Tijuana drama.
Bye Tijuana.
I’m leaving you.
That’s what I keep saying. At least I bought my ticket to Mexico City. But that’s late in November. And it’s for a good friend’s wedding. This is my chance to take killer photos and make my wedding photography business grow. Also, a great chance to see all my friends in one setting. And a nice vacation to Mexico City and perhaps Querétaro. You know it. Beer and taco tour as well.
Wedding and family-friendly photography… That’s my 4th Instagram.
Here’s a post I did a few minutes ago:
I covered my friend’s daughter’s baptism. And birthday after party. I need to post more pics. I shoot a lot. I edit a lot. I post a handful.
That’s the life of a photographer.
And a writer.
I write.
I want to write because I want to work.
Tijuana drama.
Don’t believe what you read in the news. Everyone has their opinion. They love to spout it on their preferred social media. I’m on a lot of social media, but for this… I like my blog. I write a lot. The word vomit.
Tijuana drama.
How I lived it.
It was a slow week. I did not do much. Avoided work. Avoided people. Spent some time with my girlfriend. Drank beer and shitposted as if it was my job to shitpost. Content creator.
Friday early morning I went to therapy. I haven’t seen my therapist in months. She had drama of her own. And I don’t really need to go to therapy that often anymore. I’m doing alright.
For lunch, I wanted Korean food. Went to my nearby Korean place to find out that it got fucking popular and that they don’t sell kimchi on the side. I got my usual bulgogi and asked for extra kimchi. They barely gave me any kimchi.
It was early, but I wanted a beer. I drank two or three beers at Mamut Brewery in Pasaje Rodríguez and walked home.
At exactly 7:00 pm I noticed and posted a story of a fire happening on Calle Segunda (checking my IG archives confirms the time). At 7:04 pm I posted another video as I got closer. My neighbor was outside looking at the fire as well as other onlookers. It was a few blocks away and it was in the middle of the street. Zooming in, I could see it was a vehicle on fire. I thought it was an accident and didn’t make much of it and went home.
I thought about flying my drone to check the scene from the sky but decided against it because I was tired and drowsy from early drinking. My newsfeed started to show that what I saw was a taxi that was set ablaze. And it wasn’t the only one in the city. Several other vehicles were set on fire by supposed narcos around town.
After scrolling for a few minutes, I felt tired and took a nap. When I woke up at 9:30ish, Tijuana was hell… at least on social media. Traffic, terrorism, vehicles on fire, narco threats, and a general lack of security.
Outside my window.
It didn’t seem like much. There were not that many people in the street. The ones walking around seemed to do so nonchalantly. The later it got, the quieter it got. And that makes sense in usual places, but not in fucking Tijuana. Here… the later it gets, the louder it tends to get. Especially on a fucking Friday.
It was quiet.
Everyone went home.
Some were left stranded.
Public transit was a mess.
Uber and other online transit services were non-existent.
Taxis were scarce. If you were lucky to hail one, it was overpriced by triple the usual Gringo cost.
The city is a cagadero on the weekends. That’s why I rarely go outside. There were a lot of shows and festivals and a lot of shit happening in town. All abruptly canceled. I was planning to go to a couple of shows (San Pedro el Cortez and perhaps Sincretismo) but decided against it because I knew the city was going to be a shitshow.
I wasn’t expecting this type of shitshow. Everything in town got canceled.
Except Baja Beach Fest in Rosarito. That shit kept going and going. It feels like it’s still going and it’s already Monday. There’s another weekend of it and that shit is going to be lit.
No lie, fam (I don’t talk like this). I don’t know or like most of the line-up or the music, but that festival looks like a fucking blast. I don’t care for Reggaeton, but the stage, the place, and the whole festival looked very well organized and the sound seems good and other many other great details. Not to mention babes in bikinis. Maybe social media lies to me, but my old ass wants to go to that shit. It looks fun.
It’s also pricey. Looks like it’s worth it.
That shit went on like nothing. Tijuana acting like it was the end of the world… the rest of Baja enjoying their regular lives.
Yes. Yes. I am aware. Other vehicles were burnt in the other cities in Baja. But you know you are not as shocking as Tijuana. Mexicali died down fast. Fires and heat in the desert, don’t even bother going outside. Ensenada is usually calm, so it was just a bit more calm than usual. Rosarito… like nothing was happening.
US media seems to love it. They have an appetite for disaster. Oh, and if it involves Tijuana… the news salivate. Look at that juicy content of disaster. Vehicles burnt like in the Middle East. But now it has that nice ringtone that Fox news likes to abuse. TIJUANA!
Tijuana is on fire!!!
Tijuana is on constant fire. Just like the world worlds (Heidegger), Tijuana Tijuanea (Matingas).
My friend Agueda, the bartender at Nelson, called me all panicky if she could crash at my place. She was with Benito. She said people were running in a crazy frenzy and she was scared. There was no public transit to her neighborhood. I told them of course they can crash at my place. But if they could, bring beer (I only had one). I saw people posting that they were willing to give refuge to people stranded from the lack of public transit. I did the same. My story got shared, but no one hit me up for help.
After a few minutes, Agueda didn’t show up. I messaged her to see what was up. She walked home. Her neighborhood is not that far from downtown or that far from my own apartment. I talked to Benito. He said Agueda was overreacting and he calmed her down. They simply walked home.
A lot of people stranded simply walked home. Or stayed with friends nearby. The university supposedly opened the doors of the gym for students to spend the night, but I never saw a follow-up. More acts of goodwill spread through social media, but also fake news and scare tactics.
Dylan, the other moderator of the subreddit, called me in a panic because he couldn’t get home. He was scared. He went to the Xolos game, after the game, there was no public transit to get home. It was around 11 pm. He told me he would give me 500 pesos to drive him home.
I couldn’t. My car is officially in lockdown at 10 pm. I had been drinking. The city was in chaos and the last thing I want is to get stopped by the police for having bad breath.
A few minutes later he texted me that he found a very expensive taxi to take him home.
Another Korean-American friend was in the same situation. He also ended up finding an expensive taxi and went back to the border. On the way to the border, he picked up other stranded people.
After scrolling through posts and stories keeping up that everyone was safe, scared, and at home… I played video games and went to sleep.
Saturday morning after black Friday. It was quiet. Not eerily quiet. More like Christmas quiet. There were people on the street but at a reduced capacity. Not your usual Saturday. I went for breakfast tacos. Most businesses were open. Some were closed. The hipster coffee shop near me was closed. The street tacos weren’t. Other street tacos didn’t show up. Either out of fear or to enjoy the day off. Or perhaps because there weren’t many customers outside.
There was nothing on the news. There was nothing going on. There was a lot on social media. Somewhat similar to Covid, people were quick to take sides. The ones scared of what could happen, begging for people to stay home or calling them stupid for going outside. Others without fear went their lives like usual. I did. I went out and about to my usual spots.
The news reported 40% of the businesses closed that Saturday. I can say that’s accurate. A lot of other businesses closed from the lack of business. The tourist scare is going to have an impact. It already did.
Tijuana!
Boo!!
Scary!
The city decapitates dozens per week, but it’s not in the touristy area so don’t worry!
Tijuana!
Boo!!!
A handful of vehicles were set on fire. No deaths were reported. Chaos ensues and everyone worries about the safety of the city. And again. US media gets a huge ass boner for the dangerous Tijuana. It was a video on the SD Tribune. “Wedding in Tijuana despite the violence.” Yep. Because it was just another fucking day in Tijuana. What happened on Friday didn’t target churches or civilians. I wouldn’t cancel my wedding either…
The army is coming to Tijuana. 400 more soldiers.
Shit. I’ve seen them EVERY FUCKING DAY for the past couple of years. In armored vehicles that resemble tanks. Every fucking day they drive in front of my apartment.
But no. The news monster needs to be fed. And Tijuana is its favorite snack. It wants to see that powerful picture of soldiers arriving at the airport.
Sunday. More of the same. More of the regular old Tijuana. I went out for beers with a friend. It seemed like a Sunday. Not a summer Sunday, but a winter Sunday. We tried the new sushi place and had beers at Mamut, Madueño, and Norte.
Here’s the sushi.
It was a regular Sunday. The news. The news reported that narcos were apprehended and sent to Mexico City. They weren’t identified. The government rarely catches any of them fuckers. You are telling me that after Friday they finally did.
Fake news (or probably not real news) depicts narco messages saying that they will attack Tijuana again. Fear mongering. Tijuana is constantly on fire.
Perhaps this will slow the city down. Perhaps it will slow down tourism. Perhaps it will slow down the “ex-pats” from moving down.
But probably not. Tijuana will continue to Tijuanear.
I am not.
Yes. Bye Tijuana. I still have no date yet, just the strong desire to leave. It is time I sail to Valinor and reunite with my kind.
Or to Ensenada most likely. And hopefully sailing with rich friends who own boats and I can catch me some fresh seafood every week.
Oh, the Ensenada life sounds lovely.
Besides that Tijuana Friday and not doing much, I keep putting content. So much content. TikToks that get translated to YouTube shorts and Instagram posts. I’ve been practicing guitar. It got one compliment and that made me happy. Because people follow me for many things but not for my guitar skills.
Here’s the short on YouTube:
Please subscribe to my YouTube! I have 937 subscribers as of this post. If I hit 1,000, my channel can be monetized. I’m not sure what that means except more passive income. I want more passive income.
Speaking of passive income. Subscribe to my Patreon. There you can find all my full files. And if they aren’t up. Just request them. You can also see me naked if you want. Passive income = more beer money.
I also did a Drinking Beer with Matingas. Those get like no views but I don’t care.
Since quit DotA I’m a bit more productive! I can still be more productive!
I finished Link’s Awakening (I’m missing completion, but finished the story). And I have other videogames in mind that I want to finish. Getting rid of DotA was a good idea. I miss it a bit, but I’ll get back to it when I really have time to kill. I already waste my time and 1,500+ hours in that game was already too much.
This post needs a picture. Here’s a happy picture. I took this from the rooftop of my brother’s place. The picture is actually 6 vertical pictures stitched on Lightroom to create this fake wide angle. It created a massive file of over 137 MBs in raw format and 28 MBs as a jpeg.
I have photography work to do for the Reader this week. It’s not much, but it’s something. A new cover also drops on Wednesday. And I could write… for like payment instead of my blog. But I want to write just like I write here.
Random publisher. Pay me for all the shit I write. Or you. The reader. Subscribe to my shit so I can earn more passive income.
Thanks!
Matingas 
One response to “Tijuana Friday Drama – Media Salivates at Disaster – Bye Tj, Me Voy!”
enjoyed hearing about your friend’s reactions. the tension and then the lack of result and the depiction of the media’s involvement. lot of food for thought