I was once again lucky enough to be assigned for work to go to Lima, Peru. I know nothing much about Peru except for the Incas and of course Macchu Picchu. I was quite weary about the country since I didn't have a good experience in Sao Paulo. I expected Lima to be the same way, dirty, polluted, unsafe and certainly a concrete jungle.
Few days before my flight to Lima, I managed to dig thru the internet sites to look for lesbian or gay location. After searching thru 100 websites, I finally found one which was quite useful. The 1st problem was that it was just links to Gay Clubs, the other problem is that its all in Spanish. I found a lesbian group in Lima and decided to write to them instead.
After a day or so, I got a reply from one of the members of the group. Nice girl. Gave me plenty of recommendations. Peru isn't really a gay mecca but there are plenty of gay friendly bars/clubs/restaurants.
One area that I adored very much is Laco Mar. Although it is not a special gay area, but it is certainly a good place to have coffee or seafood accompanied by best view of the Peruvian coast. It has a shopping center, cinema, bowling alley and also 2 amusement centers there. The place is indeed more catered towards the upper class Peruvians and it is a little bit touristy, but the locals seems to be fine with it. In fact, I was told, it was the place to see and be seen. And I can't think of a better place to eat fresh seafood in Peru. If you would go to this area, I would certainly recommend going to Mango. The best service that I ever had and most delish seafood. I felt like a queen, the way the waiter was dotting towards us.
Anyways, I met up with the girl from the Lesbian group and she was super friendly. I have to admit she definitely doesn't look gay at all. Later on, I realized that most women in Peru are not very butch looking at all. There are of course a token few, but mostly are girls who love wearing tight, revealing clothes, shaking their bums to salsa and meringue songs.
So where is the place to be? Unfortunately, there is no exclusively lesbian hangout, but there is a BIG GAY club which has plenty of girls and guys hanging out there. The place is called Downtown. It is situated at Pasaje Los Pinos 168, Miraflores. It is the biggest gay club in Peru. It has 2 dance floors. One is for the Latin Lovers and the other is for the House Music Lovers. Guess which ones are the women's favorite? The only problem is, most of the women are just standing drinking and not many are boggie-ing the nite away...
Since I am too shy to shake my not-so-latin-like-booty, I decided to go to the House Music section instead. The DJ is great. He plays the contemporary house music and has good eye for what delights the crowd. It was a Friday night and it was packed to the brim. There was even a drag show which is at the 2nd level of the dance floor. I mean, the drag show wasn't anything to shout about, but I guess, it was great that they are quite with the "program". I mean, the show constitutes of 3 drag queens dressing up as nurse, an S&M fan covered in black leather suit and an innocent school girl strutting their butts on the catwalk. Is that considered as a drag show? hmm...oh well, I did enjoy winking at one of the drag queen, so that was fine.
Friday nites are the best especially since they have this special: buy 2 jugs of beers for only 5euros. That's madness. Oh, and you should try looking for people who are selling you tokens to get into the club for a cheaper price. It costs only 1 soles as opposed to paying at the entrance. Girls are also SUPER friendly over there. It would be a plus though if you could speak Spanish because a few girls came up to me, but I could not strike any conversation with them. Then again, you don't require spanish when you're just sucking face...hehe..
I had such a good time there that I went back on a Thursday and it was super full as well. Not so much girls, but men are a plenty. And music is consistently awesome.
Oh, warning ahead though, if you would like to try their local special drink, make sure you are a fan of raw egg. Otherwise, just don't look at how they prepare the drinks. For those in the dark, the name of the drink is Pisco Sour. It tastes great...but once you know it is made with raw egg, somehow, it doesn't taste as good anymore....
During one of the weekends, I went with my colleague to Cusco.
Few days before my flight to Lima, I managed to dig thru the internet sites to look for lesbian or gay location. After searching thru 100 websites, I finally found one which was quite useful. The 1st problem was that it was just links to Gay Clubs, the other problem is that its all in Spanish. I found a lesbian group in Lima and decided to write to them instead.
After a day or so, I got a reply from one of the members of the group. Nice girl. Gave me plenty of recommendations. Peru isn't really a gay mecca but there are plenty of gay friendly bars/clubs/restaurants.
One area that I adored very much is Laco Mar. Although it is not a special gay area, but it is certainly a good place to have coffee or seafood accompanied by best view of the Peruvian coast. It has a shopping center, cinema, bowling alley and also 2 amusement centers there. The place is indeed more catered towards the upper class Peruvians and it is a little bit touristy, but the locals seems to be fine with it. In fact, I was told, it was the place to see and be seen. And I can't think of a better place to eat fresh seafood in Peru. If you would go to this area, I would certainly recommend going to Mango. The best service that I ever had and most delish seafood. I felt like a queen, the way the waiter was dotting towards us.
Anyways, I met up with the girl from the Lesbian group and she was super friendly. I have to admit she definitely doesn't look gay at all. Later on, I realized that most women in Peru are not very butch looking at all. There are of course a token few, but mostly are girls who love wearing tight, revealing clothes, shaking their bums to salsa and meringue songs.
So where is the place to be? Unfortunately, there is no exclusively lesbian hangout, but there is a BIG GAY club which has plenty of girls and guys hanging out there. The place is called Downtown. It is situated at Pasaje Los Pinos 168, Miraflores. It is the biggest gay club in Peru. It has 2 dance floors. One is for the Latin Lovers and the other is for the House Music Lovers. Guess which ones are the women's favorite? The only problem is, most of the women are just standing drinking and not many are boggie-ing the nite away...
Since I am too shy to shake my not-so-latin-like-booty, I decided to go to the House Music section instead. The DJ is great. He plays the contemporary house music and has good eye for what delights the crowd. It was a Friday night and it was packed to the brim. There was even a drag show which is at the 2nd level of the dance floor. I mean, the drag show wasn't anything to shout about, but I guess, it was great that they are quite with the "program". I mean, the show constitutes of 3 drag queens dressing up as nurse, an S&M fan covered in black leather suit and an innocent school girl strutting their butts on the catwalk. Is that considered as a drag show? hmm...oh well, I did enjoy winking at one of the drag queen, so that was fine.
Friday nites are the best especially since they have this special: buy 2 jugs of beers for only 5euros. That's madness. Oh, and you should try looking for people who are selling you tokens to get into the club for a cheaper price. It costs only 1 soles as opposed to paying at the entrance. Girls are also SUPER friendly over there. It would be a plus though if you could speak Spanish because a few girls came up to me, but I could not strike any conversation with them. Then again, you don't require spanish when you're just sucking face...hehe..
I had such a good time there that I went back on a Thursday and it was super full as well. Not so much girls, but men are a plenty. And music is consistently awesome.
Oh, warning ahead though, if you would like to try their local special drink, make sure you are a fan of raw egg. Otherwise, just don't look at how they prepare the drinks. For those in the dark, the name of the drink is Pisco Sour. It tastes great...but once you know it is made with raw egg, somehow, it doesn't taste as good anymore....
During one of the weekends, I went with my colleague to Cusco.
A city which is the closest to Macchu Picchu. It is about 3000meters above sea level. Although it is a quaint little city, it has lots of character. The architecture of the place is just fabulous, lots of Spanish influence. The Peruvian girl told me that there is a famous gay club in Cusco. We were looking around and I noticed that there were many gay flags hanging outside of the hostels. I was quite proud to see so many gays are living in Cusco. But when I kept seeing flags all over the place, I started to question. People say, 10% of the mass population could be gay, but I think I have seen more than 50% of the buildings here with gay flags flying proudly. This can't be gay heaven. True to my instinct, rainbow is actually Cusco's national symbol. It has something to do with the rain giving them good harvest and sometimes, after the rain, they could always see a rainbow and therefore, rainbow symbolizes good times.
The trip to Macchu Picchu from Cusco took us 7 bloody hours (including flight, train ride and bus ride) but it was certainly all worth it. We only had 3 hours in Macchu Picchu, but it was an awesome trip indeed.
The area where the temple ruins are is amazingly breath-taking with the backdrop of the mountain covered in mist. I felt like I was Indiana Jane and found the lost city of Inca. I wish we had more time to absorb this beautiful sight, but we had to catch the train back to Cusco in order for us to fly back the next day.
At night, we went to the local restaurant. Lo and behold, we saw grilled guinea pig as one of their specialty. We had to try it, I mean, it is a mandatory thing to do since we are already in Cusco. When the dish came, it was quite a horror sight. We could still make out the shape of the guinea pig. It still has its tiny legs attached to it. The head was off of course. But that didn't make it more appetizing..and it didn't help that the table next to us were making icky faces and sounds when they realized what we have ordered. What does it taste like? It reminds me of eating squirrel. Pretty bony and tastes like something you have never tasted before, except for squirrel (I know, bad comparison....since not many people have actually eaten squirrel before...hehe, but that is the closest comparison.)
Anyways, we were too tired to venture out to the gay clubs that nite....so I have no idea how the gay clubs are in Cusco.
Downtown Ratings:
Ambience ****
Music ****
Service ***
Price ****
Girls ****
The trip to Macchu Picchu from Cusco took us 7 bloody hours (including flight, train ride and bus ride) but it was certainly all worth it. We only had 3 hours in Macchu Picchu, but it was an awesome trip indeed.
The area where the temple ruins are is amazingly breath-taking with the backdrop of the mountain covered in mist. I felt like I was Indiana Jane and found the lost city of Inca. I wish we had more time to absorb this beautiful sight, but we had to catch the train back to Cusco in order for us to fly back the next day.At night, we went to the local restaurant. Lo and behold, we saw grilled guinea pig as one of their specialty. We had to try it, I mean, it is a mandatory thing to do since we are already in Cusco. When the dish came, it was quite a horror sight. We could still make out the shape of the guinea pig. It still has its tiny legs attached to it. The head was off of course. But that didn't make it more appetizing..and it didn't help that the table next to us were making icky faces and sounds when they realized what we have ordered. What does it taste like? It reminds me of eating squirrel. Pretty bony and tastes like something you have never tasted before, except for squirrel (I know, bad comparison....since not many people have actually eaten squirrel before...hehe, but that is the closest comparison.)
Anyways, we were too tired to venture out to the gay clubs that nite....so I have no idea how the gay clubs are in Cusco.
Downtown Ratings:
Ambience ****
Music ****
Service ***
Price ****
Girls ****
