La Plata

Doc,

As you probabely know there is La Plata and Mar del Plata.

I know both La Plata and Punta del Este, and even if I don't know Mar del Plata I believe Punta del Este is the best option.

Nevertheless, if you intend to find chicas in Punta, it will be difficult so I would recommend bringing one from Buenos Aires with you (two of my friends have done this, they had a great time and the chicas too).

Cat's

I heard of this boliche yesterday. A lady reported that there were 150-200 girls there (an exaggeration, I guess), and the place had several floors and stages. She also said that there were fewer men than usual.

In any case, she got my interest in that place.

If any of you happen to be in La Plata soon, please check the place. Unfortunately, I don't know its address.

Andres

Wilkenny, in the style of Kilkenny is nice.

A lot more European looking girls than in BA.

A stealth member sent me a link to this article on the BBC website.

[url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7793183.stm[/url]

One note: I have no idea where the reporter heard, in reference to La Plata, that "Some call it the prostitution capital of Argentina."

[quote=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7793183.stm]Dark side of Argentine sex city.

By Daniel Schweimler BBC News, Buenos Aires.

La Plata is a lovely city. Its central plaza is dominated by a beautiful cathedral, its tree-lined streets are full of interesting shops and quality restaurants.

Some call La Plata the prostitution capital of Argentina.

It is a thriving university city and the capital of Buenos Aires province. The largest and wealthiest in Argentina.

But there is also a sinister, sleazy underside to La Plata.

Some call it the prostitution capital of Argentina.

In and around the city there are hundreds of brothels, incongruous from the outside. In residential streets, at the bottom of dirt roads. Often only recognisable by a straggly array of coloured light-bulbs or a barely visible name.

Susana Martinez is a former prostitute who now helps to run the Sandra Cabrera health centre in the city.

It is a health centre run by sex workers for sex workers.

It was set up two years ago, with the help of the local authorities, after prostitutes, rent-boys, transvestites and transsexuals complained they were suffering discrimination in the public hospitals.

Sandra Cabrera was a campaigning sex worker killed by the police in a still-unresolved case.

Sex workers' needs.

"They would shout things like 'You deal with the whores, ' or 'Look what's blown in with the rubbish, '" said Susana.

She added that sex workers also had different medical needs and worked different hours to other people. The public health system simply was not serving their needs.

A recent study in Argentina also found that one in three people did not know how Aids and the HIV virus were transmitted.

This in a well-informed public after more than 20 years of campaigns and advertising.

So former sex workers, like Susana, and those still working, like Mishel, work with the medical staff at their health centre to build trust with the patients and to educate as well as treat.

"We needed to educate and to make people aware of our specific problems but also to tell them not to discriminate because of the work we do, " said Susana. Susana Martinez does twice-weekly visits to brothels.

"One day a colleague told me that our doctor, while doing the check-ups, tried to persuade the girls to leave prostitution and the streets.

"I was angry because we are free to choose. I've never told them to stop being doctors and change profession.

"So, as you can see, it was hard work to make everybody aware and respectful. "

She added: "We also had to educate the nurses. They were terrible. They'd come from hospitals where it's common to shout and maltreat people. "

Many of the prostitutes that come to work in La Plata are from Paraguay and Peru or the poor northern provinces of Argentina.

They are usually young, sometimes too young to have sex legally, and nearly always badly educated and frightened.

Twice a week, Susana does the rounds in a mini-bus, visiting the brothels and talking to the prostitutes. She distributes condoms and tries to find out how the young girls and boys are doing, how they are being treated.

They cannot go everywhere and some places are simply too dangerous for them to visit. Much of the sex industry in La Plata is operated either outside the law or on the very edges of the law.

Tricked.

The health workers asked me not to film or record, to keep my mouth shut and, if asked, say I was from the health ministry.

They knew I was underage. I got nothing. Maybe some perfume or a couple of pesos.

Mishel.

The first place we visited was down a dirt road, outside the city.

Its name was displayed in dull purple lights. Loud music blared from inside. There were pool tables, an empty stage and a silver disco globe.

The young owner behind the bar eyed us suspiciously. Susana, bubbly and friendly, greeted him and the two girls sitting silently on stools at the bar. One kept her face hidden, the other sipped her drink nervously. Both wore short skirts and high heels.

It was early and work had not yet begun. Two men playing pool made phone calls then walked to the far side of the almost empty room.

Susana plonked a bag of condoms on the bar and asked the owner to sign for them, which he did.

Susana asked if she could talk to one of the girls in private and after five minutes returned. The girl, from Paraguay, was pregnant.

Some are kidnapped and forced into the sex industry. Others are tricked with offers of jobs as domestic workers or waitresses only, on arrival in Argentina, to have their documents confiscated and their freedom curtailed.

Police involvement.

With no money and no ID, there is nowhere to go. Families back in Paraguay or northern Argentina are poor and often working away from home themselves. And the local police are some of the main beneficiaries of the industry.

Susana knows where the underage girls and boys are working but, she said, while the authorities are so closely involved in the industry there is nothing they can do to change the situation.

Through their health centre they can at least provide education, protection and condoms. Plenty of condoms. They distribute 20, 000 a month, paid for by the local authorities.

After visiting the brothels, we toured the dark streets.

Firstly, the area where the female prostitutes work, then the male ones. The mini-bus pulls up and Susanna leans out of the window waving a plastic bag full of condoms.

"Protection, condoms! " she shouts. Many of the workers know Susana, recognise the van and come sauntering over with a kiss, a joke and a bit of gossip.

Others, new to the city, are more wary. Susana asks them how they are doing, if they need any help and tells them where the health centre is.

Then we move on to the area where the transvestites and transsexuals work, precarious on high heels, displaying buttocks and breasts, giggling and mocking one another.

"They're all Peruvians, " said Susana.

Condoms are handed out to sex workers at brothels and on streets.

According to Mishel, one of the reasons the industry has thrived in La Plata is that the authorities allow it, often encouraging it to do so.

He lives and works in a house in the centre of the city with 13 friends, both men and women, including a married couple. It is a co-operative. The rooms are clean, they advertise in local papers and can afford one another some kind of protection.

But the police insist that they too provide protection. Mishel pays the local force $400 a month. "Otherwise, " he said. "They've said they can't protect us. "

"From who? " I asked him.

"From third parties, " he replied. "I don't like it but there's nothing else I can do if I want to continue working. "

Mishel, like all the sex workers in La Plata, has a story to tell. He is from a small, conservative town in rural Buenos Aires province. His relationship with his mother deteriorated when she realised he was gay and, as a young boy, he left for Buenos Aires.

There his only option was to work the streets. But one day he was picked up by a person who he thought was a client.

He spent the next nine years as a sex slave, forced to sleep with whoever his owners told him to. Often servicing guests at the city's five-star hotels.

"It was wealthy businessmen, " he explained.

"Often foreigners and even diplomats. They knew I was underage. I got nothing. Maybe some perfume or a couple of pesos. "

Powerlessness.

He finally escaped and went to live with his brother who was studying in La Plata.

After working for a while in a burger bar, he went back on the street. It was the only way he could earn enough to study and to pay for his brothers and sisters to study.

The Sandra Cabrera health centre has become a model. They receive visits from other parts of Argentina and from abroad. It can do nothing to tackle prostitution in La Plata.

Those, like Susana and Mishel, know the industry only too well, they know it is deeply ingrained in Argentine society and they are powerless to help.

But they do know what problems the city's sex workers face. And they do provide some protection, plenty of understanding, medical care and advice and some hope for people living on the margins of an often cruel and uncaring society.[/quote]

In La Plata, brothels are called Casa de Acompanantes. There are many of them. It took me several taxi rides to figure this out. I initially tried asking taxi drivers 'donde esta chicas?", but most drivers didn't understand what I meant (I speak limited spanish)

One helpful driver told me four locations of them, but only by intersection name--not the complete address (he'd be able to recognize the buildings, but I was in a hurry then and could not drive around doing the research) He said that the locations were kept quiet. He said the general rate was 30 pesos, but that there was one, on 9 between 39 and 40, where the girls were stunning, and the rate was 100 pesos.

Another driver (young guy) took me to a casa de acompanantes on the corner of 60 and 16, a reddish house, number 1046, right on the corner. I didn't have time to go in, so have no further information.

Later, about 8PM, I asked a different taxi driver (another young guy) for recommendations for casa de acompanantes, but he didn't know any. I mentioned there was one at 60 and 16, so he radioed his dispatcher (only some taxis have radios) While the dispatcher didn't know of that one, she knew of one on 58 between 14 and 15.

We drove to 58, between 14 and 15. Nothing obvious. The taxi driver got out and asked a car driver who was parked ahed of us, and he said it was #962 (calle 58) The non-descript doorway was lit, and I pressed the buzzer.

A female voice answered "hola", and I replied with "hola". She buzzed me in. There was a hallway with two doors, one a solid one, the other with a stained glass window. Wondering which to go in, I saw movement thru the stained glass window, and the madam opened the door and told me to go the next room and sit down (or something like that)

About half a dozen girls in their twenties, all sevens or eights presented themselves, one by one. When the madam returned, she explained the pricing, which was for 15 minutes (30 pesos, I think) 20 minutes and 30 minutes. I asked for an hour with a Paraguayan brunette whose name escapes me now. I got the impression it was unusual to ask for that much time, but she said 130 pesos for an hour. I paid her, and was walked thru the courtyard and inside to a bedroom.

I started to realize this was a pretty big place, and that many or all of the girls lived there. While they do seem to have a lounging area, it did not seem like a Brazilian terma, where you drink with the girls, then decide which one (s) you want. Perhaps the lounging area is for when they are busy, or perhaps it is for the girls.

Shortly, the Paraguayan brunette arrived. Very pretty (an 8) and pleasant, but I got the feeling that sex was done differently on her planet than on mine. Part of that may just be communication--my poor spanish combined with not being familiar with her accent meant much was not understood. She did not like to be touched. I got the feeling that sex for her generally meant a blowjob. Anyway, it was enjoyable, and I'll probably be back to try someone else.

I should note that the daily paper, El Dia, has escort (acompanantes) listings in the classified section. Most are for single women, one seemed to mention 8 women (or else I read it wrong) The listings have phone numbers, no addresses, and I didn't call any of them, so don't know any more.

In summary, here are two casa de acompanantes in La Plata with full addresses:

Calle 58, #962 (14 y 15) (white building)

Esquina 60 y 16, #1046 (large reddish house)

I gave an incorrect address in my earlier post. The Casa de Acompanantes on 58, between 14 and 15 is #982, not 962.

The Casa de Acompanantes at #1046 on 60 (at the corner of 16) is somewhat different. I went in late in the day (before dark, probably a very quiet time) Only available girl was a lively, vivacious 21 year old 7 by the name of Nicole. Possibly I got a gringo rate, though it didn't seem like there was any time taken to consider what price to quote, as I'd expect there would be if they quoted different rates to different people. Anyway, an hour was 180 pesos, or 200 in the deluxe suite. The non-deluxe suite rooms looked more like the kind of places they have in strip clubs--there is a couch and a curtain that closes off the entrance to the hallway.

I took the deluxe suite, which had nice lighting, a jacuzzi and a bathroom (didn't use either) Sex was good, Nicole was very pleasant and fun.

I don't understand why the rate is significantly higher at the place at Calle 60 #1046 than at Calle 58 #982, which is why I wonder if I got a gringo rate.

Updated list of Casa de Acompanantes in La Plata:

Calle 58, #982 (14 why 15) (white building, 130 pesos per hour, rates start at 15 minutes)

Esquina 60 why 16, #1046 (large reddish house, 180-200 pesos per hour, rates start at 15 minutes)

Made a short visit to a Casa de Accompanantes at Calle 3, #514 (between 43 and 44)

Ground floor entrance. Pressed the buzzer, the door was opened by a man. Five women inside, all sixes. Dingy, dirty-looking bedrooms that made me think about sexually transmitted diseases.

It could have been my poor spanish, but I understood that only two of the five women I could see were actually available at the time (about 1930) the others were "occupado". Nothing was appealed to me, though, and I left without asking about prices. I imagine this is an inexpensive place.