Have you ever been to a bordello?

I have, many times. 

The first time was when I was a seaman and visited Brazil for the first time in 1959. 

(Never after I came home, there were enough willing ladies around me that I never, ever had to think about paying for sex again.)

After our time in Rio de Janeiro, seeing all the near naked women on Copacabana beach, it was onward to Santos, Brazil, which we reached after a short 24 hour trip. It was the very opposite of Rio de Janeiro, just another very busy industrial city. We were there to offload paper and reload with grain.

The grain elevators lined the harbour. But, there didn't seem to be any way for pedestrians to leave the area. The truck gates were very narrow and heavily used by enormous grain carrying trucks.

Fear not, all the bars in the lower level of the warehouses had two doors, one on the harbour side, one on the city side. Some of these bars weren't only bars serving liquor, they were bordellos as well.

Bordello in Brazil, 1959 (Not my photograph)

As you entered you were immediately received by an usher who made sure you got your first drink - on the house. Then you were encouraged to take your time and choose your favourite girl. They were all introduced as “famous for offering anything you liked". It was hard for many to just pass through on the way to the city. The facilities were not really very posh. The ones who had chosen which girl and what activity they preferred carried on in one of many booths along the walls of the large room, booths with only a curtain for privacy.

Some paid a price for these and other conjugal visits. Several of the members of the crew had contracted a souvenir illness, probably Gonorrhea. They had to see the first deck officer when a few days out of port, he was in charge of the penicillin supply and authorized to administer "the seven-day cure" with a thick and painful injection needle.

Me? Your guess…

After this my ship was in Japan, Indonesia, South Africa, France, Belgium, and Germany. There are bordellos in all of these countries. I was 19 and horny.

Read more about my adventures, sailing around the globe before my 20th birthday, here:

19 - I sailed around the globe

...or buy my memoirs "The Seasons of a man" here

https://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=bengt+lindvall+the+seasons+of+a+man