the author macheando at D'Planet in Guadalajara

If you are a queer woman, go to Guadalajara!!! And if you want to party it up at GDL’s only “macha” bar, go to D’Planet Bar! After being in 8 Mexican cities over a period of 4 months, I observed more queer women out and proud in GDL than anywhere else. D’Planet recently opened in early 2010 and everyone needs to support it to keep it around. The owner is named Marlou and she is friendly, accomodating and all around awesome! My girlfriend and I were staying in GDL for the month of February (10′) and we had some friends from Brooklyn, NY visit us. The four of us were so psyched to go to a dyke bar together in Mexico. We walked into D’Planet on a Thursday night and were immediately greeted and HUGGED by the bi-lingual owner, Marlou.

Now, that’s a warm welcome! We told her we were looking for food around the neighborhood but couldn’t find any and preferred to eat something before we started drinking. She told us not to worry and that she would find us food. She took our vegetarian orders and ran to the nearest restaurant and brought us all back dinner! We couldn’t believe the hospitality around here! We had a blast dancing, hanging out and playing pool.

Marlou said the most happening nights are usually Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Of course everyone is welcome here but the main clientele are queer women. And I am sure you have figured out what the bar is named after, so for an added bonus, you can take your picture in front of the huge L Word poster by the pool table!

Check out D’Planet online at www.gaygdl.com for more pics and events at the bar.

D’Planet;  Bélgica #643 on the corner of Niños Héroes in Colonia Americana, Guadalajara

It was an unmarked black door at 502 Díaz. That’s what they call it, Club 502 but there is no name outside (it’s right across from La Resistencia).

I celebrated my 31st birthday there and I had a blast (I was drunk and so happy to be around gay people that nothing else really mattered at the moment). The club is your standard gay dance club with 90′s decor, lights and smoke, cheesy dance music, lots of drunk dancing, sketchy bathrooms, and strong drinks. The cocktails are cheap and mojito’s are delicious.

The downsides to the club are two major ones….1.it’s about 90% men (we were really missing the machas!) and 2. apparently no “transvestism” is allowed (we saw this on a sign in the bar).

Note from Macha Mexico: Shame on club 502 for its apparently transphobic policy! We would love to hear from readers about other bars in the city of Oaxaca, especially those that are inclusive of all members of our community. Please email if you want to write reviews of other clubs!

Photo: Emilio Rapp

A year ago, three guys decided to open a bar for queer people who wanted to have fun, chill out, and dance to all kind of music in a place where the decoration would be inspired by the purest quirky pink.  What the three guys had in mind regarding the location was Centro Histórico, a neighborhood that has evolved over the last ten years from being an abandoned, dark, poor area of Mexico City to a lively, buzzling, welcoming place for youngsters–both on night and day.

Ironically, the opening of the Salón Marrakech took place during a series of raids in the Zona Rosa in order to control drugs and teenagers drinking inside bars. These were the times when the local government issued the controversial smoke ban in bars and restaurants, as well as the use of the alcoholímetro trying to control the nightlife in the Distrito Federal. And yet, twelve months later, the now famous Marrakech has proved to be part of a shifting nightlife in Mexico City where young people look for places where having a good time is a priority.

Next Thursday, Salón Marrakech will be celebrating its first anniversary with the motto “no cover and a lot of fun”. No wonder, that this will be best time to celebrate the night in the gayest street of the Centro Histórico.  I am sure that the party will last all night, and even someone will suggest an after party.

Salón Marrakech First Anniversary , República de Cuba no. 18, (a block from Eje Central), Col. Centro. No cover.

Unfortunately, the aftermath of the swine flu shows a grey landscape: for those who barely meet ends every day it’ll be more difficult to recover from this hard hit: cab drivers and street vendors are just a couple of sad examples. The extended international paranoia has built up a fear of Mexico and Mexico City whose most direct consequence is a descrease in tourism: international airlines, such as United Airlines and Delta, reduced their flights to Mexico City, based on a software that accurately forecasts  market trends and passenger demand levels. In this way, the airlines are able to react to market trends and reduce or increase seating capacity on specific routes and dates.

For those who visit, the upside is that the city will be less crowded, touristy sites won’t be full of disoriented people taking photographs, and perhaps, there’ll be some good prices.

However, today is Thursday and I’m sure many chilangos are already preparing to celebrate the end of this weird period of boredom. A great occasion to see if the traditional way of greeting each other with a kiss on the cheek has disappeared.

Don’t be afraid of going out to the streets and enjoy the city. I’m sure you will witness DF’s dwellers taking over their city again.  For sure, the Marrakech will be one of the hot spots of the night.

And for your consideration, here are some funny observations about the boredom that is over now. Enjoy!

One of my favorite lesbian venues in Mexico City, Cabaretito VIP, has reopened after a long closure, bring back their lesbian night on Thursdays for us machas. Cabaretito VIP holds a special place in my heart; it was the location of the first dyke party I went to in Mexico City and was the home of Second Annual Festival Lesbico in November of 2006, my first broad exposure to the growing DF lesbian culture.

Caberetito VIP was closed for over a year, one of the many clubs in Tito Vasconcelos’ “Cabaretito” chain to end up with a CLAUSURADO sticker posted across the door. Walking down Londres, in the heart of the Zona Rosa, it was sad to walk by the gated patio in front of the club, the hedges the ran from the street to the club dry and dead from neglect. In the walk-way, which two years before was filled with festival-goers and tables from local GLBT organizations, was dark and littered with garbage thrown in from the street. With such contrasting memories of the place, I’m pleased to report that VIP has reopened. My sources tell me there have been parties there since mid-March.

The crowd at “Jueves Lesbico” at VIP is one of the few placed in Mexico City where I’ve seen a more visible butch/femme culture, although it certainly doesn’t dominate the space, which hosts a mix of women of all gender expressions. There are passing-butches, their go-go dancing high femme girlfriends, and plenty of young women with jeans, ponytails, and baseball caps. The crowd is generally younger and more middle/working-class than the ladies at Lipstick, with a little less snobbery and a few more bar fights too. Watch out if you dance with someone’s girlfriend by accident; these machas don’t fuck around!

Cover is free and the space reflects a low-cost decor. The music is a mix of faggy house music, remixed English and Spanish pop hits, and occasional grupero songs sprinkled in. Beers are cheap, but other drinks are small and disproportionately expensive. Expect a crowded dance floor on a good night, lots of young tipsy women, and no toilet paper in the bathroom. I recommend Caberetito VIP as a low-pressure place to go people watching or dancing with a group of friends.

Tonight, promoter Martha Cuevas has brought in aerial dancer Draco Art and is billing the event as a circus themed night. I saw this female aerial dancer perform at the Festival Lesbico and recommend checking her out as she flips and spins suspended above a crowd of spellbound machas.

Cabaretito VIP; Londres 104, Zona Rosa, Insurgentes Metro and Metrobus station. No cover.

the well designed (and empty) upstairs bar at pride

I imagine that every city of the world has a local drink that is a little cheaper, and comes out tasting a little better than it might in other places, a pisco sour in Lima, a nice glass of red wine in Buenos Aires, a cuba libre in Havana. The flip side, of course, is that other drinks are often overpriced and not made with as much skill or care. This makes sense. If I’m in Portand, Oregon, I’m better off ordering a rich porter from a local microbrewery than I am a mint julip. If I ever make it to São Paolo, I’ll order a caipirinha long before I’ll order a negroni, no matter how much I’m craving Campari. (I once witnessed an elderly man from Dallas explaining to a bartender in Beijing exactly how he liked his martini–equal parts gin and vodka, with a spash of dry vermouth. For both his sake, and the bartender’s, he should have stuck to more local fare.)

Keeping this all in mind, I think we can all agree that Mexico City isn’t known for its martinis, especially not the sticky sweet “apple-tini”, “choco-tini”, “melon-tini” varieties that have become so popular in recent years. (Thank you, Sex and the City, for your role in this horrible trend of putting vodka and flavored schnapps into a stem cocktail glass and calling it a “martini.”) And when there are so many other delicious and interesting drinks to order, from micheladas to mezcal to pulque (which everyone should really try at least once), why bother with a martini, especially when they often come at New York prices?

But for those of you who find yourself in Mexico City with a craving for a martini that you just can’t kick, I recommend heading to Pride on Wednesday, for their two for one martini specials. Further, if you are a martini snob like me (if you couldn’t tell yet), I recommend getting over your hang-ups and ordering one of those sickenly sweet concoctions you’ve always steered clear from. When I went there with a group of friends after dinner one Wednesday, I thought my Manhattan would be classic and safe, but I was wrong. The sad thing is, I’m not even a good enough drink-mixer myself to know exactly what the bartender should have done differently. It was just… off.

The surprise of the night, however, was the beso negro that my joto friend ordered. The “black kiss” (a Mexican euphemism for a rim job) listed both black vodka and Jägermeister among its ingredients, inviting my ridicule. Disappointed by my infinitely more sophisticated Manhattan, I took a sip of the beso negro–and it was delicious. The same was true of the fruity and fun cocktails the rest of my friends had ordered. Yes they were ridiculous, yes they were sickenly sweet, but they were clearly the superior choice at Pride, and because of Wednesday’s two-for-one specials, one hundred pesos (plus tips) gets you two generous cocktails.

As a gay bar, Pride was nothing to write home about, at least not on the night I went there. Located in the Condesa, it caters to an upscale crowd (who can afford the expensive cocktails) and plays cheesey American and Mexican pop music. Although there were very few people there on the Wednesday that we went, I’ve been told the place gets packed other nights of the week, especially for karaoke on Thursdays.

The layout of the bar itself is really cool, and I found myself wishing the scene had been more enticing. The décor throughout is hip and modern with sexy lighting and a matron keeps the bathroom maintained (tip her).  There are two stories, and an indoor terrace on the second floor gives you a view of whatever action is taking place downstairs. When I was there, the art on display on the second floor included a large photograph of two naked pregnant women kissing, which, I must say, tickled me.

If the paltry crowd I saw was any indication of the usual Wednesday crowd, then I would not recommend Pride as a place to check out if you are exploring Mexico City’s queer scene by yourself. However, if you are craving two choco-tinis (or two of something equally sugary and alcoholic), head to Pride with a group of friends after work or dinner. You can easily pass an evening getting tipsy and dancing to cheesy pop music.

Pride; address: Alfonso Reyes 281, on the corner of Nuevo León, Colonia Condesa

Anahí and I have been remiss in not publicizing this weekly event sooner. We went to the opening night the first Thursday after the pride march, and there are only two more Thursdays in July to check out this free party. But, based on the scene we saw on the night we went two weeks ago, it is well worth showing up. The Marrakech seems to be the hip young gay bar right now, thanks, in part, to events like this.

Kumbia Knights is the combined efforts of three movers and shakers in DF’s queer nightlife scene, DJ Guagüis, lead singer of both the iconic Mexico City queer punk band Las Ultrasonicas and the all-female queer neo-Kumbia band the Kumbia Queers, Sonido Islandia, one of the founders of the Meras Efímeras dyke social events collective and current Burlesquímera, and Pollymiller, a dynamic duo of fags specializing in tropical and live electronic music. These four take turns spinning neo-Kumbia (in the metaphorical sense, since all the music they import is stored electronically), which keeps the crowd of mostly young, hipster queers on their feet, dancing and having fun.

Cumbia is a style of latin music that originated in Colombia but developed popularity in other countries like Mexico, where it developed its own unique sound. It is slower than salsa, more tropical than ranchero, and is unintimidating to dance to due to its relaxed pace. The songs played at the Marrakech are mostly not the oldies from the golden age of cumbia, but are newer creations, with electronic keyboards clearly heard on most of the tracks.

Islandia and Guagüis, good friends of ours, know how to throw a party. When DJ Guagüis wasn’t playing music, she was winding her way through the crowd, striking a güiro in time with whatever song was on. Islandia was in prime form as well, adding a touch of glamour to the intentionally (dare I say self-consciously) casual hipster crowd with a fabulous outfit composed of clashing leopard print patterns.

The crowd was a mix of queers and queer-friendly bugas, and I was suprised by how many dykes there were in this predominantly gay male bar. Everyone seemed to be between 20 and 35 (a very different scene from the Oasis, another gay bar, down the street), but instead of the too-cool-for-school attitude one expects from the hipsters of, say, Williamsburg in New York City, these kids were dancing their asses off, laughing and having a blast.

Check out this party if you are in Mexico City this July. Who knows, maybe the bar will extend the party further into the summer months…

Marrakech Salón, República de Cuba no. 18, (a block from Eje Central), Col. Centro. No cover.

When I arrived at this bar, the first impulse I had was to call the crowd to order and give a history lesson. This group of queer preppies, dressed in a way that I couldn’t understand, were giving me deja vu from the short period when I worked as a high school teacher.

But the night went on and suddenly I was listening to M.I.A, one of my favorites singers. And, making the scene even more attractive to my eyes, a bunch of teen fags were singing her lyrics and dancing as if they were her or, at least, as if they were in one of her videos. La Bomba, indeed, turned out to be a real explosion for my eyes, which I suppose were no longer used to seeing this array of color, youth and hormones, altogether in the same place.

In order to understand what the appeal of this place is, I have to mention Pepi, Lucy, Bom y las chicas del montón, Pedro Almodóvar‘s first movie, where Carmen Maura is unbelievably young and the Spanish now-famous-singer Alaska is fifteen years old. La Bomba is a place where anyone can appear, from fashionistas trying to find “alternative” new places to “emos” showing off their creative outfits. This small, kind of improvised bar, gives life to colorful characters–it’s as though their myspace layouts have come to life–who come to migle away from their homes and parents.

In my earlier posts, I’ve talked about how the victims of the gentrification of the Zona Rosa include the young queer teenagers who can barely afford a dinner and a couple of beers in the upscale new venues on Amberes street. Although one of the regulars mention that this place opened about five years ago, La Bomba seems to be filling this gap, since it is located near the gay area, and offers a wide variety of music; even hosting young dj’s that are beginning their careers.

Following the requirements of the new local policy, an ID has to be displayed at the entrance. A big, young machota will frisk you if you are a woman. So don’t bring any weapons….

La Bomba: Jalapa 13 Glorieta metro Insurgentes, Col. Roma; Caguama 30 pesos (US$3.00), tostadas and snacks are served.

I guess this is the upside of the gentrification of the Centro Historico. At least, that’s how I’m interpreting the opening of the Marrakech Salon, a great bar located on Republica de Cuba between the Viena and La Perla, both famous local gay bars.

This place was founded by a couple of guys who also own two restaurants known for their comida corrida, one behind the Museo de San Ildefonso and the other one on Gante street, also in the Centro Historico. Both restaurants are characterized by their peculiar decorations that are reminiscent of old Mexican kitchens, but infused with an extremely gay aesthetic: the paintings hanging on the wall are like Tom of Finland drawings, but in bright colors.

It is worth mentioning that Marrakech Salón is different from its neighbors because it doesn’t offer the drag shows that Viena and La Perla boast as their main attractions. Instead, there is a juke box with a large variety of music, from disco music to reggaeton, both in English and Spanish. The place is spacious enough to dance, bathrooms are clean and there is a smoking area upstairs. The beer is cheap (25 pesos or 2.5 dollars) and the best brands are served; also cocktails are part of the menu. Drinks come with peanuts or habas con chile as a botana (snack).

Of course, machas will feel welcome here, along with their friends coming from abroad. Although it’s a gay bar, there always seem to be a good mix of queer women in the crowd. An artsy, hipster kind of crowd mixed with veteran gays and young lesbians looking for a place to have fun shape the landscape of this new great bar, which I highly recommend.

(And my gay male friends, connoisseurs of these matters, are always fascinated with the beautiful waiters that work here….)

Marrakech Salón, República de Cuba no. 18, (a block from Eje Central), Col. Centro. No cover. Opens from Tuesday to Sunday.