chlesea, east village? no, just boomtown gayland in here

Boomtown Gayland in Santiago de Chile is an ever-growing thing that has nothing to envy to San Francisco, or New York's Chelsea or East Village Gay boroughs. The main difference, for the good of us, Chileans, is that Santiago's Boomtown Gayland landed in one of the hipest and trendiest neighbourhoods of the city if not, the chicest of all. Nothing to do with rundown ghettos in most of USA's cities. No meatpacking facilities nearby nor fishy markets, no smelly haze over Boomtown. Just a fantastic Chilean Jardin de Luxembourg with its fine parisian-style museum, that houses either classic and modern art. A stone´s throw, the Chilean copy of parisian Gare d'Orsay, where open air ballet, opera and drama are oftenly performed in the sweet evenings of spring and summer. Jazz soirées are held in our cozy local Jardin de Luxembourg too. Nobody here lives in recycled storage warehouses, of course, but in the most fabulous 1930's to 50's apartments, that have nothing to envy to similar ones in Buenos Aires, but larger. When recently visiting an old couple of (hetero) professionals friends of mine, living in a 600 sq.mt.1930's déco bunker, I had the opportunity to take a glance at the always diverse Gay fauna around. At the very beginnings of Santiago's Gay Boomtown, the guys tended to be more activist and proselitist with plenty of flags on the balconies and windows of their upscale apartments. Now, there are signs of a newly acquired normality, as rents and real estate prices skyrocket, and getting a small pad becomes harder. Just a very few rainbow flags are still visible now, but you can see lots of "divines" making their grand entrée to the many highly-fashionable-but-rather-affordable cafes of the borough.