Buenos Aires, Argentina. June/July 2021

[davet]

Great memories! Palermo Viejo is one of my favorite neighborhoods in the world, vaguely recalling Greenwich Village (or the East Village) before they wealthied up. Palermo Chico I recall as a tiny enclave, practically a gated community, where I got some hostile "can I help you?" looks when I wandered through there as a rag-tag backpacker. However, the big modern area surrounding it - basically the park and everything north of Av. Santa Fe - was what I called Palermo Nuevo. PV is definitely better.

Rodriguez Pena - This is in Barrio Norte, right (if they still call it that)? Was there a gay club called Contramano on that street? This was where I picked up my first rent man (or "taxi," in the delightful Argentine slang) in my life. Contramano was a "historic" moment in my life - good or bad is still up for debate decades letter.

I'm glad you post menus and prices. I like to ask people how much a cup of coffee is where they traveled to. It's surprising how many tourists, especially cruise ship people, wouldn't know. The Argentine economy swings from feast to famine. It looks like right now, it's decently priced at the official rate and a bargain at the black/blue market rate.

Are credit cards accepted and how much do they mess around with the rates and fees? Is the blue rate completely legal, semi-legal, or illegal but nobody cares? I assume cash (USD) is king now with the parallel exchange.

[msclelovr]

Yes, @davet Contramano was the gay club on that street. It was certainly historic in the sense of being long-established and with a local crowd of all ages.  

I went a couple of times in 2008-2010. The first time I was chatted up furiously by a local young man; I think he saw me as a wealthy Daddy. The second time, there was a very muscled stripper who, on finding it was a 30something local’s birthday, proceeded to fuck his mouth to climax. 

[Latbear4blk]

49 minutes ago, davet said:

Was there a gay club called Contramano on that street?

I was going to Contramano to fuck for free the boys older guys were paying for, and for hooking up with African American UA flight attendants. Unfortunately the place was already closed two years ago, when I checked it during my previous visit.

51 minutes ago, davet said:

The Argentine economy swings from feast to famine. It looks like right now, it's decently priced at the official rate and a bargain at the black/blue market rate.

I think prices are a bargain at the official rate and a joke at the blue one.

52 minutes ago, davet said:

Are credit cards accepted and how much do they mess around with the rates and fees? Is the blue rate completely legal, semi-legal, or illegal but nobody cares? I assume cash (USD) is king now with the parallel exchange.

Cards are accepted but I have not used them so far. In previous trips, the fees were standard and I always would prefer using plastic. My cash would be only for the boys, and I would usually withdraw it from atm cashiers. There was a cost involved, but one I was willing to pay out of comfort and safety.

Of course now using cash over plastic is a non brainer. I brought dollar bills to sell in the Blue Market. It is universally accepted and in the few exchange shops I walked in they would make a transaction with no issues. I am feeling my dollars to relatives and friends.

[Latbear4blk]

This passed week has been cold for this time of the year. I should not be discouraged by these temperatures but I got infected by the locals and almost did not go out. I kept checking stuff out of my To Eat List, though. 

Of course, I already had my first breakfast with facturas argentinas.

However, rather than purchased food, I am orgasming at my mother's cooking. One of my favorite flavors in the Milky Way, my mami's lentils stew:

But I am not eating with her everyday, and so I am trying treats everywhere and checking them out of my list. 

Alfajores de maicena

Pizza argentina. What you see is from Romario, a popular and traditional pizzería. At the bottom you have fugazzeta rellena, in the middle a mozzarella a la napolitana pizza, and on top two slices of fainá.

Not everything is from my To Eat List, sometimes I take other things. I forgot to take pictures, so this one is from the web, but I tried a delicious pamplona de cerdo in a Parrilla Uruguaya two blocks away from my place:

Certainly, this week I felt like my pants are shrinking. Hopefully this coming week I will walk moren as the weather forecasting is promising. Fortunately or unfortunately, all my friends are very cautious and only want to meet outdoors. So I have been meeting indoors with new friends.

My Grindr continues to be in flames even two weeks after my arrival. I have met several guys with different levels of hotness but no one of them was good enough for a repeat. The panorama has been much more fruitful in the paid sex realm. I already tried 4 local taxi boys, all of them very good to outstanding. 

I have been introduced to a website I had never heard of before: escogeme.com. If everything goes well, I will try someone from there tomorrow. Meanwhile, I have explored soytuyo and Skokka. The latter is where you can find the best prices. 

The range of prices is wide. I have received offers ranging from $AR 2,000 (U$S 20 at official rate/12 at Blue rate) to $AR 6.000 (61/37). I will report the rates of the guys I am hiring here but not in my blog, as those prices will be very fluctuating. I already published a full review for Ander, which will be followed by Tomy's, Samir's, and Alan's.

 

Today I did take a walk back in my old neighborhood. After it, I love even more Palermo. But these are a few pictures of Recoleta nowadays at noon on a Sunday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Primeone385]

On 6/5/2021 at 7:09 AM, Latbear4blk said:

I just finished packing and in a few hours will be departing to Buenos Aires. I have not visited my second home in two years, and besides cuddling my 83 y.o. mother and my old friends, I am very curious about the city in pandemic mode. Things look bad over there right now, with restrictions close to Fase 1 in some places even if they are rolling vaccination with a good vaccine, Russian Sputnik.

The exchange is back to have an official and a parallel value. Today, official exchange is around U$S 1 = $AR 100; while the "blue" exchange is 1 to 150. Due to this huge difference, I will be restricting the use of credit cards (they use official exchange rates) and instead I am taking cash. 

I will stay in an Airbnb for 30 days (less than 400 bucks!), a studio in duplex with two balconies in a 2nd floor (3rd for American standards), in Palermo. This is another reason I am excites. I always lived in Recoleta, and then kept staying in my family place or renting in that neighborhood. This is the first time that I am going to be exploring Palermo, a quite transformed area since my departure from the city. It is full of restaurants and bars, with a quite young/middle class demographic.

Wish me a good trip!

May you have a well rested vacation and wonderful times.

[Latbear4blk]

You can find here the report on my second taxi boy, Samir.

[Latbear4blk]

I am reading a very recommendable book: The Routledge Handbook of Male Sex Work, Culture, and Society. It is a compilation of essays around male sex work grouped by thematic categories. I was afraid it was going tp be over academic and impossible to read as an enjoyable reading, but I was wrong. It is a huge volume, but not as much as it looks likes. A significant number of pages goes into references and notes.

For those friends who are History geeks, I also found an article that you may enjoy: La historia de las maestras estadounidenses que Sarmiento trajo a la Argentina. It was published in the main national progressive newspaper, and references a book about an episode not very known even amongst Argentineans. I happened to know about it because my parents are from, and I was born in Esquina, a small town in Corrientes province. One of the most prominent buildings in the city was in my childhood, and still is nowadays, the local Escuela Normal, founded by one of the US teachers brought to Argentina by Sarmiento. Both of my parents graduated from that school as Elementary School teachers. It is written in Spanish.

You can see the book cover below. "Señorita" is how pupils in Argentina's elementary schools address their teachers.

These last days the temperature got a little better and I felt again like exploring my new neighborhood. I wonder whether or not I would like it this much without the pandemic. I am quite phobic and do not enjoy crowds. All the places are empty, but at the same time speak loudly of how populated they used to be. Bilingual signing everywhere highlights the absence of First World tourists. 

I saw something lovely during my walk this morning. A guy in his 20s was waiting for his friend in the sidewalk. His friend walked out when I was almost reaching where they were. I could clearly see how his friend greeted him putting his finger in his ass. They started to walk in front of me, I followed them for a coupe of blocks. Both were beautiful. I was starting to think they were just straight friends and the finger in the ass had been a joke, when they held hands. Porteños complain too much, this city is ridiculously gay friendly.

Besides the walks around Palermo, I am frequently going to Recoleta to hang out with my mother. I am taking taxi cabs. I have said this before, probably every time I reported about Buenos Aires. Riding a car is like riding a roller coaster. It is scaring. One of the drivers started to insult another and to chase him looking for a fight. Crazy.

After several failures, I found two good panaderías a few block away from my nest. One is the green building in the corner above. I will probably go there for breakfast tomorrow. On Avenida Santa Fe I found another one:

A

As you all know, I am in a quest to check items out of my To Eat List. This time was the turn for sandwiches de miga:

You would probably think they are just coctel sandwiches. You would be WRONG WRONG WRONG. They are a sexual experience.

Grindr has become a distracting temping annoyance, considering the quality of the local taxi boys I have been meeting. The amount of views and hits is not as overwhelming as it was during the first week, but it is still high. In total, I invited about 7 guys to my place, 5 of them in their 20s, one in his 30s, one 40 y.o. They were OK, but I do not want to repeat. If you are into married men (to a woman), you will be hooking up all the time. You also must be careful about legal age. There are many kiddos looking for trouble. 

So far I had only one frustrating experience with a professional. His pictures were outdated, and there was a smell in his room that booed me away. The other 4 I tried were great. A couple of hours ago I kissed good bye the one who apparently will be my new favorite, Tomy:

It was our second meeting, this time for two hours. Amazing. Right now I feel like a mix of Superman and Rhyheim Shabazz. I will meet with him at least once again, for a bundle session: pics, video, and sex. Tomorrow I will be meeting the one that will probably be my last try:

 

After him I will get devoted to repeats.I will miss Buenos Aires.

[trzinko]

if there will be some nice videos with tommy i will join your join your just for fans account.

let us know!!!

[Latbear4blk]

2 hours ago, trzinko said:

if there will be some nice videos with tommy i will join your join your just for fans account.

let us know!!!

There will be some. However, I always warn those joining my JFF. If you are looking for hot porn, you will be disappointed. The idea is mostly to throw 5 bucks to support the blog, which is really where my worn and effort go. 

[Latbear4blk]

Thank you @TotallyOz! You know why! 

[Latbear4blk]

Here you have the full review of my favorite finding in Buenos Aires, so far.

 

 

[Lonnie]

3 hours ago, Latbear4blk said:

Here you have the full review , so far.

You can't post here?

[Latbear4blk]

4 hours ago, Lonnie said:

You can't post here?

I have my own blog for that.

[Latbear4blk]

Bingo. The second panadería was exactly what I was looking for. So far, I have been there only twice, but I will keep going on, specially during my last days. 

That croissant right there made the difference. What a delicious, solid, generous portion of buttery pleasure! I can eat most croissants out there in two to three bites. In this case, impossible. My mouth is watering as I am remembering the flavor. 

I also checked another item out of my To Eat List.

Fresco y batata, el postre del vigilante. This is a very popular and affordable sweet treat. What you see in the picture is the classic version, but there are many variations with different kinds of cheeses and/or additions to the dulce de batata, like chocolate. Yummy. The picture was taken at my sister's home.

We had a rainy day and I have been fucking like a bunny, so I have not been out much these last few days. In my few explorations, I keep falling deeper and deeper in love with Palermo. In one corner you have a sample of pure Rio de la Plata tradition:

A few meters away, a sample of pure sophisticated, cosmopolitan Buenos Aires:

When the rain kept me inside, I wish I would have been fucking all the time. Definitely I am too old for that. I have made big progresses in the book about male prostitution that I pitched before. I enjoyed the section on Latin America, not only because they were addressing our cultures and realities, but also because I was gladly surprised at a few very unusual mentions. 

A couple of the essays recognize Nestor Perlongher, a man I worked with in the Argentine gay liberation movement back in the 80s. Just recently, when I wrote "Gay is not good" I had mentioned him as one of the significant progressive thinkers of the Latin-American sexual liberation movement, taken by the HIV pandemic. This is the first time I see his contribution recognized, and in an eloquent way, by Anglo-saxo academia. 

Not only that. Even more unusual, considering the anti Peronist mindset that is mainstream in the First World, in the chapter about Argentina there is a recognition of Eva Perón's contributions to the fight for the rights of sex workers. And I did not know about that! 

Of course, I did have some fun. I already reported on my meeting with Tomy. He is definitely my favorite and will meet him again in a few days. Today, early on, I met Alan for the second time. I have not yet published a full review of him, but he is my second favorite after Tomy. He is a very unconventional match for me, slightly too girlish. However, his horny voluptuousness captivated and seduce me. 

I do not know when I will be able to write a full report, so meanwhile I share a few pictures as an advance.

If you have been reading my reviews about Ander, Samir, and Tomy, you will know what I am talking about when I mention the sexy walk upstairs. Today, I have a sample for you:

 

 

[Latbear4blk]

This is the full report of my two (so far) meetings with Alan.

[davet]

On 6/25/2021 at 4:41 PM, Latbear4blk said:

A couple of the essays recognize Nestor Perlongher, a man I worked with in the Argentine gay liberation movement back in the 80s. Just recently, when I wrote "Gay is not good" I had mentioned him as one of the significant progressive thinkers of the Latin-American sexual liberation movement, taken by the HIV pandemic. This is the first time I see his contribution recognized, and in an eloquent way, by Anglo-saxo academia.

What a coincidence. Perlongher made it onto my Amazon wish list because he was mentioned in:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/022630910X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

So Anglo-American academia has indeed recognized him. This particular young academic apparently spent much time in the places we frequent ... but purely for sociological research. (And I actually believe him!) I was going to write him (but I never did) to ask whether Perlongher would be too technical and difficult to read at my level of Spanish, because there's not much Perlongher in translation.

 

[Latbear4blk]

36 minutes ago, davet said:

What a coincidence. Perlongher made it onto my Amazon wish list because he was mentioned in:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/022630910X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

So Anglo-American academia has indeed recognized him. This particular young academic apparently spent much time in the places we frequent ... but purely for sociological research. (And I actually believe him!) I was going to write him (but I never did) to ask whether Perlongher would be too technical and difficult to read at my level of Spanish, because there's not much Perlongher in translation.

 

The challenge to read him would not be over technicists, but rather his tendency to use poetic language. Imagine the challenges of reading Foucault or Baudrillad, without saying they are comparable.

[Latbear4blk]

20 hours ago, davet said:

because there's not much Perlongher in translation

Sorry, this thought came up after my first response. Do you read Portuguese better than Spanish? I am quite sure if you read him in any language other than Portuguese or Spanish, a lot will be lost in translation. 

[Latbear4blk]

duplicated

[Latbear4blk]

Let's start with the (not so) bad news. Argentinean federal government has put in place restrictions that forced airlines to drastically reduce flights frequencies. I was supposed to be leaving on June 6th. Believe it or not, my new date to leave Buenos Aires is August 4th. I got an email from American yesterday, so you can imagine how stressed I have been since then. I perhaps-maybe-with luck could leave triangulating  30+ hours several stops flights and paying 3K, but fortunately I do not need to do that.

Money is not an issue, lodging is not an issue (I already rented a place even better than the current one), not even my job is an issue, they will make accommodations. I am distressed mostly for two reasons. The most important one is my inability to deal with uncertainty. I had a plan that was working perfectly, and it was for a month. I did not plan for two months and right now I am in the middle of making re-arrangements. That stresses me out as hell. The secondary reason is my relationship with my "supervisor". I placed it in between quotation marks because we are also very close friends. She is right now going crazy because she needed me in DC next week, and as I love her beyond our professional relationship, I am upset. Hopefully, I will be fine tomorrow. Certainly, I am better than yesterday.

It will be easy to readapt. First, I am not going broke because of this situation. My new airbnb is better and more expensive than the current one, but it is only 500 bucks for the full month. I still have plenty of cash, and if I run out of it I always have the CCs. I would lose the advantage of the black market exchange, but still everything is affordable. I will have to restrict the money invested in sex, but will have more time to explore Grindr and the local sex for free. I will have more time to spend with my mother, the rest of my relatives, and close friends. I will have to stop gaining weight at this pace, but still will be dieting eating delicious local food. My place in DC and my kitty are well taken care of by my friends and they are not a concern. 

The government's decision caught me unprepared, as the feeling in Buenos Aires is that the restrictions are being lifted. I even went out with friends a few days ago to a great Parrilla, and ate my first provoleta, another item checked out from my To Eat List. We ate in a place by my place, and all the restaurants seem born again with porteños (no tourists in the city) taking advantage of the few expected hours of sun, as rain was in the forecasting. When we sat to eat it was sunny and nice enough to endure the cold with the help of the sidewalk heating towers. When we finish eating, it was freezing and cloudy. So we decided to move inside to a coffee shop. As we were leaving the parrilla, we saw a street performance on its twin restaurant (same owners, we were in the parrilla corner, the other corner was a fish restaurant: La Dorita y La Pescadorita). Take a look, when I film back you can see the parrilla we are coming from. Notice the male siren in La Pescadorita.

We just walked a block to find a nice coffee shop: Alchemia. The menu displayed dozens of coffee variations presented as the work of an alchemist, and the beverages were served in different shapes lab containers. I chose a spoon of vanilla ice cream with a double espresso shot.

Delicious. Today I visited the Mercado de Pulgas. It is specialized in furniture and decoration, a traditional flee market refurnished and pumped as a touristic attraction by the city government. These are some of the pics I took.

I loved these bar stalls, to sit butt to butt:

I think I mention Mafalda to someone in some forum. She is the main character of a very popular comic strip from the 70s and after, very representative of Porteños hyper psychoanalyzed and over thinking nature.

After walking around all these treasures, we sat in an organic bar in the very market to grab a bite. Prices were not low for local standards, just slightly above average, and the food was delicious. I ate a portobello cream soup and a spinach and cheese quiche.

Including my water, my check was $AR 590 (U$S 6 at official rate/3.50 at Blue rate). Some of you like to check prices. As of today, June 30th, the exchange rate is U$S 1 = $AR 98 at official/167 at Blue). Take a look.

Yesterday was a shitty day with all the stress triggered by my flight cancelation. But I had had a great day before. Tomy came to my place and we had a long session of pictures, video, and sex. I truly love some of the pictures we made, but I was frustrated at my clumsiness multitasking, which affected my sexual performance. I hope so. The other explanation is that I am just aging and my erection is not reliable at all. The boy is a masturbatory nuke, we had an earth shaking two hours fuck a couple of days before, but this time I was not happy with my performance. As I said, I love the pictures, though. I cannot say the same of the videos we recorded while fucking. I cannot fuck and film, my respect to the independent performers who can do that with mastery.

Unfortunately, part of the adjustments I will have to make is cutting my budget on escorts. Tomy is relatively expensive and I will not hire him again as a model, hopefully only as an escort. On the other hand, and surprisingly to me, my rapport with Alan does not stop getting better. I am confident you will se more of him in the next weeks. He asked me for a last photoshoot for tomorrow, no charge, with fuck included as my goodbye. Now, that one is not our last chance and the boy is over excited because I am staying longer and we will be able to work more. THAT BOY!

 

[TotallyOz]

I could spend days in that flea market. Lovely. I could also spend days in Tomy, but that would be a different experience.

[Axiom2020]

3 hours ago, TotallyOz said:

I could spend days in that flea market. Lovely. I could also spend days in Tomy, but that would be a different experience.

Ditto!  I am one of Tomy's subscriber at OnlyFans, and I received an email with a short shot of you and him.  ...liked what I pre

viewed and can't wait to see the entire presentation.

 

[Latbear4blk]

I thought he was going to mute our voices, but I enjoyed listening to me in someone else's porn outlet for the first time in my life. I (or parts of me) will be also featured in some of Alan's material. He is coming in a few hours for more, but we already filmed and shot some hot stuff.

[Lonnie]

16 hours ago, Latbear4blk said:

Tomy came to my place

Thanks for sharing these pics of Tomy here,  Latbear4blk. I hope you kissed his beautiful ass for me as requested.

Guys, if you want to see more of Tomy you can go to Latbear4blk's own blog here:

https://ilikepinga.com/2021/06/25/tomy/

[Latbear4blk]

1 hour ago, Lonnie said:

I hope you kissed his beautiful ass for me as requested.

Kissed? I dove in, but I must confess I was not thinking of you.