Book Review - Escapades of a Gay Traveler: Sexual, Cultural, and Spiritual Encounters

Customer Review

I have traveled the world for several decades. I would recommend to every gay traveler that he read this book before going to virtually any Third World country.

Many gay readers do not like Joseph Itiel because of his "Virtual Boyfriend" and "Escort Tales" books. I personally have read and loved his guide to Costa Rica and this book. I have only started to read "Escort Tales" and have immediately come to dislike it.

Joseph Itiel is best as a non-fiction writer. While he seems to have some strange sexual preferences (like frottage) his adventures in other lands are mesmerizing and illuminating.

Homosexuals from the United States and Europe live in a world where sex is based on social courtship. Their reality is that it is demeaning and improper to "buy sex" although some might do so.

However, traveling with those perceptions can be both naive and dangerous. In very poor countries, sex of any kind is a means of survival, not just a game of social courtship and the pursuit of pleasure.

Joseph Itiel paints a daunting picture of how Mexicans inevitably come to ask for "a loan" for some pressing social situation from travelers who are sexual partners. It is a subtle form of prostitution even though they would be offended if you put it in those terms.

He describes the dangers involved in getting sexually involved with the poor denizens of other lands. Leave your passport in the Hotel. Carry your International Driver's License or a photocopy of your passport.

Each country is different. In the Phillippines, he finds himself fought over and passed around from one friend to another like a "prize". However, then he sees that he is simply exploiting the poverty of his sexual conquests.

Itiel does have some personality quirks. He came out later in life and discovered he actually preferred sexual liasons based on financial arrangements. That simply frames his stories.

Their real value lies in his practical advice for tourists who travel in societies where "their world" is replaced by an environment in which sex is more a means of survival than the quest for romance and pleasure.

I have found myself "a stranger" in such situations and learned many of the lessons Itiel shares in this book the hard way. Anyone planning a trip to a Third World country should read this book first.

They may decide to avoid sexual encounters. However, if they choose to pursue such encounters, they will be far better prepared to do so safely and sanely for having read this amazing and entertaining book.