Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is known for its handsome gym-buff inhabitants who, according to stereotype, spend most of their time hanging around the beach in their bathing suits.
That stereotype is only partly true. Firstly, with a metro population of more than 12 million, not everybody can be on the beach all the time. (Cariocas, as the locals are called, do occasionally go to work or to the mall.) Secondly, there are lots of Cariocas who are good looking in ways that aren’t gym-buff.
“Of course, that’s a segment,” says Cameron Lewis. “There’s no doubt that there are a lot of beautiful men here. But there are lots of kinds of beauty. There’s a section of the beach with one kind of guy. There’s another section with another kind of guy. It’s a gay community that encompasses everything from A to Z, and everything from A to Z is very pretty. I don’t know what they put in the water here.” Lewis is the organizer of Woof Week Rio, one of South America’s first week-long bear festivals, running this year from March 3 to 10.
Lewis is originally from Alberta, Canada, and worked for a while in the energy sector in Toronto—he’s a serial entrepreneur. He started vacationing in Rio about a decade ago, and about four years ago, while in Rio, he met the Brazilian who would become his husband. They married and now live together in Rio.
As an expat learning all about the Cidade Maravilhosa (“Marvelous City”), Lewis realized that there were lots of bears and their admirers in the community, but not so many events catering to them. Last year he launched the inaugural Woof Week Rio, which attracted more than a thousand guys from all over Brazil and South America to its main dance party, a boat cruise around Guanabara Bay and various other events. Those signature events are all back this year, along with a city tour, a beach party, a club night and a new Grand Ball on March 5, held at the ornate Cine Odeon (Praça Floriano, 7, Centro, Rio de Janeiro), with proceeds going to a charity that provides housing to LGBTQ+ young people who have been thrown out of their homes.
“It’s a cocktail party followed by a two-hour variety show featuring Suzy Brazil, who is very famous—she’s got two television shows. So it will be an amazing night, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to charity,” says Lewis. The flagship dance party is Friday night, March 8, at a large downtown venue, with as many as 1,500 passholders expected to attend.
Though the Woof Week focus is on bears, the Brazilian take on the gay subculture is pretty broad.
“In North America, our community can get a little segmented and walled off,” says Lewis. “A bear here is any size and anybody who likes a hairy chest, and if they’ve got hair on their chest, they’re a bear. Contrary to popular belief, lots of Brazilians have a hairy chest.”
There’s no Woof Week party scheduled for the Saturday night—and for a reason. Lewis says out-of-town visitors should visit the gay club the Home Rio (R. Sacadura Cabral, 135, Saúde, Rio de Janeiro), one of Brazil’s most mind-blowing clubs (formerly known as the Week), which attracts around 2,000 partiers on any given Saturday night.
Though Rio is famous for its beaches, Lewis says visitors should remember that they’re in a big city—there are a lot of sites to see and a lot of culture to absorb.
“North Americans travelling here might have the idea that it’s a little beach town. And when you’re in neighbourhoods like Ipanema and Copacabana, it can feel like that. But it’s connected to a very large city,” he says.
Though there are concerns about crime in Brazil, the beachside neighbourhoods are usually pretty safe, Lewis says, and getting around at night by ride-share services is very affordable. “In my ten years of being here, I’ve never had a problem.”
Thinking of going to Rio de Janeiro for Woof Week? Check out our story on the places where LGBTQ+ locals love to stay and hang out.
