DON'T CRY FOR ME
If you see only one tourist site in Buenos Aires, make sure it's Museo Evita in the Palermo district. It's loaded with her dresses, shoes and hats. She was one of Argentina's biggest fag hags -- surprise, surprise -- and here you'll find out more about those gay designers and hairdressers who gave her that touch of star quality.
WHO NEEDS WATER?
Unlike Rio, Buenos Aires itself doesn't really have beaches. Still, in February and March there's no shortage of men and women skimpily sunning themselves in the parks of Recoleta and Palermo.
Beachgoers head to Mar del Plata, a few hours south of Buenos Aires. Local travel company Calu Travel (www.calutravel.com.ar) has its own gay resort down there.
In February, gay men in the know head to the nearby Province of Entre Rios for Argentina's little-known Carnaval de Gualeguaychú (www.carnavaldelpais.com.ar). It's got all the hot bodies of Rio, and the spectacle runs every weekend in February.
WINE
Get to know Argentinian wine while you're in B.A. Great native reds like Malbec and Mendoza are cheap--and rich and fruity and satisfying. You can buy wine at the corner grocery.
Visitors relish the abundance of outdoor cafés, the quality of the pastry, coffee, and wine -- try some of the award-winning Malbecs -- and the idiosyncratic pronunciation of Spanish with its soft, almost silent "s" and "zh" sound substituting for "ll."
Buenos Aires has a thriving gay and lesbian scene. It's one of the most impressive on the South American continent, rivaled only by Brazil's Rio de Janeiro.
The queer quarter mainly spans the Recoleta, Barrio Norte and Palermo Chico districts just north east of the city centre, and falling into two distinct clusters where it's easy to combine a couple of bars with going onto nearby clubs.
Barrio Norte has always been the traditional gay neighborhood of Buenos Aires. A word of warning: Argentineans eat around 11pm, hit the bars around 1am and will rarely enter a club until after 2am. You will need your early evening 'disco nap' if you are to last the course.
However with the rapid gentrification of San Telmo, this historic neighborhood has become home to several small gay bars and restaurants. Narrow streets paved with original cobblestones create a special atmosphere in an area that’s home to antique stores, art galleries, street performers and tango clubs.
Others places to visit are downtown, Puerto Madero, Recoleta and Palermo, Soho and Hollywood, which attracts a gay following for its eccentric fashion sense, bars, international cuisine and art galleries.
BA can be described as a small-scale version of New York. There is a "Fifth Avenue" (Av. Santa Fe), a "Seventh Avenue" (Arenales street) full of designer shops, a "Broadway" (Av. Corrientes.) that's full of theaters such as Sky-Opera, Gran Rex, Lola Membrives, Teatro General San Martín and the famous Luna Park area, a Greenwich Village-like neighborhood (Barrio Norte), and a mini "Central Park" (Bosques de Palermo).
Buenos Aires clubs, bars and restaurants are open until early morning, when you can grab a café con leche (coffee with milk) and medialunas (croissants) before heading to sleep.
This unforgettable city should be walked to feel its vibration and soul.
And even if gastronomy is not your priority, be sure to visit one of the restaurants on Corrientes or Lavalle for a bife de chorizo (famous Argentine beefsteak cut) and a parrilla (grilled meats). They are absolute musts!
Roll-over Rio! Boys in the know fly three extra hours south to Buenos Aires where the mighty River Plate empties its load into the Atlantic Ocean and passions flare in a land of Polo and Tango!
Buenos Aires has a well-deserved reputation as a hot spot for queer travelers and is increasingly described as the most gay-friendly in South America. The city has become the number-one destination for gay tourism because it doesn’t follow the ghetto model. Quite the opposite; it encourages integration. Gays and lesbians are estimated as being as high as 15% to 20% among international tourists, and many mainstream places stress their gay-friendliness.
Two events – the grand opening of five-star gay hotel Axel in the San Telmo neighbourhood, and playing host to the fourth Gay World Cup of Soccer – make it clear Buenos Aires is investing in gay tourism. The gay liberation movement is championed by the Communidad Homosexual Argentina (Tomás Liberti 1080; +54-11/4361-6382; www.cha.org.ar, informacion@cha.org.ar), which publishes the monthly newsletter Vamos a Andar.
Leaving behind the repressed, conservative mores that prevailed under military rule, Argentina was the first Latin American country to recognize homosexual civil unions.
Called the Paris of South America, it combines the elegance of Europe and the soul of Latin America in a cosmopolitan metropolis rich in architecture, history, film, theatre, arts, dance and music. Combine this with the city’s enormous collection of bars, dance clubs, restaurants, and tango halls catering to the community, no other city in Latin America rivals what Buenos Aires has to offer for visiting gays and lesbians.
For Europeans and North Americans at least, Argentina is silly cheap. You can stay in a fab hotel for £15-20 a night and eat out royally with wine for £3-4 a head. Naturally, do still keep an eye on your wallet, but - with police on every corner - you're probably safer here than you are back home. And you'll certainly be warmer in a southern summer that spans November to March, especially amidst humidity which bubbles up frequent refreshing thunder storms.
Dinner for two with mouthwatering beef (the country is justifiably famous for its meat), cocktails and some of the best wine on earth -- $30. A visit to a fantastic local massage therapist -- $12/hour. Thinking bigger, many Americans are scarfing up land and apartments. How about a pretty nice one-bedroom in a swank part of town for $50,000? That's less than a parking spot in a grimy section of New York City.
Porteños (Buenos Aires-born people) are open, warm and friendly, which adds to the city’s appeal. The 3 million inhabitants of central BA bustle about its American-style grid street system with wide avenues and tall Deco thirties scrapers. And, States-style, there is also one psychotherapist for every thirty of the population - Freud has seen off the Pope. That said, the people themselves, and much of the colonial architecture, are unmistakably European: essentially a heady mix of Spanish and indigenous, with a large scoop of Italian thrown in - as you'll tell from the local district names, mamma-mia cadences and sizzling pizzerias. They also famously like their meat - with or without a pulse. And one final note, most everyone under 30 speaks English.
The vast majority of the city's residents are descended from a huge influx of immigrants, primarily from Italy and Spain, with many other European nationalities represented. Don't be surprised to see many blond, blue-eyed locals. Like the native tango -- with its roots in the brothels of the early 20th century -- Argentines are both sexy and serious. Men and women dress up but, like New Yorkers, tend to eschew colors for a darker palette. Gym culture has entered the zeitgeist and, to the joy of foreign gay boys, local porteños are often buff and incredibly handsome (many with dark hair and blue eyes).
