Buenos Aires 2004: Notes from the Underside



I was in Buenos Aires from January to mid-March, 2004.



Background

I am retired and live on a defined budget: my complete monthly allowance is less than what most people I know in the US pay for their rent alone. By living in countries with a favorable exchange rate and a decent standard of living I do pretty well, by my standards, and by no means do I dwell at the bottom of the economic ladder. Being in such countries usually means there is pussy I can afford, especially in Latin America.

My Spanish language skills are “navigable,” meaning I know enough to travel, bargain, shop, eat, etc. When people are chattering away at full speed I don’t get it all but I do get some. The dialect in Argentina is another matter. On the street I can pass for an Argentine until they hear me speak.

I don’t drink, and I will be the first to admit I am pretty much of a loner, so I’m not much for hanging out in bars and clubs, and I know I don’t negotiate well when a good-looking woman has her hand on my dick. I also prefer to do my fucking in the daytime.



The exchange rate at the time was a little less than 3 pesos to the dollar.



A few notes of warning before proceeding: most of my adventures involve the seedier parts of town, so if you’re turned off by the low-end of the scene stop reading now. Also, this report contains personal perspectives and opinions, which may not be the same as yours; if you can’t handle it, TURN BACK NOW! Intelligent comments are welcome, send flames to santaclaus@northpole.org



I keep the chronology of the first week or so, then I offer a series of vignettes that occurred in no particular order. I also include some travel notes and commentary of other places in that part of the world.



Brazil to Buenos Aires via Uruguay

I arrived in Buenos Aires on a Thursday afternoon in early January.

I had been on the coast in Uruguay for most of December, in a small town of vacation houses, not many people, and zero mongering action, from what I could gather. It seemed a fairly conservative and under-populated place, so I felt uncomfortable asking. I had come into Uruguay from Brazil, and was picturing the border town of Chuy as a Tijuana-type set up, with Brasilieras providing the sin and the male population of Uruguay coming over to get a little something they can’t get at home. I couldn’t have been more wrong, it was strictly a monger’s fantasy: the place is dead. If such had been the case I would have taken a trip or two back to the frontier during my stay. On the Uruguay side of the border are tony duty-free shops selling expensive perfume and car stereo equipment. On the Brazilian side of the border are a whole lot of supermarkets, with Uruguaianas stocking up and getting on buses. I took this as a cue and bought a kilo of coffee – this turned out to be a very smart move.

While the view on the coast was nice, the wind was almost constant. This is the way it is with the whole sub-tropic South Atlantic, I am told. I was considering heading down the coast of Argentina, and was now having second thoughts.

After leaving the small coastal town I hit Montevideo and checked out a few cheap casas. Service was ok, definitely not a worthy mongering detour. There was street action, but didn’t sample. I heard there were some bars catering to the hobby in the over-$50US range, but didn’t check that out either. Montevideo is ok, but there’s something odd about both the country and city: it was like there was once a thriving civilization, then it was devastated by something or other and evacuated, and now some people have returned and moved into the ancient buildings. In this respect it reminded me of Oakland, California. In the beach town, the vacationers were at least in their mid-thirties, and may have had kids as old as 16, but it was rare to see young people from ages 18-30. People told me this is because there is no work outside of Montevideo, so the young either go to the city or to another country.

After two days in Montevideo I thought “why hang out in Jersey when New York is right across the river?”, a metaphoric reference to BA being a short boat ride away (Actually, San Francisco and Oakland would be more like it). The Buquebus, as the boat is called, was about US$50 and took about 3 and a half hours. The travel experience, with check-in, baggage check, and waiting lounge was very much like dealing with an airline. Argentine immigration was handled as part of the boarding process, and no questions were asked: I wasn’t aware that I had officially entered Argentina until I looked at my passport.

Once docked in BA, baggage claim and customs was a breeze, though all bags had to be x-rayed and some people were pulled over for manual inspection.

I went out and grabbed a taxi. The driver was quite amiable, told me I was in town at a good time, as so many people were away for summer vacation. Checked in to my hotel, then went for a walk. I immediately felt comfortable in this city and considered staying a while. Went looking for a Citibank; turns out there are plenty of them in BA.

I decided to put off mongering activities until the next day, as I was tired and in no hurry. My thoughts of exploring beaches were put aside: for one, I was hearing that even in high summer (Jan/Feb down there is like July/August in the NE US) you can get some chill winds off the ocean, and most nights you’ll need a sweater, in addition to the water always being cold (me like tropics); also the newspapers were full of stories and pictures of how the beach towns were so crowded there were people camped out in lines outside of tourist information offices waiting to hear of hotel vacancies.

Anyway, to address the subject at hand…



First Friday

I woke up and was looking forward to my first-ever internet “date.” I was perusing the www.gemidos.com.ar website for the past weeks and had a short list of who I wanted to do. I was all too aware of bait-and-switch tactics, so when I went to the address she gave me over the phone I was quite ready to walk out if she looked anything other than the pics I had seen. I get there and am greeted by a short, stocky, heavily-tattooed blonde – uh-oh, I don’t go for the Tonya Harding type. I asked if she was Felicita, and she said “oh no, Felicita is a morocha” (morena) and gave more descriptive detail. So far so good. When my girl finally appeared she was all that. Not much personality, though. Well, not for me, anyway. Although she agreed that service would be “completo” over the phone, as it states in her ad, she would not let me in the back door because I was too big. I’d been around long enough to know this was not a flattery but a way to dodge her promise; I’d never been told this in Brazil. I had arranged for an hour, and was impressed that she agreed to get me off a second time (cbj) without me having to argue about it; to my experiencing once they start dodging the keep at it.

She charged 80 or 90 pesos, plus I stupidly tipped her another 10, while reminding her again I was displeased about her not delivering all that was promised.



First Saturday

After reading all the favorable chatter about 1707 Santa Fe, I went to check it out.

Four girls were presented, one by one, all looked good to me. I picked Barbara because she showed a little enthusiasm when she introduced herself. I told the hostess which one I wanted, for an hour, and she led me to one of the rooms. I showered and waited. Barbara comes in, chatters a little, showers, then cleans up the floor in the shower with a squeegee. We then have a nice session, she wants a 20 peso tip for doing bbbj foreplay and I agree. We finish and talk for a few minutes; she tells me she is going to Buzios in a few weeks and asks me if I know much about it. When I suggest we get back to business she says we only have three minutes left. Hmm, something wasn’t right: I had spent enough time in casas and termas that I an instinct for when I had completed an hour of sex, and that instinct was telling me we were still below the 40 minute mark. I told her I paid for an hour, and she said the hour began when I entered the room. I was paying to wait and have her mop the bathroom floor! Terms like “Times Square clip joint” were going through my head, but I pushed those aside and got her to blow me for a few minutes, her keeping a close eye on her wristwatch. If my language skills were better I would probably have raised a fuss with management.



Hmm, two sessions and two bullshit stories, one worse than the other. This was not a good start. You ain’t in Brazil no more, boy!



First Sunday

I read about the San Telmo street faire on Sundays, so I took the subway down to that area. I also wanted to check out some other hotels.

The subway car was almost empty. Across from me was an old woman, sitting with a young woman wearing a short skirt. Nice legs, mousie face, kind of slim. Something I noticed in BA is the women tend toward slim rather than fat, in the US it seems the other way around. At one point the old woman looks at me, and gives me the “ojo” gesture (finger under the eye, which means “keep an eye out”) and points to the girl. The girl is smiling, and looks at me without making eye contact. I thought this to be a joke and smiled; I thought she was teasing the girl to look for a husband. We end up getting off at the same station and the old woman repeats the gesture and starts rattling off at full-speed, and I had yet to adjust to Castellano so it all just shoots past me. I later realized she was trying to pimp the girl off! Had this happened a week later when I knew my way around better I would have negotiated a session, just so long as the old hag didn’t insist on sitting outside the door.



So I make my way to the street faire, do some flirting, have lunch, and start checking out the hotels on my list. I also noticed on the subte (subway) map that San Telmo was near the last station on the line, and figured I’d head in that direction to get the subway back. As I’m walking I notice the neighborhood getting progressively seedier, and my urban instincts are awakening (I grew up in NYC). I have to cross underneath a highway, a red warning light flashing in my head, and come out to find a large train terminal building. This was the “train,” as opposed to the subway, and one of the girls told me to be careful around these terminals. I walk through the terminal and exit the other side. I see a lot of little shops. I go out and explore.

After about a block I see a chunky blonde in a short skirt standing in front of a café and suddenly another instinct surfaces: there’s pussy to be had here! Well, surprise surprise! (I had a list of street strolls back at the hotel but hadn’t tried to locate them yet, and this area, Constitución, is on that list) I wasn’t interested in the blonde but continued walking, now checking all women for the possibility of them being on the game. At a corner I see a petite, brown indigenous woman. I approach her and smile. She says “you want to go with me?” as if she’s surprised, and I say yes, how much? She say 15 pesos completo plus 10 for the room.

She takes me to a short-time hotel a block away, 10 pesos gets an hour. It’s a pretty nice room, just like a Brazilian love motel. Clean, big bed, decent sheets, mirrored walls, tv with porn videos, soap, towels, decent bathroom. Once in the room she asks for the money. I say “15? No, not 15! How about 20?” and she of course likes this. She turns on the tv, she likes the porn. We shower and then go at it, she being very sweet and accommodating. We laze around, chat, watch porn, shower, and go at it again. She is a real sweetheart. I had taken a Cialis more than 48 hours before and I was still “celebrating” its effect! A special thanks to all deities involved for allowing this to be created in time for my middle years!



I leave feeling pretty damned good. Best session I’ve had since leaving Brazil more than a month before. Ironically, it was also the cheapest (you get what you pay for? uh-huh). I walk the area a little on the way back to the subway. I know I’ll be back.



First Monday

Having stumbled upon the Constitución stroll the day before I looked it up in my notes and there it is. After a few chores I head back there.



I leave the big terminal building and walk down the crowded shopping street. I spot a petite woman with long, wild hair. She isn’t too well dressed, wearing jeans and a worn denim jacket. She ducks into a record store. Somehow I can tell she’s on the game, though I can’t really give the details. It takes a little effort to approach her, like she is surprised. I know the women who work this area are not shy about saying “vamos?” on first eye contact, as I learned from walking around the day before. We leave the shop and she is giving me a big smile. Her name is Nancy (NON-see). I ask how much and she says 15 pesos completo.

She wants to go to dive hotel but I say let’s go to the place the other gal showed me the day before (the dump would have been 5 pesos). She’d never been there and likes the room, and also likes the videos. She’s very sweet, I’m wondering if she might be a little bit of a simpleton, but I put that thought aside.

We shower and have our fun, she is quite responsive and enthusiastic. At one point she suddenly starts thrusting harder and manipulating her clit: looks like I’m making an impression, and I really like when they do that. We laze, watch the video, chatter. She has a small tattoo of Che Guevera on her arm. I play dumb and ask who it is. She tells me his name, and a brief but impressive explanation of his politics, whereas I was expecting some sort of MTV-poseur remark like “he was way cool.” Simpleton indeed! By now I know what she likes so I start getting her hot and we go at it again. Whatever she lacks in looks she more than compensates for in attitude. Just as we finish the second round the phone rings to tell us the hour is up. She wants to go hang out in a café but I make up an excuse about meeting a friend.

I’m really beginning to like this town!



Second Saturday

Running around looking for an apartment in the January heat was taking a lot out of me, so much so that I took off from mongering for a few days.



It was now Saturday. I finally had a place and moved in the day before, but rather than spend the day getting settled I wanted some of what I’d been missing. My two Constitución experiences had shown me how good things could be here. I researched my notes and decided to try a few casas. I had a list of a few that were near each other, in the neighborhood of the obelisk.

I was in a bad mood. I’d been on the verge of heat exhaustion (or whatever it’s called), I stayed up too late, and woke up too early. I wanted a good fuck, a good lunch, and an afternoon nap, in that order.



My first stop was a casa on Corrientes. I get there to find there is only one girl, a cute curvy morocha of about 18. She’ll do. It’s 30 or 40 for a half hour, completo. The girl is all nervous energy and no technique. Her strokes with her hands and mouth are short and brusque and are not doing anything for me. I put her in the position and we go at it, and still she’s rocking her body with no set rhythm and it’s pretty distracting. I put her in doggie and at least here I can hold her still to get my stroke. I tell her I now what to enter her ass, and she says ok, to let her put it in. Well, she tries that stunt where she puts it in her pussy and keeps my dick covered with her hand, keeping her body pressed close to me so I can’t see what’s going on. But I know I’m entering at the same angle as before, and I know I want something different. We actually end up playing tug-of-war with my erection as to where it will be put. She finally relents and lets me do my thing. After about a minute of this I’m turned off to the whole session and get up and get dressed. She can tell I’m pissed off and steers clear of me and leaves the room. I leave.



I go to another casa (sorry guys, lost track of the addresses). A girl takes me to one of the rooms and other girls come in and introduce themselves. I don’t see anything I like. I go to leave and she tells me to pay 10 pesos for the presentation. Yeah, right.



I stop at another house not far away but walked right out, again.



I come to the conclusion that Saturday may not be a good day for the casas, or at least not this hot Saturday afternoon. I get something to eat and head down to Constitución. It’s about 4pm and not much on the street. I do a lot of walking. There is one corner where the Dominicans hang out, easy to distinguish because there are not many people that dark in BA; they shout out at me across the street as I pass. I find a 20-something morocha from Paraguay whose big round ass looks quite nice in her tight white pants. She says 20 pesos. She was standing in front of a short-time hotel, and we went in. We get up to the room and she starts with this price-list business. It will cost more for her to take off her bra, and so on. I hate this stuff – I like settling the price up front, from then on it’s strictly sex; if I ask for something out of the ordinary I’d anticipate her asking for a tip. But this crap where they continue to bleed you throughout the session, like an American stripper, completely ruins it for me. If she had told me she wanted 30 pesos at the onset I would have agreed. I could see where this was going so I put my shirt back on to leave. She says I have to pay her something, even though I haven’t touched her. Yeah, right.

Side note: whenever I am down there I see this same Paraguaiana always at the same spot, and she is always there, like she doesn’t get any customers, good-looking as she is. I wonder why? I had a few of them pull this on me, and I noticed they were all from Paraguay. One of them told me she was from a province in the northern part of the Argentina, but when in the room she said it would be 10 pesos more to take off the bra, I said “You’re from Paraguay, right?” and she admitted it. I was considering going to Paraguay on my way back to Brazil, but these incidents factored into my not doing so.



Well, isn’t this a day of days! I walk some more. It’s an area of around five blocks by five blocks that I cover, and I try not to go down the same block twice but remain in the shade. Not many women to chose from. I’m exhausted and stop for something to drink. I’m tired, hot (not in the good way), horny, still in a bad mood, and tired of looking. I finally settle for an older one, not that great looking, but sometimes these older ones give the best service. She says 15 pesos, and in the room I give her 20 and tell her let’s take it slow, and she agrees. Well, it was the lousiest session in memory. Even when they’re at their worst I can at least put them in doggie and watch the porn while I’m going at it. But this bitch was a sprinter! Ever had one where, the very moment you begin to come they leap out of bed and into the bathroom? She was telling me to hurry up and get dressed to leave, but I was in no hurry. She could tell I was pissed but didn’t give a shit. I told her to give me back 5 pesos and she disappeared. This incident also made me reconsider my tip-in-advance practice.

That’s enough for one day, I’m going home to stand in the shower for a few hours.



And the rest…

I should mention here that attitude is a big factor with me. Even if she looked like Denise Richards (who enjoys a high spot in my top ten list of “Faces I’d Like to Fuck), if she has a lousy demeanor I would not give her a peso for her services. But on the other extreme, there were some grannies on the street who, even if they made the lewdest suggestions… Anyway, my point is that I’m willing to sacrifice something in appearance for attitude or technique.



Some guys have the belief that what the old pros lack in looks they make up for in talent: I used to subscribe to this myself. I’ve come to think this may be the case with an earlier generation of hos. In Thailand, Brazil, Argentina, and a few other places I have been this is not necessarily the case, even when I take them for a drink, chat them up, make them laugh, etc: more often than not, when it gets to the main event the attitude becomes “let’s get it over with asap.” Still you may come across an aging ho who will proudly proclaim she gives the best bj in the world (like the Grandma Moses character in the movie “Barfly”).



(Honorable mention: I was with an older gal in a Bangkok massage joint, going at it doggie style pretty vigorously, and accidentally (I swear!) rammed it into her back door at full force, without warning; the woman barely blinked.)



There was a middle-aged morocha who had a good body but a well-weathered face. She was trying to do the quick-trick on me, but I’m not to be hurried. I knew she was settling in when at one point, in missionary, she pulls me close to her so that we are bosom-to-bosom and I can see that she’s getting into it, moving with my rhythm, clutching at me, moaning etc. Well well, looks like I hit the spot! I ended up going with her a few times.



One night I’m sitting on a bench in Recoleta watching the crowd move by and I see two blondes who look like mother and daughter, and both looked pretty good. I couldn’t tell if they were on the game or just out for a Saturday night. A few days later I’m looking at the newspaper ads and see “mother and daughter, blonde and German” and wonder if it was them. I go to visit and definitely not, but I was fantasizing about a duet on the way over and went for it: a young brown one and an older white blonde. I had a list of what I wanted (bbbj, anal, etc) and each did their bit. The older one just went through the motions (I could get this on the street for 20 pesos), the young one turned out to be quite sweet and cuddled afterwards.



Constitución is a big transit hub: a large commuter train station (the landmark) that services the area south of the city, a large city/suburban bus terminus of open platforms, and a subway station. Around this is a shopping area, a bunch of bars, dance halls, cheap transient hotels, and of course the hos. Reminiscent of the area around NYC’s Port Authority Bus Terminal about 35 years ago. It’s not a place you want to be at night, and if you can’t figure that out for yourself you definitely do not belong there. I may be able to pass for a local in appearance, but a white middle class one, a bit out of place there. If you look like Opie I don’t recommend walking around here at any time of day. Note that a lot of families live in the cheap hotels, so do not assume all the women there are available. There are also quite a number of ladyboys mixed in, especially after dark.



With the exception of one or two gals I had repeat sessions with, all the women down here insisted on the money up front, just like in the US. And, as we all well know, you are never going to see that money again short of her dropping dead. I broke away from the practice of negotiating up front for anal: I’d negotiate for anything else I wanted, and then, if while we’re going at it I ask her about some backdoor and she says “10 pesos more” then I’d agree and go for it. In such case, they can’t pull that “too big” bullshit because they’ve already seen your goods, and also if you don’t get it in, for one reason or another, well, you don’t pay the extra.



I found one girl in the Constitución area one day who, if I were cruising a stroll in the US, I would have thought she was a decoy cop because she looked too good. She was pretty, maybe early 20s, and was wearing athletic clothes, like some yuppie chick who was out running (hey, maybe that’s what she was and needed some quick cash!). I had just finished a session, but she looked good beyond belief for this part of town. She was hanging out in front a short-time place and she told me it was 20 pesos for a session. She had a nice personality and in the room I saw she had a fine body. I asked for bbbj foreplay, and she said 10 pesos more. I said ok, she did her thing, which included some deep throat – awesome! We then went at it in a few positions, and I asked if she did anal: she said ok, 10 pesos more. Well shazam!



One drizzly night I went to Constitución and by the time I got off the bus it was raining like hell. I headed down there because I figured the rain would keep the creeps indoors. But man, was it coming down! The streets were like rivers, sometimes overflowing onto the sidewalks! I had an umbrella but it didn’t help all that much. I walked a bit, not a ho to be found. There is a popular corner bar on Av. Brasil open to the street and I ducked in there to get out of the rain for a bit. At one point two guys stumbled in with a lot of racket, and they both looked like street scum; it’s funny how all over the world these feral characters have the same look. After a while they noticed me, and were eyeing me like two mutts who just spotted a pork chop sticking out of a garbage can, so once they turned their heads I disappeared into the downpour.

Well, in the words of Leonard Cohen:

Don’t go home with your hard-on

It will only drive you insane!

You can shake it or break it, it won’t go down

You can’t melt it down in the rain

I walked a bit, and eventually found a woman to solve my problem for 20 pesos: be grateful I’m not posting pics! Took a cab back to my neighborhood, went to a pizza place. It was now past midnite. I’m watching TV and there is an ad for the national health service that shows a woman nursing her infant. “Ha!” I thought, “imagine if they showed this on TV in the US!” A few days later was the Janet Jackson Super Bowl incident, which the Argentine press dubbed “nipplegate.” Too funny!



Other Strolls

I liked Constitución best. Second was Flores, but I only did that once. I met one with long black hair, olive skin, alluring face and a fine ass, the Latina tigress prototype! But once in the room I found she was covered in scars and tattoos and the playfulness suddenly gone. We went at it for a bit but I didn’t shoot, she just wasn’t fun: I negotiated up front for anal, got the “too big” excuse again. Walked a bit more, found a nice looking older one who was ok, but once I shot she couldn’t leave fast enough. I left the area at around dusk, but saw a few I thought might be worth investigating.



I’ve did a little exploring of a few of the strolls mentioned on http://www.trampitas.com/, and here’s what I’ve found. All research was done on foot.



Av. Santa Fe y Marcelo T. Alvear: I’m staying near this area so I see it frequently; the only thing I’ve seen on Alvear are ladyboys and gay hustlers. Santa Fe is a big street with a lot of traffic, rarely have I seen an NBW (natural-born woman) working, and when I do they are older and don’t look too good; on the other hand they may be there and are too discreet for me to spot. There are a lot of cops on foot, maybe one to each intersection. Something I’ve noticed is the NBWs are discreet in their approach, sidling up to you with a quiet “hola” and then ducking behind a news stand (the only exception to this I found in BA was the Dominican girls down Constitución), whereas the TVs shout at you from across the street, and, well, act like ladyboy hookers do anywhere. Also note this is a popular gay cruising area, so you’ll get all sorts of rolling-eyeball interest; in fact, there will be guys walking around handing out little cards (usually not as aggressive as in Recoleta) but these are for gay boliches, quite a few of these just south of Santa Fe.



Palermo: Godoy Cruz is a long street, so I only covered the area near Santa Fe. This is a popular area with young people, which makes it kind of crowded at night. A few NBW working, some looked good, most a little worn, and may be hard to tell from the girls hanging out with the clubbing crowd (there is a big club a few blocks up Santa Fe). At the corner of Juncal and Godoy is a love motel and a ladyboy club; again, the ladyboys are quite loud and obvious on this otherwise quiet, residential block – one was standing in the middle of the street with his silicons exposed. Here also, at least one cop per block.



Recoleta: I usually see a clump of them, late teens and up, near the convenience store on the west side of Purreydon at Vicente López. They want 100 pesos.



Av. Córdoba y San Martín: this is near the famous cafés, and when business is slow the gals take a walk to see how they can fair on the streets. They seem to be older gals who want 100 pesos: the only difference I see between them and what I can down Constitución for 20 pesos is that they might be dressed a little nicer. I saw a middle-aged ho down here who looked like Rod Stewart – the fact that she can make her living as a hooker is proof there are some truly sick fucks in this world! Also this area is saturated with women trying to coerce you into the nearby clip joints. I reccomend avoiding the street action around here.



Be careful if car cruising. I’ve seen cases where a guy stops, and the SW tells him to meet her at a certain place a few blocks away. There is probably a good reason she doesn’t just hop in the car.



One thing that threw me was some people use walkie-talkies; I’ve seen ladies in the fancy shopping malls with them as well as guys who could be cops. One day I saw a bunch of youngish SWs on Constitución (17-18) and a big guy in a beat-up old car pulled over and talking to them and talking into one of these things; was he a cop? Dunno.



I didn’t buy any pussy in Recoleta, but would go up there some evenings. One Saturday night I was sitting a bench near the ice cream place on the corner near Affaire and happened to fall into a conversation with a retired American couple. At one point I noticed this tall, thin gal with a 1920s style hair bob and I saw her looking at me. She sat nearby and remained there after the couple left, me just sitting there taking in the street show. I tried to make eye contact with her but couldn’t. At one point I got up, walked a few paces, turned around, and saw she was gone, probably was headed for Newport or someplace in that direction; probably when she heard me speaking English and saw me checking her out she took me for a prospect. Well, I was already fucked out from doing a triple-header that day, and even that cost half of what she probably would have wanted.



For you Brazil guys reading this: Constitución is sort of on the level of VM and the real-per-minute joints, and Recoleta is like Help/Lido, with similar prices.



My Constitución experiences ranged, on a scale of 1 to 10, from 0 to 11. I would say most ranged from mediocre to good (4 to 8). bbbj was difficult to arrange, but in a way I don’t blame them. Some of us more than others appreciate the sleazy stroll environs, even enhances the experience. If it’s not for you then cool, don’t put down those of us who go for it.



BA notes

Buenos Aires is a big modern city with a European atmosphere, more Madrid than Mexico City. A good percentage of the population is of Italian descent, and it shows particularly in the food and the clothes. The women almost always look good (which is not to imply they are all “good looking”), in that they dress with care; for example, you will rarely see a fat girl going around with a bare midriff blouse and hip huggers. They seem to take Drew Carey’s advice of “if you don’t have a nice body cover it the fuck up!” The fashion with young ones was the drooping jeans that show off the waistband of the string panties underneath, something guaranteed to catch your attention.



The sidewalks in BA are usually made up of rectangular concrete blocks, about 12” x 18”. Sometimes these are loose and will see-saw when you step on them; if it has been raining you might get an involuntary foot bath. It is a good idea not to run after a bus, because you may hit one of the traps and twist your ankle, which happened to me. There was a corner near my apartment with a bunch of these, and it was like a computer game where you had to know how to avoid the traps. Some neighborhoods, even nicer ones, tend to have quite a lot of dog shit on the sidewalks; not only does there seem to be no pooper-scooper laws, but they don’t seem to be encouraged to “curb” their dogs either.



BA is the capitol of the country, and it is not unusual to find traffic has been blocked off somewhere as part of a political demonstration, it can be a city street or a highway leading to or from the city.



Elbows & Eyeballs

The people in BA have a thing about staring, especially the men. When I first got there I wondered why all these people were staring at me, but I soon realized they stare at everyone and everything. Once I figured this out I got to find it amusing. Guys would be walking down the street and fix their gaze on something, assuming a facial expression as if they had just realized something of great depth about the object. They will walk on with the gaze still fixed and bang into other people (to whom the glare will then be transferred, with a “watch where the fuck you’re going!” expression) or step in dog shit (the shit gets the same expression) etc. The funniest one I saw was this guy who looked to be middle-aged with big muscles walking around with a tight t-shirt, shaved head and an earring, looking like a San Francisco muscle queen version of Mr. Clean. I saw him as he was doing his x-ray vision stare at a fire hydrant when he walked, at full pace, into the glass wall of a store front; it made a loud noise, and the sight of his shiny bald head bouncing back at least four feet was something worthy of Homer Simpson.



Then there’s the elbows. The people in BA love to keep their arms akimbo. It is not necessarily a gesture of impatience. They have this thing about sticking their elbows out and taking up space: stand in a doorway or aisle in a store, up go the elbows, and anyone who wants to pass must get your permission. An electric cattle prod may be a handy item in such cases.

I didn’t notice the elbows & eyeballs bit so much in the rest of the country.



Crime

There seems to be a policeman at every intersection in BA. They all wear Kevlar vests. They seem to be focused on serious crime, as opposed to writing parking tickets.

Fortunately I was not the direct victim of anything other than a few disappointing hookers. But I did witness a few things. I stayed in the area between Santa Fe and Cordoba, west of Purreyedon.

Once, in my local internet/locutorio place, someone did a grab at the cash register while I was there. There just happened to be a policeman in the phone booth, who then ran the guy down. Later, a police car came and the guy who owned the place had to close shop, go down to the station etc. What struck me about this incident was that the time between when the cop caught the thief and when they took him to the station was about a half hour, and then who knows how much time at the station; so with the cop preoccupied for so long for one arrest, who’s minding the street?

The apartment building where I stayed had a secure front entrance, and one night a girl got robbed when entering the building and they took, among other things, her keys. The next day they changed the lock on the front door and gave us all new keys.

I noticed an air of vigilance in most people. It could be crime consciousness, or maybe just part of the staring thing. People tell me things used to be much more dangerous.

I took mostly buses and subway to get around, didn’t have any problems, but I was pretty watchful.



Bang for the Buck

One of the advantages of us “rich foreigners” going for cheap sessions is that if it turns out to be a bust you can always leave and for US$6 you can get another chance. Depending on your finances, you may not be inclined to be so cavalier when spending close to US$100 session.

Analyzing the cost of my hobbying, the average street encounter is about 20 pesos for the woman and 10 for the room, so that’s 30 pesos. Sometimes for this price I got one shot, sometimes a full hour, in which case I would have ended up giving her around 10 more. When I gave a favorite 40 after two leisurely hours she was quite happy. As mentioned above, there were times when extras were provided and more cash was requested for them.

Breaking it down, if I did a one-shot with a woman, then afterward did another with a different woman, the total cost would run around 60-80 pesos. This was what I usually did, providing I could find two women I liked. For 80 pesos or so I could have had a gemidos girl (they seem to run 80-200 pesos) or a girl from one of the casas reviewed on the board. For instance, my 1707 encounter cost me 120 pesos and when I left I was still hungry. I would rather have no sex at all than a disappointing session, but at least this way I get “fucked” out of less money. As any monger knows, lousy sessions can happen anywhere – we unfortunately learn that early on.

There are also casas where the price is similar to the street, around a peso per minute, but from what I’ve seen the quality is just as hit or miss as the street, in both looks and performance.

Also, when there is no “house” (mama-san/pimp) for them to use as an excuse, it can work in your favor; e.g., while I gave my fave 40 for two hours, if she asked for another 10 or 20 (with or without an excuse like “the baby needs medicine”) I would have acquiesced, whereas a house girl could/would have quoted some improvised “rules” how I must pay so-much per hour.

For security’s sake, I advocate not carrying more than you expect to spend. If heading for the low-end of the scene, put 50 pesos in your pocket for each intended session in addition to your regular pocket money, this way you have enough for a drink or two. Sometimes I’d pull the gal off the street and into a café to have a coffee with her, get to know each other, etc. Always have enough for cab fare in the event you need to get away fast.

I would not recommend taking a woman off the street for more than 40 pesos, unless you feel there is something extraordinary about her or she agreed to accommodate a special, uh, preference. But note that promises are easily broken down here. But of course, like everywhere else these days, there are no lies or betrayals, it is only that you misunderstood.



Summary

While I have not seen all of Latin America, I would say of what I have seen Buenos Aires is the classiest city. A friend of mine was there ten years ago and his one criticism was that it was too damned expensive (back when it was US$1:1peso). Well, no more! You can consider it equivalent value, though: eg, a dinner that costs 15 pesos would cost about $15 in the US. Generally, things are about one-third of the prices in the US; note that things may not be of the same quality. Of course, you can pay lots more for things if you wish, especially in areas known to attract foreign tourists.



I didn’t explore the high-end of the monger scene, but I met a few guys that did and there are no shortage of posts on this. While there is a lot of pussy available, at a full range of prices and quality, and while it is a great place for p4p in relation to the US (hey, where isn’t?), I would not put BA is the “sexual Disneyland” category of Rio or Bangkok. That said, if you come down, speak a little of the language, and budget enough money for week of play, you will go home a happy man.

Bendejo, thanks for the report. It was interesting to get a different perspective on the hobby. Good luck with the rest of your travels.

Excellent report! Thank you for giving us the other side of the scene in BA. When I went down to BA in 2001, I hooked up w/ 2 local girls and then headed down for a 3 hour countryside drive to a country town called Lincoln. What I found in this town was farmer daughter girls and hotties everywhere willing to give you their shirts off their backs just for being american. That was in 2001 - don't know how much has changed now. Still, I did spend a lot of time in Recoleta and wanted to go out and explore the more adventurous side of BA - just did not have the courage to do so as this was all during the time when the Argentinian economy colapsed and 3 presidents came and went in a matter of 3 months.

I have not been back to BA since 2002 - ever since I discovered how Colombian women love americans, and a lot of sex is FREE w/ non-pros if you just play the humble American tourist role.

Thanks for such an entertaining review.

Bendejo,

Thanks for taking the time to write this. It's funny though, I've never been asked to pay up front before, as you mentioned in your report. Maybe that is because the street girls have been ripped off one too many times.

Again, thanks for the report.

Moondog

Hey Bendejo

Nice report!! Looks like you've been busy since I last saw you on Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok. You headed back to Asia soon or will you continue your SA tour?

E

Thanks for that fascinating report. I envy you and being able to see much of South America. I have been pretty much traveling non-stop the past two years and I read with interest how you live your life. I'm anxious to move down to Buenos Aires in August and kind of just live life and learn Spanish.

Thanks again.

Very interesting and well written report. I especially like the non sex details for those who want something more than just an airport-hotel-airport version of a vacation. How much did you pay for your apartment and what was it like? Were you actually living in the seedier areas or just crusing them for fun?

Great report!! I too liked the "non-sex" details. Helps me to imagine myself mongering there. Thanks again.

Thanks for the response, gents.

Batman: free is too expensive, if you know what I mean. The glory of p4p is you’re also paying them to leave, as the old saying goes. I don’t have the chops for being a heartbreaker in my old age. Being the rich foreigner dangles too much of a temptation in front of the local yokels (eg, they saw one of Donald Trump’s mansions on TV and know that’s how we all live) so I’d rather pay up front than risk a shotgun wedding. Also, if you are going to chase the local girls you don’t want to stick around for more than a few days, lest she claims to have discovered she’s pregnant. I had a Brazilian hick gf I lived with for a while and it wasn’t working out. When I told her I was going, her immediate response was “what if I’m pregnant?” I knew her period just ended the day before.
On the other hand, if you’re looking to play for keeps and settle down, these country girls are probably your best choice.

Moondog: even in the casas it was cash up front. Do you negotiate the price up front or wait until the end to settle up?

Epi: someday

Tight: There are 25peso a night hotels around Constitución but I don’t recommend them.
I managed to find a furnished studio for about US$100 a month. I had to go through a broker which cost a month rent, so two months came out to app. $300, which still ain’t bad. Nice building, apt itself leaning toward dumpy, needed a good cleaning (scumbag landlord complained about condition I was leaving it in, saying he’d have to hire someone to clean it). You could get a decent unfurnished apt. in a decent neighborhood for about that much, but no one wants to rent for short-term. You’d also have to furnish it. It seems there’s a lot of competition for apt. rentals, but there are tons of ads for people trying to sell apts, and they ain’t cheap.
Rest assured that when it comes to thieving landlords and conniving realtors BA is no different from the rest of the planet. Isn’t it something how people who are out to fuck you over, from whores to merchants to landlords, have the same bag of tricks everyplace in the world?