In the heart of Mexico City lies a historic gay bathhouse where old and new worlds meet.

Baños Tlalpan is a novella about the men, culture, sexuality, and unexpected relationships Tracey Parker encounters over several years inside a traditional gay bathhouse in Mexico City.

As Tracey gets to know several of the young men who work there as masseurs, he discovers that they come from a remote region of Oaxaca whose traditions, relaxed attitudes about sexuality, and understanding of masculinity are profoundly different from both modern Mexico and Tracey’s own American ideas of gay culture.

What begins as a series of encounters gradually becomes something much more meaningful. Through his relationships with these men, Tracey finds himself looking beyond the familiar ideas about gay identity that he brought with him. He discovers different ways of understanding masculinity, intimacy, sexuality, friendship, and what it means to be a gay man.

Part travel story, part cultural exploration, and part intimate personal memoir, Baños Tlalpan is ultimately about the people who change us simply by allowing us to see the world—and ourselves—from another perspective.

Enter Baños Tlalpan and discover a gay Mexico you may never have imagined.

Enjoy your purchase,

Tracey Parker