Bogotá Colombia Fall’19

[Riobard]

Surged start ...

 

Edited September 25, 2019 by Riobard
Vid edit

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Our Lady of Lourdes, heart of Chapinero ... 

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La Candelaria overview. It would be foolhardy to try to pack in all the sights in this district in one day. I suggest at least a day for the boundary box I entered for the gold museum and another day for the larger area south. 3-4 days ideally to really relax and soak it in. 

[Riobard]

Gold Museum. I visited 3 times so far; it is free for seniors and on Sundays. I hear Sundays at most sights are packed and with loads of darling but squalling children being dragged along far earlier than their developmental capacity for art appreciation. 

The complex is three levels and moderately large with 57,000 artefacts. The English 1-hour tour barely skimmed the surface but was fantastic. They are at 11:00 and 16:00 most days. The 5-minute immersion room, replicating traditional indigenous "offerings", is fun. 

The restaurant is excellent and packed with well-heeled locals. 

The best place to order an Über to return to Chapinero is at the OXXO convenience store at C16K5.

Über is illegal. Be discreet with your phone app, watch for police, and sit in the front. Probably better to use a secure legal taxi app, but at this point I have not had the chance to determine how much Spanish proficiency would be required. 

Edited September 27, 2019 by Riobard

[Riobard]

Coming up: Botero Museum area

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Note: following local abbreviation custom, I may  continue to use C for Calle (east-west) and K for Carrera (north-south). For example, the OXXO store is the intersection of Calle 16 and Carrera 5 (C16K5).

Previous posts have described the unique delineation of specific addresses using the C or K, depending on the particular exact location, and adding the cross street and building number. 

I wanted to fully render the OXXO store address to illustrate but an error in Google Maps prevents it. Welcome to South America. 

The same problem occurs for the Gold Museum. It is on K6 and C16 but listed as C15, ostensibly because it is on the south side of C16 but north of an imaginary extension of C15 not that far away but south of it.

Sorry! 

[Riobard]

The southern area to explore spans roughly from Plaza Bolivar and its cathedral to the west, to a few blocks east of it. The Botero Museum is situated within a plus-sized expansive zone of museums contiguous with, or near, it. Within the Botero/Moneda courtyard is another excellent and popular eatery "Marcha".

The Botero collection is vast and gorgeous and there is a sprinkling of Impressionist masters' paintings as well. Not to be missed. 

The other museums in the area may be eclipsed by the iconic Botero style, but they are all good in their own right. 

The Über pickup corner I chose was in front of the large yellow church I circled at C11K4 ... the vehicle approached coming along west on C11 but it might also approach coming along south on K4. 

[Riobard]

Saint Moritz Baths and Gigolo Erotic House complex ... and a few added details. 

Three days of use in and comparing notes with an American couple visiting there that spoke Spanish and graciously helped me with some pointers and language/playbook details. Mind you, we are similarly using high standard comparison reference points ... Rio 117, etc; strip clubs NYC, MIA, MTL; northern/western bathhouse experiences without trade. 

This three-component venue does not work well in either domain, as a regular bathouse cum massage parlour, or strip/lapdance club. 

However, while the trade inventory is relatively small, there are some pretty attractive candidates and they are not represented in the provider photos now integrated into the complex' websites. 

IMHO, the best approach is to make your provider contacts there and hook up off-site.

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I also had a positive experience with one of the few Mileroticos providers that turned out to be a genuine not fake ad. No time to pursue a few more legit ads with whom I had interacted during trip prep. 

Grindr blew up moderately with offers from guys with papi/grampie bents. One a very goodlooking entertainer almost begging me, but whose closet-angst turned me off. 

Met and dated an adorable smoking-hot straight eye-candy bartender/floorserver/host in a gay club who was down to earn some cash for worship+. He is the main reason I may return. The club infrastucture there is fairly conducive to shameless propositional flirting with low-earner house staff. 

I did not host at my accommodations.

There is a cluster of nicely appointed, shockingly inexpensive, secure MSM affirmative, love motels near (3 blocks south) the StM/GEH venue, C62/blockK14-15, of which Motel Las Palmas impressed the shit out of me [long story]. I did not need to sample its five neighbours.

I do not recommend Gay Hotel San Sebastian [long story].

Overall, I did much better left to my own deVICES than in Santo Do-Blueballs, though I may need to give LRD a more extended fair shake. 

I do really like Bogotá. It is reminiscent of São Paulo and CDMX. The altitude is palpable (hills/stairs) but manageable. The major downside is carbon emissions settling into its basin-like geo-structure. Meal options quite good, better than Rio. 

Tentatively, I would consider it as a base for play, along with short-haul jaunts throughout mainland Colombia and possibly SanAndrés/Providenciales.

 

Edited September 29, 2019 by Riobard

[Riobard]

Correction: Providencia.

As many of you know, Providenciales is Turks&Caicos.

[Riobard]

Minor fly in the petroleum jelly ...

One fellow proceeds to apply traditional Vaseline for anal, with condom of course. It is of course much more economical there compared to recommended lube.

Some massage guys with "complete anal-inclusive happy ending" appear to be using oil-based lotion from a bottle.

In later text follow-up I inform the Vaseline guy of the advantages of water- or silicone-based and I offer to purchase for him, as a gift, a generous 'starter kit'. He changes the subject and does not take me up on my offer. Luckily, I carry around enough mini-packets for ad hoc use instead. 

[Riobard]

Keep receipts ...

At least in the short term. I took a local to lunch and dropped him at his apartment where he was changing for the gym. I had an untouched portable size mineral water from the restaurant in my hand when I entered a nearby supermarket my lunch companion directed me to for produce. They did not have what I want. As I left, a child in a security uniform, who turned out to be the store's pint-sized guard, grabbed me by my knapsack that was over my shoulders and he dragged me quickly into a back room where he locked me in behind a grate after getting a young female employee to stay with me. My guess is that he left briefly to perhaps check out videotape. This gave me a chance to text my lunch companion to come and help me. Then while being pelted with speedily articulated Spanish my knapsack was examined. I had the restaurant receipt in there with the water itemized. After demonstrating this, all was well, I was released, and my lunch partner was on his way but able to continue instead to his gym appointment. It all happened very startlingly and rapidly.

[Riobard]

Gogo at Theatron in his recent Hallowe'en getup. Tall, built, handsome ... really sweet guy, nicer than any in Brazil and I have met dozens there.