gay village in Madrid
I did this little interview for a magazine in Mexico. I complemented Madrid for its vitality and nightlife, something that San Francisco is definitely declining in. Oy. Oh well, I told the truth as far as I see it, and as my friend Natacha said, “you are a bit of both cities now.”
Una encuesta publicada por el diario mexicano “Excelsior” sitúa a Madrid, y más concretamente a Chueca, como el mejor destino para el colectivo gay a nivel internacional.
Si hasta ahora San Francisco era considerada la ciudad preferida por los homosexuales, ahora es Madrid quien le quita el puesto a la ciudad americana y se pone por delante de otras como Barcelona, Berlín o Sydney.
El propio director del Centro de la Comunidad Lesbiana, Gay, Bisexual y Transexual de San Francisco, Thom Lynch, reconoce que Madrid le ha quitado el puesto a San Francisco porque es una ciudad muy abierta y muy plural, sin olvidar que la población de San Francisco tiende a envejecer. “El barrio gay, Chueca, ofrece de todo, de la discoteca a café y terrazas, pasando por restaurantes y cines. Los derechos de los homosexuales son mayores que los que tenemos en Estados Unidos”, agrega Lynch.
Así, Chueca sigue siendo uno de los mayores reclamos turísticos de Madrid.
This is not meant existentially.
I’ve been living the last seven or so months in the Center of the city, mere steps away from Gran Via between Plaza Calloa and Cibeles. It’s a great neighborhood being well-connected to all the mass transport and within walking distance to almost all of the better known tourist areas of Madrid. But it does have its downsides. It is very crowded and as the summer months have worn on, some of the sleazier streets near my home have become rich in the odor of urine and the number prostitutes have grown like wild flowers. It is also not the best neighborhood to have a dog. My globe trotting fellow has gotten into the terrible habit of spending most of his walk time searching for discarded food like some rat weaving back and forth eating anything in his past. It’s pretty disgusting. 
You may or may not know that Madrid has one of the finest reputations for art in the world, boasting its Golden Triangle of three of the top museums in the world, the Prado, the Reina Sofia, and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Of the three, the last one is probably the least well-known but actually boasts an incredible collection made up of one of the largest private collections anywhere in the world. 
