The Shows Are Awesome

We've spent the last two weekends here in Santiago and have checked out three of the gay clubs and a couple of gay bars.  Most of the bars are located along the same street in the Bella Vista neighborhood, which is about a 10 minute walk from our hostel.  The bars seem to have a decent crowd earlier in the evening, but as I mentioned before, the clubs do not get busy until after 1:00 am, usually closer to 2:00 am, then they seem to stay open until at least 5:00 am. 

 

Bar 105: A small bar with cheaper drinks and a little more of a beer selection than the other bars.  They seemed to be a popular place to pre-drink because most of the people we saw there seemed to end up at Bunker afterwards.

 

Farinelli: We stopped here for a drink one night before going to the club.  It's a small bar with a small stage where a drag queen was doing a little stand-up show when we first arrived.  As is to be expected, all eyes turned to the Gringo's as soon as we sat down and the drag queen immediately went into interrogations and jokes... where are you from, what are your names, etc.  She was funny, speaking to us in English, but exaggerating the accent, and trying to convince us she was a real woman, etc.  Gringo's make for lots of laughs, especially when they don't understand most of what you're saying.

 

Bunker: Seems to be quite popular on Saturday nights, less so on Fridays, but still a decent crowd both nights.  This was the first club we went to our first night in Santiago and it happened to be Bear Night, which was a bit funny considering I like Bear Night back home.  This, however, was still a very mixed crowd; there were definitely some bears there, but also plenty of regular guys, twinks, etc.  The club has a large dance floor sunken down a bit from the rest of the room, with a huge stage and catwalk at the far end of the room.  There is also an upstairs area that overlooks the dance floor on three sides so you can get pretty good views of the shows from up top.  They also have a small cafeteria serving burgers and other bar food, quite convenient if you're hungry.  I think this was our favorite club in Santiago.

 

Bokhara: The nicest thing about this club is that they don't charge a cover for foreigners and they're open during the week, whereas the other clubs are only open on weekends.  They also tend to attract a much younger crowd.  This club basically has two main levels but has a strange setup.  There's an open area and sitting area when you first walk in, then up a half-flight of stairs is a room with a stage, tables and chairs, where you can sit and drink/eat and watch shows in more of a lounge-like setting.  Down another half-flight of stairs is another room with a dance floor.  Both main rooms have a bar attached, each with a small sitting area.  The entertainment in the lounge was really bad and the server was a bitchy dyke with way too much attitude.  The first time we went to Bokhara, we went to sit in the lounge area, but apparently, you have to order drinks or something from the server to sit in that room.  It was almost impossible to understand her and she wasn't the friendliest of people so we didn't go back to that room again, especially since you could see and hear how bad the entertainment was from the attached bar.  The downstairs area was a little better to hang out in, but we tended to stay in the bar areas rather than dance anyway.  I think this was both of our least favorite club, but again, it's the only thing open during the week.

 

Fausto: Apparently the popular spot on Sunday nights, they have a slightly older crowd, but still quite mixed.  Although it's smaller, I like the set up of this club because they have a nice bar in a separate room where you can go to get away from the music and craziness of the dance floor.  The dance floor is pretty small and although they have a stage as well, it's hard to get a good view because of the low ceilings and the placement of the support pillars.  This club also has a darkroom, which seems quite rare for Chile. 

 

One of the things I most want to mention about the clubs here are the shows.  Every night at around 2:30 or 3:00 am, the clubs have drag shows, but they are so much more than just a man in a dress lip-syncing to a Cher song.  These drag queens have dancers and choreographed routines, elaborate costumes, and great energy.  Bunker had the best shows by far, but like most cities, the same drag queens and dancers seem to make the rounds at all the clubs so you're likely to see the same ones perform in different venues.  What made Bunker so spectacular was their stage.  I can't even remember how many different backdrops they would have each night, which they would change between performances.  They had all sorts of stage props and lighting, it was like being in a theatre.  Even the dancers were good, especially considering the same dancers would dance for multiple drag queens so they had to learn a hell of a lot of different routines.  Even though the one show we saw at Fausto was not as good, I am so impressed with the amount of work all of them put into it.  I know they have to spend a lot of time and effort putting it all together and it's amazing at how well they pull it off night after night.  Last night, the show actually had an Asian theme, so each of the drag queens and dancers had Asian outfits and they even had little umbrellas and Asian stage props.  I would be curious to know, if I stayed here for a few months or a year, how often they would reuse the same props, costumes and routines, because after four nights at Bunker, I didn't see anything repeated once.  

 

What I don't understand is how they pay for all of this by only charging a $6-8 USD cover.  The drag queens do not even perform for tips as they do back home.  It just makes me even more pissed that I pay the same amount to get into a club in San Diego where they don't invest any money into actually making it a quality club-going experience.  Back home, I am treated to the same shitty DJ's playing crap every weekend in the same run-down clubs that haven't had anything resembling an improvement in years.  What is my cover paying for if you're still raping me on drink prices?  If I get a show back home, it's usually a poor excuse for a drag queen expecting me to tip her because she put on a dress and a wig and lips syncs half the words to a stupid dance track.  No, the drag queens and club owners back home need to come to Santiago for a weekend and see how to really put on a show because they really know what they're doing down here when it comes to providing entertainment.  I highly recommend a visit here just for the shows.  I should write the tourism office here and tell them it's worth adding the drag shows at Bunker to their list of must-see attractions in Santiago.