Posted on 01/13/2005 9:44:20 AM PST by traumer
Sweat trickles down the face of a man busking in a steamy town square.
Buenos Aires is now relatively cheap to visit A young woman paints the final brushstrokes of a summertime cityscape. Gaggles of children giggle by the lakeside in a gloriously green park.
This is Buenos Aires: So pretty, so elegant and so European that it has often been described as the "Paris of South America".
Before Argentina's economic crisis struck in 2001, Buenos Aires was probably the most expensive city in South America: $1 bought you one peso.
Now it gets you three, allowing visitors to experience a first-world city at third-world prices.
Chic quarter
But although tourism of all types is booming, Buenos Aires is now establishing itself as the place to go for one particular group of visitors.
San Telmo is just outside the city centre.
It has always been a favourite among tourists of all orientations, thanks to its lovely antique shops, its chic boutiques and its ancient-looking cobbled streets.
But it is also fast becoming the epicentre for Buenos Aires' booming gay tourist trade.
Gary, a gay tourist from San Francisco (Photo by Elliott Gotkine) Finding out that it's very gay-friendly and very accepting means we can enjoy the attractive men and go to the gay bars Gary, tourist Not only is this the home of the first ever gay hostel in Buenos Aires, but there are now plans afoot to officially designate this place "gay-friendly".
Enjoying some of the shade afforded by a cavernous flea market, I caught up in San Telmo with Gary and his partner Chris.
They come from just outside San Francisco - the birthplace of gay pride.
They had already done Miami, Rio and other gay hotspots and wanted to try something new.
Gary told me Buenos Aires seemed like their kind of town.
"I just wanted to come here for the great weather, the European atmosphere, the exchange rate, the fact that it's in the Americas. And then finding out, as we travelled, that it's very gay-friendly and very accepting, it just means we can enjoy the attractive men and go to the gay bars."
Parade
In November, Buenos Aires' annual gay pride parade attracted thousands of men and women.
Waving rainbow-coloured flags and dancing with unbridled joy, they wound their way through the city's streets.
How times have changed in Catholic Argentina: Just a few years ago, there were far fewer marchers and many covered their faces for fear of reprisals.
Pride Travel, a travel agency serving a gay clientele (Photo by Elliott Gotkine) Travel agencies and tango bars are springing up to serve gay clients Nowadays, the worst they can expect is a hail of verbal abuse.
"This march deserves our deepest scorn," shouted one man. "It's a march against nature."
Overall, though, protests were muted.
Buenos Aires is now among the most liberal cities in the Americas.
Two years ago, it legalised same-sex civil unions.
And at the recent Latin American tourism fair, held in the Argentine capital, officials were more than happy to promote the city's pink credentials.
"We're not conservative, in traditional terms," says Marcela Cuesta, Buenos Aires's subsecretary of tourism.
"We're quite an open society, with open criteria to accept visitors. And that's what we've been showing and that's why gay tourism has nominated us as a gay-friendly city."
Income
She says she's delighted with the influx of gay tourists, who bring in much-needed revenues.
Tourism in Buenos Aires is up to 5.25m visitors - a new record. Twenty percent of these, we believe, are gay Marcela Cuesta, Buenos Aires tourism official She notes that homosexuals tend to be big spenders because many do not have children to support.
And she says their efforts to tap into this niche are already bearing fruit.
"Official figures show that tourism in Buenos Aires is up 38% on last year to 5.25m visitors - a new record. Twenty percent of these, we believe, are gay, from all over the world, especially from Europe and America."
To meet this growing demand, travel agencies, guest houses and even tango bars catering for the city's gay visitors are popping up all over town.
And there are plans afoot to build a five-star gay hotel in the city.
Buenos Aires, dejected for so long by its economic woes, is once again standing proud, as the gay tourism capital of South America.
But then, in a city where even the presidential palace - the Casa Rosada - is pink, we should have probably seen it coming.
Playing a musical instrument in public for tips. Totally innocent.
My theory is that gay men have lots of sex with as many different partners because they can. Straight men would do the same, if women were willing. AFAK, lesbians aren't any more promiscuous than straight women because, in general, women do not have the same biological drive to have sex with anything that moves.
"Iwork in a company with, almost exclusivel, straight men. I've heard what they talk about 80% of the day when they're not working. It's not the weather, and it's not politics. :-)"
Women tell me the same thing about men, but I just can't see it.
Oh right, we just went and made them form ACT-UP and required them to show up for those "Gay Pride" (the ultimate oxymoron) parades.
I think there's a lot less temptation for straight men then there is for gay men. I don't know about you, but I've never walked into a bar or nightclub knowing that the majority of the people there were willing to have sex with me. If I was gay, no matter how committed to monogamy, I imagine there would be many more opportunities to stray.
If you were gay, it wouldn't have to be a singles bar. It would just be any place where homosexuals hung out.
I live in DC. Dupont Circle is the "gay area." A lot of businesses in the area have a high percentage of homosexual patrons. Imagine walking into Starbucks knowing that a goodly percentage of the patrons are willing to have sex with you. Unless you were willing to completely segregate yourself from the gay community, you would constantly be exposed to temptation.
Adam
My cousin was gay. I new him very well his whole life as we grew up together(he lived 5 houses down).
He told us that he had sometimes on average 10-20 different gay partners per year and he admitted for most part the majority of gay men where the same way. He would agree 100% with the comments made by modernman. He had lots of sex because he could.
Because of my cousin I'm probaly more tolerant of gays than most however I don't want the lifestyle thrown or forced upon me.
Did anybody tell you what the meaning of 'busking' is???
Must be some gay code word like 'cruising', or the like...
If you get the meaning, please post it....TUVM
Ewwww! Appropriate to the article, though!
Speak for yourself.
Wherever there is grinding poverty and desperate people, gays will flock. They can buy perversion cheaper if people don't have food on their tables.
Just because they like to look at attractive men doesn't mean they plan on having sex with them, just like when straight men like looking at attractive women, it doesn't mean they plan on having sex with them.
When I am out with my wife I certainly don't comment that I like to go to a place to look at the attractive women. She wouldn't find that very monogamous.
On your second comment, are you female ? When straight men "like looking at attractive women", it does mean they're at least fantasizing about having sex with them. Similarly the homosexuals and "attractive men".
Ah, another fine example on my part of replying without reading, as in your #29.
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