A look of shock came across the face of an Argentine woman I met while we were waiting in the subway in Buenos Aires. I had been talking to her in broken Spanish about the Bay Area's transit system. I mentioned that it costs $1.50 to ride buses and the subway in San Francisco and even more to take BART outside of the city.
"That's crazy," she said in English with a tone of indignation that was as strong as her Argentine accent.
Since Argentina's currency collapsed in 2001, the shock for Americans visiting the Paris of South America may be the city's low prices. It costs 70 centavos to ride the subway in Buenos Aires, that's about 22 cents. Since I last visited Buenos Aires in 2002, prices have gone up, but the city still remains one of the best values for Americans who have seen their currency deteriorate against the euro, British pound, and even the Canadian dollar.
Buenos Aires has often been called the most European of any Latin American city. That opinion would soon be apparent to any visitor. It borrows its architectural style from its European immigrant population. You will see French, Spanish, Italian and English architecture throughout downtown. And that influence extends to bathrooms, as most have bidets.
That European influence on the city is also reflected in its gay-positive laws and attitudes. In 2003, Buenos Aires became the first city in South America to enact a civil unions law. The city of 3 million supports dozens of gay and gay-integrated bars, nightclubs, and a handful of gay hotels.
Buenos Aires has recognized the importance of gay travel. The city produces a brochure with a gay map that is available at its tourism kiosks that are scattered throughout the city. When I didn't see the gay map displayed with the other brochures at the kiosk on Florida Street, its famous pedestrian-only shopping street, I asked for one. At first the woman behind the counter didn't understand what I was asking for, then she asked her fellow clerk and he pulled out a map from a drawer. But a friend told me that the gay maps are readily displayed at the kiosk in the San Telmo neighborhood.
Buenos Aires' official Web site explains the city's gay scene: "Buenos Aires has adopted the concept of 'heterofriendly,' which speaks to a common ground, an understanding between gays and heterosexuals, a more integrated experience; Buenos Aires is an open city, without 'gay ghettos.' Gay tourists from all around the world flock to Buenos Aires. The majority of the visitors are men."
Well-known international club promoter and Buenos Aires resident, Steven Gomez, told the Bay Area Reporter: "Being gay here now is getting to be like it is in the USA.
"You can kiss somebody in the street. You can walk hand in hand down the street," he added.
Buenos Aires has its own gay travel agency, Pride Travel, owned by Carlos Melia. It's a great one-stop shop for all things gay in the city. He offers gay-specific tours of the city. His Web site, http://www.pride-travel.com, also is a good guide in itself. It will soon include a free posting service for visitors looking for traveling companions. Drop-ins to his office are welcome from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 3 to 6:30 p.m. Monday-Friday.
The sights
There are a wide variety of bus, walking and even boat tours available in the city. As long as it's not raining, a bicycle tour is a great way to see the sights. You can ride on some of the city's pedestrian paths and sidewalks. On a recent visit, I took a four-hour bicycle tour offered by Bike Tours (http://www.biketours.com.ar). It went by most of the main attractions in the city and was a great history lesson.
If you prefer to do it yourself, Buenos Aires' official tourism Web site (http://www.bue.gov.ar) includes 12 circuit maps of the city's neighborhoods. You can print out the maps and download an audio tour that corresponds to each circuit. The service is free. If you have a cell phone that works there, you can listen to each stop in the circuit over your phone by dialing a local Buenos Aires phone number and punching in the stop's corresponding code. By the way, the tourist board offers a hotline that you can call toll free from any pay phone: 0800-999-2838. It is staffed by people who speak English and can be called 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day. You can also e-mail the city's official tourist ombudsman at mailto:[email protected].
Downtown Buenos Aires is punctuated by the Obelisk monument in the middle of Avenida 9 de Julio (Avenue 9th of July). It looks something like the Washington Monument but it is a lot smaller and you can't go inside it. The Obelisk is a great help in getting your bearings in the city.
Avenida 9 de Julio is named for Argentina's Independence Day and bills itself as the widest boulevard in the world. It runs north to south, cutting the city in two. Hundreds of old homes had to be bulldozed to build the boulevard, which opened in 1937.
The Casa Rosada is where the president of Argentina works. But unlike our White House, the president of Argentina does not live there. The building's presidential museum is open to the public. But the famous balcony where Evita Peron rallied for her husband, President Juan Peron, is closed to the public.
While we're on the subject of Evita, the Museo Evita opened in 2002 in one of the buildings she bought to help unwed pregnant women. But don't expect a balanced view of the life of the former first lady of Argentina. The museum virtually canonizes her. It includes displays of the amazingly preserved stylish clothes that were her trademark. Laminated cards explain the displays in English and several videos shown throughout the museum have English subtitles.
After her death at age 33 in 1952, President Peron had his wife's body preserved in the hopes of keeping it permanently displayed in a glass case. But after he was overthrown, Evita's body was moved to a secret grave in Italy. Her body was returned to Buenos Aires in the 1970s and it is buried in the Recoleta Cemetery.
The cemetery is one of the most popular sights in the city. Evita's grave is the most-visited but the cemetery contains a rich history of some of Argentina's most important residents. The cemetery is known for dozens of cats that roam throughout it. It is also said to be haunted by 19-year-old Rufina Cambaceres, who may have been accidentally buried alive in 1902.
While there is no gay neighborhood in Buenos Aires the Barrio Norte and the San Telmo neighborhoods near the city's center have a large number of gay people. By the way, San Telmo is the birthplace of the tango. It was once home to Buenos Aires' richest residents. But a reversal of fortunes hit in 1871 when yellow fever swept the city. The rich residents fled to what was then the outskirts of the city to avoid the plague. The poor took over the old mansions of the rich. A dozen or more families packed into the mansions once owned by one rich family. The tango was born in the melting pot of cultures that flourished in San Telmo.
The La Boca neighborhood is a great example of the Italian immigrant influence on the city. Italians from Genoa first settled in the 1800s. They used leftover paint and scrap metal from ships to build their homes. That patchwork of bright colors and materials is now one of Buenos Aires' most popular tourist attractions. La Boca's main street, Calle Caminito, is an open-air market for artists, and an open stage for street performers.
Buenos Aires' newest landmark is the Puente de Mujer. It means "woman's bridge" and is a tribute to the country's women. The modern footbridge has a single white mast with cables that connect the walkway below. It rotates to the side to let ships pass. It opened in December 2001.
Nightlife
What's gay nightlife like in Buenos Aires?
Two words: late and integrated.
People don't eat dinner until after 9 p.m. Bars don't get busy until after 11:30 p.m. and you won't see anyone in dance clubs until after 2 a.m.
Amerika (Gascon 1040) is one of the most popular nightclubs in the city and it's also gay, lesbian, and straight integrated but is usually about half gay. It's open Thursday, Friday, and Saturdays.
"Amerika, it's a very nice club," a cab driver told me on the way. "Everything is there, gays, lesbians, and men with women, too. Everybody together."
The Bulnes Class (1250 Bulnes) is a trendy new gay lounge bar, just a half block from busy Cordoba Street in the Palermo District. Bulnes is popular with the pre-dance crowd.
Sitges bar (4119 Cordoba), as in the gay-popular resort town in Spain, is gay and lesbian mixed, although it is mostly gay men. It features entertainment with a drag show and male strippers on Wednesdays. Like Bulnes, it's a "pre-dance" bar and it is also in the Palermo neighborhood.
If you want a crash tango lesson, you can get a gay one every Wednesday night at 10 p.m. at La Marshall (444 Maipu Street). It's downtown. Contramano (1082 Rodriguez Pena), in the Barrio Norte neighborhood, is Buenos Aires' oldest gay bar. It opened in 1984 after Argentina returned to democratic rule.
Like Amerika, Alsina (940 Alsina) is a very popular gay/straight mixed weekend disco. It's a huge space set in a 19th century warehouse in the Monserrat neighborhood.
The Glam disco (3046 Cabrera) is particularly popular on Thursday and Saturday nights. It has one dance floor, two bars, a patio and a dark room. It's in the Palermo neighborhood.
Buenos Aires has at least three bathhouses, three sex clubs, and three X-rated cruise cinemas. For a complete updated list of those clubs check out http://www.theronda.com.ar. Click on the British flag for English. The saunas in the cinemas are generally busiest in the early evening. The sex clubs are also busy in the early evening before the crowds gravitate to the discos.
Hotels
The crown jewel of gay tourism in Buenos Aires is the newly opened five-star Hotel Axel in the gay-popular San Telmo neighborhood. It bills itself as "heterofriendly." It is a brand new building that opened on Halloween 2007. It includes 48 rooms, a ground floor outdoor pool and a rooftop indoor pool. The roof pool has a glass bottom that can be seen to the lobby, five floors below. The hotel is stunning but it could be a vertigo-sufferer's worst nightmare. The elevators and the stairs are glass. If you are not staying there, the hotel's restaurant is open to the public. Check out the hotel's Web site for information on parties and special events hosted there. If you appreciate good design, the hotel is worth checking out. It's very safe during the day, but at night, it's advisable to take a cab when coming or going. If you've stayed at the other Hotel Axel in Barcelona, you can expect the same high standards. Rates start at the current high season price of $206.
On the other end of the budget scale but also in San Telmo, you will find Lugar Gay. It literally means gay place. If you plan to visit during Buenos Aires' high season, October through April, book ahead. Rooms fill up quickly. It has eight rooms, some with shared baths. Amenities include a Jacuzzi, small workout area, and a couple of sun decks with views of San Telmo. Unlike the Hotel Axel, Lugar Gay is only for men. Rates start at a bargain $35 and include breakfast. For security reasons, they don't allow overnight guests but if you just met Mr. Right Now, they can point you to one of the city's many sex hotels that rent by the hour or the night.
The Calden Guest House is a gay-owned and heterosexual friendly guesthouse in downtown Buenos Aires near Pride Travel. It's in a house that was built in 1895 and has operated as a guesthouse since 2005. It promotes itself as "straight-friendly." Each of its five very well decorated rooms has a bath and its own theme. Yes, there is an Evita room! Rates start at $60. A loft suite that can sleep three people runs $90. Like Lugar Gay, overnight guests are not allowed.
The Bayres guesthouse is on the outskirts of the Palermo district on a rundown section of Cordoba Street, one of the city's main thoroughfares. I stopped by for a tour but I was told it would not be possible because the owner wasn't there. But the Web site photos of the inside of the guesthouse look very nice and it's about a 15-minute walk from the center of the trendy Palermo Soho neighborhood, which has some wonderful outdoor cafes and upscale restaurants. Rates there start at $35. Like the other guesthouses, overnight guests are not allowed.
Restaurants
Buenos Aires is a paradise for foodies with lobster taste but with a fast food budget. You can have a gourmet meal for as little as $15 per person. Most people don't eat dinner until after 9 p.m. A 10 percent tip is standard. For a quick meal, you can't beat Pride Cafe (869 Balcarce). You can pick up a gay magazine there, pick up a gay map of the city, or flier promoting the next event at a gay club. It's particularly popular on Sundays during San Telmo's street fair. A second Pride Cafe is just around the corner.
Chueca restaurant and bar (3283 Soler) is in the trendy Palermo Soho neighborhood. By the way, Chueca is named for a gay neighborhood in Madrid, Spain. It features international gourmet food and late night entertainment. Like Sitges, it often features a drag show and male strippers.
Inside Restaurant and Bar (1572 Mitre) in downtown includes strippers on the weekends. It's most popular with the 40-plus age group.
Olsen (5870 Gorriti) is gay-owned and very popular during its Sunday brunch. The hip restaurant in the Palermo district sports a Scandinavian design.
The trendy Casa Cruz bar and nightclub (1658 Uriarte) near Chueca in Palermo Soho is known for its modern decor and Italian food.
Getting there and around
American, Continental, United, Mexicana and LAN Airlines offer connecting flights to Buenos Aires' airport (EZE) from the Bay Area.
I took LAN to Buenos Aires with stops in Los Angeles and Lima, Peru. The economy class service was great and it's a good way to go if you want to combine a Peru and Argentina trip. I actually enjoyed my three-hour layover on my return flight in Lima's modern international terminal last month. As I wrote part of this story on my laptop, I could hear a Peruvian Indian band as it played traditional and Christmas music for passing tourists. The musicians weren't soliciting donations, but I went up to thank them after they were getting ready to leave. I spoke to them in Spanish and they answered, "You're welcome. Thank you," in English.
Downtown Buenos Aires is about a 45-minute bus ride from the city's airport. The best way to get downtown is to take a Manuel Tienda Leon bus. It runs every half hour and depending on the exchange rate, the fare is around $10. You can get a transfer minivan to your hotel for about a dollar more. If you take a cab all the way from the airport, the fare will be about twice as much, but if you are traveling with someone, you won't save much by taking the bus.
The aforementioned subway costs less than 25 cents and is a great way to avoid the traffic. Unlike BART or Muni, the system is very user friendly. You buy your ticket at the window and insert the ticket into the turnstile. No one will bark at you for not having the exact change.
A taxi ride within the downtown, Palermo, and San Telmo neighborhoods will seldom run you more than $3. Unlike the U.S., taxi drivers don't expect tips but it's customary to round up the fare to the nearest peso.
For more information
For Ed Walsh's multimedia blog on gay Buenos Aires and a list of good gay Buenos Aires travel links visit http://www.gayBAtravel.blogspot.com.
For a great guide book on Buenos Aires, pick up a copy of Frommer's Buenos Aires guide, written by openly gay travel writer, Michael "Mister Buenos Aires" Luongo. It includes information for gay and lesbian travelers.