Gay bars!

This morning, we drove through Macacos, a small town that has, well, macacos (monkeys), and ate at a restaurant. We had some typical mineira food (of this state, Minas Gerais) - frango ora-pro-nobis (chicken with a vegetable like collard greens), angu (a cornmeal pudding, kind of like flan but salty instead of sweet), feijão comum (regular beans). It was delicious, and then we went to Nova Lima, a city of 70,000, where we passed through an intersection where people had two cars blasting rap (Brazilian rap), surrounded by people bumpin' and shakin', and then on to a field with a band singing music that was a bit lighter.

It was a concert, full of people, beverage vendors, and people picking up the used cans to sell, for 1 real per kilo - Lara tells me that the maid who comes twice a month to her house, used to do that, pick up cans, but quit it because it wasn't worth the effort for such little money. Looking around, I saw people of every shade of beautiful, beautiful brown. At the same time, I felt like everyone was looking at me, but Gil told me not to worry, because they're more likely looking at the three of us, since we were among the whitest people there.

Back in Belo Horizonte, we went to Establecimento, a restaurant/bar with a gay owner, and for that reason, the place has a nightclub below that while not exclusively gay, has a large gay following. The people there were totally different than the people in the concert in Nova Lima - artistic, chic, young and apparently educated, and at least a handful of gay guys (viados, bichas, bibas...a flaming guy can be uma bicha barulhenta or uma bicha de poque-poque, as poque-poque is the sound flip-flops make when you walk). They had caipirinhas and beer, and I just had a lemonade, before we ordered pastries of beef and chicken (pastéis). Lara introduced me to a friend of hers who was helping out the owner in the kitchen, Darlan. Lindo, lindo, lindo...I thought he was cute, maybe not soooo lindo, but cute. We didn't really talk too much, since he and Lara were talking most of the time the 3 of us were together, and I was a bit timid with my Portuguese. I'd like to see him again.
It was today that we had a conversation about how open-minded Lara and Gil are, and that Lara would gladly take me to a gay bar, since she used to go a lot before getting involved with Gil (4 years ago). Gil's not entirely averse to going to one with us, though. I really felt much more comfortable tonight, and Gil said to me, «you probably didn't know what to think about Brazil, about the attitudes here» «exactly!» . So they really made me feel like I can be myself.
In the house, Lara, Gil, and myself sat at the dining room table talking about English and Portuguese. Mostly, the words «anyway» and «by the way». We're dorks.
Tomorrow, we're going to Ana's house, a friend of Lara, and friends of their's, whom she tells me are very cool. (Ana used to go to gay bars too before her boyfriend.) I don't expect any strapping young available men to be there, but it'd be nice. :)