Gay Manuel Antonio

This entry is gay themed, literally, not figuratively.

Since I'm about the only person that sees this BLOG, I decided to post a pic of myself to represent this article; after all, I fit the criteria- I'm gay, and I've been to Manuel Antonio.

*Visit my GAY BLOG for EVERYTHING GAY in Costa Rica.

We knew when we decided to move to Costa Rica that it wasn’t the most ‘gay friendly’ country out there. That said, for Latin America, it’s not too bad. And really, since we confine most of our ‘gayness’ as it were, to the bedroom, the country’s view of ‘gay’ is irrelevant to us. (Although we do feel a great deal of empathy for young gay Ticos dealing with this issue, as the attitude is about the same here as it was in the States in the 1950’s and ‘60’s- read that as SIN). But we act about as ‘gay’ as straights act straight (whatever the hell that all means), so again, for us, irrelevant. Although I must say, it would be nice to hold hands and maybe engage in some light making out from time to time, no more or less than any other couple may do (after a few beers…hehe).

So, Manuel Antonio is like going home. Besides parts of San José, Manuel Antonio is the most gay friendly place in Costa Rica. We like to go there because it is nice to hang out with other gay people (duh!), it keeps things in perspective- you know- birds of a feather. In other words, there, you can stroll down the beach holding hands and feel a bit more comfortable doing so. And of course a trip to Manuel Antonio wouldn’t be complete without a stroll to the ‘gay’ section of beach, called La Playita (Little Beach), to check out the guys. And not only gay, but you can get butt-ass naked, well, at least you used to be able too. Last time we were there- nudity was more the ‘rule’ than the ‘exception’. Although nude sun bathing is illegal in Costa Rica, men had been getting naked there for years (whoo hoo!)…and that’s what we were hoping to see…. since everyone knows, ‘All the cute ones are GAY!’ Things have changed a bit.

A new hotel in proximity to the La Playita, as expected, is not amused by a bunch of fags frolicking naked in front of their guests. The police are now enforcing the ‘no nude sun bathing’ law, that is, when they make it to the beach. So now if you decide to get naked, you do so at your own risk. From what we saw, a few guys will still get naked to go in the water, but aren’t really ‘hanging out’ on the beach in the buff (pun intended). I’m sure the police come around every so often to make the hotel happy, but like most of Costa Rican laws, the bark if often worse than the bite. But, have your passport handy just in case, because if they catch you naked or engaging in ‘homosexual activity’ things can go south in a hurry, and NOT in a good way.

We got our dose of gay Manuel Antonio, which should hold us over for awhile, and got some videotaping done as well.

Meanwhile, back on our home turf of La Fortuna I realized there’s little difference between ‘gay’ Manuel Antonio and La Fortuna- really it’s just the beach, as La Fortuna often reminds me of the quote from the movie, ‘Sixth Sense,’ with a minor change - ‘I see Gay people.’ We just have to work on the hand holding policy.

This video is the official position of the Costa Rica Travel Channel pertaining to the ‘gay’ beach in Manuel Antonio: wouldn’t want to cause anyone to get arrested.



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