Quickie Guide to Gay Bogota
Bienvenidos! Bogota, Colombia is a vibrant city and has a really great gay scene. It's definitely worth a visit. As information on the gay scene here is hard to come by, I have taken it upon myself to offer a webpage with my Bogota basic tips. Follow these and you'll be OK! This information is current as of April 30, 2004.
Clubbing and bar-hopping
Theatron: Calle 58, No. 10-18 (Chapinero) Tel. 235.6879
Everyone ends up at Theatron on Saturday nights in Bogota. It's a massive club set in an old movie theater that has three different ambients. Theatron is the big part which gets jam packed early on, starting at around 10 or 11. Theatrino is a smaller area that plays only house and techno. Upstairs is a loungey type area that has cool, trancey music and is popular early in the morning. Let's see, the cover is around $15.000 (like $5-6 US) that includes a drink. Keep in mind that the security guards will frisk you upon entering. Generally if they catch anyone with drugs on the dancefloor they will confiscate them, and maybe sell them back to you. Oh, they won't let anyone in the club after 3 a.m. The taxis waiting out in front are safe- they have a contract with the club. Friday nights can be fun, generally with a smaller, slightly more straight crowd.
El Closet: Km. 5, Via La Calera
If you can hitch a ride to the Calera, which is up, up a mountain north of Bogota, the Closet is one of the most popular clubs in town. on both Friday and Saturday nights it is absolutely mobbed with a real mix of people from all over Colombia. The music is pop/ Latin pop. The view of the city from above is spectacular, as if there aren't more interesting things to look at on the dancefloor!
Kavu: Carrera 15, No. ??
Relatively new on the scene, Kavu has a very hip atmosphere and young, trendy crowd. Music varies from house to trance to techno on Friday nights. On Wednesday nights, a popular party is Musica para Planchar (music to iron by). You probably won't recognize any of these Colombian songs lip-synched by drag queens, but you will definitely be amused watching the reaction of the crowd as they stroll (and drink) down memory lane. Thursday night is for women, and it's not open on Saturdays.
Las Calles de San Francisco: Carrera 13A, No. 35-31
Sordid. Absolutely sordid. I love it. Overcome your fear of downtown Bogota at night! A mostly 30-40 something crowd is the norm at Calles, most are sitting at their booths waiting for The Show. This is the home of shows such as "El Pene de Oro" (The Golden Penis). Always plenty of action to be had at Calles, where greased up strippers surround your table as the lights go out, letting you do as you please. Then, the perfect time to check out the action in the darkroom, (be careful, muchachos!).
Jinetes: Carrera 7, No. 27-46 (Downtown)
Jinetes is a dance club that is now at a new location, in an old theater downtown. Haven't been there yet.
La Oficina.com: Calle 59, No. 13-18/22(Chapinero)
Smallish bar that gets packed on the weekends. It's a good place to start out before heading to Theatron on a Saturday night. Also popular on Thursdays I think.
When you just have to get off:
As far as I can tell, there is only one sauna that is open 24 hours in this town, and that is the famous Club Baltimore Diagonal 33, No. 15-17(Teusaquillo) Tel. 340.2479 It's adjacent to the respectable Maria Isabel Hotel. nbsp; As it's the only real sauna open all the time, there is a real mixed bag of a crowd. Lockers cost about $15.000 ($5 US) with rooms costing around $40.000. What I like most is that you can use your credit card there- always thinking about those frequent flyer miles!
There are a lot of other saunas in town, but they seem to be open from around 10 or 12 in the day until 10 or 12 at night. Many of them are busy in the late afternoons, early evenings. Some have nude days. Places worth checking out include: Touch Me(Transversal 18, No. 79-67, Locale 5) which is small, clean with lots of steam and cute boys, Babylon Baths (Calle 73, No. 14-32, Tel. 321-7384) and Saint Moritz (Calle 70, No. 13-30)
There seem to be a zillion sex video places in town. These are mostly located around Chapinero and Teusaquillo. They tend to be very cheap- setting you back only about $1 US! But, beware, a lot of these places don't provide condoms, and if they do, they are of the el cheapo variety.
One more thing, in Colombia motels and "residences" are places of sin. You can rent a room for an hour or so. There are several that cater to gays. I think there are a couple near Theatron. I think these cost around $20.000.
Misc.
What a surprise, this site is pretty much geared for the gay male. As in practically everywhere else, the nightlife scene is dominated by the guys. The only lesbian bar that I know of is called Bianca's. There is a nice, mixed upscale cafe called Chase that is worth a visit. Some of the clubs that I have mentioned (Closet and Theatron) have a significant female following as well, but the majority are gay men.
If you are a big electonic music fan and you are gay, there is help. In Bogota there is a big rave scene. Big time DJs such as Cassius, Deep Dish, Sasha, Tiesto, Carl Cox, etc., etc. have performed here. These are mostly hetero affairs, but there is always (always) a gay contingent present (they will find you). For info on these concerts, check out the Friday "Eskape" insert in El Tiempo or go to www.escenaelectronica.com.
If you are coming to Colombia, you are probably at least a tad curious about the whole drug thing here. Here goes my scoop. Under Colombian law, until President Uribe finally succeeds in changing it, you are allowed a "personal dose" of recreational drugs. That covers all drugs! However, if you are found with drugs, the police will do whatever they want. They will confiscate the drugs. They will confiscate the drugs and sell them back to you. They will arrest you. So don't get caught in public with drugs and especially not driving. So, the best policy is to act like you are in the land of idiotic and failed recreational drug policies- the good ole USA! In the gay clubbing world, cocaine is the drug of choice. And yes, it's dirt cheap, plus the quality is really good! And it's really, really cheap. Pot and ecstasy are also popular with special k and lsd less popular. Poppers are prohibited from being sold in Colombia! Isn't that weird? So bring some down on the flight with you and smuggle them into the clubs. You'll make a lot of friends.
One quickie paragraph of random tips: it's really cool to hop on a bike on Sunday mornings and holidays during the Ciclovia. They close off miles upon miles of city streets, which are open only to cyclists, rollerbladers, joggers and walkers. The Ciclovia cops in their red short shorts are so cute. Go ahead, ask them a question! Speaking of fitness, the gayest gym around is Bodytech. They have several sites, (a nice one being on Calle 102/ Avenida 19)but the gayest one is in Chapinero at Calle 63 and Carrera 7. It's a mega gym always busy, and open late. Afterwards go across the street for some aisle cruising in Carulla, the gayest supermarket in town (now open 24 hours!). Final tips: there are some funky and fun restaurants in the bohemian Macarena neighborhood, next to the bull fighting ring. (But don't go to bullfights. It's a barbaric blood sport (as if there wasn't enough violence in Colombia...) Oh, and yes, the Gold Museum really is worth it.
Pack some sweaters, but don't forget your sunscreen. When it's sunny here, it's SUNNY!
Have fun in Bogota!