I was walking in downtown Tijuana yesterday with my girlfriend when from behind me I heard: “Oh! It’s Matingas!”

I turned around after hearing my name. It was an older gentleman I didn’t recognize. He identified himself as knowing me from Instagram, then it clicked. He had a group of people behind him. He was giving a tour Tijuana Adventure style. He told me I should create some sort of digital Tijuana guide and charge $20.

I do Andrew. I do.

It’s my blog. And all my social medias.

And my Patreon. You can support me there!

I also finally signed-up for Stripe. So soon I can add a button on my blog for you to give me money.

Let’s try it right now.

Hmm…

Ok. It’s not that easy. I’ll have to figure it out soon. I installed it on my other website… The Tijuana Adventure one…

I also have to fix that.

I ordered another batch of shirts. That’s another way to give me money and support me. This will be the last batch of that design. Supposedly, six are already sold. Only two are paid. That means I only have 6 more shirts of the first design. This one:

More merch is coming soon. More designs. Prints and more.

If you want one, go to TijuanaAdventure.com…

When I fix it. And add the new designs.

If you want a tour, go to TijuanaAdventure.com…

When and if I fix it. In the meantime, you can always send me a message or email me.

I have to fix the Stripe account. It should be an easy fix. Not like Jackie Bryant’s account that got canceled for being a cannabis journalist. She went through a huge fight and recovered it. If she can do it. I also can. I don’t even have to fight. I just have to create the fucking account.

Support me and I’ll make more and more Tijuana content. I get recognized more and more everyday. It’s weird. But I’m getting used to it.

UPDATE: I did it!

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My photo class that was in the middle of the month went great. 8 people signed up. 6 people showed up. I’m glad it was only 6. All that attended told me they were happy with the class.

I talked about photography for over an hour. I thought I recorded it all on my iPad. My plan was to upload it on YouTube and review my own class. But nothing got recorded.

I have a new unrelated YouTube video. Follow me on YouTube.

After a couple of years of not doing a Drinking Beer with Matingas… Finally did one. Not sure if there will be another one soon. I still don’t have the equipment to do it properly.

I’m still doing TikTok lives and TikTok videos that got posted in all my social media. And that’s a shit ton of work to just get recognized. Money comes soon.

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After the hour or so of talking about photography… we went out and took photos. I acted as a model more than I had in mind. Because daylight savings time is still a thing… it fucked my schedule up. When I created the class it was getting dark way before 7 pm. When the class happened, it was getting dark closer to 8 pm. The challenges I had in mind were different.

I improvised like always.

And I had the idea to challenge them with a jump. Those were my favorite pictures.

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I also did the liquid experiment which is a simple photography trick so people can learn how fast a shutter speed should go. They also did great on that.

Overall, they all shot great stuff and I learned how I can do a better class. I’ll do another class someday. I’m oddly proud of them. I wish I could teach them more.

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As predicted, March was better than February. But there is still much work to be done. Never ending content and work.

I did a tour in the beginning of the month and it went excellent. I did another tour and it went alright.

I had a photoshoot with a guy that donated his hair so he want long hair photos before. That went excellent.

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I spent a weekend taking pictures in La Estrella. That also went great. And now they want me to do more work for them. Steady photo work at a place I like.

I need more like that. Or I’m getting a real job.

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It’s time to say goodbye to Donatella (my car). My girlfriend had her Monday off. We cleaned the fuck out of my apartment. But that wasn’t the dream she had for her day off… She wanted Playas. But meh Playas.

I took her to a spot I love for sunset. That also went great.

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Then we went to eat Korean Barbecue. Guess what? It also went great.

Overall, great March. And still not great enough.

I wrote a cover story. That got paid. Hasn’t been published. My landlord is not kicking me out. I paid rent. I have rent for next month.

And April…

April starts with money but without a car.

Bye Donatella! I took her to the beach one last time. I took her to San Diego for her to fail smog. She failed like I knew she would. But she is now accepted to be retired by the state of California. And I make money that way. But Donatella car. You served me well for a couple of years. You didn’t take me far but you did take me places. And many of those times was to Ensenada.

Ensenada…

It’s always a wild time in Ensenada.

And this last weekend was another one. I went full Hunter S. Thompson. Now I have to write about it. Not for here. But for money.

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March is not over yet. I have a tour this Friday. I have more to write. But April… April is empty for now. No tours. No photoshoots. I’m already booked for a couple of days in May but nothing in April. I’ll write. I’ll write a lot. And work in my merch store. And get my Stripe account working so you can give me money. You. The reader. The one that reads that I have a Patreon and just skips over it. It’s too many steps. And it’s a monthly subscription. And for what? For something you can get for free. I wouldn’t either. I don’t blame you.

But soon. There will be a Stripe button for you to give me money. And you can get a shirt or other merch in return. You can still send me money through Zelle or Venmo. And I’ll continue this pseudo-path of modern journalism influencer content creator photographer writer and more.

For now, it’s time to go back to playing F-Zero 99 and back to writing for magazines so I can keep avoiding a real job.

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The paparazzi book in Spanish is on it’s last stage of editing. It will soon be available on Amazon. The English version is still available and now you can listen it on Audiobook. It’s not my voice though. It’s AI. It didn’t cost me a thing. Amazon is just trying to make more money. And it nets me 50% of the sale or something.

Other ways to support me:

Buy my stuff. Subscribe to all my social media if you haven’t.

Buy my books on Amazon. I’m sure you’ll enjoy them.

Subscribe to my YouTube. The more subscribers, the more money, the more time I have to upload cool shit.

Support me on Patreon (and get goodies!) If you enjoy my shit, this is the best way to support me.

Follow me on Instagram and book me for a photoshoot!

Follow me on TikTok just because it’s the thing we do in the future.

Book a Tijuana tour with Tijuana Adventure! Still doing exclusive tours in 2024.

Read all my articles on the Reader. New cover story coming soon!

This post needs a picture. This was my favorite of the class I gave.

Credit to Joshua Moreno (his Insta). A talented photographer and programmer, he made that photo into an Instagram filter (available soon).