I'm an enthusiastic hobbyist from the east coast who loves latinas. I've been to Nogales numerous times, Nuevo Laredo and TJ once each. Had some M-W business in southern CA and figured I'd try Mexicali on the weekend before. I do not speak Spanish so I knew it would be a challenge but read up on it as much as I could in advance. Many thanks to those here who helped light my way.

In addition to being a trip report this is also intended as a guide for other first timers.

Arrived in San Diego about noon on Saturday Nov 6th, and paid the additional Mexican insurance on my rental car ($25/day -ouch). As it turned out the driving was mellow in Mexicali so I never needed it, but I didn't want to take a chance. I headed for Mexicali over I-8. Beautiful day, beautiful drive. From sea level to 4,000 ft back to seal level in 90 minutes. Amazing desert/mountain landscape of giant round boulders that must've rolled for eons on what was then the sea floor. Cool.

PESOS VS. DOLLARS
I'd read that pesos are necessary in Mexicali so I stopped at one of the many exchange shops along 111 in the border town (Calexico) and turned $200 USD into pesos at 11.25x1, figuring I'd keep the rest of my cash stash in USD until needed. As it turned out, everywhere I went I could have used dollars. But they tend to exchange at 11x1 in the regular businesses (restaurants, etc) and 10x1 in the sex business. So using your 11.25x1 pesos for sex transactions at 10x1 is definitely the best value. If she says $20, give her 200 pesos. It worked for me.

HOTEL
Border crossing was fast and easy. Drove to Hotel Lucerne where I had booked a room in advance thru Expedia. $70 plus tax came to $78.40. Nice room on top floor w/ balcony overlooking small but well-kept pool. Carlos the bellman speaks great English so I had him show me the locations on a map of all the hobby spots I'd picked out in advance. That helped me get my bearings since they are spread out all over Mexicali. He said hotel security keeps an eye out so that guests don't bring unregistered visitors back to their rooms. I will pick another hotel next time so I can "eat in" if I want.

DRIVING
I agree with former reporters that driving is a must unless you know exactly where you want to go and don't want to move around a lot from there once you arrive. You could do that if you want to stay in the Zona where there are lots of ficha bars and SG's. But there are a number of other interesting venues to practice the craft around town so I will always try to drive on future visits. The driving itself was easy. No different than the average US city and much easier than many (Boston, NY, etc). DRIVING TIP: keep your eye out for their Stop signs. They are smaller than ours and not as reflective. You could easily drive thru one and get in a bad accident. Then you're toast.

SATURDAY TRIP REPORT
Left my hotel by car about 4 to drive to as many of the hobby spots as I could so I could see them in the daylight and get used to Mexicali traffic, etc. The maps I downloaded from the web were critical. As it turns out the places were mostly in small clusters with a few outlyers. All within 20-30 minute driving radius.

ZONA
First I scoped out the ZONA, which is about 10 square blocks in the old part of town they call CENTRO. It looks like the tattered-around-the-edges parts of Texas towns like San Antonio. Lots of people on the streets. Best thing for a newbie is to drive it to get the lay of the land, then park and walk around. The main venues here are ficha bars and SG's in hotels. There is a large disco called Terraza on the 2nd floor of a building also.

BARS
The ficha bars in the Zona are all based on the same theme. You enter and are shown to a booth or small table around or near a dance floor or stage. There is also a bar w/ stools. Girls want you to buy them drinks (generally 50pesos / $5). You can dance with the women if you want. Although I read that the scene is not aggressive, I was regularly approached either by girls or by waiters asking me to buy drinks for girls. I look pretty gringo so I suppose I had a target on me.
I spent time in Playboy, Gato Negro, 3 Aces and Gallo Gira. I enjoyed Playboy the best because girls would strip on the dance floor. I went up to one of the raised booths along the back with a tall, slender 26 year-old brunette and had fun for about 15 minutes, the time it took her to finish 2 of the $5 girl drinks, little pony bottles of Tecate. She let me feel her top and bottom (skin-on-skin but no digital insertion) and lick and suck her nips. She did not reciprocate with any handling of my eqpt. She had a very enthusiastic personality and spoke a little English so we tried to communicate while I enjoyed her corpus delecti. (Face=7, Body=8 Attitude=9). According to reports these girls are available for take-out to a hotel if you pay a fee to the bar (I think $20). Her services are negotiated directly. I plan to try that on my next trip when I stay at a more girl-friendly hotel. Overall the talent in the ficha bars ranged from 4-8. Lots of heavier gals. Music tends to be LOUD.

SG'S IN THE ZONA
There are a lot of cheap hotels throughout the Zona. SG's stand in and just outside the doorways. You use a $5/50 peso room in the hotel for your session. The hotels with the largest and best selection while I was there were Paris, Pacifico and 16th September. Others had fewer and what they had was nas-ty. Sometimes of questionable gender. There are women available as early as noon but the quantity definitely picks up in the evening.

OUTSIDE THE ZONA
I left the Zona and headed for the strip bar Miau Miau on Sat night about 7 to see what it was all about. It and Madonna's are around the corner from each other in an older part of Centro a few blocks east of the Zona. Near Hotel Reforma. Décor of the place is like a better-than-average US strip club. I ordered a beer from a nice English-speaking waiter who I tipped $1 to get on his good side. I'd read that the girls in these strip bars are 9's and 10's but that they don't approach you so I figured I'd befriend a native guide. Well so much for hearsay b/c within 2 minutes I had a girl asking me if I wanted company, just like in stateside joints. She was nice looking, an 8 by normal measures. I'd read that dances are 20 so I cut right to the chase and ordered one figuring I'd see how playful they are and how aggressively they upsell the sex in private rooms. I paid 200 pesos and they didn't complain. The dance was in a comfortable booth type affair in a large separate room. She stripped nude and let me lick and suck her nips. She was freely fondling my eqpt and began immediately selling a BJ for 120, 60 house/60 her. I politely declined and the price came down some more. Her English was sketchy but I think the offer got as low as 40/40 without prompting by the time the song ended. But she wasn't hot enough to make me part with that much dough and I got the funny feeling there would be "issues" requiring more $ later for actual satisfaction if I took the bait.
Went back to my table, watched more dancers and finished my drink. Two additional girls approached looking for me to buy them a drink or buy a dance. Overall the dancers looked pretty good, but over 1/2 had fakes and I prefer natural. When one got up there and showed off her bad implant botch job I quickly bolted for greener pastures.
Around the corner Madonnas wanted 4.50 to get in so I passed, got back in the car and headed south towards Geau Geau, Harra's and Bar Pajaritas, all within a block of each other on the main drag about 3 or 4 miles south of Centro. I hit Harra's first having read a rave review about it. And I can see it has interesting possibilities if you speak Spanish. All of the women working there are available to sit with you and have drinks and apparently most are in play to go with you to your hotel for very reasonable rates. There were some good looking ones there but NO ONE spoke any English. There was one babe in particular who had the best body I saw the whole time I was in Mexicali. I would kill to take her to my hotel for 3-4 hours. Next time, with a girl-friendly hotel I will try Harra's again and hope she's still there.

Bar Pajaritas was also highly recommended. I walked over to it from Harra's but found it pretty quiet. Only 4 girls and none were all that hot. An English-speaking guy named Martin approached me at the bar and apologized that all his best girls were already out. I'd read that he has an office there with a bed in it. He offered to set me up with any of the 4 girls right then but I passed. I hold out for quality whenever I can, (until the little head has taken over the thinking). It was only 9:00 Sat night and he said more and better girls would be coming later. I thanked him and said I'd be back.

Walked over to Geau-Geau, which is owned by same guy as Miau-Miau. Looks about the same but bigger with its own parking lot. Paid the $4 cover which included 2 beers. Girls were the same as M-M, basically latin versions of stateside strippers. You've seen it all before. Lots of guys tipping. No girls walking around trolling for drinks and privados though. Kind of odd. Quickly downed my two XX's and split.

I knew the time had come to try the famous Bar San Diego (BSD) hoping to get what I'd read is a world-class BJ from Alicia, and am pleased to report I succeeded. The BSD sits in the middle of a quiet residential neighborhood. There is a motel out back where the deeds get done. BSD is smaller and darker than I'd imagined. Lots of women at tables throughout the place but it was hard to judge the talent in that low light. I'd been there about 5 minutes, and was just getting over being pissed that they only serve Tecate (nasty stuff, tastes like nails) after I'd been drinking XX all night, when an attractive 30-ish blonde approached me. She spoke good English so I sat with her in a booth. She cuddled up with me and I began feeling her bare thigh. She asked my name then offered hers, "Alicia" she said. I was very happy at that stroke of luck, but I've read that most of these girls don't like to hear they are talked about online so I acted non-chalant. But I knew what my objective was. After a little more chit-chat she asked if I wanted a massage and I asked how much and we got right to the transaction. I figured since this was the famous Alicia I wouldn't quibble much on price (she threw out an opening offer, I countered with a low ball, she knocked 20 off her opening offer, and I said "si") for a full hour of slow delicious BJ heaven. And that’s exactly what I got. I love BBBJ's and have gotten many, all over the world. This was without a doubt the best BBBJCIM I ever had. Took 45 mins to get there with lots of DFK, feasting on her breasts and 69 (yeah I'm nasty that way). The last 10 minutes before lift-off she put some lube on my ass saying "this will feel good", began finger-rimming me and was soon expertly fingering me 2 knuckles deep. My first time for that, and I know not my last because it felt really good and intensified the pop immensely. She showered quickly after I completed, then we snuggled and chatted comfortably for a few more minutes, dressed, hugged and parted ways. Alicia lived up to her reputation.

I WISH THEY ALL COULD BE MEXICALI GIRLS
It was about midnight (3AM on my body clock) and that BSD pop with Alicia had drained me good. So I figured I'd go to the discos to see how the 18-25 year-old local babes dolled themselves up for a Sat night. Found a parking spot near Mocajates and M2 (which I think is the former Scratch). Didn't have to go in, just walked around and took in the eye candy on the street. Sightings of Spectacularis Extremis were too numerous to count. These girls know how to make themselves look HOT. I'd read that the dancing scene inside is wild with plenty to see but I was beat and headed back to my hotel.
Thought briefly about hitting the La Capilla bar in the Lucerne hotel which is famous for having 30-40 year old women who are amateur or semi-pro and eager, but didn't feel up to negotiating the English/Spanish barrier then sneaking around security so I put it on the "next trip" list and crashed.

SUNDAY
Hit the Zona about 1:00 on Sunday for a first pop. I had written down key Spanish phrases in advance so I could negotiate for the services I wanted without having to speak Spanish and that helped a lot. I enjoyed a nice unhurried $25 session ($5 for hotel, $20 for girl) at the Paris Hotel. Got a good CBJ and feasted on her very nice breasts and fingertip nips as much as I wanted during the 1/2 hr session. She didn't fondle my nuts or anything but she got all nude and let me feel whatever I wanted all over and was very pleasant and non-mechanical about the whole thing. Provider was early 30's, long black hair with a few sexy braids in the front. Face=7, body=7, attitude=8. The women all sit in a cluster on the hotel stairs and, admittedly she was the only one I would have done among those that were available. It's hit and miss with the quality of the SG's, especially in the daytime. I think I got lucky with both looks and service.
Later in the day my luck was not as good. I hit the Zona on my way out of town about 6:00 for a last session, hopefully with one of the younger ones that I'd read were available in the evenings. Although there were several young cuties worth doing at both Pacifico and 16th September, none would do BJ and none would allow me to feast (lick and suck) on their breasts. It wasn't about the money, it was just flat-out NO, we don't do that. I'm sure there are many variables at work in this little sexo-ecosystem and I will certainly try again on my next trip but I was disappointed. There were some truly cute little honeys there.

Sunday afternoon I located some of the other hobby spots I'd read about and marked up a map for future journeys. That includes El Estable, which is a good ways east of town next to the very spiffy looking Coca Cola bottling plant. It has a motel attached to the back but it wasn't open yet when I found it (about 4 on Sunday). Also Aquarius, which is a strip club that reportedly has the best-looking girls. And Motel Samil which I've read is a good value at $53/night. Also Mas Morras bar in the Zona, which was just opening as I was leaving Sun night and didn't have any girls yet. I also cruised the big mall just south of downtown for a while just to see local talent. Although there are certainly many homely women in the general population, overall the average is way higher than your typical stateside mall, at least in the east. And all the young shopgirls working in the stores are worth the trip by themselves. All dipped and glazed and ready to eat!

Overall I enjoyed Mexicali and plan to go again when business brings me to southern CA. Driving and staying overnight is the way to go, and in a girl-friendly hotel. I don't believe I saw any other gringos the whole time I was there (until the long car line to cross back into the US, which took an hour on Sunday night). I certainly heard no English being spoken between any other people. Next time I will book a girl-friendly hotel once I arrive and try a take-out deal from Harra's or Bar Pajaritas or one of the ficha bars for a nice, long session with a passionate latina. And I want to get my freak on for a quickie with one of those young SG cuties in the Zona hotels. So much pussy, so little time.

Wow, great report, though it sounds like Mexicali isn't exactly a prime Mexican hobby destination based on what you had to say about prices and facilities.

Since you travel so much to Mexico, you may want to put Monterrey on your list. It's not super-cheap or as convenient as some of the border towns with hotels attached to the bars, but if you're willing to spend a couple hundred bucks a night you can have an amazing time with some HOT girls who will treat you very well for the money. Spanish would definitely help in MTY, but it's not mandatory, and being a vacationing gringo with deep pockets will more than make up for the language barrier. Monterrey is a mere 3-hour bus ride from Laredo, TX.

Thanks for the report.

Hi Wildwind01

I love Mexicali and yes the real girls ( non putas ) are quite the lookers
i stay at Lucerna and good friends with Carlos. Mexicali is not TJ they are much different. If I was going strictly for putas I would stay in TJ but for the discos Mexicali cant be beat!! It must be something in the water. I love the non gringo factor as well.

I have never been ripped off and have enjoyed all my Mexicali trips.

If you are into value for your peso stay away from the "white strip clubs" such as Maui Maui Gua Gua and Lord blacks and check out the many ficha bars where you can get an all nighter for around 100 dollars in most cases.

thanks for your report

I have brought many friends to the Lucerna and only one had a problem getting a chica back to his room. The others never had an issue. If you do bring a chikca back and se sucurity just hit the disco for a quick drink and walk out with her to your room. Works liek a charm
Next time you are in town pick up a Viajero a Mexicali guide with tosn of hotel deals some have 50 percent off rooms and also coupons for food etc.. Carlos will get you this is you need one. IMHO this is the best hotel for value and service. There are chapers ones but you get what you pay for. If you saw the hotel across the street it is about 50 percent less but no night security and has no frill rooms.
Mexiclai does not rely on tourism like TJ so they want to keep cutoemrs happy and you will struggle to find someone that will rip you off.

I am not sure if it was you that Pmed me about other places in Mexicali but I will be back hopefully soon
take care
Milky

Hey milkman,

I always go to tj and have been wanting to go to mexicali for a while. I mean is it really worth the trip out there or should i maybe just stick to tj? I've heard its nothing great compared to tj but i have seen mixed opinions on this site.

Hi JBR
Actually this is really tuff to explain but easy to take in if you make 2 or more trips to Mexicali and view the city as a whole.

If you are used to TJ and enjoy AB/CC/
you may not like what Mexicali has to offer for the price. Meow Meow and Gau Gau/ Aquirius are the top clubs but will remind of American style strip clubs and pretty high prices but very hot girls. Some even hotter than HC chikas but at a price. My first trip to Meow Meow more than 2 years back I remember one guy I was sitting with being quoted 100-200 for a session from one of the hottest chikas in the place that was for 1 hr but this girl would blow anyone away in AB. There has also been a few full blooded hot asian girls working these clubs as well.

Now if you like the smaller ficha bars in TJ and finding gems then there are tons of them in Mexicali and the prices are fantastic. I have many friends that have hooked up with 3 to 5 hour sessions for under 100 dollars.

Now if you go to the discos the ladies are much more open to talking with you and very beautiful and the girl to guy ratio is silly sometimes 3 girls for every guy.
I also like the non gringo factor. Some tiems you will not see a single whitebread the whole day.

There are very few to no bums, no Texas Mikes or Francos. The streets are much cleaner and the people are just friendly so much different than TJ.

I think Porker would enjoy Mexicali as he is a small ficha club type of guy.

If I had more money, well if I had any money I would probably go to Mexicali at least once a month. If I didnt have a serious girlfriend I would also consider moving closer or in Mexicali.

I could go on for days but you get what I am saying. You cant make an opinio on the city by just going for a few hours or even just experiencing one of the zonas. I am still finding out new things to do and to keep my busy and I have spent all together close to a 15 days there

Spend a weekend and if you have any questions feel free to PM me
good luck
Milky