Rio de Janeiro Reports

[QUOTE=WayneRoberts;2784176]Centaurus was a nightmare, which is unfortunate because the experience itself ended up being quite good with the girls in the room. Both me and my two friends were mauled when we got in there. There is one thing with the girls being aggressive, but we could not even get a drink in the damn place we were just being bombarded to the point we had to be rude with some of them. [/QUOTE]Meanwhile, in the Thailand thread, guys are complaining about walking into a bar or gogo and the chicks not paying them any attention.

Cheers to all the friends in the forum.

Back on July I used the above ATM at a Manaus Mall. The next day I realized that the ATM gave me an exchange rate of about R4. 70 per US $ when the exchange rate was about R5. 25 per US $. I was furious because this sneaky Brazilians ATMs should pay the commercial rate but they don't, and screw us tourist.

Not to mention that in 2021 I went to an ATM of the same Banco 24 horas at the Cardenal Arcoverde metro station in Rio. I wanted to withdraw R1,000. The f. Ing machine showed me a 15% fee! Obviously I canceled the damn transaction. However, my account got charged $191. I fought the charge with my American bank, they said that the Brazilian ATM company has opened an inquiry about a possible ATM malfunction. The ATM technician reported that the ATM machine was operating fine. As a consequence I got robbed my money!

My experience is that at Banco do Brasil and BRADESCO they abide by the oficial rate at the time of transaction.

However, I had very bad experiences with BANCO 24 horas.

Can anyone give me tips about which ATMs use and which ATMs avoid? Is it that Brazilian banks are allowed not to follow international exchanges rates?

Any similar experiences? Please advice.

[QUOTE=PapiMuyRico;2784714]Cheers to all the friends in the forum.

Back on July I used the above ATM at a Manaus Mall. The next day I realized that the ATM gave me an exchange rate of about R4. 70 per US $ when the exchange rate was about R5. 25 per US $. I was furious because this sneaky Brazilians ATMs should pay the commercial rate but they don't, and screw us tourist.

Not to mention that in 2021 I went to an ATM of the same Banco 24 horas at the Cardenal Arcoverde metro station in Rio. I wanted to withdraw R1,000. The f. Ing machine showed me a 15% fee! Obviously I canceled the damn transaction. However, my account got charged $191. I fought the charge with my American bank, they said that the Brazilian ATM company has opened an inquiry about a possible ATM malfunction. The ATM technician reported that the ATM machine was operating fine. As a consequence I got robbed my money!

My experience is that at Banco do Brasil and BRADESCO they abide by the oficial rate at the time of transaction.

However, I had very bad experiences with BANCO 24 horas.

Can anyone give me tips about which ATMs use and which ATMs avoid? Is it that Brazilian banks are allowed not to follow international exchanges rates?

Any similar experiences? Please advice.[/QUOTE]I use Revolut for all my travel, work great in Rio, Sao Paulo, Athens and almost everywhere. Your US bank rip you off when you look at the exchange rate. Revolut exchange rate is the middle of bid and ask. They charge a 0. 5% conversion fee on weekday and 1% on weekend. I think this is fair. In Sao Paulo, Revolut work with BRADESCO ATM but did not work with Itau. But in Rio, both BRADESCO and Itau ATM work. That is kind of weird. Also, in Brazil, when you pay for stuff, tell them that it is credit even those it is a debit card. For some reason, when they try to charge it as debit, it does not work. In Europe, be careful when the ATM ask you to select the conversion. Don't let the ATM do the exchange, so select NO. Revolut will give you a much better rate. I withdraw 1000 euro and it cost me 9 euro total. 5 for revoult and 4 for the ATM. I press the incorrect button once and it cost me 70 euro on an 800 euro withdraw. Both was at the same ATM.

[QUOTE=PapiMuyRico;2784714]Cheers to all the friends in the forum.

Back on July I used the above ATM at a Manaus Mall. The next day I realized that the ATM gave me an exchange rate of about R4. 70 per US $ when the exchange rate was about R5. 25 per US $. I was furious because this sneaky Brazilians ATMs should pay the commercial rate but they don't, and screw us tourist.

Not to mention that in 2021 I went to an ATM of the same Banco 24 horas at the Cardenal Arcoverde metro station in Rio. I wanted to withdraw R1,000. The f. Ing machine showed me a 15% fee! Obviously I canceled the damn transaction. However, my account got charged $191. I fought the charge with my American bank, they said that the Brazilian ATM company has opened an inquiry about a possible ATM malfunction. The ATM technician reported that the ATM machine was operating fine. As a consequence I got robbed my money!

My experience is that at Banco do Brasil and BRADESCO they abide by the oficial rate at the time of transaction.

However, I had very bad experiences with BANCO 24 horas.

Can anyone give me tips about which ATMs use and which ATMs avoid? Is it that Brazilian banks are allowed not to follow international exchanges rates?

Any similar experiences? Please advice.[/QUOTE]All international ATM's will give you the choice of conversion or no conversion right before they give you your money. Always select no conversion in order to receive the best fx rate available from your Bank. If you select the conversion option, you will get the shitty rate from the local bank that you speak of in your post.

[QUOTE=PapiMuyRico;2784714]Cheers to all the friends in the forum.

Back on July I used the above ATM at a Manaus Mall. The next day I realized that the ATM gave me an exchange rate of about R4. 70 per US $ when the exchange rate was about R5. 25 per US $. I was furious because this sneaky Brazilians ATMs should pay the commercial rate but they don't, and screw us tourist.

Not to mention that in 2021 I went to an ATM of the same Banco 24 horas at the Cardenal Arcoverde metro station in Rio. I wanted to withdraw R1,000. The f. Ing machine showed me a 15% fee! Obviously I canceled the damn transaction. However, my account got charged $191. I fought the charge with my American bank, they said that the Brazilian ATM company has opened an inquiry about a possible ATM malfunction. The ATM technician reported that the ATM machine was operating fine. As a consequence I got robbed my money!

My experience is that at Banco do Brasil and BRADESCO they abide by the oficial rate at the time of transaction.

However, I had very bad experiences with BANCO 24 horas.

Can anyone give me tips about which ATMs use and which ATMs avoid? Is it that Brazilian banks are allowed not to follow international exchanges rates?

Any similar experiences? Please advice.[/QUOTE]This isn't really a problem with this ATM per se. Banks worldwide try to take advantage of this scheme. There are almost always two options at the time of withdrawal. One that is "conversion" or "convert from USD" or something (no!) and the other is withdraw Reals (yes). Always pick to withdraw in local currency. In this case Reals. This pushes the conversion back to YOUR bank who will give you close to spot rate. The other option is something called Dynamic Currency Conversion. But should just be call Scam Me.

Depending on the bank the message may be very clear that one is a bad deal (rare). More often they try to confuse you into picking the wrong one. So read very carefully and choose the one that is not conversion.

[QUOTE=Steve9696;2784787]This isn't really a problem with this ATM per se. Banks worldwide try to take advantage of this scheme. There are almost always two options at the time of withdrawal. One that is "conversion" or "convert from USD" or something (no!) and the other is withdraw Reals (yes). Always pick to withdraw in local currency.[/QUOTE]Actually the ATM only gives the choice to take the conversion or not. When you decline that it will automatically continue to the normal transaction. When I took out 1000 reais the other day, it would have cost me an extra $20 had I accepted the ATM's ripoff conversion.

[QUOTE=PapiMuyRico;2784714]...However, I had very bad experiences with BANCO 24 horas.....[/QUOTE]My guess is that this is not a bank specific ATM and that is the problem. You want to use an ATM that belongs to a single bank.

[QUOTE=Nounce;2784818]My guess is that this is not a bank specific ATM and that is the problem. You want to use an ATM that belongs to a single bank.[/QUOTE]Even at the banks they have the "conversion" scam. And I'the forgotten but MR E is right. They have moved from a reasonably clear choice to the more insidious "do you want conversion" and if you say no you think the transaction will be cancelled where in fact it proceeds in the RIGHT way. Decline conversion and rock on!

[QUOTE=Steve9696;2784840]Even at the banks they have the "conversion" scam. And I'the forgotten but MR E is right. They have moved from a reasonably clear choice to the more insidious "do you want conversion" and if you say no you think the transaction will be cancelled where in fact it proceeds in the RIGHT way. Decline conversion and rock on![/QUOTE]I know. He did decline but was still robbed. The difference is that this ATM which you can easily see everywhere is not bank specific. It has the best location at GRU too.

Saturday, I met up with some of my friends at a cigar shop (Mixture of ex military and Brazil travel buddies). We drank, laughed and talked shit about our travels and the state of the world in 2023. One of the guys mentioned that international incident of the American who recently killed a Colombian woman that he was in a relationship with. The tourist hired a private investigator and used a friend to send her a personal text to see if she would bite at his advances. When he discovered that she was "Still in the streets" he murdered her. He was caught by the police and is now facing homicide charges. We all shared horror stories of guys we knew who had girlfriends in other countries and how these guys convinced themselves that she loves them and is being faithful until he returns.

I shared with them this crazy story that I had never told them in the 2 decades that we had been friends.

About 22 years ago, I was downsized from my company. I received a very nice package (Almost 1 year's pay, plus vacation, sick days, etc). I mentioned on another monger travel board that I was thinking of staying in Rio for 3 - 6 months before I would start the process of looking for a new job. Within 1 week of my arrival in Brazil, I received 3 messages from members asking if I could do them a favor. Each one said they had girlfriends in Rio and wanted to know if I could tell them if I saw them working in Copa. They admitted that they were sending monthly allowances to pay all the bills. And to have spending money, so the girls wouldn't have to work. They wanted me to go to the Hoe triangle (Help, the Beach and Meia Pataca) to see if the girls were still doing programmas. Each one sent pictures and the girls real names so I would be able to recognize them.

Within 1 month, I had about 15 different board members reach out to me asking for the same favor. I think the exchange rate had just skyrocketed to about 3 or 4 Reais to the dollar so guys were living out their wildest fantasies for super cheap. One guy I met was a millionaire and he was supporting 7 fucking girls at the same time! He even gave them business, so they wouldn't have to work any longer. It was crazy reading all of these guys messages and seeing how each one didn't want to admit on the board what they were doing but wanted to know if their girl was still on the programma.

I sat in my apartment and a light bulb went off in my head. Why not start a website where I could charge guys money to investigate whether their girlfriends were still working! I registered a great URL and reached out to my former IT co-workers to learn how to build a website. I wrote up a business plan for a monthly subscription and explained what I would do and wouldn't do for them. For example, I would'nt go into the favelas to see if she had a guy living with her in the house the gringo was paying for. (I explained that all the women had Brasilian boyfriends, they just had to accept this. You are paying me to discover if she is still hoeing.)

I was THIS close to launching my website! I purchased a new laptop, reserved an apartment for 3 months and set up a business banking account. At that time, digital cameras were relatively new, so I purchased a small camera that had a 10 X zoom, so I could snap pictures from a long distance. Everything was ready to go until.... I was on another website dedicated to IT professionals. A female posted a story about how a member was able to look her up personal information based on her website. He showed up at her fucking doorsteps one morning with roses and asked her out on a date! She was shocked because she had no idea that the public could discover the owner of a website and use that info to find out additional information.

That post brought my great idea to a full fucking stop. My entire business was going to be based on me being incognito, I wasn't going to tell anyone that it was my website or what I was doing. I knew going into it that the idea was going to be extremely risky and that I would have to protect my safety by not divulging any association to the website. I decided that it just wasn't worth the risk. I figured that no matter how careful I was, somebody who was much more tech savvy than I was, could figure out it was me. At that point, my life might be in danger, so despite the opportunity to make big money and be able to live in Brazil, I decided to scrap the whole idea.

Side Note: All 3 girls who I was initially asked about, were in fact STILL working. Based on how much money they were sending every month, I saved each of these guys 10's of thousands of dollars!

[QUOTE=Bravo;2784850]Side Note: All 3 girls who I was initially asked about, were in fact STILL working. Based on how much money they were sending every month, I saved each of these guys 10's of thousands of dollars![/QUOTE]When are these lovesick simps going to learn that these hoors aren't yours? No, when you're with them it's just your turn! So make the most of it. The tutes are LOL!

[QUOTE=Bravo;2784850]Saturday, I met up with some of my friends at a cigar shop (Mixture of ex military and Brazil travel buddies). We drank, laughed and talked shit about our travels and the state of the world in 2023. One of the guys mentioned that international incident of the American who recently killed a Colombian woman that he was in a relationship with. The tourist hired a private investigator and used a friend to send her a personal text to see if she would bite at his advances. When he discovered that she was "Still in the streets" he murdered her.[/QUOTE]I tried to hit you up while I was down there but your box was full. This is the word on facebook today: According to the news. The DJ was engaged to the American (about to move and get married with him) she asked for money to him (1000) to play a toque in Bogota. But he discovered, instead, she went to Aruba with another man. Named Santiago. Divorced. Ex wife had an restraining order against his crazy ass.

[QUOTE=Bravo;2784850]Within 1 week of my arrival in Brazil, I received 3 messages from members asking if I could do them a favor. Each one said they had girlfriends in Rio and wanted to know if I could tell them if I saw them working in Copa. They admitted that they were sending monthly allowances to pay all the bills. All 3 girls who I was initially asked about, were in fact STILL working. Based on how much money they were sending every month, I saved each of these guys 10's of thousands of dollars![/QUOTE]Either these guys are stupid or they are dumb, but probably both. They met a hooker who they are sending money to and they want to know if the hooker they met is still a hooker? One thing that I keep asking on these threads that has always failed to be answer is why the fuck are guys trying to get into relationships with hookers? Why do they just not meet a chick that is not a hooker if they are looking for a relationship?

In 22 years of going to Brazil and having been in relationships with countless chicks that are not hookers, one thing I have never had to do was send them money or support them. This has NEVER even been asked of me. If you need to pay somebody to tell you that the hooker you chose AND is constantly sending money to is a hooker then just give me the money and I will save you some time (since you are obviously not interested in saving money.).

P.S. A Colombian chick just asked me what I was looking for. I said a good woman that does not beg for money. I then asked what she was looking for. She said a good man that does not think he can buy love.

[QUOTE=TheCane;2784871]When are these lovesick simps going to learn that these hoors aren't yours? No, when you're with them it's just your turn! So make the most of it. The tutes are LOL![/QUOTE]Never. Some men will always be looking for love in all the wrong places.

[QUOTE=Xpartan;2784982]Never. Some men will always be looking for love in all the wrong places.[/QUOTE][URL]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXRN_LkCa_o[/URL]

In Classicos Sosua DR back in the day I saw girls partying to this tune like there was no tomorrow.

Last Thursday 1/26 stopped by Vila Isabel to take a look. Not much going on, couple pretas hanging out but it was still early. Everyone was bored including the actors in the porn playing on the giant screen. Had a couple drinks and some fat booty in my lap and then meu rosto. The night was still juvenil so paid and was complimented by the desk menina on my cologne, called uber. Dropped off at Buenos Aires 44 climbed the steps, got card and walked into the boate, I was stopped and told a need to be escorted to a table. I actually cannot stand those old tasteless robes, so I didn't get one. At a table near the pole is where they had me sit. A few hotties there but I was looking for numbers. I spoke with couple but they declined by invitation. Paid and Ubered to Conceio. Now this place was on fire that night and the alcohol was giving me peak performance signals. Whole lotta bundas of all varieties. Here the women aren't timid, talked to quite a few, the little beauty sitting against the wall with her amigas das comunidades in white lingerie with her hair and nails all fixed for the night. Man I'm on a roll, solid body, beautiful face and moans and shouts so much that the door man was laughing when he knocked to inform us times up.

I don't remember anyone playing jazz on a tambourine, but hey I haven't seen everything yet!