CINEMAS AND STREET SCENES

[escorpion]

Hi guys

Looking for some info to complement my sauna adventures:javascript:smilie('')

 

 

Does anyone have any recommendations / observations on the gay cines in Sao Paulo, in the central area, more or less?

 

Also, likewise for Buenos Aires

 

Also, some time ago there was a thread on Rio hustlers. Some info was provided on Campo Santana & a few other locales. Cinelandia was also mentioned, but no details (where, when). I'm aware of the cines there but was wondering about the street scene.

 

Obrigado

 

Escorpion

[trilingual]

RE: Miscellaneous info

 

It's been a while since I've gone to cinemas in SP, but they're usually active from lunchtime until about 7:00 p.m., when downtown empties out.

 

The street scene in Rio is the same as always: Campo de Santana (officially called Praça da República and open until 5:00 p.m.), the toilets in the Estação Central do Brasil (Central Station), Cinelândia (guys on benches near the end farthest from Theatro Municipal, afternoon and early evening), Via Appia, and Aterro do Flamengo (in the park). Use the "search" function within the Escorts South board, and use those place-names as keywords to find more extensive postings about them.

 

I cannot say this strongly enough: STREET CRUISING IN BRAZIL CAN BE BIG-TIME DANGEROUS!!! If you are new to Brazil, aren't familiar with the culture and customs, and aren't fluent in Portuguese, this is not the scene for you. Your odds of ending up a crime statistic are HIGH!

 

There are sex cinemas in Buenos Aires. I'm not current on them, but there used to be a couple near Plaza Once that I understand were active. If nobody else posts about them (or you can't find info using the "search" function) just buy copies of NX and Império magazines at a newstand in Buenos Aires and look for addresses in the pull-out gay guide/classifieds sections. Another guide, "La otra guia," is available free in most gay bars.

[trilingual]

RE: DANGER ON THE STREETS

 

OK, I'm sorry to be a wet blanket about this, but in retrospect I was wrong to detail the street scene in the preceding post. By and large readers here need to forget about cruising streets and parks in Brazil. It can be VERY dangerous. That's why I've largely avoided describing or talking about the street scene.

 

The posters who've detailed their street cruising adventures are guys with long experiences in Brazil, who can communicate in Portuguese, and who have a solid understanding of the culture and customs here. This enables them to evaluate the risks of any encounter with reasonable certainty. Even then, things have gone wrong when they cruise public places. Fortunately, they've been lucky. Some dead foreigners haven't been.

 

Brazil can be heaven if you follow the safety recommendations on this board, but it ISN'T Disneyland for gay tourists with fantasies. If you don't speak the language, don't know what you're doing, and don't follow the safety advice on this board, Brazil can end up being your very own Jurassic Park!

 

Unless and until you are very well experienced here, speak the language, and can honestly say you really understand the way things work in Brazil, PLEASE stick with the saunas, the agencies, or guys who've been reviewed here or vouched for by reliable locals or "old Brazil hands." Even then you can run into trouble, but it's far less likely. THE STREET SCENE HERE IS NOT FOR CASUAL TOURISTS.

 

I urge other "old Brazil hands" who are fans of the street scene not to encourage newbies or guys who don't speak Portuguese in such escapades. None of us wants to feel we have the blood (or safety) of a fellow traveller on our hands. Inexperienced and Portuguese-challenged visitors will have all the hot men they can handle at the safer venues, and need to be encouraged and reminded to stay safe during their visits here. The last thing we want to find ourselves doing is helping ship somebody's body back home! And that IS a possible outcome if an inexperienced person wanders around these places.

 

I REPEAT: THE STREET SCENE IN BRAZIL IS NOT FOR CASUAL TOURISTS!!!

[marko]

RE: DANGER ON THE STREETS

 

I agree strongly with Trilingual: I speak Spanish and Portuguese well and feel pretty safe cruising on the streets after many years of experience in Latin America. However, I have been robbed three times and twice threatened with violence, which, thankfully, I managed to avoid. If you do not know the Latin American street scene (Brazil in particular), do not speak the language, do not have reliable local contacts of longstanding acquaintance, etc., etc., DO NOT try to pick up guys on the street. The cinemas, on the other hand, are, generally speaking, pretty safe. You can meet a guy there and go do your thing in the men's room or even in the seats, in the dark room that most theaters have. The cinema managers do not want trouble in their places: it's bad for business, and have obvious security. However, you will NOT find peope who speak English in those places and so if you do not speak passable Portuguese, they are best avoided. Tri is right when he says that you will find more than you can handle in the saunas--where things are very safe--and you will be more than satisfied: you wil be deliriously happy! The streets and the cinemas are not for most M4Mers.