Tag Archives: punk rock

Tours! TOURS! Tours! – Tijuana Adventure Activate! – Julie’s Bday Tour a Month Ago…

Posted on February 15, 2017 by Matingas | Leave a comment

This webpage and blog has been somewhat abandoned.

That doesn’t mean I haven’t been given tours.

Quite the contrary. I was busy with tours all of January. February is going slow, but March will already start with a tour.

Julie’s Bday Tj Adventure (with Nate and Company)

The tour above was super fun and probably one where I walked the most. We walked and walked and walked. I offered Ubers or taxis. But they wanted to walk.

This is what a Tijuana Adventure usually looks like. A lot of food and beer and fun times.

And I’m sorry I rarely update the blog. I write in my life blog daily. Which is completely different.

Besides Julie’s bday tour, I also had a tour with a couple of crazy South Africans.

I have never partied in my life as much as I did with those South Africans. They showed me that I truly have no limits when it comes to my Tijuana tours. We spend so much money drinking, eating, … and more.

It is time to make my tours a bit more official. There needs to be an online payment method. There needs to be a public tour at least once a month. I have been doing my tours mostly as a side gig for fun. Not as a real business. But Tijuana Adventure has grown and it is time to take it a bit more seriously.

Even the US consul in Tijuana emailed me asking me about how to improve tourism.

More tours are coming.

More public events.

The page will get better.

The Tijuana Adventure Instagram will also be active…. if I remember the password.

A very good friend of mine named Brenda, aka Shappu, has also been doing tours. She is going her own way about it. Truly puts effort in giving people tours. Unlike me where I just wait for people to email me and tell me they want to book me. If I pushed my services. Get business cards. Do some posters… etc etc etc. Then it would truly be a tour service.

For now, I’m busy with writing stories, my new girlfriend, daily blog, and my cat. Tours are still available. Tours are still highly improvised. Tours are still hella fun.

I forgot where I was going with this. Point is. Tijuana Adventure will activate! More tours! Better tours! Online payments! Other tour guides! More beer! More food! MORE MORE MORE!

Want to visit Tijuana. Hit me up!

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Posted in Matingas, Tijuana Adventure Blog

Tagged 1st world, 3rd world, adventure, arts, bars, Border town, Brothel, culture, Matingas, Mexico, microbrew, migration, music, punk rock, Red Light District, San Diego, Tijuana, Tijuana Adventure, tour, tour guide, travel, USA, waking tour, World traveler

Changes Are Coming – Tijuana Adventure Is Not About Tours No More

Posted on April 26, 2016 by Matingas | Leave a comment

So….

I haven’t posted in this blog in ages. I have been posting on my regular blog of Matingas.com every Monday of every week. The idea now is that I will post in Tijuana Adventure every Tuesday of every week and also maybe make a weekly podcast. What am I going to post about? Well… about my Tijuana Adventures! I have invited other friends/writers to do the same.

I also created a couple logos yesterday. I am not a designer or a webmaster, so bare with me as changes to the page are made slowly.
Option 1:
Option 2:

^or something similar. I might talk to friends to make an actual new logo.

Now tours…

I’ve been doing a lot of tours and I am a bit tired of them. Not because I do not enjoy them, but because my inability to run a business. I never like to charge my clients, because most of them turn to friends a short time into the tour. I always feel like I am robbing them, even though I know I am providing a service. It happened the same way when I was teaching guitar, I had a few students, and I always felt weird charging them since I had fun teaching. They always paid me extra (even gave me gifts), but felt so strange to make money from something I enjoy.

I am also very bad at organizing events and trying to make a large group happen. I always knew I didn’t want to do large tours anyway, I hate being a shepherd of drunks. I rather know everyone personally and give more than just follow me to random places. Also, I hate cancellations. They ruin my plan for the day. If I am not doing tours in Tijuana, I am working on freelance writing mostly for the San Diego Reader.

For that reason, tours are going to be sidelined. The intention of this page is to act like a guide for those that do not know Tijuana. Not only for foreigners, but for locals. New places open every week and there is almost no one covering them (especially for beer). I know there aren’t many outlets out there for me to write about beer, so I decided to make this blog active and for the tours to be secondary.

I will still be giving tours, I’ll just be way more picky. New rule as well, $100 gets you my attention for 6+ hours, everything else is extra. I will try to get this as a paypal or other sort of payment, to make sure cancellations don’t become the norm.

This summer the webpage and myself will be doing a lot of changes.

Expect this page to become more active as a blog. Sharing information of new breweries, restaurants, concerts, culture, border life and more!

—Matingas

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Posted in Tijuana Adventure Blog

Tagged adventure, Border town, Brothel, Mexico, microbrew, migration, punk rock, Tijuana, World traveler, Zona Norte

There’s more than just XXX! New tours coming soon!

Posted on June 16, 2015 by Matingas | Leave a comment

I haven’t posted on the Tijuana Adventure blog in forever that it seems like I am not even giving tours anymore…

Quite the opposite. Since the last post, I have had more than 10 tours. Many involving Zona Norte (XXX tours), in fact, many of the emails I receive are inquiring about that though I deleted the tour from my webpage. Tijuana is much more than just a place to get naked girls. But I need to give people what they want, the XXX tours are back, but we don’t go directly just there, I’ll show you the whole city before is sinning time.

I had several one on one tours that were a blast and customers keep telling me I charge to little. I had a bachelor party that went pretty wild. I had a couple of brewery tours and a few international tours. Apparently a hostel has been recommending my service and it has brought me people around the world.

Here is one of the many tours I had… and the only one I took pictures:

I got really busy between my part time job, freelance writing and giving tours that I simply had no time to update this blog. But I have quit my part time job to dedicate more time to giving tours!

Not only that, I will introduce a new tour every Saturday! Brew hopping and street food!

Introducing The Brew Hop and Baja Med Tour:

8 to 12 people – Saturdays from 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm $40 will get you:

Walking tour of the city visiting landmarks, art galleries, street art, cafes, shops, etc.
4 breweries wtih a free flight of beers or a full pour in each stop.
2 street food stops
Ride back to the border

Poster of this and more updates on the page will come soon.

Also, I had a brief talk with Uber, so I might be getting my own promo code and will be using UberXl to move around the city!

In the meantime, my friend from college, Drew, is visiting. And we are having Tijuana Adventures of our own.

Book your tour now here:

Follow Tijuana Adventure on Instagram here:

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Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged adventure, arts, bars, Breweries, Brothel, craft beer, Mexico, punk rock, Red Light District, San Diego, Tijuana, Tijuana Adventure, travel, vacation, waking tour, World traveler, XXX, Zona Norte

Tijuana Adventure for 2015…. Sorry, I’ve been busy

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Matingas | Leave a comment

My last post was back in September….

I was going to post that I was taking a break in October, but that never happened. My college roommate from Minnesota visit me at the end of the month and we hung out for a week straight in Tijuana. We had plenty of adventures, but we also learned that we can’t drink as much as we did in college.

This happened on Halloween night in Tijuana:

I’ve been very busy, no time to party all night and write about it the next day. I got a regular job in retail at a soccer store in San Diego to have a more steady income and to get a van for the tours.

I keep getting emails for Tijuana Adventures… I’ve been having all sorts of adventures but no time to post about it and I keep forgetting to take pictures.

I had an important tour some months back with a group of 10 (5 married couples). Before meeting them, I took a nap in a co-workers car in the parking lot outside work.

I’ve had plenty of 1 on 1 tours all over the place. All very much fun, I even received this email thanking me for the tour:

And in 2015 I have already had two adventures!!!

I had one booked since last year for a Veggie and Brewery tour that is coming up next Saturday (will post about it later). But out of nowhere I got two last minute tours that ended up being really awesome.

The first one of the year had to be an XXX tour with a programmer from Los Angeles. We ate at Cevicheria Naiz, drank at Mamut, talked about videogames and then headed to the XXX world for unrated fun…. Haven’t done those tours in a long time… they uhh.. renovated some areas of the clubs, the usual dirty business remained the same. He emailed me the next day:
Through the tour he kept thanking me, it was a wonderful time.

The second one was with friends of friends. A guy from Alabama (Ed) and one from Minnesota (Chris) were roommates in France, Chris visited Ed to Los Angeles where he currently lives and they came down to Tijuana. We went on a classic Tj Adventure party blender with live music shows by Innerds and Octagrape at Mous Tache, street tacos and plenty of drinks.

Here we are eating at Cevicheria Naiz before partying until 4 am:

And we had breakfast tacos at the king, Tacos el Rey, before saying our hungover goodbyes:

2015 seems promising for a lot of tours! If I am lucky, I might be able to quit my job and party with tourists for a living…. make my dream come true… come party… come have a Tijuana Adventure!

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Posted in Tijuana Adventure Blog

Tagged adventure, arts, bars, Border town, Brothel, Los Angeles, Mexico, microbrew, music, punk rock, Red Light District, San Diego, Tijuana, Tijuana Adventure, waking tour, XXX, Zona Norte

It’s been a year of Tijuana Adventure and there’s much more to come!

Posted on September 13, 2014 by Matingas | Leave a comment

Tijuana Adventure turns one year old

It has been a wild ride. I have met people from Canada, Australia, UK, Argentina and all over the USA. I had 5 adventures for the past two weeks and I am booked for the next weekends. Apparently I’ve been recommended on TripAdvisor which has helped on getting a few more adventurers. I haven’t really made money from my tours and I don’t really care. From the start my tours have been heavily improvised, going to places I like and having a lot of fun with incredible awesome “clients,” many that have become friends (and now I have a place to stay in several cities).

Don’t be a tourist, party with a local.

With Aussies at Playas

I spent Sunday and Monday (of the last week of August) with 3 Australians going from taco shop to bar, rinse and repeat. It was awesome times. I’ve been spending every weekend with a different group of people for the past month or more.

My main focus has always been to get people comfortable with Tijuana so they can come back without any assistance. This is a huge complicated city that many fear, but in reality it is one of the most fun and diverse cities (if you know your way around). The direction of TJ adventure is changing, not sure what to, but it has to evolve.

Tours will be free of charge as long as the group is paying for my food/drinks, I’ll take you anywhere your heart desires (tipping your tour guide is encouraged…). Events will happen once a month if possible. With many side jobs besides being a tour guide, I am keeping TJ adventure as casual as I can.

TJ adventure is your opportunity to tour the city with a journalist for the San Diego Reader, who also happens to be a musician and a photographer (that’s me). Contact me to set up a tour and let’s have fun!

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Posted in Tijuana Adventure Blog

Tagged 1st world, 3rd world, adventure, arts, bars, Border town, Brothel, Matingas, microbrew, migration, music, punk rock, San Diego, Tijuana, tours, travel, XXX, Zona Norte

Tijuana Adventure takes you to TRF!

Posted on May 8, 2014 by Matingas | Leave a comment

May 31st, Tijuana Rumble Fest:

Presenting math rock, experimental, garage and more bands from all over California!

Here’s the official website TRF

Tickets are $25 and are sold here!

It includes entrance to the festival, transportation from the border to the festival and back and 2 drinks.

Ride the Rumble Bus next to the bands that will be performing!

Buy your tickets now!

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Posted in Tijuana Adventure Blog

Tagged 1st world, 3rd world, adventure, arts, Border town, culture, math rock, Mexico, music, music festival, punk rock, rumble bus, San Diego, Tijuana RUmble fest, waking tour, World traveler, XXX, Zona Norte

Three completely different adventures in one week. Beer fest tour up next!

Posted on April 9, 2014 by Matingas | Leave a comment

Tijuana Adventure hasn’t really been my priority that of late. I was too busy with all the other pretend jobs I have to really work on givings tours. But last week was a busy one. First, my friend (Waves) and his wife (Betty) from LA, who canceled on me twice before, finally made it down to TJ. They needed to come down to TJ this time looking to save money on medicinal goods. Instead of paying $350 for Betty’s inhaler, they paid $35…

They saved hundreds of dollars, which meant they have plenty of money to spend. We ate in Playas at Hunab-Ku, where they serve vegetarian tacos. Spent some time in downtown and drank at Mamut Brewery. Unfortunately, they had to leave early back to LA and by 5:00 pm on Wednesday they headed back.

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On Friday, I was supposed to host two girls via Couchsurfing. But they also had to leave early and did not spend the night. They already had a host and a guide, but I decided to join them for some time at the beach. We hung out for a couple of hours and for a while, I showed them the Tijuana I know (and I ate a lot of food!). Unfortunately, they also could not spend the night and left early, but they seemed extremely satisfied with the city.

And finally on Saturday….

A group of adventurers who have been to many places in Baja before but never in Tijuana, that group of friends that likes to go new places and try everything once (they even ate crickets). They contacted me via Reddit, thus they got the Reddit discount of $5 per person. A lovely group of people who I had a blast with.

We met at the US border at 4:00 pm. Started drinking at Mamut by 5:00 pm, at around 6:30 pm dinner and more drinks at La Corriente (Cevicheria Nais). Downtown happened to have a lowrider and motorcycle show (it happens once a month). More drinks at La Mezcalera. Last stop before the border was bar Zacazonopan, but 10:00 pm came too early so they stayed for a couple more drinks, more tacos and finally got all 7 inside a cab to the border at around midnight (it was hilarious and very Mexican style).