Rio de Janeiro, July 30, 2006 – Rainy Rio. Saturday morning came in bringing a cold front and some sprinkles. Forecast for Sunday is not much better either… After breakfast, we decided to take a walk along Copacabana Beach, and then visit the Copacabana Palace, one of the best and most expensive hotels in Rio. With daily rates ranging from approximately $400 to $2500 US dollars, the Copacabana Palace is the hotel of choice for many celebrities visiting Brazil. We enjoyed fresh squeezed orange juice and a cup of cappuccino in the patio overlooking the pool, for just about $12 dollars (for two persons). If you are staying in a gay friendly vacation rental in Rio, and want to visit the hotel, you can always go for breakfast, brunch or the famous Brazilian national dish, Feijoada. But you can expect to pay between $30 to $90 dollars per person for such gastronomic adventure. From the Copacabana Palace we took a cab ride to the MAM (Museum of Modern Arte). The museum is located at the Parque do Flamengo, a beautiful park overlooking the Guanabara Bay, in a modern building projected by late Brazilian architect, Affonso Eduardo Reidy, in 1948. We saw an exhibit of José Pedro Croft, a contemporary Portuguse artist and a wonderful collection of works from the 30s through the 60s, by Brazilian and foreign artists living in Brazil. For the evening, we decided to check out the duo La Girl and Le Boy, both in the same building in Copabacana. I had a wonderful time at Le Boy years ago, but with many places to choose from in Rio, these two will be off the list in the future due to its poor management. In short, we were treated very rudely by the front desk person, and because of that they won’t be seeing the color of my money anytime again… Besides, we had gone there to watch a good drag show – which in the end, did not happen. This was the only disappointment in Rio, so far. We gay people need to be conscious where we spend our money, so, I’ll be spending my money someplace else… Let’s see what happens tomorrow…