New York in exactly a month. I’m excited. We’re excited. My girlfriend sends me dozens of TikToks about New York almost daily. I watch MOST of them. But there are too many. Many influencers have a whispery voice that I find annoying.

I want to create my own content, not consume others. I have friends. They will show us around.

It will be a bit overwhelming, but I’m sure it will be a lot of fun.

24 full moons together.

Two years in a few weeks. And she’s still the best (at uh… things).  Interpret what you want. She requested privacy in some respects at the beginning of all of this. So… yeah.

New York in a month. We are staying in North Brooklyn. If you have recommendations, please let me know. Though there is already A LOT that we want to do. I already got a couple of pizza recommendations, and I’m sure there will be more. Katz Deli? Is it a must?

I want it.

And the Book of Mormon.

And more.

Fucking New York. After so many years… I get to see it.

“Big Apple 3 AM” has rung in my head for thirty-three years. I’ve read through most of Joseph Mitchell’s Up In The Old Hotel…. So many countless shows and movies, books, music, and EVERYTHING from this fucking city.

And of course… TMNT Turtles in Time. Uncle Eddy gave us the SNES for X-Mas in 1992, and it came with TMNT for me, F-Zero for my middle brother, and Super Street Fighter II for my eldest.

At the end, they were all for me.

The bachelor party went as well as it could have gone. It was 19 people, a Tijuana Adventure record. The biggest tour before that was 16 people. I have never lost a client… except in that one party. And it’s a long story that I already wrote in my book.

Buy my books on Amazon. I’m sure you’ll enjoy them if you enjoyed this. If you didn’t enjoy this… then… what are you doing still here?!

This party was shorter than other bachelor parties. The original plan was 11 am to 4 pm. It ended up going more like 1 pm to 7 pm.

It was probably the worst weekend to cross the border. Baja Beach Fest weekend… the border was a fucking mess. But most of them had Global Entry, so it was a breeze!

They were all Hindu!!!

An all-Hindu party and the biggest yet. The unfortunate thing is that I didn’t get to meet everyone properly. But the ones I talked to were pretty awesome people.

It was a simple tour. I’ll post the video soon. They request tequila and lunch. And that’s what I got them. A lot of tequila… and a feast over at La Cevicheria Nais. I saw the check, and it was around $600 for 20 people. Nothing for a bachelor party feast. And then Norte Brewery for another bottle of tequila, speech, and back to San Diego for their dinner reservation. More things happened. But that will be reserved for book 2. I’ve had every type of group imaginable. I’ve seen some shit. What a life.

I got paid. I got tipped. I got pretty drunk. It was a good Saturday.

I also tried a new burger at Teorema/CaPau. It was a pop-up event. It sucked. Probably one of the worst burgers I’ve had in the past 10 years. And it’s not an exaggeration. I feel bad for the chef… I’m not sure if he put any effort into it… But if he did…

The meat was light brownish, and it tasted like it was a soy patty, though I’m sure it wasn’t soy. The fries were burnt on the outside and raw on the inside. The sauce was okay, but it didn’t rescue anything. The burger had “bacon marmalade,” but it did nothing. It just tasted like okay buttery bread with some protein inside. Definitely one of the worst burgers I’ve ever paid for.

I’m not great at burgers, but when I was a teenager, I would cook better burgers than that… Or maybe my standard got raised after trying the McMorris.

We had another burger yesterday. My girlfriend ordered it and I got to try it. A new smash burger at La Republica de Hops. It was fucking solid. And it comes with fries at a cheaper price than the McMorris.

It’s very good… but the McMorris still beats it. I would include it in the top 5 burgers in Tijuana for now…

I still have to try like a million more.

Influencer shit.

I’m up to 10.1k.

I haven’t reached 20k on TikTok.

But it’s going up steadily… the influencer game.

Meta paid me $24 this month. I’m not sure how the payment works. But I’m also selling more merch and growing. There’s money to be made. A lot of money to be made. So follow me on my social media and support me.

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

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.

Speaking of…

I created yet another shit! I already have Patreon, and I have a couple of monthly subscribers, and I appreciate the fuck out of you (you know who you are). Well… now I also created a Substack.

Why?!

Apparently, it’s what’s fashionable. This whole blog post will get cross-posted to Substack with a better picture. This blog doesn’t have any more space. This blog makes me no money.

Subscribe to my Substack, HERE! 

I’ll also be posting the Tijuana Adventure Newsletter and the special goodies of the preview of my future books.

I have a lot of work to do.

You can give me money on this blog as well… but… It’s through Stripe, and they take a chunky commission. And Substack is through Stripe as well.

I’d rather you give me cash or Venmo or Zelle than do all the loopy loops.

But hey.

Whatever gives me money.

Or buy my merch.

The point is… I have a Substack now. Welcome, Substack subscribers. This is me:

Vote for me.

Vote for Matingas.

I have to work on the video of this last tour. I have to work on a lot more videos because this influencer shit is working.

And I like writing. If you like reading… There is way more writing to be done.

Holy fuck!

I just checked Substack… and it worked.

Everything got cross-posted. It just took forever. Ah!

Not everything. Just the Tijuana Adventure page.

I have 685 posts in this blog. And all of that in theory should be getting cross-posted to my Substack. No wonder why it’s taking a while… hah.

Insanity.

Hopefully this post also gets cross-posted and I don’t have to do a shit ton of copy pasta!

I have generated over a million words in word vomit. Will it pay? Probably not much. But hey… might as well try.

I also have a million pictures of all kinds.

What a life.

August is slow for now. The bachelor party rescued the beginning of the month. I have another tour at the end of the month. And I’m selling more merch. But I hate slow days.

So I write. And I’ll write a lot.

I also visited Malbouche. Here’s the video:

The manager is the guy who does the Bite Me! burgers. Now talk about a good burger. That was a great fucking burger. The only thing I didn’t like was that I didn’t get full. But other than that, on the top 5 of burgers as of now… but as of now… he is not making burgers. He is managing Malbouche.

The new trendy hipster Tijuana bar. They open too many places. I couldn’t even do a proper review for Club Ocampo, and there is already this.

In the video, I joked that it looks like La Cueva del Peludo… it really doesn’t. But the joke landed.

The inside, the structure, the artistic architecture, all of that… It’s AMAZEBALLS. It is so well done, and it gives you an eerie, cavernous feel. It looks big, but it isn’t. No more than 20 people can fit comfortably in there. And the layout is a bit strange. There is both a DJ booth and a piano stage. But both are small. Can’t fit much more than a piano player or a DJ. Not a proper band. Perhaps a singer.

It’s perfect for Fiona Apple.

But that’s about it.

Get Fiona Apple to Malbouche ASAP.

The manager offered me a free drink while he told me more about the place. The drink was similar to an Aperol Spritz. It was refreshing, and I drank it without much thought.

It is another excellent addition to the Tijuana Adventure tours. If I had some…

Book your Tijuana Adventure now!

All of the above will also be turned into the Tijuana Newsletter.

As I slowly fade away from my personal life to more concise writing about a city. And my travels.

Welcome to Matingas 2025. Welcome to my Substack.

I’ve written over 700 blog posts!

TijuanaAdventure.com

Both have hundreds of blog posts. And I used to write for a magazine… the San Diego Reader.

1. Matingas.com

My main self… my diary. My brain. I upload my brain there often.

2. TijuanaAdventure.com

My brand, my tours, my merch, my Tijuana food and drink reviews. This is going to be my strength.

3. San Diego Reader

My past. Hundreds of magazine covers and articles for a magazine. They are still there. They were in print. It’s 2025. There is no more print… most likely ever (or at least the way it used to be). Now there is Substack and so much internet. So much content I have to create everywhere to gain somewhat of a life.

4. Substack

So here I am. In yet another place on the internet to try to make money.

I have Patreon, WordPress, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook (ew), no Twitter (or X bigger ew).

So much content.

And now Substack…

5. So… bear with me

Thank you for reading.

It was the Shakira concert last night. I looked up tickets to surprise my girlfriend for her birthday. At the time, they looked too expensive. After making some money or not spending as much, I feel bad… I could afford them.

Well… it was either that or New York.

But she looked so happy looking at the concert on TikTok live…

I’m also almost done with the new King of the Hill. I saw some reviews and comments on TikTok that were mixed… and for me…

IT WAS GREAT!

Grammarly tells me I use too many unnecessary ellipses… That’s how you know it’s me.

I only have a few episodes before the season is over. I’m sure that they audience tested the fuck out of this. I would watch another season, no questions asked. Maybe some King of the Hill purists hated some stuff. The animation is different, but I barely noticed it, or it didn’t bother me enough. I used to hate Peggy Hill, and this time she didn’t make me cringe that much. I didn’t like how Bill Dauterive went from a gigantic fat slob to just the normal Bill from before. They could have done one full episode about getting him back in shape or something, but no, he went from obese to regular with no explanation.

Besides that. Love the new Bobby and the relationship with Hank. Dale is still on point. And all the rest. It’s good. I like it. 9/10 from this dude that likes to review EVERYTHING.

This won’t go on the Tijuana Newsletter.

But hey… Substack.

This blog post needs a picture. I have reached over 10k followers on Instagram. I’m reaching 20k on TikTok soon. I need to start crossposting all my videos to YouTube and this… to Substack!

You can buy all my merch, books, prints, and more. You can hire me to be your tour guide in Tijuana or Ensenada. Or you can hire me to be your photographer. Or a guitarist. Or a writer. I can do it all. Well… not really. Just a lot.

Buy my books on Amazon. I’m sure you’ll enjoy them if you enjoyed this. If you didn’t enjoy this… then… what are you doing still here?!

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

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 2025. Let’s see how much longer I last.

Read all my articles on the Reader. It is no longer printing! 148 covers and a dozen cover stories in print are now history.

Subscribe to my Patreon to support me and to get full-size galleries and photo albums!

Subscribe to my Substack, HERE! This blog makes me no money.