothes I had on me. Went to the store and bought some board shorts and Haviananas, so good to go. This is the second time this has happened, so I will probably be carrying on from here on out.

I am staying in an apartment with Whitty and Latinalover close to Rio Othon. Very nice with a great ocean view and a washer/dryer. We have to be out on Saturday. Going to the Ipanema Praia, which I have stayed at before and it is pretty nice. We did the double occupancy thing, so we’ll see if they charge a guest fee for garotas.

The first night, a Friday, we went to Luomos and it was really bad. Tons of guys and few girls. I only saw one girl I would go with and she was occupado. This has always been my favorite termas, but not tonight. Not to mention a couple of months ago they stopped the free food at night. I always looked forward to my routine there. A session, food, a sauna, shower and another session. As they say, nothing stays the same. Probably posted on here already, but must have missed it. Bummer. I almost didnt go back because of the lack of talent, but thought I would give it one more try. Tonight was a completely different story. For most of the night there were only a couple of other guys in the place and would say all but maybe a handful were very doable. I only had to fight off LL for my girl. Not sure what happened from one night to the next, maybe just my perception and lack of competition (again, except for my wingman, LL). Programmed twice and was talking to number three, but had to go due to dinner plans (thanks Jag). I will be back for number three and a few more as soon as I can.

Went to Solarium a couple of times. The talent may be the best of the termas hit so far, but the smoking is a killer (pardon the pun) I wont go back because of the smoke (there is nothing worse than an ex-smoker). Although now that I think about it, I am going to make an exception to bang LL's girl after he leaves town.

Cancun was good. I fucked up and went off my rule that the girl has to be a good kisser in the boite. She was a lot of fun, but just didnt have the passion in the cabine. I will probably go back. Good talent.

Termas 65 was the first termas I ever went into, so I have been trying to get back there since, but havent made it yet. We are going to Pampa Grill tomorrow night and will probably hit it then.

We have eaten at some great places this trip. I am bad with names, but I know we ate at Don Camillo's, which is a favorite. Copacabana Princess was great. They didnt know how to make a White Russian. I made the mistake of telling them to bring the stuff and I would make it. So we all had White Russian's and they charged us for each item that went in the drink. Maybe 20R a drink. Still, all in all, very good. We went to a little place on a side street off of Atlantica that was by far the best meal I have had here for about 16R. Killer.

We took the ferry out to Niteroi. Went to four floors of whores (sorry, dont recall the name). It was a total bust. It made Las Cucardas in Lima look like a fucking palace. We rang doorbells on a handful of rooms and looked in. It was bad. Real bad. The smell was something I cant even describe. We tried to go to a termas in Niteroi, but it didn’t open for another three hours, so we split and hit Cancun in centro. Niteroi was a total bust, but we tried.

I usually dont plan too far ahead, and wind up not doing what I planned, so this time I am planning a bit more. So on Thursday we pare planning on going to 65, then 4x4 and/or Cancun. Afterwards will hit Pampa Grill for the happy hour crowd. Going out to Barra on Firday. Plan on the beach during the day, Praia 400, then Barra Grill for dinner and finish off the night with the Hard Rock.

We have been to the beach every day and the weather has been great. We have hit Balcony each night in place of TA. It has been hit or miss. The talent on Saturday night was every bit as good as the best night when Help was open. The food is so so. The biggest problem at Balcony is it is just too small to handle the crowd. Very cramped.

Thanks Lovingmarvin for all the info. Very valuable.

I am writing this after Balcony and have a pretty good buzz going and need to hit the sack, but will post more as the trip goes. AZ

"For most of the night there were only a couple of other guys in the place and would say all but maybe a handful were very doable."

You must have been tired when you wrote this. There's only one meaning I can extract from this sentence.

Yes, I was tired when I wrote that. What I actually meant was LL thought all of the guys were doable but a handful. I guess you really never know a guy until you travel with him some.

Azguy,
that's not a wingman; that's a tail gunner......

CFK

Hung out at the beach today. LL stole my massage girl (getting used to it). We hit termas 65 late this afternoon. There have been some posts that have knocked the place, but it was great tonight. Tons of good girls and few robes. We all had great sessions. Mine was completa and went way over time. She was determined.

Went to Pampa Grill afterward and it was hopping. Very good. Ended the night at Balcony. It was so so, but left a little early. That is about it.

Went to Praia Club 400 on a Friday night back in January and was disappointed...I guess there are better nights there. If you are going all the way out there, have dinner at La Mole and then go to Paris Club in Recreio and give us a report. If you liked Help, this is a similar type venue and I think they have rooms on site...

Well, at least I can can say I went to Praia 400, but I can also say I will never go back. They had us pay the entrada up front (50R). No problem, but they also wanted us to pay the entrada when we left. Also, as I just entered the cabine, they said my amigo bought me a drink. Although I already had a full drink, I didnt think that much about it, because he does that kind of thing (I am obviously not talking about LL). : )

The session was good, but I think I was just lucky (320R for one hour). Whitty said his was was so so.

So we go to check out and they charged me for the drink they said my amigo bought for me (in addition to the entrada that we alreay paid). I asked Whitty if he ordered the drink for me and he said no. They would not take it off, so they got me for the drink. There were also some other guys checking out at the same time that were really pissed and said they would never be back because they tried to fuck them too.

They also do the same thing as Centaurus with having girls sit with you up front. In other words, they try to do the picking. Fortunately our girls were the best looking of the bunch. The quality of the girls was the weakest of all the termas we have hit this trip by far.



I would never go back. AZ

(Message edited by azguy on May 28, 2010)

it sure sounds like RIO has gone to shit before I could ever get there. Is is as bad as NOGALES yet?

I assume you're joking?


(Message edited by catocony on May 29, 2010)

I didnt mean to give that impression. Its still the best place to go on earth, just not as great as a few years ago, and way more expensive. They did get rid of the favella kids on Atlantica, which is nice.

Great sessions so far, great weather and beach days, great food. Actually, probably the best food I have had here thanks to the recommendations of Jag and a few others.

I think the only downside of Rio right now is LL is in town. The good news is he is leaving today and I am going to go bang his chick.

Here's that song LL was looking for:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXcZxiv_5Qs

Was good to see you guys last night.

Same here, Gib. Funny you posted that because LL wanted to try and track it down today.

Another great day in Rio. Great time at MC, then Luomos. Only a couple of days left. Skipping Balcony. Although similar to TA, it got a little old at the end. Looking forward to Solarium tomorrow. Too bad LL had to go back home : )

The hotel I am at now charges an arm and a leg for internet by the minute, so I will post a final when I get home. Again, not much new info.

Thanks for the update. Cancun and Termas 65 do not usually get great reviews so I guess it is time to have a second look. Are they like the other Centro termas and only open Monday-Friday?

Yes, Mon - Fri. Hit 65 again and it was really good. Hit the old stand by, Luomo tonight, which is my last night. I pretty much went through all the ones I wanted at L, so I went with a smoking hot garota that I had a pretty good idea wouldnt be that great, but curiosity got the better of me.

I need to kill 5 hours tomorrow before the airport, so what better way to do it than at a termas. Probably MC.

To sum up the trip, it was one of my better trips to Rio. Great times hanging out with the guys at Balcony and of course all the termas runs. As always, Whitty was a great wingman, and what can I say about LL.....hmm, I will have to get back to you guys on that on : ) The apartment was nice, in a perfect location.

The prices seemed higher and the talent was about the same as the last several trips. Although I hardly ever went into Help, I really missed the TA/Help scene.

The trip started slow with few safadas, but after about the third day it kicked in and the performance shot up. I will save you guys from the dirty details.

65 was the best termas from 02-05, then it went way downhill from 06-08. It's been coming back over the last 18 months or so and is back on my normal rotation. Good quality, good selection, not packed like 4x4 but not empty like the boite is at Cancun.

65 was my favorite this trip!!! A lot of hot women in there, i could have easily gone with a half dozen . . . . am jealous that AZ Guy got to go a second time.

As he said, Praia 400, NEVER AGAIN, really tried to fuck us on the bill . . .

Pulled a cute girl off the beach as well, you locals probably know her (kelli) . . .

Luomo ended up being a great time . . . really had fun drinking with Bia and Caroline, those two girls can dance!!! Also had my last session with Judy . . . a great way to end the trip . . . Off to Thailand in 4 weeks . . . .

Bia, that girl is a dancing machine! Not bad in the cabine either, but I love watching her dance.

The problem with posting a half-assed trip report is its hard to remember what I already said. Old age sucks. Anyway, we had to stay the last few days at Praia Ipanema Hotel. I stayed there my first trip to Rio and thought it would be nice to go back. Its a fairly nice hotel, but they fucking charge for everything. The room worked out to $246/night. Internet is $40R/day or you can opt to pay by the minute at .75R/minute. To top it off its not wireless, so you have to use a cable, which I think they charged for. Then there is the $3R/day for the safe, etc. We paid for double occupancy to avoid a guest fee, but we never took anything back so not sure if they would still hit you for a guest fee. My guess is, they would still charge extra. I wouldnt stay there again just because of all the extra charges. Three nights there cost the same as ten nights at the apartment in Copa.

Before the trip, we were thinking since TA/Help is gone there is no need to stay in Copa, but after going, I think it still makes sense to be in Copa, plus Copa is cheaper.

As you guys know it can get really loud at night in South America when you are trying to sleep. Especially if you get a room facing a busy street. Before this trip I bought an mp3 of brown noise and played it on my travel speakers when I was sleeping. It worked great and I never had a problem with noise. Just set it on loop and it will just keep playing. Because most of the mp3 files increase in sound at the beginning and fade out at the end of the track, to keep a constant sound, just set it to start 3 seconds after and 3 seconds before it ends. It also worked good with ear-buds on the plane when I was reading.

I bought an iPad and thought I had made a mistake because I usually use my macbook at the house. I took it along with my macbook on this trip just for movies and ebooks for the flight. In the future I think to lighten the load I'll just take the iPad. Skype worked surprisingly well on it. The only downside is that if they dont have wireless where I am staying, I will have to go find wifi. A few trips ago I tried to hook up an Apple wireless express, but could not get it to work. I think you need the account info to set up. Any suggestions appreciated.

How did you get back and forth between your Ipanema Hotel and Termas in Centro like 65? I have always read about horror stories about crooked cops stopping cabs when guys try to get back to their Ipanema apartments.

We didnt have any problems going to centro. The only problem we had was one night we were going to a nightclub and there was a checkpoint and he didnt have a copy of our passports. We didnt want to risk it so our cabbie got us out and back to Copa.

Heading west, towards Leblon, I've never seen them on Viera Souto or on Barao de Torre, nor on the main street that runs around Lagoa. I've generally only seen them right there on Prudente de Morais around Gen. Osario park (where the hippie fair is) right as you're at the end of the park. I'm not out that way much at night but from my days at Ipanema Tower - which were 4-5 years ago - you just avoid that stretch. It's a bit further of course if you're staying within a block or two of there on that street, but just go the extra block down and take Souto and then either walk the block back or cut up a side street and walk in from there. That area is real safe (for Rio) at night.

I don't know why so many cabbies drive through there unless they're in on the scams with the cops. It's about the same as setting up a speed trap on one street while a block or two parallel on either side, there aren't any stops.

I found a scrap of paper from my Rio trip last year. Are these prices still the same for 65? R30=entrada
R180=40 mins
R200=60 mins
R40=min consumption on Fridays.

Those aren't 65 prices, the entry hasn't been 30 reals in at least the last 7 years and there's no minimum consumption or using the entry as consumption or anything like that. Your prices look like Cancun's, and they always seem to have a nightly promotion like buckets of beer for cheap, using entry for booze, stuff like that.

65 has always been priced right about the same as the Zona Sul termas and thus always easily more than 4x4 or Cancun.

I am so bad at recalling prices, but I think Cat is right. Cancun was the cheapest of the trip. Somewhere around 220R for 40 min, or could have been for an hour. I am thinking 65 was around 320R for 40 min. Entradas ranged between 50R to 70R. Never went to Centaurus.

Here is a quick breakdown of my trip in US dollars:
Flight: $1,100.
Apartment (8 nights): $800.
Ipanema Hotel (3 nights): $740.
Food, drink and "entertainment": $3,900.
Total: $6,540 or $594/day.

I didnt separate "entertainment", but I would say most days I did two programs a day. The majority were at termas and the rest from Balcony. Balcony was never more than 200R.

AZ-

The checkpoint was probably an alcohol checkpoint. Rio has a "zero tolerance" law regarding drinking and driving, and they put up checkpoints all over town these days. Drivers are asked to take a breathalyzer test, and if any indication of alcohol use shows up, they are ticketed. I haven't seen one of the ID blitz points in a few years.

Still, it's a good idea to carry a photocopy of the main pages of your passport and your Brasil visa with you at all times. If you're the paranoid type, you can also copy and carry the page with your entrance stamp so that police will know whether you are legally in the country. You are not required to carry your actual passport, and doing so is a bad idea for all the obvious reasons.

Your listing of costs should effectively keep a substantial portion of the CH membership away from Rio. It's no longer a bargain location. But, as your report indicates, it's still an awesome place to spend a vacation, if you have the cash.

Thanks for the reporting.

Right-O, boys. I stand corrected. I think those are Cancun prices. Never made it inside Cancun that trip. On my Brazil trip last Dec, I sessioned at 4x4, the private apartments, HELP, 502, massage apartments on Rio Branco, Club Aquarius plus bunch of prives in Sao Paulo for a week as well. Good Times, one regret was that I never got around to booking with the escort agencies either. I am not a drinker or eat extravagantly plus my Rio rental apartment was only $75/night. My trip budget was around $265/night all inclusive with the exchange rate at 1.75! My once-a-year splurge!

Cancun is a good value, 220 40 min and 240 or 260 for an hour. The cabines are nice and clean and for me an hour in Cancun is a no brainer. My first trip to Rio was April 07. I have been back about 7 times.the last 6 all seemed to be very similar. This trip was very different in a few ways.
One and probably the most significant was the closing of Help, it has changed the whole dynamics of Copa. The other is the rise in prices from my last trip in october in '09.
The last thing was having AZguy and Whitty and Hdooger as wingmen. Whitty was great, always the first guy to reach into his pocket to pick up the check. Helped plan every days activities, just an all around good guy. Hdooger is great alot of fun, and a blast to hang out with. However he has a tendency to fall in love and disappear for days at a time. AZGuy, where do I start?? Every terma we visited he would walk around the bar and lift his leg and mark every doable girl in the bar. Seriously it was a great trip, lots of laughs, some very hot Garotas and meals. I spent about the same as Azguy but it was worth it.