Gay Patagonia Hotels – Nomadic Boys

Gay Patagonia Hotels

Gay Patagonia is the place to come if you love adventure and are passionate about wildlife.

We spent 1 month travelling across Patagonia on both the Argentinian and Chilean side in Esquel, Puerto Madryn, El Calafate, El Chalten and Torres del Paine. Along the way, we stayed in some pretty unique places, which most importantly of all, welcomed us as a gay couple.

This is our top 8 favourite gay Patagonia hotels, which we tried, loved and recommend to all LGBT travellers.

#1 Dazzler Hotel in Puerto Madryn (Argentina)

We are one of the many who’ve been dazzled by the Dazzler. It’s a classy and modern hotel located by Las Ramblas, the fun sea front promenade of Puerto Madryn, which is always buzzing with life. When you see the eye candy waiting for you at reception, you appreciate just how gay friendly this place is!

It’s worth spending a couple dollars extra to get the ocean facing rooms so you can enjoy some killer sunrise views. Dazzler is also minutes walking distance from some of the best restaurants in Puerto Madryn, such as Nautico Bistro de Mar and En Mis Fuegos. For more information, check out our gay guide to Puerto Madryn.

Rooms at the Dazzler Hotel start from $65/£52 a night. You can check availability and read more about it on Tripadvisor.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Gay Patagonia – Chile Gay Travel Resources

Gay Patagonia – Argentina Gay Travel Resources

Ten Facts About Gay Patagonia – The Nomadic Boys

Gay Patagonia

Patagonia! That massive chunk of land on the tip of the American continent, split between Chile and Argentina. This is the place for adventure travellers, home to some of the most incredible landscapes we’ve seen, exciting treks as well as a wide variety of wildlife. After a month travelling across this vast region, here are our 10 interesting facts about gay Patagonia we learnt on this stunning journey.

#1 Patagonia means ‘Land of the Big Feet’

The story goes that when Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, first set foot here in 1520, he found large footprints of the natives. Later when he met them, he alleged they were almost twice the size of normal human size, measuring around 4 metres (13ft)! Future explorers also wrote about meeting Patagonian giants, but later criticised for being exaggerations. Fantasy or not, the myth of the giant natives inspired the name for the area, which has been used ever since.

#2 It has the second longest living species on Earth

At 2,600 years old, the Alerces Tree is an interesting fact about Patagonia because it is the second longest living species on our planet. The oldest is the Methuselah (White Mountains in California, USA), which is almost 5,000 yrs old. This famous tree is located in the UNESCO listed Alerces National Park on the Western side of Chubut, Argentina Patagonia, near the Chilean border. The National Park was created in 1937 to protect this family of ancient trees. Can you believe this tree is older than Jesus Christ?

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Gay Patagonia – Chile Gay Travel Resources

Gay Patagonia – Argentina Gay Travel Resources

Gay Santiago: The Best Bars, Clubs and Hotels – Nomadic Boys

Gay Santiago

Chile is well known as being one of the most economically developed countries in Latin America, but its society is still very conservative.

However, gay Santiago, the capital city has a huge gay scene, mainly around the Bellavista neighbourhood, with many gay bars, clubs and parties happening almost every day of the week.

After spending several months in Santiago and using it as a home base, it became one of our favourite places in South America. From our experience in Chile’s big capital city, we’ve put together this gay guide to Santiago, featuring our favourite gay bars, clubs, hotels and things to do in the city.

Gay Santiago Bars

Bombero Nuñez is the street in the Bellavista neighbourhood where you’ll find the majority of the gay bars and clubs of Santiago. Although most gay bars don’t get busy until after 10/11pm, there are a few gay restobars you can visit if you want to go somewhere beforehand.

Station Bar: Station restobar is one of the largest gay hangouts in Santiago, which gets busy after 6pm. We love coming here for early evening cocktails. Due to the licensing laws, you’re required to order food with your drinks, so it maybe worth having your dinner here as well. Station is open everyday except Sundays and is located at Antonia Lopez de Bello 064 in Bella Vista.

Bar 105: popular gay bar in Santiago and despite being quite small, always attracts a large crowd. For us Bar 105 was our favourite gay bar to warm up the evening with a few pisco sours before heading out to the nearby clubs. Bar 105 is open from Thursday to Sunday from 10pm till late and is located at Bombero Nuñez 105.

Burdel: this place gets busy because of its 2 for 1 drinks promotions and occasional drag shows. Burdel is open from Monday to Saturday from 10pm till late and is located at Ernesto pinto Lagarrigue 282.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Chile Gay Travel Resources

Recipe for Chilean Porotos Granados: Countryside Bean Stew

Porotos Granados

Porotos granados is a traditional Chilean countryside stew made from cranberry beans, maize kernals and squash. It’s associated with the summer months because this is when the maize and summer squash are harvested in central and southern Chile.

Cranberry beans (also known as Roman beans) are similar to normal beans but slightly larger, popular in Latin America.

Porotos granados originates from the Mapuche indigenous people of Chile, who first cultivated bean. The word granados means pomegranates and word poroto comes from the Quechua word for bean: purutu.

This vegetarian recipe is courtesy of the Chilean Cooking School in Valparaiso and is for 6 people.

By Stefan Arestis – Recipe at the Nomadic Boys

Chile Gay Travel Resources

Recipe for Chilean Pastel del Choclo – Nomadic Boys

Pastel de Chiclo - Sebastien

Pastel de choclo is one of the most famous Chilean dishes and considered comfort food. It’s a beef and corn pie, with a corn crust, similar to a Shepherd’s Pie.

Choclo is an Andean type of corn with large starchy kernels, but you can use any corn as an alternative.

Pastel de choclo is typically served in a clay bowl either as a main dish, or as a starter in a small individual portions. This recipe is courtesy of the Chilean Cooking School in Valparaiso and serves 6 people.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at SOURCE

Chile Gay Travel Resources

Killer Whales in Patagonia – Nomadic Boys

Killer Whales

Peninsula Valdes is one the best spots in the world to see killer whales (orcas) in the wild. This is the place they come to hunt and entertain their enthusiastic audience watching on.

Orcas love this particular part of Argentina because of the large abundance of one of their favourite food prey: seal pups. If you’re lucky, you’ll see the orcas close up when they come right up to the beach to catch their supper.

Despite their name, killer whales are not dangerous and there is no evidence of them ever having attacked humans in the wild. Killer whales is the nickname given by the Spanish whalers in the 1700s when they noticed that orcas were hunting whales for food. They have no known predators, so they freely hunt without fear of being attacked by another marine animal. They feed on seals, sea lions, penguins, fish, dolphins, sharks and even whales.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Argentina Gay Travel Resources

Chile Gay Travel Resources

Forty Eight Hours in Santiago – Globetrotter Girls

Santiago Chile - Dani

The booming Chilean capital can be hard to figure out for some tourists, but Santiago has so many beautiful attractions – from sprawling markets to vast parks, and picturesque neighborhoods to world-class museums. 48 hours is nowhere near enough time to soak up the true nature of this five million strong South American city, but following this guide will give you a true taste of the city, from its main attractions to its most charming markets and quarters, plus where to find the best views and where to devour typical Chilean dishes and drinks.

Day 1

10am: Plaza De Armas And The Cathedral

Before you start your tour, get yourself a BIP card for public transport (available in all metro stations). You can buy single use tickets for the city’s efficient, clean, art-packed metro system, but buses accept BIP cards only, so it makes the most sense to use it for both. Pay 1,500 Pesos ($2.20) and then load it with as much credit as you need – 5,000 Pesos ($7.36) should be plenty even for an active 48 hours in Santiago.

Exit the metro at the beautiful Plaza De Armas, the city’s central plaza and home to kilometro zero, the central point from which the city has continued to sprawl out in all directions. The plaza is home to historic buildings such as the incredibly ornate Central Post Office, the Palacio de la Real Audiencia and, as in nearly every Latin American city, the main cathedral. Although it might appear a bit bland from the outside, do not skip a trip inside, which is packed with impressive details and treasures you would never guess were there from the building’s façade.

By Dani – Full Story at Globetrotter Girks

Chile Gay Travel Resources

Gay Valparaiso – Nomadic Boys

Gay Valparaiso

Gay Valparaiso is the cultural capital of Chile.

Gay ValparaisoValpo (for short) is one of the country’s most popular draws, famous for its magnificent street art. Pablo Neruda, famous Chilean Nobel winning poet, loved Valpo so much he set up one of his homes here. UNESCO was so impressed, it added Valpo’s Historic Quarter to its World Heritage List in 2003, and The Guardian described Valpo as a “mini Berlin by the seaside“.

There is plenty to discover in this quirky city. To help you plan your visit, we’ve put together our travel guide to gay Valparaiso.

People in Valpo have a very open mind, so most bars are very gay friendly and welcoming. These are the few 100% gay bars in the area:

  • Pagano: attracts a mixed crowd of all ages with fun drag shows on most nights. Watching a Chilean drag show is the best way to get a feel of Chilean slang Spanish in its crudest form. Pagano is open everyday from 11:30pm except Sundays and is located at Avenida Errazuriz 1852.
  • Máscara: a cool gay bar in Valparaiso to start the night. They have promotions like 2 for 1 cocktails on Monday-Thursday until midnight. Mascara is open Monday to Saturday from 9:30pm and is located at Plaza Anibal Pinto 1178.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Chile Gay Travel Resources

Recipe: Chilean Porotos Granados – Nomadic Boys

Porotos Granados

Porotos granados is a traditional Chilean countryside stew made from cranberry beans, maize kernals and squash. It’s associated with the summer months because this is when the maize and summer squash are harvested in central and southern Chile.

Cranberry beans (also known as Roman beans) are similar to normal beans but slightly larger, popular in Latin America.

Porotos granados originates from the Mapuche indigenous people of Chile, who first cultivated bean. The word granados comes from its main ingredient, the cranberry beans, called cargamanto in the indigenous language. The word poroto comes from the Quechua word for bean: purutu.

This vegetarian recipe is courtesy of the Chilean Cooking School in Valparaiso and is for 6 people.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Chile Gay Travel Resources

Recipe for Pastel del Choclo from Chile – Nomadic Boys

pastel de choclo

Pastel de choclo is one of the most famous Chilean dishes and considered comfort food. It’s a beef and corn pie, with a corn crust, similar to a Shepherd’s Pie.

Choclo is an Andean type of corn with large starchy kernels, but you can use any corn as an alternative.

Pastel de choclo is typically served in a clay bowl either as a main dish, or as a starter in a small individual portions. This recipe is courtesy of the Chilean Cooking School in Valparaiso and serves 6 people.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Chile Gay Travel Resources