I was sleeping much of the time and the weather was overcast the first couple of days in Rio. That turned out to be a blessing because it was cool. Once the weather cleared, the temperatures soared to more than 35 degrees Celsius every day. Even just walking outside one day for less than an hour without suntan lotion gave me a nasty sunburn.

I met some Americans also staying at the Vermont Hotel in Ipanema: Paul, Dale, and ? (Indian heritage, who I had met through Daniel Bao at the first Life After Capitalism dinner at the World Social Forum). My favorite place to eat is the New Natural Restaurant, just on the opposite side of the same block where the hotel is located. The restaurant has a really wide variety of vegetarian dishes at really reasonable prices. The juice place on the corner of the hotel street and the next street toward Copacabana was a favorite with more than 80 choices of juices!

One of the first nights in town, some of us went to Bofatida Bar on the Rua Farme Amoedo, which is where the guys go to cruise in the evening after hanging out on the rainbow-flag waving gay part of the Ipanema Beach. During Carnival, the gay folks apparently sometimes get into fist fights with rough locals hanging at another choppo, or draft beer bar, on that street. After drinking some rot-gut caparinhos at Bofatida, we headed onward to Le Boy Club. At first, we almost didn’t go in because they tried to charge the woman who was with us twice the entry charge of the guys, but when we went next door to the empty La Girl Club, an employee or perhaps the manager from there convinced the Le Boy folks to let her in for the same price as the rest of us.

That’s when I met Paul… I saw this gorgeous long-haired guy standing in the club watching the drag and hunky guy strip show. I decided “what the hell!� and went over and just started talking with him. We both felt an instant attraction which built as we talked and realized that we have quite a bit in common. We talked and made out for hours. Finally, it was time to go… he for work the next morning and I because I was dead tired. We went by taxi and dropped him off at his place after we exchanged numbers.

I called him the next morning while he was at work and we arranged a date that day and every day for the rest of the time I was in Rio. Often, we snuck him into the hotel room for the night since it wasn’t too cool for me to stay at his place. While he was at work, I checked out sites such as Corcovado, the large statue of Christ atop one of the hills of Rio, and the Botanical Garden, which has nice houses of orchids and bromeliads. We spent almost an entire weekend together walking on the beach, exercising, swimming, sharing dinner and conversation, and making love.

Paul is an architect from Cordoba, where his family lives. He’s the oldest of three sons. His father is of Ukrainian-Italian heritage, works a lot, is very rational, and likes to plant gardens on the land that the family owns in the hills near Cordoba. Paul also has a piece of land there and wants to build a house on it. His mother, who is entirely of Italian heritage, and his father had split up for a year but are back together again now.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been with someone who was willing to really take time to get to know me. Most people in San Francisco are so busy trying to work to pay the rent that it’s hard to find quality time to share. I’d have to say that I enjoyed every moment we spent together, even when we were doing something that both of us thought was boring, like visiting the museum at the fort between Ipanema and Copacabana beaches.

I think Paul is totally gorgeous, sexy, and smart. He’s kind and took good care of me when I wasn’t feeling well. He could make an excellent boyfriend. Of course, there is the slight problem of the distance between San Francisco and Cordoba!

Anyway, I hope that he and I will have more chances to spend time together soon.