Adam Victor Brandizzi

• Owners of cheap and seedy motels in Brazil have turned the establishments into extravagant, high-end 'love hotels'
• They offer couples helicopter flights over Sao Paulo, champagne-fuelled limousine rides before they get to the room
• Over-the-top rooms come with everything from water-flume which drops into a jacuzzi to your very own personal DJ 
• Brazil's 'love motels' first emerged in the 1960s when low-income couples had no privacy in their cramped homes

Brazil's new generation of luxurious 'love motels' come with anything from a water-flume which drops into a jacuzzi to a spinning bed underneath disco lights - as your personal DJ plays a set just for you.

The country's infamous motels have for years been known as cheap, and often seedy, places for couples to spend the night.

They have now being rebranded to entice the country's elite, who are willing to spend big money on 'sexual experiences'.

In Brazil's financial centre of Sao Paulo, high-end motels offer couples intimate helicopter flights over the city and champagne-fuelled cruises in blacked-out limousines before they even reach their rooms.

Luxurious: In the Harmony motel in Brazil, couples can slide down a water flume (pictured) into a heated bath

Extravagant: The Harmony motel is one of several Brazilian 'love hotels' which were once considered seedy, but now cater to the country's elite couples

Adults only: The Harmony motel holds 11 large suites across 4,200square-metres and its designs are based on the Far East

Disco lights: The newest room at the Harmony is the Nagoya Suite (pictured) where a king-size bed sits in the middle of a nightclub-style bedroom

Loaded: Most rooms in the Harmony come with some sort of extravagant water feature, such as a jacuzzi, and a widescreen television is never far away

Fully stocked: The Lush Splash, an 'exuberant and unique suite' which comes with a heated pool, will set you back £85-a-night

Groovy: When Brazil's 'love motels' first emerged in the 1960s to serve low-income couples who had no privacy in their cramped homes, they were much more basic than the exuberance of the Lush (pictured)

Oriental: Items included in the package for the Nagoya room (pictured) at the Harmony are rose petals, two decorative oriental fans on the bed, four candlesticks with scented candles, champagne and chocolates

Fantasy: Lush Motel's Spa room comes with bizarre bed designs and a bathroom equipped with a jacuzzi and a 40in LED TV

They are then dropped off in fantasy bedrooms fitted out with everything from jukeboxes to boxing rings, play areas and 4D cinemas.

In some suites, you can pretend you are in ancient Egypt or Rome, or among the mythical Amazons with themed bedrooms, complete with lifelike statues, waterfalls and real jungle flora.

And in one of the South American city's most daring establishments, you can even hire your own personal DJ who play a set just for you and your date.

Such extravagance does not come cheap and the entire experience could set you back more than £500, compared to just £5-an-hour for a standard motel room.

Brazil's love motels first appeared in the 1960s as a vital service for low-income couples who had no privacy in their cramped homes, as well as a discreet place where men could take their lovers and prostitutes.

They are now an ever-present part of Brazilian society. 

Set the mood: Rooms in Motel Lush (pictured), in Sao Paulo's central Cambuci district, cost up to £85 per night for the Spa Splash room

Soothing: Inside the 60 different themed suites at the Lush Motel, guests can get in the mood with private saunas, hydro-massage pools with waterfalls (pictured)

Retro: Motel Lush's Splash Spa room (pictured) comes with a heated pool with waterfall, outdoor area with sunroof, sauna and wine cellar

Private: Guests at the Lush can get in the mood with  a dance floor with a stripper's pole (pictured), bubble-chairs and soothing couple's 'chromotherapy' showers

Special day: Mr Martinez, owner of Lush (pictured), says most of the couples who visit the motel are celebrating their anniversary or a significant event - not those who want to have illicit sex

Trendsetter: Luxury motels like the Lush (pictured)   are springing up all around Sao Paulo - each catering for different niches and tastes

Felipe Martinez, 31, co-owner of the Motel Lush, in Sao Paulo's central Cambuci district, explains: 'The idea is to offer to our clients an experience in which they almost feel like they are in a parallel universe, not in a motel bedroom.

'The sex is not the most important part. It is the whole experience, the couple's moment of intimacy together. We don't sell sex, we sell experiences.'

Founded in 1990, the Lush has offered the same service as the city's countless other love motels - a basic bedroom, rented by the hour, where couples could go to have sex.

But this year the new owners decided to follow a number of similar establishments and, after a £1.5million face-lift, reopened last month offering luxury packages designed to help wealthy men sweep their beaus of their feet.

For £300, couples can take an hour-long cruise through the city streets in a Ferrari, Porsche, Mustang, Camaro or Dodge Challenger, or a half-an-hour helicopter ride over Sao Paulo's landmarks.

It costs £370 for a limousine, replete with champagne, which will pick up them up and take them on a private two-hour tour of the city until finally leaving them at the entrance to your chosen suite at the motel. 

Behind closed doors: Most modern Brazilian love motels like the Lush (pictured) are designed around the couple's secrecy

Secret: Clients can drive into private garages and rotating hatches deliver food and condoms without guests and staff ever having to meet

Flashy: From more minimalist rooms to ones which surround the bed in green neon lights (pictured), the Lush caters to many different tastes

Good service: For £370, couples get a limousine which will take them on a two-hour tour of Sao Paulo before leaving them at the entrance of their chosen suite at the Lush (pictured)

Refurbished: The owners of the Lush Motel decided to follow the lead of several other 'love motels' and gave their establishment a £1.5million face-lift

Inside the 60 different themed suites at the Lush, guests can get in the mood with private saunas, hydro-massage pools with waterfalls, a dance floor with a stripper's pole, bubble-chairs and soothing couple's 'chromotherapy' showers.

And in the Cine 4D suite, couples can watch over 100 adult movies in a special 4D cinema, sitting on special motion seats which move and vibrate along with whatever is going on in the film.

Similar luxury motels which are springing up all around Sao Paulo, each catering for different niches and tastes.

At the Acaso Motel in the western district of Vila Prudente, one suite allows couples to release pent-up energy with a boxing bag which hangs from the middle of the room, complete with two pairs of boxing gloves.

In another, couples can sip Veuve Clicquot Brut champagne and dine on lamb rack with Dijon mustard while relaxing in a hydro-massage bath covered by gold-plated tiles - all for £200.

In the Harmony motel, on the eastern side of Sao Paulo, lovers can zoom down a water flume into a heated bath. 

Rebranded: Before its £1.5million face-lift,  the Lush (pictured) offered the same service as the city's countless other love motels - a basic bedroom, rented by the hour, where couples could go to have sex

While staying at the Lush, couples can pay £300, couples for an hour-long cruise through the city streets in a Ferrari, Porsche, Mustang, Camaro or Dodge Challenger

Out of this world: The co-owner of the Motel Lush (pictured) says: 'The idea is to offer to our clients an experience in which they almost feel like they are in a parallel universe'

The £50 room is, says the establishment, 'ideal for couples who like to explore different types of fun between four walls.'

The newest room to be unveiled at the Harmony is the Nagoya Suite, where a king-size bed is situated in the middle of a nightclub-style dance floor, with a laser light show and huge 12-screen video wall.

Guests who don't mind sharing their intimate rendezvous can even hire a DJ to provide a personal musical backdrop to their lovemaking.

The suite, which costs just £73 a night without the DJ, has three floors on which there is also a snooker table, an aquarium, pinball machines, a pole dance pole, a swimming pool with waterfall and a hydro-massage bath. 

Brazil's 'love motels' are designed for secrecy. Clients drive straight into private garages connected to the suites, while rotating hatches in rooms deliver food and condoms without guests and staff ever having to make eye contact.

Mr Martinez, owner of Lush, claims that since upgrading his establishment the number of customers has more than doubled - and most are no longer people who just want a room to have illicit sex.

He says: 'Most of the people who come here are couples who are celebrating something, an anniversary or special event. They are those people who are wanting an experience they will remember, not just a bed and an hour to have sex and then leave.'

A Operação Zelotes, conduzida pelo Ministério Público e pela Polícia Federal, está comendo o pão que o Tinhoso amassou. Ela começou em março e explodiu uma quadrilha de ex-conselheiros, parentes e amigos de conselheiros que vendiam decisões do Conselho Administrativo de Recursos Fiscais, um órgão do Ministério da Fazenda. Depois de dois anos de investigações sigilosas e 2.300 horas de escutas telefônicas, foram cumpridos 41 mandados de busca e apreensão.

Passados na peneira, separaram-se 74 processos com cheiro de queimado, todos de peixes gordos. Num grampo autorizado pela Justiça, um ex-conselheiro disse o seguinte: "Aqui no Carf só os pequenos devedores pagam. Os grandes, não". Ou, noutra versão, mais crua: "Quem não pode fazer acordo, acerto –não é acordo, é negociata– se fode".

A coisa funcionava assim há muitos anos: uma grande empresa ou um grande banco era autuado em R$ 100 milhões pela Receita Federal, recorria ao Carf e liquidava a fatura reduzindo a autuação para algo como R$ 5 milhões.

Essa modalidade de corrupção é muito mais daninha do que tudo que se viu na Lava Jato. Num raciocínio cínico, a tia de um empreiteiro que cobrou R$ 100 milhões por uma obra que valia R$ 50 milhões, sempre poderá dizer que, apesar de tudo, a obra do seu sobrinho está lá. Já a tia de um magano que alugava por R$ 150 milhões um navio-sonda que o mercado oferece por R$ 100 milhões também dirá que o navio está no litoral de Campos, fazendo seu serviço.

No caso do Carf, a empresa que devia R$ 100 milhões pagou R$ 5 milhões à Receita e uns R$ 3 milhões à quadrilha. Só se produziu prejuízo e propina. Nem refinaria, muito menos navio-sonda.

Coisas estranhas aconteceram com a Operação Zelotes. Quando ela foi desencadeada, o juiz Ricardo Leite, da 10ª Vara Federal de Brasília, julgou desnecessário prender pelo menos quatro acusados, contentando-se com os mandados de busca e apreensão. Jogo jogado. Em junho, o Ministério Público pediu e conseguiu seu afastamento.

Noutra ponta, saiu da Câmara dos Deputados um pedido de informações com algumas perguntas banais ao Ministério da Fazenda: Quais os valores de cada processo milionário julgado no Carf? Quais recursos foram aceitos? Em junho, o doutor Carlos Alberto Freitas Barreto, presidente do Conselho, informou que devido a uma mudança no sistema de armazenamento de dados esse detalhamento só poderia ser apresentado "em breve". Passaram-se três meses e nada.

Numa nova surpresa, o coordenador-geral de investigação da Receita Federal, Gerson Schaan, deu uma entrevista à repórter Andreza Matais na qual disse o seguinte: "O que a quadrilha fazia era direcionar o julgamento para uma Turma que tinha entendimento a favor do contribuinte. Trata-se de um caso de corrupção, não de sonegação". Em tese, tudo bem; na prática, a ver. O centro dessa questão só será mais bem entendido "em breve", quando o Carf fulanizar nomes e cifras.

Nos pixulecos do Carf podiam ocorrer três situações:

1) O contribuinte sabia que estava sonegando e dava a pedalada tributária porque esperava ganhar a parada no Carf. Nesse caso há corrupção e sonegação.

2) O contribuinte pode ter razão, mas comprou o "direcionamento". A Receita errou, mas falta explicar melhor como uma Turma entende uma coisa e outra vai na direção oposta, sobretudo sabendo-se, há anos, que uma quadrilha orientava o trânsito. Nesse caso, há um atravessador corrupto e um empresário corruptor.

3) No pior dos casos, o contribuinte tinha razão, mas foi informado de que iria para a lâmina se não pagasse o pedágio. Segundo um dos integrantes da quadrilha: "Se eu participar (...) eles têm mais ou menos 95% de chances de ganhar. Caso contrário, perderão, com certeza".

Essas diferenças poderão ser esclarecidas se a Operação Zelotes entrar no estilo da Lava Jato. Pelo andar da carruagem, apesar dos esforços da Polícia Federal e do Ministério Público, ela está devagar, quase parando.

Corre o risco de ficar parecida com a Castelo de Areia, aquela que livrou a empreiteira Camargo Corrêa de qualquer suspeita. Passaram-se seis anos e agora a empresa está colaborando com o juiz Sergio Moro.

GREVES EM ESCOLAS

Uma história para hierarcas que cortam despesas e professores ou servidores que fazem greves duradouras, capazes de arruinar a vida dos alunos:

Lucy Maria Degli Espositi Pereira tem 29 anos, mora na roça de Bom Jesus do Itapaboana (RJ). Viveu num convento e, aos 27 anos, voltou a estudar, à noite. Em 2013, ganhou uma das medalhas de ouro da Olimpíada de Matemática das Escolas Públicas e ficou entre as 200 melhores do país. Em 2014, levou uma medalha de prata. Na primeira fase do concurso deste ano acertou 16 das 20 questões.

Sua mãe trabalha como merendeira numa escola, o pai vende o leite de umas poucas vacas e, com ela, faz serviços de pedreiro.

Desde junho, Lucy não vai à escola, por falta de transporte, pois os motoristas dos ônibus estão em greve por falta de pagamento.

Em tempo: Na escola Alfredo Leppaul, de Santa Leopoldina (ES), o município onde vivem as famosas trigêmeas medalhistas da Olimpíada, os alunos ficaram sem aulas de matemática por falta de professor.

EREMILDO, O IDIOTA

Eremildo é um idiota e acredita que ninguém quer destruir o governo da doutora Dilma, ele é que se autodestrói. O Planalto conseguiu um tempo para respirar, não há manifestações de rua no calendário e a oposição está sem rumo. Diante da calma, apareceu um çábio:

"Vamos recriar um imposto."

E assim renasceu a tentativa de ressurreição da CPMF, o imposto do cheque.

Seria o caso de se retomar a proposta de cobrança pelo atendimento do SUS. Assim o sujeito que aguenta uma carga tributária de 35% adoece, vai a um hospital público, paga com um cheque e toma outra tunga.

PRECIOSIDADE

O Instituto Cultural Amilcar Martins, de Belo Horizonte, acaba de publicar "Livraria Mineira", um rico volume com seu catálogo. São cerca de 10 mil títulos relacionados à história e os costumes de Minas Gerais. Tem de tudo, desde a primeira edição de poemas do inconfidente Cláudio Manuel da Costa e um volume de 1749, narrando as curas milagrosas da Lagoa Santa, até uma coletânea de receitas de doces mineiros, publicada em 1932.

A proeza foi conseguida pelo historiador Amilcar Martins Filho, que começou a coleção nos anos 70. Além do livro, um cartapácio de quase três quilos, a boa notícia está no fato de o instituto ter colocado o conteúdo na rede, bem como suas belas ilustrações.

É comum que edições desse tipo fiquem restritas às poucas pessoas que têm acesso a versões impressas. Martins rompeu essa escrita. O livro e o catálogo estão disponíveis para quem quiser, de graça.

JATO QUE NÃO LAVA

A seção paulista da Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil cassou a carteira de José Dirceu por 76 votos contra dois.

Achou que o comissário ofendeu os princípios éticos da guilda pelos crimes que cometeu em 2005, que levaram-no à cadeia em 2012.

Como demoraram três anos para tomar a decisão, de duas uma: ou não leem jornais ou, quem sabe, alguém achava que Dirceu não estava morto.

LÁ VEM MAIS

Quem lê os horóscopos do ministro Teori Zavascki (signo de Leão) desconfia que há depoimentos de colaboradores com informações cujo sigilo ainda deve ser preservado, para não atrapalhar investigações em curso.

LOUISVILLE, KY—At first glance, high school senior Lucas Faber, 18, seems like any ordinary gay teen. He's a member of his school's swing choir, enjoys shopping at the mall, and has sex with other males his age. But lately, a growing worry has begun to plague this young gay man. A gnawing feeling that, deep down, he may be a fundamentalist, right-wing Christian.

"I don't know what's happening to me," Faber admitted to reporters Monday. "It's like I get these weird urges sometimes, and suddenly I'm tempted to go behind my friends' backs and attend a megachurch service, or censor books in the school library in some way. Even just the thought of organizing a CD-burning turns me on."

Added Faber, "I feel so confused."

The openly gay teen, who came out to his parents at age 14 and has had a steady boyfriend for the past seven months, said he first began to suspect he might be different last year, when he started feeling an odd stirring within himself every time he passed a church. The more conservative the church, Faber claimed, the stronger his desire was to enter it.

"It's like I don't even know who I am anymore," the frightened teenager said. "Keeping this secret obsession with radical right-wing dogma hidden away from my parents, teachers, and schoolmates is tearing me apart."

According to Faber, his first experience with evangelical Christianity was not all that different from other gays his age.

"Sure, I looked at the Book of Leviticus once or twice—everybody has," Faber said. "We all experiment a little bit with that stuff when we're growing up. But I was just a kid. I didn't think it meant anything."

Faber's instinct was to deny these early emotions. But recently, the Louisville teen admitted, the feelings have grown stronger, making him wonder more and more what life as a born-again right-wing fundamentalist would be like.

"The other week, I was this close to picketing in front of an abortion clinic," the mortified teenager said, his eyes welling up with tears. "I know it's wrong, but I wanted so badly to do it anyway. I even made one of those signs with photos of dead fetuses and hid it in my closet. I felt so ashamed, yet, at the same time, it was all strangely titillating."

Faber's parents, although concerned, said they're convinced their otherwise typical gay son is merely going through a conservative Christian phase.

"I caught him watching The 700 Club once when he thought he was alone in the house, and last week, I found some paperbacks from the Left Behind series hidden in his sock drawer," his mother, Eileen Faber, said. "I'm sure he'll grow out of it, but even if he doesn't, I will love and accept my son no matter what."

Faber's father was far less tolerant in his comments.

"No son of mine is going to try to get intelligent design into school textbooks," Geoffrey Faber said. "And I absolutely refuse to pay his tuition if he decides to go to one of those colleges like Oral Roberts University where they're just going to fill his head with a lot of crazy conservative ideas."

He added, "I just want my normal gay son back."