9/1/2011

3:49pm

Sitting in a Jamaican style cafe, reflecting on the weekend. We found ourselves in something of a tropical paradise, I think. Also, it's hard to believe that we unknowingly, until I stumbled across the page while reading my travel guide, stumbled into Manuel Antonio, supposedly the gay and lesbian capital of Costa Rica!

Last night was bound to be a big night, with a bunch of the girls very keen to go out partying. We started out at this very cafe for dinner and drinks, and then caught taxi's to Quepos, the next town, which was about ten minutes away. We'd heard of this night club that was "the place to be" on a Saturday night, after about 1am. Unfortunately, we got there at about 10 o'clock. Yet being the inhibition free tourists that we are, we got up and danced by ourselves anyway. There were a few dramas here and there, like people wandering off with locals without telling the rest of the group, but in the end the place got pretty busy and we had a great time. I danced more with the Australian girls than with the locals this time; I guess our smaller group had a little extra bonding time on our trip down to Manuel Antonio.

We also ran into a group of Americans from Texas who we already knew from the Spanish school in Heredia. One who recognised me came over to introduce himself, and he immediately set off the sirens of my gaydar (it was a nice surprise: I'd been feeling like the only gay in the village). We danced together with the rest of the girls, and towards the end of the night when the group began to disperse, he accompanied one of the other girls and myself to the gaybar that was on the way back to Manuel Antonio.

As I previously mentioned, I'd given up on any hope of visiting a Costa Rican gay bar, so this news was quite exciting. Unfortunately, the bar proved to be quite disappointing. There was no bouncer, no door-person, the floor was plain concrete, and I literally felt like I'd walked into a party that someone was throwing in their garage. The crowd had a very high average age, however the music they played made be believe I could've been back at ARQ. There was a small unoccupied stage, so I took it upon myself to get up there and show them how we do it in the gay capital of the Southern hemisphere. While failing at any attempt to be modest, I think they were pleasantly surprised by my presence: how often does a white, blonde teenager walk into their club and dirty dance/partially strip to 'I'm a Slave 4 U'? Memorable highlights also include dancing to Gaga's 'Alejandro' with a fat man named Alejandro, and his amusement when I could complete the chorus as 'Roberto', and posing for photos with guys who thought I was the most hilarious thing they'd ever seen.

Though I'm not proud to admit it, I also kissed my new Texan friend a couple of times. I maintained that it was just for shits and giggles as friends, as part of the dancing, which he was more than fine with, but I still felt a little guilty knowing I have unfinished business with a certain guy back at home. I'm not sure what I'm going to do: my personal beliefs are that I shouldn't keep secrets, and since there is nothing official between us, I technically wasn't unfaithful. But my morals are getting the better of me, and I know I have to tell him. I'll wait until I get back to Australia first to do it in person, and hope that it isn't too damaging to our relationship.

After we'd finished at the gay bar, our new Texan friend walked us back to our hotel, and the three of us discussed and joked about the cultural customs of the United States. He also spoke excellent Spanish, which helped us get home safely, and managed to help us avoid being scammed by taxi drivers. Once home, I showered and promptly went to bed. Several of us had to get up early to catch a bus into Quepos so we could buy tickets for the afternoon bus back to San Jose this evening. It's going to be a long 4 hour trip, so I'll save some further thoughts I have to share until then.