What a wild and sad Monday I had.
It started with a classic tour with two lovely people from Northern California. Both school teachers. Both spoke Spanglish. Both have been to Tijuana before, but they’ve never seen my Tijuana.
It was a classic tour. From the arch to the oldest streets, to the dives, the old Foreign Club, and all the classic. It ended early after purchasing PANAM shoes.
A bit after 6 pm the tour was over. I got paid for a Monday tour. Monday tours are going to be $50 cheaper. Monday through Wednesday. The slowest days for tours.
But that wasn’t the sad and wild.
I woke up to a text from my girlfriend to let me know her dad finally passed. It’s been coming for days… weeks in the hospital… sick since a couple months back. But when it hits. It hits hard. No matter what. I feel like she was more prepared that I ever was when my mom passed. But you are never ready for this shit. I’m still not ready.
Her pain is my pain.
And her privacy is hers. So that’s about it I’ll mention about that.
We had a great February 14th.
It was one of the greats. Those days that I will always cherish no matter what the future has.
She had been busy with work and the hospital that I could barely see her. I wasn’t even sure if I was going to see her. But she told me that I was.
I had a surprise for her.
I thought about it, but hadn’t executed just because I wasn’t sure if I was going to see her. But when I knew… I did it.
I went to “Fantasías Miguel” which is the Mexican Michael’s. Got some glue, some tape, and some red paint.
And made a backdrop to take pictures. She told me before that she wanted cutesy pictures.
She is a great model. She knows her angles right.
Bad Bunny was right.
Debí tirar mas fotos.
So I’ll shoot more.
I sold my 7D.
Things come to an end.
I bought it for $450. Used it for 10 years. Probably clicked it for over 500,000 times. And it was still working. Sold it for $100.
I hope that the dude that bought it from me… I hope it works well for him. It was an old camera that went through a lot. Several weddings. Hundreds of cover stories.
There are no more cover stories.
The rumors were true. So not a rumor.
The San Diego Reader will no longer print. There are no more covers. It will remain online with the same basis. I can still write there. Get my voice heard a bit. Leave some more legacy.
But no more covers.
Let’s count.
2017 = 18 covers.
2018 = 22 covers.
2019 = 25 covers.
2020 = 20 covers.
2021 = 25 covers.
2022 = 23 covers.
2023 = 9 covers.
2024 = 6 covers.
2025 = 0 covers.
Total = 148 covers that I photographed. More than half of them were with that 7D. A couple were with the drone. And the rest were done with the Sony.
The future = no more covers. At least not for the Reader.
All things come to an end.
Paquita la del Barrio also died. I barely know a thing about her. I just know she’s famous. She was the same age as my girlfriend’s stepfather.
It all comes to an end.
I wrote 15 cover stories. I wrote dozens of feature articles and other special articles. I wrote a lot. Then I stopped. You can read them HERE!
Now all I do is video. I still have to do the video for yesterday’s tour.
I did a video for Tucumano Restaurant. It went fucking viral. I get way more views doing stupid videos than writing cover stories. Let’s see if that life treats me right.
31k+ views on Instagram:
(46k two days later)
90k+ on TikTok:
(91k two days later… interesting)
Hundreds of dumb comments. A bunch of nice comments. And a few that commented that you eat empanadas with your hands…. and… you are right!
You are supposed to. But I like to slather them with so much chimichurri and I don’t like that shit touching my fingers so I’m still going to do eat them with a knife and fork (at least on private, and not while filming).
I also did a video of the Valentine’s surprise. The pictures turned out excellent! I’ll post my favorite here. The rest… well… I was waiting for my girlfriend to post them… but it’s not the proper time.
PICTURE.
This wasn’t my favorite, but my girlfriend’s favorite. I know because she printed it. My favorite is the one I’m almost smashing the cake on her face. It was natural. It was fun. But she likes the ones where she holds me like that.
Debí tirar más fotos.
That Valentine’s Day was a nice escape. But now there’s a lot of changes and sadness and more of a mess.
And I have more work.
Two more tours this weekend. Someone asked for a tour on Sunday. I told her my price and I’m too expensive. But I’m not leaving my apartment for less than $150. It’s not worth it.
It’s actually $200. I was already going cheaper.
Photoshoots. Tours. Articles. Videos. Anything that Matingas does is $200. And yes. Restaurants are asking me to do videos because I can make them go viral.
And it’s also $200.
New rules for 2025. You deposit $200. I show up to your restaurant unannounced (after the deposit) and do my thing. The video will get posted 10 days after payment.
I wrote all of that on Tuesday. It’s Thursday now. I fell sick. My back is still killing me. But I had a sore throat and soreness of all sorts.
I slept a lot. I did nothing a lot. I have to cross the border to send a shirt and two posters. But I got lazy and watched the news for a long time. I have two tours in a row. Both are late night tours. Both are party tours. I need to have all my energy for this. Because that’s how I make most of my money now.
I need to diversify even more.
And guess what?! I got a photoshoot for a baby shower on March. After a tour… a baby shower photoshoot. Should be interesting.
I still need more and better gigs. Or keep doing viral videos and make money that way. People make a lot of money. I need to make more money. I got the following and the views… more than 150k in a video I wasn’t even going to post.
That’s another reason I need to cross the border. I’m going to do a video about it. And it will generate an easy 100k+ views. I have to force myself to do it. But I’m a bad my own boss.
People sometimes ask me if there is any money in books.
Well… in January I sold 9 copies (5 physical and 4 digital), some people read it for free, and made around $47 total. In February I’ve sold none and 391 pages were read giving me a total of $0.16. I’m sure this has been the worst month. But it’s okay. It’s a book I wrote in 2018 and published in 2020. I often think of Tijuana Adventure book 2. I’ve had many wild adventures. And I know so much more of this city by now…
I need to work on that. If you are a publisher reading this… Work with me. We can make a lot of money. And money inspires me.
If you’ve been here before and keep coming back. Thank you.
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Thanks for reading.
Matingas 
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