"Many of the girls in Latina porn movies are actually working girls from Termas clubs in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro."
-RioSexGuide.com

Dear friends in the Search for Bianca/Daniela,

During this past week, I have spent nearly two all-night sessions on the Internet researching everything I can on the Rio de Janeiro adult entertainment/sex scene, all the various clubs and types of establishments, what each offers, and how things have evolved in a country where prostitution is legal.

Basically, you have two broad categories of establishments. The first are the more conventional clubs and discotheques. In the majority of these, the girls do dance topless or nude as in American clubs but there is the added option of taking a girl home or back to a hotel room for a price. But at several of these clubs in Rio, the girls don't even dance. They hang out and converse among themselves and potential customers until they hook up with a client and go wherever they want to go. Among the big names in conventional clubs in Rio are the Help Discotheque, Barbarella's, and La Cicciolina.

The second type of establishment, however, I find far more interesting and holistic in its approach. It's called a "termas," which is the Portuguese word for "spa." A Brazilian termas is a combination of adult nightclub (where the women do dance), health-fitness-nutrition club, and on-site sex club. For the latter, there are open and semi private rooms situated in another area of the club. There may also be another area with a wading pool or sauna. Although any guy off the street can come in and patronize a termas just like a conventional club, it is more structured and there are a few procedures and rules to follow. It is also more of a "lifestyle" club, and although sex is certainly the biggest stock in trade, there is some health education and philosophy behind a termas that spills into other areas of life. I tend to think that among the local "carioca" males, the guy who would chose a termas is not just looking for sex but also a bit of a "home."

Nearly all the termas clubs in Rio have fairly extensive web sites and a few are available in multiple languages. My favorite is the one for the L'uomo Club at http://www.luomo.com.br. It features short articles about the research connecting sexual activity with general health, and even the techniques and heritage of the Kama Sutra. In fact, there is almost an underpinning of new age spirituality in several areas of L'uomo's web site.

As I continued along in my first night of research, something began to dawn on me more and more as I went along. The entirety of Disc 3 in Direct Video and DVD's "Latina Special" - the one containing Daniela's scenes - is largely nothing more than a depiction of life inside a Brazilian termas.

There are several reasons why I came to this conclusion. First, all the elements in a termas were featured in the video. There was the dancing and bar area toward the beginning. The first appearance of Daniela occurs in a brief conversation scene around a wading pool. And, all the sex occurs in rooms and semi-open areas that are set aside for it. Even condom use in the video conforms exactly to rules in the Brazilian termas world that have been in effect for a long time. American viewers of the footage notice this right away because there has been no condom use in the American porn industry for the past three or four years. The American industry only brings on the condoms when there is a perceived crisis or threat (which is typically American, of course. Name one industry of any kind here that takes long term strategic planning seriously). Finally, in the video, Daniela's body appears very well toned - more so than when she danced in Fitchburg. Activities associated with a termas, including the health club aspects, could certainly explain this. In fact, with her dark skin and statuesque physique, she looks like a smiling, affectionate Cleopatra.

The discovery of this information has been a great comfort and a much needed boost in my confidence after the SoCal trip. I now have a list of 11 currently active Termas Clubs in Rio and I am planning on sending registered letters to the matrons of each of these clubs, ideally with some kind of reply card with Brazilian postage attached. I feel quite strongly, from the information I have found, that Daniela is involved in one of the termas clubs on my list, most likely one of the smaller ones. I really have a hard time imagining Daniela being comfortable working the "pick up" clubs. But considering what I've learned about the termas clubs, they are much more suitable for her, especially given her penchant for group settings. I am also much more comfortable with them myself. I also feel that the opportunity to perform in the video came through her work at that club. In fact, I would not be surprised if the video was actually shot on site at her club.

Of course, this question is bound to be asked. By being involved in a termas, is Daniela now technically a prostitute? The answer is yes, but anyone who asks such a question needs to stop looking at things from a fear-based American perspective. To be honest, I think Daniela's life right now is damn good, if you ask me. For one thing, she's probably earning three times the money she ever earned under the table here as an undocumented immigrant. And knowing her, she's pacing herself so that it is always a thrill and always exciting. Furthermore, she's probably in better physical shape and in better health than she's ever been. (In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she even managed to quit smoking. God bless her if that's the case!) Now, if life is so good for her, will that hurt my chances with her once I find her? I actually don't think so. Although I have no proof, there are lots of subtle hints that there has been no one in her life with the same kind of chemistry and rapport that she had with me back in her days in Fitchburg. It's likely the one element that has been missing in her life.

If there is any downside to all my research on the Rio scene over the past few days, it is this: it has made me even less patient and far more disgusted with American laws and American attitudes than I have ever been. In spite of cold winters, there is no reason why New York and Boston shouldn't - at this point in history - be the positive sexual paradises that Rio and many other cities all over the world are. But they are not because we are the home of the Puritans and the land of the materialistic cowards. And out in southern California, where I was a couple of weeks ago, we have an adult video industry that shutters itself behind layers of security and pretends it doesn't exist. Why? To protect itself from the scorn of right wing religious fanatics, fraternity types, and other unrealistic, sexually immature people who are the typical products of American culture.

No other country has more problems applying Thomas Jefferson's adage of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" than our own. Whatever arrangement two or more adults freely enter into - without coercion, force, or financial pressure - should be none of government's (or anyone else's) business. Government's proper role is to mediate disputes through a court system, not criminalize arrangements between people or establishments that are mutually (and often happily) agreed upon. Anything that falls short of that standard robs life of the joy, ecstasy, passion, and meaning it was intended to have, and ultimately results in a culture that is fearful, childish, and petty.

In the course of my research, a few domestic news stories concerning American clubs inevitably made their way into my Google results, and the contrast between what happens in a Brazilian termas and the trivial issues American clubs are forced to grapple with is downright embarrassing. I couldn't help but notice an article about the very first strip club I patronized on a trip to "good old Bible Belt" Nashville back in the early '90's. It was called the Brass Stables and it was located in the Printer's Alley section of that city. According to the article, the Brass Stables was shut down last fall for violating a new city ordinance requiring a minimum three foot distance for private dances. When the girls started to follow the new rule, the number of private dance requests went way down, as well as their income, because the customers could actually get closer to them during their regular stage appearances. So the girls began returning to the way things had been, but they were caught, and the club was subsequently closed.

A less severe version of this happened one time at The Other Side. One night in December 2004, I walked in and everyone (especially management) was in a bummed out mood. I soon found out that the City of Fitchburg had just cracked down on them again concerning any kind of physical touching whatsoever between dancers and patrons. That meant no hand holding during conversations, no quick pecks on the cheek, and no goodbye hug when you were ready to leave. Now, what kind of fear is the basis of such silly, repressive paranoia? It's very simple. In most of the United States, "prostitution" is still a crime. And local governments are so fearful of anything that can be construed as meeting the legal definition of "prostitution" that they will repress every civil liberty if necessary to avoid it. And its all because government has gotten involved in something that is none of its business. It's the same way with drugs. If you are so stupid as to ingest that chemical garbage - if you have so little respect for your body and all the wonderful functions it performs everyday to keep you alive and happy - then you will face the consequences.

But, of course, if you make drugs illegal, then only criminals will deal in it. If you make sex illegal, then only criminals will have sex and only criminal types will manage sex related businesses. You certainly won't get people like me and Daniela managing them. Intelligent, good hearted people are not going to put up with the hassle. Instead, you will get the people who have typically owned and managed American strip clubs - according to what a female adult entertainment journalist once told me: "short, bald, pudgy, Italian tough guys with big egos and small penises." To say the least, these are hardly the kind of people known for their intelligence and innovation. When you say "Kama Sutra" they think you are talking about a Ben and Jerry's ice cream flavor, and when you use high minded phrases like "new age spirituality," they get scared and call in their thug bouncer to escort you off the premises.

But I should return to the positive. Here's the broad conclusion from my on-line adventures to Rio: Brazilian girls are the best! (You don't think my research was without visuals, do you?) In their world, when it comes to sex, "never is heard a discouraging word." And yet, most are so sweet, so animated, and have such hearts of gold it can bring you to tears. What more can any sane man want? When you do what I've been doing over the past three years for a Brazilian girl, and they find out, they will love you and adore you forever. And the target of this search is the cream of that crop. All I can say is, I can't wait until I finally make the connection to Daniela, get all my documents and visa in order, start learning Portuguese, get on a plane to Rio, and finally leave the "Fascist States of America" behind - at least temporarily if not permanently.

...Okay, I'll stop my America bashing. Bill O'Reilly could be spying on my email and have the Republican Gestapo escort me to Guantanamo. Besides, I have plenty of work to do once I get this newsletter sent. Friday night, I discovered that the Help Disco, the most famous "pick up" club on the Copacabana strip, has an extensive web site in three languages that receives two million hits per month! Almost constantly among their top three blogs is a category entitled "Looking for someone special?". Nearly every entry in that blog has an extensive number of responses. I will be preparing an entry for that blog with appropriate links this evening.

I am feeling very optimistic right now. I feel I am getting SO close. Almost daily, the search becomes more focused as I discover more and more information and opportunities in the Rio scene. I feel I am at the same point I was in early June 2005 in the effort to locate the insurance agency in Brighton where Daniela had been training. This time, however, it's the finish line that's in sight. There is much work to do between now and the next newsletter. But I'm hoping the next one is the clincher.

Thank you all for your interest and support.

Jeff
http://www.voltabianca.info