Went to Rio over Thanksgiving. Left on Wednesday night and returned on Sunday night. Over-all a pretty good trip. Here are some quick thoughts for those going in the future.
1. Thanksgiving use to be the big holiday in Rio. Thousands of single US guys would flood the city, clubs were packed, termas were packed. Not any more. I hardly saw any single US guys anywhere. Places were dead.
2. Only went to Monte Carlo which has some great girls. Saw Nikki and Leticia who were outstanding. There were not as many guys as in July or last January. Couple of nights I was there I only saw 4 or 5 guys in the club. Very slow business. In talking with the girls they said that due to the slow economy there the locals don't go as they use to.
3. Stayed at the new Ritz Copacabana. Everything brand new with a helpful staff but they don't have their drill down yet. There were two girls at the front desk and a general manager it seems. One girl let me bring up any number of girls without checking but when the other girl was on duty with the manager it was just one girl a day so we had to go to a love motel. The rooms were nice enough but did not have a normal bathroom as at the Princess. The sink and mirror were in the room while behind one glass door was the shower and behind the other glass door was the toilet.
4. Exchange rate was 3.42 which is good.
5. Went to Lapa which is a total zoo of bars, clubs and food and drink stands. Lots of hot girls walking around but no way to tell if they are "programma" or not.
6. Used http://www.hotside.com.br/ which has some excellent girls.
7. Everyone uses Whatsapp to send messages. Girls in the Termas will happily give you their whatsapp number. Girls in the ads on web pages have their Whatsapp number listed. If you are going, get that app!
Still a great trip and very reasonable cost when there. The air-fare is totally out of line from some places. You can go twice the distance for less. Houston to Rio is more then Houston to Thailand or Paris.