Can't get away to Asia right now. Beckoned by my memories, I decided to try TJ for the first time in years.

Bottom line: it was not worth it. It was a total bust except for learning how conditions have changed.

After checking in to Hotel Ticuan (CH Link), I took a taxi up Revolucion and was really surprised at how dead it was! This was 8 p.m. on a Thursday. The vast majority of businesses of all sorts --bars, restaurants, apparel, you-name-it-- were shuttered. It felt like the scene in The Godfather when Michael goes to visit his father in the hospital and finds the place empty. Hardly a soul around. I kept checking the street signs and asking the driver if this was really Revolucion. I asked him why it was so quiet and got a dose of how my Spanish proficiency has waned. Too bad he couldn't speak Thai.


WHAT CHANGED:

The main point first: there was an utter lack of specimens. Several times I ended up settling for the best I could come up with, and then balking upon closer examination in the room, just forfeiting the $20 to the poor thing after fondling her ice-cold buns for a few seconds. No, I'm not just spoiled from Asia. I remember decent, do-able girls in TJ. No more.

TJ is the place that inflation forgot. There seems to be a reprieve on inflation: taxi drivers still only ask for $5, in spite of the price of gas being up in real terms (i.e., inflation-adjusted terms). The street girls still only ask for $20. Actually most quoted me in pesos, but the price didn't register with me since I had no clue regarding the exchange rate. My "counter offer" of $20 was always accepted. Some of the love hotels want $6 for the room now, but that's the only increase I noticed.

Las Chavelas (CH Link) has expanded from just another hole in the wall dive to a kind-of-cool, cavernous woody bar with some atmosphere. It now spans the entire block: one can enter from the north (Calle Coahuila) or the south (the alley or Callejon). The way-through is no longer a secret hatchway known only to a few who pay to escape a police search.

I DID NOT GET SEARCHED ONCE! Anywhere! I was shocked! It used to be routine. I suppose the narco-violence that has erupted within Mexico since the post-9/11 border-tightening has given the cops something substantive to do.

The long line at the border crossing has gotten even longer. More on this below.

I learned about Hotel Ticuan from one of you, thank you. I drove down without a reservation, figuring I would be OK during the week. No way was I going to use my credit card down there. I was able to get a room just by walking in and paying $62 cash. They photocopied my ID. It was surprisingly clean for TJ. But when I turned in for the night, even way down there on Calle 8 where Hotel Ticuan is, and even though I was on one of the higher floors, I could hear the constant thump-thump-thump of bar music from somewhere. I didn't fall asleep until that stopped, I guess around 4 a.m.

The next morning I walked from the hotel up Avenida Constitucion. Hope springs eternal, and I hoped to find some adequate 18-year-old leaning against a wall. When I entered the ratty-looking zona, my conscience was going, "Well, here you are in your old stomping grounds. How far you've come. Hope you're proud of yourself." Nothing. There were girls there, but none that I wanted to do it with. When I got to the end of the alley (CH Link) I was approached by one that looked like Mickey Rourke, but without as many teeth. The whole thing was pathetic --the girls, the run-down zona, everything.


THE ACT ITSELF:

I ended up taking yet another one to a room (this one a bit haggard, about thirty years old with braces) because she had agreed to a BBBJ to completion --something none of the others would agree to. I sat on the end of the bed and had her kneel on the pillows I had placed on the floor. When I was almost "there" she tried to change the terms. Pointing at her mouth, she said "Esperma no." But we had a contract. I managed to get in a few good squirts before she got wise and allowed the remainder to fly before gravity took its course and splattered it all over one of her thighs. What a mess! Take that, bitch. I still gave her the extra $25 she had wanted for in-mouth completion. Her performance was close enough. All's well that ends well (as long as I didn't catch anything). (And except that I felt lower than whale-shit for doing this.) Now get me out of here.


THE LINE AT THE BORDER:

Anticipating a long line, I was anxious to get to the border crossing while it was still Friday morning. But when I got there it appeared that everyone else had had the same idea! I was shocked at how long the line was. It went further than I had ever seen it and wound around coming back toward the crossing. I gave up on lunch and just accepted that I would not get across until dusk.

I waited in line next to an American who lives down there and works in San Diego. He told me that his Sentri card application was turned down for neglecting to list an arrest that occurred when he was eighteen years old. They told him to re-apply in a year. So he waits it out every day. Passing this along for those who apply. (He thought the long line to be a government scheme to sell Sentri cards.)

There were a few times that the line moved and, amazingly, whole thing only took fifty-five minutes! I was delighted. Your experience may definitely vary.


CONCLUSION:

You can say that it's not fair to judge a place on a single day. But as far as I'm concerned, TJ's just not worth it anymore regardless. A stronger economy has provided more opportunities for young Mexican girls, and there's always been much more of a stigma with pay-for-play (and out-of-wedlock sex in general) in Mexico than there is in some other cultures, so it's always been a last resort. It's past.

If you are going to TJ for only girls in mind and you have been to SA or Asia, then of course you are going to be disappointed. Most likely it probably sucked 10 years ago too but you just didn't know any better.

There are a few things worth going down in my opinion: ease of access to cheaper prescription meds, street tacos and generally food(chips, guacamole..) is pretty good, and a nostalgia feeling since for most guys it was their 1st foreign mongering destination. I will stop into HK bar and usually they have 2 girls doing the shaving-cream crawl around.

Costar - Great report about a location I have been curious to get an update about. I used to travel to San Diego for business all the time and enjoyed crossing the border to hit the bars, especially Chicago, Adelita, HK, etc. I had some great times then, but then again I did not really know any better.

You mentioned "Too bad he couldn't speak Thai.""..I agree with Cincoleche, once you have been to Asia (or Brazil, etc), TJ will never feel the same again.

Now going east - I have been dying to hear about another favorite cross-border from a long time ago, Boystown in Nuevo Laredo. I am sure it must be completely dead with all the drug violence, but still wonder.... oh well.

You sound like a cheap charlie that only does street girls. Take a peek inside AB, HK, Trop or LC on a Thursday night and come back to me.

I have a beach house there and spend a lot of time in Mexico. TJ still has plenty of hotties in the bars, on the streets and posted on the Internet. ST prices are still very low but I rarely hit Zona Norte any longer unless I'm with friends showing them around. I'll take them to Hong Kong or Trop. Adelitas has some nice chicas but it's really fallen off in the past five years, more older, high mileage types. I used to make LT pulls and take them to my casa for the evening but that's no longer a value as most won't oblige for less than $300 - $500 USD. I haven't renewed my sentri and the linea does suck unless you time it well.

Since I have not traveled beyond TJ and other border towns for mongering I'm in no position to comment on the comparisons we see over the whole history of this site by world travelers comparing TJ almost always unfavorably to other locales. However, I can comment on how some of these reporters experience and look at TJ in ways that gives them a point of view that is malnourished - i.e. they aren't seeing or reporting the whole picture.

As to Costar's report I will make two points:

1. Most of the world travelers spend weeks at a time and even longer exploring SEA, Rio, Europe, et al. Then they come to TJ and make a "bombing run" of a few hours or stay in a hotel for a single night. When traveling abroad they do meticulous research and trip planning, but when they "cross the border" they do it semi-spontaneously - maybe as a way to kill time when they're in SoCal for business or meetings, and have no design for their visit in mind and lack information that they bring with them to Thailand, PI, or Rio. So logically, they are only capturing a tidbit of available options and opportunities as compared to becoming fully immersed in the landscape of the destinations they spend weeks at a time dissecting. After Los Angeles, Tijuana is the largest city on the Pacific Ocean in the Western Hemisphere. There are ways to get with hot chicas in TJ aside from walking the few blocks of "La Coahuila" and pulling them from those zona streets and bars. Then there are as many ways to pass preliminary and after the fact time with them that will enrich the experience to full blast bliss.

TJ is also very seriously developing into a top Pacific Coast hub for the arts, music, fine dining and other cultural attractions despite the mythology that it is an urban shooting gallery which it surely is not and NOBODY visiting TJ to enjoy the nightlife and the sex commerce is getting hurt. All in all, there's more than plenty to be discovered and experienced, con o sin chica that can't be condensed into a bombing run. Reports about TJ that purport to in any way provide a comprehensive view are like the Reader's Digest version of War & Peace if they are based on the experience of a bombing run.

Of course bombing runs are the predominant way that TJ is experienced by mongers who live in SoCal, but they at least have the opportunity to figure it all out from an accumulation of regularly made short term visits as compared to one per decade.

2. The escort option has become an extremely significant one in TJ over just the last few years. I'm not sure I've ever seen a discussion of this option coming from one of the worldwide travelers who make rare visits to TJ and report their impressions. In fact, even most TJ veterans including myself have never sampled in the escort agencies. Some vets are just dug in to the zona culture, others think it is overpriced which is just incorrect. In my case it is the simple coincidence that the escort industry has developed during a period where I have had to drastically reduce my presence in TJ. I just haven't had the time and on those rare days that I can be down I am too much in love with "the hunt" and experiencing the bar scene. Give me just an extra day or two and I'll be sampling escorts. I expect the future to bring me more time to visit TJ than the past couple of years so I'll have direct experience to report.

However, I have heard enough from amigos and read enough on other TJ sites and explored the agency sites to know that there is a very decent selection of talent available any day and night from a wide variety of agencies, and the culture of escort service is superior to what you will experience by grabbing zona bar girls and street girls and taking them to adjacent zona short term hotels. Agencies minimally "encourage" and more often expect their chicas to provide GFE/PSE level service. The cost for an hour or two with a beautiful escort is not really a peso more than spending a full hour or two with a chica for an equivalent time in the zona - though more than the typical 30 minute quickie out of a zona bar. So if you're in love with the get in, get off, get out scenario for mongering, escorts will be pricey by comparison.

On the other hand, if you like to add time and comfort to the process, you can get a room at a luxury hotel, one of TJs many very upscale "love motels", or rent a condo for a weekend or a week on the coast from La Playa to Ensenada and enjoy extended time hookups there. Seems to me that this mongering style is prominent in the reports I read from South American and European locales. So if you have the time and money you can do TJ exactly like Dr. Jag does every one of his destinations - in luxury and mixing in fine dining and other attractions.

I'll state again that most TJ vets don't even take the full measure of TJ. In many ways though, TJ is coming back, and is developing complexity that it never had before as an urbane cultural hub at the border - a real nice mix of sleaze and the finer things in life.

Definitely food for thought here.

I've done ALL the Texas border towns back in the day, from Brownsville to El Paso, but it sounds like TJ is definitely the big leagues when it comes to border jumping--which is only common sense considering the tremendous population centers within easy driving distance. I gotta see that place someday.

One thing pretty nice about the deep South Texas border though, it's a short bus ride to Monterrey.

Well-written think piece Erip...

One more important thing that changed, for the good: that new foot-bridge going over the northbound side of the highway near the border crossing. Those who walk back to the border no longer have to wade between idling cars to get across to the line --man, was that unnerving. At least to me it was. Thank God I still have my legs.

I actually did check out Adelitas, but the one that appealed to me there was fully clothed, i.e. camouflaged. "Buyer beware" pertains to the bar girls as well as the street girls. I didn't want to pay for the room and then find out there was something really wrong with her bod. Balking with an AB girl is more expensive.

I also popped into the Chicago Club, which had a total of five (5) people in it, and this was around 9 p.m.

What I don't like about escorts is that I don't get to see her in person until she shows up, and I might not like her. I can't make a decision based on a photo.

@Erip: one spends weeks at a time in those overseas locations out of necessity. But you don't spend the whole time searching for girls; you just go shopping when you're in the mood and they're all over the place. It's a bombing run anywhere. So what are these other ways to get into a situation with hot chicas? I'm sure there are some really nice ones across the border who would do it for cash, but how can she advertise herself without her peers and family finding out? The only way I can see to hook up is spending a lot of time down there, hitting up on them at shopping venues or clubs and throwing money at them until it clicks. I web-searched for escorts but they appear twice as old as they claim. They probably use old photos of themselves, to boot.

(I was going to jokingly suggest advertising ourselves and found that there actually is a site at sugardaddies.com )

As far as TJ turning into any kind of a hub: Revolucion, arguably its most famous tourist venue, gave me the opposite impression. Ghost town. Hardly a creature was stirring. Maybe it's just dead during the week now and hops on Friday and Saturday?

The reality is that the eradication of poverty = the decline of the hobby.

I hear what you're saying about the equation between poverty and the hobby, but when it comes down to it, in the event that the planet is blessed to the point where poverty and hunger is eradicated or substantially diminished, prostitution will survive and thrive though in different modalities than we take advantage of in a hungry world. Women will be less willing to exploit their bodies commercially for the price of breakfast. We know that prostitution flourishes among the rich and famous and educated in the "developed world" and the education spreads to both sides of the gender divide. We can hope and dream that in a world (that we'll never see in our lifetime) where poverty is eradicated, that the entire population will find prosperity which can be funneled to keep self-sufficient women interested in the sex trade...well at least the love dolls should be absolutely fucking unbelievably life like.

I share your timidity of being committed to an encounter with an escort I haven't at least seen and schmoozed with a little bit prior to the action. I think I'll always prefer the bar scene but may want to mix in some of the escorts. But my point is that many of the hobbyists on this board do function precisely like this in their mongering style...e.g. go to a place like Buenos Aires or Prague or Medellin or Sao Paulo for that matter, and get busy blowing up the phones and inboxes of agencies and individual escorts to set up encounters in hotel room and rented apartments or even Villas for the richest SOB's on this board. So they can now handle their mongering the same way in TJ if that is their preference...and the agencies were precisely developed to serve a customer base that does not wish to hang around the streets and hotels of the zona norte.

The TJ escort group from the reputable agencies are reliably represented in their photos. The proprietors are aware of the vast networking among TJ mongers, and only fly by nighters will be pulling the kind of scams known commonly to the escort trade in much of the U.S. Service is also reliable from these agencies. Many independents post on Craig's List (as do agencies posing as independents), and the TJ daily El Mexicano has a few dozen classified ads each day for escorts usually representing themselves as massage girls - and they're all over town and sometimes work in TJ versions of Casas de Citas which flourish in cities like Mexico City.

It is also very easy for a gringo of any age and weight (don't I know it?) to hit the civilian side and even land some non-gold-digger material if you're spanish is OK and your sense of humor and charm can be brought out immediately when opportunity arises. Lots of chicas available through social clubs and dating sites, but naturally the latter are looking for "sincere" relationships and so unless they are total gold-diggers, it will take perhaps a few dates before their legs swing open for you. But gringos have cachet among mexicanas (the 3rd world side of Mexico that is), make no mistake about it - and it is much easier to establish sincere connections than the cynics think - not easy, but not really difficult. Kind of like dating in the USA. But I won't get started on this subject.

As to Revo, it surely does appear dark and dead, but was actually darker and deader a couple of years ago. There is new energy for a new kind of nightlife there that is flourishing on the side streets - particularly Calle 6. That street always had a bunch of borracho bars that have now been completely co-opted by the college kids, arts crowd, and other local hipsters. Calle 6 is to TJ now kind of what parts of Greenwich Village was to young NYC intelligentsia back in the day - lots of live bands - mostly rock en Espanol and electronic, poetry readings, art events, et al. The Calle 6 scene is now spreading to the part of Revo that formerly had the sleaziest clubs (Bambi and Sans Souci tranny joints) - now being relaunched as music and dance clubs for the cools. The action is also spreading to Calle 7. So if you're walking through this area from midnight and later on a weekend night, the combination of the throngs at Las Pulgas merging with the totally different local throngs attending the Calle 6 clubs, makes for a scene that is overall way more vibrant than Revo was in its best days - just not a sleaze scene for mongers or disco scene for underage gringo college kids looking for cheap buzz and parties until dawn. With a few isolated exceptions such as TJ's celebrity chef Jose Placencia taking over the Hotel Caesar restaurant and turning it into a top tier bistro, the rest of Revo going north from Calle 6 remains dark and dead, but you can sense that this is about to change. Btw, this all coalesces into that middle of the night thump that kept you from peaceful sleep in Hotel Ticuan.

I should mention that the Calle 6 scene is duplicated at some of the most down and out zona bars - particularly those concentrated along Art. 123 - the area we once called "Ratero Alley". There still are a few bold rateros in that part of town, but the bars are going rock and roll and at least one was Amsterdam in North America - the infamous "wormhole" (Bar Zapazonapan) on Constitucion - all TJ vets knew the place that you entered via a spiral staircase down into a basement playing nothing but classic rock on a jukebox while cracked out bottom tier zona hookers zoned out and rateros rested and hid from cops and most patrons lit up joints and snorted coke openly off the top of the bar. The wormhole never changed, but the crowd did and this may be the actual origin of the Calle 6 scene. All of a sudden the local low life was gone or at least way outnumbered by the college kids, gays and lesbians, musicians, artists and writers who liked classic rock and smoking weed in public. This place was on overdrive at least until last summer when it suffered perhaps a more serious bust than it has experienced in past years. They reopened immediately, but the mota was no longer on the menu and they seemed to be controlling visible on premises drug use. My knowledge cuts off last summer because I just haven't been able to get to this part of town on the few occasions I've been down. Anyhow, the bars along nearby Ratero Alley started remodeling, bringing in live rock bands, and now instead of a few drunks with their heads on the bar passed out, these bars are rocking and rolling on weekend nights and civilians are starting to roam the zona in scary numbers and some decent hooker bars are transforming themselves to accommodate this crowd. Profound change is in the zona air, but I'm not concerned that the SGs or the big time hooker bars are going to be affected other than non-monger couples hanging out to fight back boredom and taking up good seating on crowded nights.

Downtown TJ doesn't physically look different than it has for a few decades, but the city has grown up around it. Downtown is still relevant, but there is stuff to do and experience for miles around and in fact throughout northern Baja. For instance, last summer I went with my no. 2 chica to a music and arts festival on the beach in Rosarito (or was it Playa?..can't remember) which was absolutely incredible in the depth of the quality of music acts that were presented under the stars on the sand. But at some point I need to shut up, and that time is now but for the following link which will clue you in slightly to some of the new feel of TJ, particularly as to the restaurant scene: http://www.laweekly.com/2012-03-22/eat-drink/tijuana-tacos-street-mexico/

7 yrs ago the decline of revolucion (tourist trap & tranny bars) was cheered by most tj hobbyists. itīs not part of la zona roja.

since costarīs Ļcounter offerĻ was 30% higher (pmt in dollars instead of pesos) chicas probably took him for a fool & acted accordingly... there are better ways of getting a bbbjtccim... need to do your homework & work on your skills to improve your success in tj.

done many tlns in tj. most i paid was 600p. normally paid 400-500p. many freebies.

besides los angeles i think lima, san francisco, vancouver, seattle, santiago, guayaquil have larger metro population than tj on the pacific in the western hemisphere.

with more hotties & better %gfe iīd rather go to tj than santiago, guayaquil, quito, bogota, medellin, caracas, montevideo, la paz, santa cruz, rosario, mendoza, panama, guatemala, etc (& thatīs just in LA)

zoner, you are a funny guy. You're preaching the gospel I have forever that getting the best out of zona norte chicas requires a certain knack and some work, but you can't seriously expect that 99% of mongers, TJ vets included, have any reasonable chance of capturing quality TLNs from quality chicas for 400-600p, at least not more than once in a rare while. Actually, freebies are easier to come by than uber-budget TLNs, but I don't want to get started on why that is. But it really doesn't matter for the 99% - we can afford $150 for a quality TLN from a legit hottie - but it will take knack and skills to get that price...fuglies and abuelas can be had for the price that zoner captures hotties.

As to city size, I won't look up all those cities, but it is something I saw written in a reliable place some time ago that TJ is the 2nd largest city on the Pacific - speaking of the city limits, not the total metro area. The Bay Area combined is certainly larger, but the geographically challenged city of SF barely scrapes a million, and I don't think Seattle or Vancouver are much larger. San Diego is actually the 2nd most populated city in California. The true population of TJ is in dispute the same way the official population of L.A. ignores undocumented immigrants. They count about 1.5 - 2 million in TJ, but it is believed they don't count another nearly equal amount living on the impoverished cardboard edges of the ciudad.

a couple years ago i wrote a piece on hong kong (china, not TJ) and described the 'golden age/era' of HK. in summary, freelancers were just getting started in the city and the SARS problem provided cheap hotel/airfare in the year or two that followed.

what period would be considered the 'golden age/era' for TJ ? i went several times a year btwn 1998 and 2002. the difference btwn 1998 and 2002 was like night and day. from 98-00 there were a half dozen hotties on the dance floor in CC every time i went. by 2002, i couldn't find any hotties in CC or AB. i'll never forget that gal 'smith' doing dances to a song by creed (i think it was 'higher'). then 'grecia' would take the floor and showcase her fantastic body.

was the late 90's the golden age for recent times ? (say last 25 yrs ?)

I would think the Golden Age would have been the late 90s. Pre 9/11 bullshit long lines, but post Brockton O'Tool FAQ which opened up the scene to the Internet crew.

The decline of TJ and other border spots is reflected in the decline of ClubHombre as far as Mexican posters goes. 2001-2004, there were many dozens of chat and discus posts per day just on Mexico. Now, I doubt if there are a couple a dozen a week, more like 15 or so, if that.

Sly Cat forget to paw the emoticons or just in the mood to be exceptionally disingenuous? Sly Cat knows better than most that the daily content of the present TJ blog of record constitutes a vast multiple of what is added to this site each day. If sheer volume of posters and posts is to be the measure of ascension and decline of hobby destinations, then TJ leads the rest of the entire field from Pole to Pole and Hemisphere to Hemisphere by a substantial margin. Isn't that right Sly Cat?

(Message edited by erip on April 26, 2012)

Are you drunk or something? Compare the number of Mexico posts this week to the same week in 2002. Outside of this thread, there has been 1 post total - not counting the venues posts which is just a pointer to older trip reports - in the last 3 days. So, in three days, a thread on how no one seems to hit TJ anymore, and one lonesome post from Hombre promoting a trip report from last month. Actually, that would make it zero posts outside of this thread.

So yeah, as far as ClubHombre goes, Mexico in general and TJ specifically get less coverage these days than Indonesia or Cambodia. In comparison to 10 years ago, where there were dozens of posts per day. Milkman, Ben, Snapper, the Nogie crew, all the guys in TJ and Nuevo Laredo, all gone for the most part.

Gone from ClubHombre yes. And though CH covers the Universe, it is not the Universe unto itself. You missed my point.

Please re-read. There will be a quiz. And my state of sobriety has nothing to do with it.

If the most zoner ever paid or a tln was 600 pesos then I guarantee he is fucking some serious pigs or full of shit. 1,000 pesos isthe norm for a TLN and you can get freebies if you live in TJ but thats a different matter.

history shows blazers has been wrong many times...

spent 1000+ nites in zn. experience helps.

true, erip, unlike blazers iīm not the typical weekend/holiday tourist. but for the motivated itīs very doable... gracias for preaching the gospel

Of course there are FOBs that will take 5-600 pesos on an off nigt or a girl from a small bar BUT if the MOST you paid is 600 pesos then you are hogging and picking slags on most nights just because you are extremely cheap or broke.

I would like to add a few comments...

1.) Perhaps TJ is a massive city, but when it comes to P4P it is all very "walkable" from San Ysidro border and really all the same spots -- meaning Calle Coahuila bars (throw Purple Rain in that general vicinity), Revo (i.e. Amnesia), Pueblo Amigo area (i.e. Luxor Massage). Just give me a sunny Saturday afternoon, I could literally cover every single place on a foot. Probably 90% all it takes is 10-seconds to take a look (and know I am not interested in some 30-something pig).
I experimented a little with escort agencies, but can't say I was impressed. Typical girl was out of shape, seemed to have at least 1 kid, and several years older (being nice here) than advertised. (I wouldn't be surprised if that chica "Taina" is still advertising herself as 25-yo even though she is at least 40). There's even a member here who supposedly has "nice" girls, but when I mentioned I would be staying at the Cascadas Hotel he told me "my girls" don't go there. Whatever dude.

2.) Aside from Brazilian cities, I've been to Panama City (Panama), Havana (Cuba), and a few cities in Colombia that are probably smaller than TJ....and I will take any of them day or night before TJ for the girls' performances.
To date TJ has been the ONLY place for girls trying to "double-up" condoms and want to give me the "phoney-fuck" (wanting to rub their crotch on me without penetration), and not want to take off all their clothes. The amount of nonsense these girls try to pull has me more often than not responding "seriously, are you that stupid and how stupid do you think I am". TJ hookers are seriously an embarrassment to the profession. If like most other products or services if you could get your money back if not completely satisfied, billions of dollars would have been returned from TJ hookers by now.

Back in the good 'ole-day I was quite successful pulling what I thought were pretty high-quality girls out of the Bolero strip joint and taking them back to Pueblo Amigo. It still required "work" -- talking with them and being charming, buying drinks, tipping the security guard and occasional lap dance(s). To be honest, it was quite an invest of time over several weeks since I would fly in Sunday to work Monday and basically didn't have much else to do on a Sunday evening. In hindsight, I could probably did just as well on this side of the border but I guess I liked a little of the adventure/danger when TJ was still a little seedy (not as it has become Vegas-style now).

Now take Rio (my personal favorite) or SEA (others' favorites), within literally 30-45 minutes of leaving Customs I could be with a girl who offer everything on the sexual menu and be perfectly content. So even though I have admittedly been to TJ a couple hundred times over the years (more back in the earlier 2000's), I still don't know where I can go to get great service. TJ takes work and time (and even luck), and simply put I am not going to waste my time and money....when all I simply want is sex.

do they still do the bike rental thing to skip the long line at the border ? save alot of time using the bike lane. i would pay $5 to rent a bike. but it often had two flat tires so i couldn't ride to the border crossing but had to carry it instead. the last couple times i did it i chose a tiny little kids bike which was much easier to carry.....



ps. they underpriced that service as i would have paid $50 to avoid standing in the hot sun for an hour with hangover/dehydration.

For my money the golden age of Zona Norte was 1990-2003, which naturally includes some peaks & troughs. Oh, man, there were some beautiful girls who had never had kids. It was good to be a man. But those days are gone forever. 5-Leche's honest assessment hit the nail on the head regarding poor service.

@Zoner: You mean to tell me that I overpaid by 30% of $15.38? Woe is me. (I could have bought a burrito.) "If the most zoner ever paid or a tln was 600 pesos then I guarantee he is fucking some serious pigs or full of shit." <--Blazers ain't one to mince words, that's for sure.

Now, there's a name from the past.....Brockton O'Toole.

Tijuana like any other place has changed and is a fact that is linked forever with the economic shadow of uncle sam. True, I remenber TJ used to be a more vibrant town and more fertile ground for nightlife and sweet ladies. All basically changed after 9/11, for better or worse or in spite of whoever's opinion might have.
Still, leading clubes/bars like Adelitas/Hong Kong/Chavelas/Chicago, etc... have more than enough flesh to satisfied anybody. now, this is for you costar; If you want cheap, then do yourself a favor and don't expect to date Miss Mexico 2012. you can spend about US$10-15 for a quickie or if your wallet can afford it, spend about US$60 or a little more and get you a voluptous woman from Adelita or HK. is a fact of life, you want Prime cut NY steak or just a hog dog???? It just doesn't make any sense in trashing the whole town 'cause you go on a pauper's budget. NOT trying to disrecpect you, just pointing out you can have a bad time in TJ as well in PI or Thailand for whatever reasons you may encounter.
i was in the Philippines last march and don't considered it my best fun trip that matter; but, is life and just deal with it. i am now in the San Diego area and most likely would be here for a few months so i tend to go to TJ twice a week to relax/relieve stress and have fun with the ladies (each nite out there i spend about US$200=250 at least or maybe some more on saturday nite). Last time I was in Hong Kong bar and the place was just bursting with all kinds of young honeys, i thought if i don't gert laid that time, then, i must be gay; fortunately i ended up with this busty chick that literally raped me in the room!!! total angel and was a happy camper all the way back across the border. Adelitas got a lot of sexy women and for all tastes.
I know, the whole world complains about the border crossing. Just want to add that there's a total renovation of the San Isidro/TJ border crossing and in the future, once the job done it will be more fluent to get across.
Have fun and maybe you should give TJ another look. Also, knowing a little spanish helps.

MarcoPolo

costar needs to re-read the post as he missed the point. novices naively think itīs about the money. many variables, other than money, influence an outcome.

blazers is wrong again. his moronic posts expose the depth of his ignorance on subjects which he has no real or firsthand knowledge. details of tlns were reported on CH, private forums, private albums... btw iīve seen blazersī gals. my standards are higher.

obviously blazers has a lot to learn. maybe someday if heīs less ignorant he too can tln for 600p, retire early, travel/hobby 365d/yr, live the dream...

going forward i will not read or reply to blazersī idiotic posts as i have much better things to do.

Zoner...you dont know anything about the details of my tln's . Maybe you have seen a girl or two that I have banged but I seriously doubt you know the rest...few do. I know very few pickier than me.

If you retired early because you got lucky and travel 365 then good for you. I can run circles around you with my knowledge and experience in mongering in TJ and around the world, not just Latin America. I have had freebies, girls staying for a week for nada but if I am going to pay a girl for a TLN,I am not going to insult her by giving her less than a 1,000 pesos. Obviously, even though you retired early, it didnt pan out to well if you are spending all your time nickle and diming girls to death.

If a girl doesnt ask for a price, there is no reason to lowball her. I know its not totally about the money. Keep spewing your lies and nonsense as none of us are buying it...keep dreaming.

I hate bragging or showing scorecards but you talked baseless shit and I have to call you on it.

Two recurring bromides:

1. That Zona Norte (or any other venue) is a "perfect" market, meaning he who pays more (in a club, say) automatically gets better service and/or more attractive girls.

This just ain't so. Some of the snapper I've had on the street was as good as it gets. (That was admittedly back in 2004 and prior.)


2. Claims and accusations of pro/amateur.

Everything I do --travel arrangements, grooming, staying in shape, deciding where to go, how long to stay, and whom to go with-- is just to please one guy. What do I care if someone else thinks it's not good enough? It's perfect for me.

I do like to know what accommodations everyone's using when I try a new venue. Everything else works out about the same.

Now back to those photos of Rissa that Bwana Dik recently put up...

This is not a cheap mans sport. .. I dont even ask them how much, for me its always $80.00 or if shes really hot $100.00 to $120.00. I always buy the girls a couple drinks so they get some money from that as their tip. I also tip the waiters well so at the end of the day I usually drop about $200.00. To me this is cheap for a night of heaven! If I lived in San Diego I would probably go to TJ every other day & get the cheaper talent on the street since I make the trip from Phoenix only once a few years i usually go to Adelitas. I just got back from Acapulco & its pricier there but not bad 1200 pesos which includes the onsite room, taxis are expensive though, around $15.00 a trip.