THE RIO SOIREE - A HOMOPHONIC CONVERGANCE

[Guest sucker]

I am home in the Bay Area and I am going through withdrawal symptoms after spending a glorious week in Brazil. I was a part of the M4M soiree and want to thank my fellow posters for making this a vacation I will never forget.

Since this was my second visit to Brazil, I'd like to add my observations on this HOMOPHONIC CONVERGANCE.

As most of the airlines now stop first in Sao Paulo before going on to RIO I was able to schedule a layover...in airline terms that means a connection of less than 24 hours....to visit sao paulo. My goal was to visit Lagoa and it was well worth it.

The facility itself is very clean, modern and sprawling. I like to wander in a thermas rather than just sit in one spot so I had fun checking out the beautiful naked bodies in the showers that were adjacent to the lounge, as well as the locker area where the boys would undress. There is someone for every taste there, and most of the PAULISTA boys were not as dark skinned as the Cariocas in RIO. Was I in WEHO or just heaven?

I was there on a Friday nite and the place stays open till 5 in the morning. I left around midnite and it was going wild.

But wildness was waiting for me in RIO!

I love staying at the Atlantico Copacabana cause when I checked in there the front dest staff was waiting for me and made sure my room was exactly what I wanted. It was like family waiting for your return home.

I hooked up with other posters and went off to 117. The infamous Jabba was there with all his bodyguards. My sweetheart/stripper from my last trip, Marcio, had become his head bodyguard and he could no longer hang out with me. No problem as I quickly fell in love with Marcello, the current stripper that evening.

He is a gorgeous hunk, almost as tall as TOMCAL....can you imagine that! He was from sp and we learned that he was studying law!

He even grabbed me from my seat and i was part of his stripper show!

But the best was yet to come. TOMCAL had reserved a number of tables at the yellow awning pizza place and we would all meet there at midnite!

It was then that I realized we were part of a HOMOPHONIC CONVERGANCE...a symphony of posters, coming together from all parts of the usa, and sharing the individual melodies and harmonies of our adventures with the boys of RIO, with each other.

The camraderie was incredible and the week I had in RIO was beyond epectations.

Thank you fellow posters for sharing so much of your joy with me.

[Guest Gringo]

I agree Sucker. The convergance, aside from the dedicated and careful planning of so many m4m posters, was an event beyond expectation. It was a pleasure meeting you and seeing your joy in the arms of your birthday present was a vision to behold. Will the homophonic planets align again---time will tell.

[Guest Tomcal_]

Sucker, Gringo, I hope the next "convergence" will be in Oct. I just confirmed my dates for Thurs. Oct. 23 - Sunday, Nov.2

Also going to be their from Aug. 6th to 10th. Sucker, looking forward to visiting you and SFTraveller in S.F. in a few weeks. My friend and I are coming up for a weekend.

[CT Dick]

RE: THE RIO SOIREE - A HOMOPHONIC CONVERGeNCE

 

I agree totally. How wonderful to have a dozen 'friends' form this site. We all felt like we already knew each other and enjoyed outrtime together.

 

I hope it can be created again.

 

Anyone for next April?

 

Dick

 

http://www.latinworld.com/images/corcovado.jpg

[Guest Gringo]

RE: THE RIO SOIREE - A HOMOPHONIC CONVERGeNCE

 

CT---How did you post that photo? I could save alot of people alot of trouble if I knew how....}(

[gulliver]

tomcal and all - will be arriving october 24 and will stay thru 11/2 for the next convergance. Floridarob is still in nyc with me and we are going to cuba for Memorial day - a five day stay. I think he will be game for another trip. Since next winter I will be there from december 26th thru the end of april - we can redo the event again then. Gave Monica, the hotel manager, flowers and a thanks for her help and she made it clear that the hotel will do more next time and we are welcome to do it again. She contacted a private person that was used recently to do a BBQ and he is willing to do all the cooking on the roof. will hopefully see you in NYC saturday.

[Guest sucker]

TOMCAL - I have just informed the SF chamber of commerce that you are planning a visit. They were very excited as they feel this alone will boost the employment of many of the city's young men who are currenctly at the bottom! It will be a big boost to the local economy.

I also briefly talked to the mayor, WILLIE BROWN, about your visit.

He was not as impressed with you until i told him, point blank, "Mayor Brown, I knew TOMCAL, and you're no TOMCAL!"

That convinced him to give you the keys to the city hall upon your arrival.

This will be another big event for m4mers and we are all looking forward to it!

[Reed]

Hey Guys, thanks to all of you for sharing your convergance experiences. It sounds like a wonderful encounter and I look forward to participating next time around. I'm heading back to Rio for my 4th trip in 6 months on May 22. Foreign travellers to other locations have been reporting a lot of overt anti-americanism, especially since the activities in Iraq. What, if anything, did any of you experience in that regard?

[dick_nyc]

I was there right after the invasion started. The people in the neighborhood (not around the Atlantico) watched the news. One man who spoke good English asked me my opinion and why, no bitterness, just curiosity - the rest ignored it and I was very well treated. I had absolutely no anti-Americanism from anyone. The area I stayed in is about half-way between the Atlantico and Ipanema right at the end of Copacabana.

[trilingual]

Ditto, both here in Brazil and in Argentina. The Bush administration is viewed with the deepest suspicion here and people find Bush, himself, very hard to take, but I've found no animosity directed towards individual Americans. The war itself is starting to be "old news" here, especially now that it's mostly over and the long boring reconstruction of Iraq is beginning, so people's attention is once again drawn to local issues, like the progress of the Lula government here in Brazil and the upcoming presidential elections in Argentina.

 

As for the next convergence, I hope to be back in Brazil (with my own apartment) in November/December and expect to stay until the end of February, with a side-trip to B.A. to renew my entry permit before my 90 days run out.

[dick_nyc]

Just a side note and this is probably the wrong venue, what is your take on Lula's chances of success. When I went there my seat mate from Sao Paolo to Rio told me she had voted for Lula because she thought he understood the people better than anyone else. She just hoped he wouldn't try to do everything at once because she didn't think the country could afford that. If he took his time and did it right she thought he had a good chance of success. I wanted to ask some of the coffee shop people about that, but my Portugese wouldn't allow that.

 

Would appreciate your thoughts. The country is such a delightful place to visit that I hope they can get their problems solved.

[CT Dick]

The upper middle class Brazilians I spoke to hope that he can help solve the country's problems but are afraid that they are just too great.

 

They realize that having favelas full of very poor people SO close to wealthy neighborhoods is asking for crime and that an improvement of the lot of the poor will improve the life of all Cariocas.

 

That said, they are doubtful that anything can be done to bridge the huge gap between the rich and poor.

 

It's sad and the locals appreciate it.

 

Dick

[trilingual]

So far, Lula has done all the right things. Brazil has 500 years of social inequality, injustice and bad governance to overcome. Fortunately, Brazilians seem to understand that such a legacy can't be overcome overnight and are willing to give Lula some breathing space to achieve some progress. As long as that lasts, there's a chance life will improve here. Brazilians don't think the country is going to become another Sweden by the end of Lula's administration (even if he's re-elected) because the problems are so large, but they certainly expect continuen improvement. Even though Lula's predecessor lost popularity, on the whole there were clear and perceptible advances in social well-being during his administration, and Brazilians expect that to continue. Lula has proven to be very adroit, politically, at least for now. He's managed to get several key structural reforms taken up in Congress, where they languished for most of the preceding administration, and it looks like they will be passed during this year. It helps that Lula was elected with such a staggering landslide of support, unprecedented in this part of the world. Nobody dares tangle with him, too much. If the reforms are voted, Brazil's economic situation will be significantly strengthened, and the country will become much more attractive for foreign investment. This, in turn, will lead to increased growth and prosperity.

 

There's definitely room for optimism about Brazil, as long as it isn't of the Pollyanna variety. The problems are huge, but not completely intractable. It's just going to take a lot of work and a lot of time, but there's no reason Brazil shouldn't eventually be able to become the great and prosperous nation it dreams of being.

[dick_nyc]

As my Jewish friends say from your lips to God's ears.

[jackhammer91406]

Brazil Nuts,

I couldn't stay away. After seeing the pics and logging on to read the comments, I see that a number of you will be in Rio in late October. That is music to my ears (samba anyone?)

I have been looking forward to my trip for months, but was worried I wouldn't meet any M4M posters while I was there. Now I find that not only are the liveliest bunch of B-nuts going to be there but with the reputation of tomcal, even an guy like me can probably get laid from his leftovers. I have a confirmation for the presidential suite Oct 23-Nov 3. HAppy to make it available if you guys decide to have a soiree in the hotel again. Looking forward to it.

Gringo , thanks again for the pics and to everyone who has sent kind messages.

 

:7

[axebahia]

>Brazil Nuts,

>I couldn't stay away. After seeing the pics and logging on to

>read the comments,

 

Quelle surprise?

 

I have

>a confirmation for the presidential suite Oct 23-Nov 3. HAppy

>to make it available if you guys decide to have a soiree in

>the hotel again.

 

Can you make any friends without giving away freebies? What does your therapist say about that?

[jackhammer91406]

Axe,

Must be a slow day to bring you out from under your rock for this one.

[axebahia]

>Axe,

>Must be a slow day to bring you out from under your rock for

>this one.

 

So did you figure out the meaning of my name while you were in God's country? In any case, welcome home. I hope you find your meds ans slippers by the bed!:-)

[CarloRio]

Lula and Brasil

 

Albeit I didn't vote for Lula nor am too fond of his party... he's been doing a good job so far and kept on going with the previous governments guidelines... so many people joke that Lula's government is the continuation of FHC government...

 

And many things that the previous administration tried to implement and wasn't able to do so because of Lula's party, are now being implemented by him... It's really a sign of maturity and compromise with Brasil.

 

And as most Brasilians I am pretty optimistic that things here will improve little by little... and we may not be a Sweden by the end of this government but we'd like to become Portugal, and we will work for that...

 

Um abraço,:7