Today is the day for my flight from Buenos Aires to Rio de Janeiro. I am about ready to leave Buenos Aires, but I have time for one last double to go off in style. It was great fun hanging out with the guys but honestly Buenos Aires didn?t live up to my expectations. I was disappointed with the quality of the girls from an appearance standpoint. I was also disappointed that it was much more difficult to get a girl to want to stay LongTime than it is in Asia. (Yes, GodFather I know that BA isn?t Asia, but in life we make comparisons all the time to tell which is better or preferred or even just good.) I also have to admit that I am reeling a little from the amount of money that I have spent here ? my initial guesstimate is about USD$1700.00 (including my up coming double) over the 6 days/5 nights that I have been here. And that doesn?t include airfare ? which in this case was free since I used a FF ticket. I could have spent 17 days/18 nights in Bangkok and a couple of days longer in the Philippines.

I am sitting at EZE airport while writing this passage. This morning has been quite busy for me. I got in two doubles last night as well as packing ? always a last minute activity for me. The first double was with Julieta/Karin the second being Rafaela/Paola. Sorry, time to board?
My flight from BsAs to Rio connected through Sao Paulo. I was very tempted to ?miss? my connection and spend a day or two exploring the depths of carnal knowledge in Sao Paulo but I heeded the warning of danger in Sao Paulo and went on to Rio like a good little boy. I arrived at GIG slightly early and decided that since it was really early for the night scene and too late for the termas that I would take a look around the airport. There are ATM?s here as well as the usual money changers/cambios. My preferred cash card did not work in either of the two ATMs that I tried so I cashed a travelers check at the Amex Money Changer booth. The rate was decent ? BRL3.05 to USD$1.00. While changing money I asked the girl at the desk was it better to pay for a car into town inside at one of the booths or to take one of the meter taxis from outside. I already knew not to take rides from those that just approach you inside the airport. She advised me that it would be more expensive for the booth supplied cars but that they are very safe. I asked her if the taxis outside are safe. She told me that the registered ones are safe. She also advised me that you could tell which were registered by looking for their license posted inside the cab near the driver. She advised that the picture on the license should/must match the person driving the cab. The Yellow ones were her recommendation. I ran the gauntlet of people, both men and women, trying to sell me a ride into town telling each in turn that I was not interested and would be getting a taxi outside. Once outside I found a Yellow taxi and using my electronic translator asked to see his license. Well, either I am not very good at getting my point across, or he was pretending to not understand me. I finally spotted a uniformed and radio toting member of the airport staff and tried asking him, using the electronic translator, if he could get me a registered cab or at least point me in the correct direction to find them. He didn?t understand exactly what I wanted so he escorted me to a phone inside where he called someone that spoke a little English. That voice assured me that I would be safe in any of the Yellow cabs as they are indeed registered. The voice then spoke again with the man. After their conversation he escorted me outside and spoke with the same driver I had spoken to before. All was arranged, this driver would take me into town to the Hotel. It was a long drive from the airport to the hotel even though there was little traffic going in that direction. I arrived at the hotel just before 20:30. My initial impression was positive. The Rio Roiss is located just behind the Othon Palace Hotel. The first floor consists of two alcoves, one a sitting area and the other the reception desk area. These two spaces are connected to each other via a small hallway that contains the elevators. The two elevators open on each of the floors into a small vestibule. As you step out of the elevator you are confronted with the doors to the three rooms on that floor particular floor. There is no hallway and very little walking from the elevator to the room door. My room on this trip was Rm. 702. The room itself was spacious and fairly well laid out for my tastes. This is one of the rooms with a partial view of the beach/ocean by virtue of being in the corner of the hotel that is at the intersection of two streets. The minibar was reasonably stocked with goodies for a non-drinker but is a paradise for those who crave alcohol. Only one set of towels but that will be easily corrected tomorrow. Also it?s dark in this place. Very dark. I won?t have much luck with filming and pictures in this room. After a quick shower I intend to head out to dinner and then check out Meia Pataca and then HELP.

Tonight (well actually last night since I am writing this at 06:00 on 05 September 2002) I went to HELP disco. Once again I was disappointed. I admit that this place is large but all the hype about it being the largest disco in South America gave me the impression that it was a much, much larger place. I actually ate dinner at the outside restaurant nearly in front of HELP. I thought that this place was Meia Pataca but later learned that it is not. Anyway, it was still packed with girls and guys. There was a group of three girls sitting at the table next to mine and all three were giving me the eye. One of them extremely doable. But I held my resolve to actually go into HELP this night. It was extremely difficult to hold to that resolve when a wandering girl came by and gave a very compelling sales pitch. The two problems with her though were the price and the look in her eyes. She had the look of someone who either hadn?t slept in days or was on drugs. Her price was BRL80 for shorttime(?). I could have potentially ignored the drugged out look but the price gave me pause, not because she was too expensive but because she seemed too cheap. Maybe I should have gone for it anyway as she was otherwise an attractive woman. After I turned her down she roamed to several other tables with similar results. However, I know she found a taker as I later saw her signing in at the reception desk in the Rio Roiss. Anyway, back to HELP. The girls at HELP were expensive or at least think they should be expensive. I was routinely getting quotes of BRL200 for two to three hours. I even got one girl who quoted me BRL300 for 1 hour. Yes, that is USD$100 for ONE hour. Needless to say I didn?t select her. I did try to negotiate with some of the girls at first but they wouldn?t budge and later on I had lost my will to haggle over money. I made the decision that I wouldn?t be taking anyone once it was 04:00 but that I would stay and close the place. At about 05:30 I decided that I couldn?t stay any longer as there were about 10 people left in the club most of them in couples. I made my way back to the Rio Roiss and here I am typing this. Alone my first night in Rio.

Doesn't seem like has changed much at all, it's been close to 18 months since my last visit but I found it very hit and miss over 6-7 trips times 3-4 visits each. A couple of real gems but all in all finding a honey at one of the terma's is the way to go.