Gay Buenos Aires Travel, Set to the best version of Don't Cry for Me Argentina, by Festival, 1980.
Interview with Carlos Melia, owner of Pride Travel, on the gay scene in Buenos Aires.
Tour of Buenos Aires' San Telmo neighborhood.
Tour of Hotel Axel, Buenos Aires.
Calden Argentina Guesthouse
Tour of Lugar Gay, Buenos Aires's Gay Men's Hotel
Street Musicians on Buenos Aires' famous pedestrian street, Florida Street.
Amerika, Buenos Aires' popular gay/lesbian/hetero mixed disco
Sitges, Buenos Aires's popular gay & lesbian mixed bar.
Chueca, a gay restaurant in Buenos Aires's Palermo district,
Tango
Buenos Aires, Another View, from Buenos Aires' native, Andres Gonzalez
The Other Face
When I met two friends from San Diego in a gay Buenos Aires bar in 1990, I was delighted to practice my English and show them “Mi Buenos Aires querido”(My beloved Buenos Aires). They both were doing a South American tour. They´ve just visited the then unsecure Rio and I was proud of letting them know that Buenos Aires was very lively and mostly safe. And you were able to walk alone at night and it was calm nice and even fun. This was a long time ago and things have certainly changed. Not for good.
As all major cities, Buenos Aires population has increased in all possible ways. Illegal occupied buildings blossom, as well as “villas miseria” poor villages or shanty-towns surround the city. The crime rate went high as ever. The police may have even more officers, but with lesspower of action, less conviction of doing their job and less well paid (not to mention their poor training, nor education). There are a lot of“cartoneros”(cardboard-plastic-paper so called-recyclers), all with a terrifying appearance going around the city scrabbling thru the garbage bags,looking for their precious content. While doing so, spreading all the thing out causing even more dirt. There are those who stroll at a very slow motion in the middle of heavy traffic streets or avenues in big wheeled carts pulled by them, by donkeys or horses!
Needless to say they are alleged to be illegal in the city but even though accepted, as everyone looks tothe other side. Beggars, gypsies, homeless, threatening small children, and cab door-openers asking for a coin along the famous Florida street and surroundings. But be alert as, pick pockets may be well dressed. Targets for them are flashy Rolex watches, gold chains, bulky pockets wallets, cell phones, blackberrys. Also bags with laptops. Feel not free to carry things around the city. The lighter and the shaggier you look, the better. Be attentive while walking, as you may enjoy the eclectic architecture of BA, remember to look down. As every blocks sidewalk is broken, uneven or even missing. Also while crossing the busy street ( they are mostly one-way), bikes, motorcycles may suddenly pop-up, so look both sides. And remember pedestrians have no priority here, cars and above all the highly noisy and polluted buses do.
Should we thank our obvious decline to Latin Americas tendency for the eternal dictatorship of all kinds and sorts? Should we blame our natural inclination toward populism and demagogy? Or our immature thoughts of what a real Democratic Republic is?
Things don't look much better with our new president, Christina Kirchner. She is a member of the Front for the Victory Party, a branch of the Peronist Party. The Peronists are poor producers. Their main goal is to produce more poor people. They like to keep the poor poor. The poor are happy with the little money the Peronist polititians give them and they continue to vote for them. It's much easier to give them a little money than an education or a decent job.
So, heads up visitors to a new BA , not shiny, not clean, and definitely not safe. There is very little left in BA of the once claimed “Paris of SouthAmerica”. Nowadays it will more recall you the decadent Fidel Castro´s Habana or a Brazilian favela. Even though you may still enjoy dinning out, shopping, tango, clubbing, art and museums.
There is a bitterflavor at every corner and a whole lot left to be desired. It is up to the government and we, the people to do something.
The train has long gone Argentina! Wake-up.
When I met two friends from San Diego in a gay Buenos Aires bar in 1990, I was delighted to practice my English and show them “Mi Buenos Aires querido”(My beloved Buenos Aires). They both were doing a South American tour. They´ve just visited the then unsecure Rio and I was proud of letting them know that Buenos Aires was very lively and mostly safe. And you were able to walk alone at night and it was calm nice and even fun. This was a long time ago and things have certainly changed. Not for good.
As all major cities, Buenos Aires population has increased in all possible ways. Illegal occupied buildings blossom, as well as “villas miseria” poor villages or shanty-towns surround the city. The crime rate went high as ever. The police may have even more officers, but with lesspower of action, less conviction of doing their job and less well paid (not to mention their poor training, nor education). There are a lot of“cartoneros”(cardboard-plastic-paper so called-recyclers), all with a terrifying appearance going around the city scrabbling thru the garbage bags,looking for their precious content. While doing so, spreading all the thing out causing even more dirt. There are those who stroll at a very slow motion in the middle of heavy traffic streets or avenues in big wheeled carts pulled by them, by donkeys or horses!
Needless to say they are alleged to be illegal in the city but even though accepted, as everyone looks tothe other side. Beggars, gypsies, homeless, threatening small children, and cab door-openers asking for a coin along the famous Florida street and surroundings. But be alert as, pick pockets may be well dressed. Targets for them are flashy Rolex watches, gold chains, bulky pockets wallets, cell phones, blackberrys. Also bags with laptops. Feel not free to carry things around the city. The lighter and the shaggier you look, the better. Be attentive while walking, as you may enjoy the eclectic architecture of BA, remember to look down. As every blocks sidewalk is broken, uneven or even missing. Also while crossing the busy street ( they are mostly one-way), bikes, motorcycles may suddenly pop-up, so look both sides. And remember pedestrians have no priority here, cars and above all the highly noisy and polluted buses do.
Should we thank our obvious decline to Latin Americas tendency for the eternal dictatorship of all kinds and sorts? Should we blame our natural inclination toward populism and demagogy? Or our immature thoughts of what a real Democratic Republic is?
Things don't look much better with our new president, Christina Kirchner. She is a member of the Front for the Victory Party, a branch of the Peronist Party. The Peronists are poor producers. Their main goal is to produce more poor people. They like to keep the poor poor. The poor are happy with the little money the Peronist polititians give them and they continue to vote for them. It's much easier to give them a little money than an education or a decent job.
So, heads up visitors to a new BA , not shiny, not clean, and definitely not safe. There is very little left in BA of the once claimed “Paris of SouthAmerica”. Nowadays it will more recall you the decadent Fidel Castro´s Habana or a Brazilian favela. Even though you may still enjoy dinning out, shopping, tango, clubbing, art and museums.
There is a bitterflavor at every corner and a whole lot left to be desired. It is up to the government and we, the people to do something.
The train has long gone Argentina! Wake-up.
