December celebrations in Mexico (pics)

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Fans in Tijuana celebrating a soccer championship win on the HUGE Cuauhtemoc statue roundabout. It even has its own Facebook page!

Puerto Vallarta's year-end fireworks spectacular. I'm told the city organized several days of free concerts and light shows...meanwhile over a dozen downtown businesses have closed since the gov't's tourist-friendly renovation of the malecon, replete with meaningful pavement designs and more statues; and scores of its neighborhoods have garbage dumpsters overflowing with bags of (non recycled)garbage which have gone uncollected for days. Adios sanitation workers. Bienvenidos rats and pestilence! That's one way to keep tourists around: kill 'em before they can vamoose.   
(I would love to get some pics of those neglected dumpsters.)

 panem et circenses 

those aren't stars but, rather, paper lanterns sent aloft with lofty hopes & wishes. Wonder if one of them includes a prayer for accountability and Mexico's movement into the 21st Century

Don't trust Jack (Tijuana)

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TJ4Rent@yahoo.com is the email to beware. The wolf in friend's clothing behind that address is one "Jack Smith". It ain't his real name - that would be, as per the police report, Steve Stanley Singer - and he'll probably take on another one by the time you read this. I doubt even if Singer is his real last name; but whether the business email and/or the pseudonym changes this much won't (see pic): 

the house that 'Jack' subdivides 

Jack frequently posts ads on Craigslist. 
He targets foreigners fleeing the rip-off rents of southern Cali -- only his comparatively cheap rates are rip-offs too! Why pay $400 for sleeping on someone's couch when you can have your own furnished room for $240? He announces. Wow, great. That is, until you get down to TJ - he always offers to meet you at the border - and see the dry-walled closet space that's a far ass cry from the nice-looking bedroom in the ad.  The room will likely be "only" $20 or $40 dollars above the advertised price, too. His biggest prey are young men - low on cash and brains - whom he regales with marijuana and Red Light District tales. What could be better than getting high, laid, and jewed out of your money? Either way you slice it, champ, you're getting screwed in Mexico. But, hey, at least you're sticking it to the Man. Yah!

A tour of the place includes the "temporary" upstair kitchen ("just until we finish remodeling the one downstair"), the three bathrooms, the rooftop where Jack/Steve will start his hairbrain scheme of growing organic tomatoes. Conveniently not mentioned are the following facts:

• the house is roach infested to the hilt; especially the kitchen!!
• toilets sometimes flush
• gas (i.e., hot water) is always running out
• his useless dogs shit all over the place
• his barracks of children keep up noise (as kids are want to do)
• the whole neighborhood hates him and shuns his family (for good reason)
• "maid service" is a joke
• "wifi service" is a joke
• he and Flor, his undocumented common law breeder, won't return your deposit without a hassle
• oh, and everything he just smiled to you about is 98-99.7% bullshit

Jack/Steve is a consummate liar and scumbag. So too is the indigenous piece of tail he still, after six kids, refers to as a 'girlfriend'; two peas in a pod. I imagine one day he will abscond, leaving Flor and her undocumented brood to fend for themselves. Such are the ways of a convicted con man. 

His biggest prey are young men low on cash (and brains) whom he regales with marijuana and Red Light District tales

As mentioned, I and other renters are now suing the bastards for failing to return our housing deposits. Unlike so many other travellers we did not leave the country when we moved out; thus Jack's concocted excuses, including convenient family emergencies (the latest was Flor's abortion), wilt in the light of Reality and he still has to contend with us. That's why he targets foreigners: less chance of these renters having the time to fight for their money back. It would be so much easier if the man and wife were honest and did not regard deposits as free money -- or people as marks.

By the way, the rent for his dump is not a bargain either. While the house has its good points, with just a smidgen more effort one can find better and more adequate apts in Tijuana for cheaper or slightly higher rent.

The tourist scam sits on the corner of Calle Santa Teresita & Calle Juan O. Robles (Col. Buena Vista). 858.779.4309

Mr Playas de Rosarito 2014

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I placed 3rd in Saturday's contest. I rightfully ought to have walked away with 2nd Place but judges were inclined to favor local participants. The whole event was poorly organized, the sound system lacking much and the stage size, even more so. There was room enough for four bodies maximum but some categories were judged with as many as six or so competitors squeezed into a row. It looked like a shoddy amateur's first crack at hosting a show.  

On the plus side, the competitors were friendly and sportsmanlike -- and I brought back a trophy for the gym. All's well that ends well.

3rd Place finish

 me and the 2nd Place winner

don't you just love his expression!

Bullfighting (TIJUANA)

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How I enjoy bullfighting! 
Last Sunday, Tijuana held a bull fight featuring:


This was a nice ass surprise as I was told no more spectacles were allowed in the city, and that the famous stadium in Playas de Tijuana, Plaza Monumental, was resigned to hosting outdoor concerts.

But turns out there is a window of a season!

It was nice sitting high up in the stands again and looking down on the man and beast in the arena. I think the last time I attended a bullfight was over, maybe, six years ago in Puerto Vallarta. Wasn't a very good one and, as most things are in touristy Vallarta, overpriced. (I just missed the chance to see a bullfight in Barcelona before sissified socialist Spain banned the sport. I'm not sure but I think they still continue in places like Valencia in the south but, nope, no mas in Catalunya.)
  

More snapshots of Mr Tijuana contest

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To all our members: We invite you to the upcoming Mr Tijuana event where our competitor, Powers Tilden, will represent our gym. Come out and support! We look forward to seeing you there!!

 the arrow shows the^ oblique muscle.

commonly hidden by fat people's 
'love handles'

 blue got a big ol butt

not very 'athletic' poses...but who's complaining? the more butts, the better

 it was a colorful evening

  trophy in the image of Zeus

who loves ya baby?

(click here to read about the show!)

Mr Tijuana 2014

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Friday night's bodybuilding competition in Tijuana ended on a good note (personally speaking) but, damn, it took way, way too long to get to that point. How long, you ask? Longer than the telecast of the Academy Awards show. When we were finally able to head home, three hours after start time, the thing was still going!!

C'mon Mexico get a little better organized.

Mr Tijuana ended on a good note for me as I walked away with 2nd Place. During prejudging, which merely consists of the officials' eyeball analyses of the lineup - very empirical, darlings - I, plus a few others, was bumped up from novice to the 'clasificado' (advanced/open) category ...solely based on physical appearance as opposed to competitive experience. Then I was told to change my posing suit (to one like everybody else): skimpier and with a thiny thin waistband.

100% real natural

The event was super well attended by amateurs and spectators and photographers; the sport enjoys genuine high interest here and doesn't have the stench of a money-grab. 

The trophies, too, were nice; nice and solid and impressive (note t0 Joe Wheatly Productions: this is along the lines of how a bodybuilding trophy should look). And I have to admit, I did not encounter the noxious Latin American machismo of events past. In fact, throughout the night several guys came over and shook my hand.

 big guns. big ass truck

same small trunks as the guy on the poster; they look suitable wear to me






...but apparently my trunks were not small enough

 2nd Place 70kg!

 me and the gym instructors

(more event pics here)

we're really smiling because NOW we get to go home. 3+ hours and the show was still going on!

@TWPTILDEN

Funny sign in Tijuana

Gotta love the spelling

Hot, hot, hot in Baja

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The past few days have been very, very sweltering in Baja California. At last!

Can't drink enough water. And I just love to hear the jingle of the ice cream truck. Two scoops of Thrifty ice cream for 15 pesos. Man, that's less than $1.50...which doesn't even buy you one scoop in U.S.! Oh it's no 'guilty pleasure' either; when you have a six-pack like this and workout like I do, then, yes, it's alllllllll good.

Loving it.

High cost of living in cheap Mexico

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It may be cheaper to pitch tent in Tijuana but needing to cross the border is hurting my income. And blood pressure. With that sort of bottom line it ain't worth it. This mode of life is for the Mexicans. Next up: Adios to Tijuana.

European landlord a duck in the wrong Pond

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Some landlords have Gov't complexes when it comes to renting their spaces: they want to know everything about you and be all up in your business. Or you can think of it as playing Mother; with their house rules regarding what the renter can and can not do under "their roof."

grandpa this ain't 1952 anymore!

While apt-hunting in Baja California I came across just such a post on Craigslist. The building is listed in Playas de Tijuana - supposedly the nicer area of town seeing as how it is near the beach (playas is Spanish for beach), populated with English-speaking foreigners and, subsequently, charges higher rents - and advertised as U.S. STANDARDS. But, according to the long-winded ad, renters can't have company over -- unless they fork over an additional $60USD per night. Wtf?! The wanker is charging $400/month for a supposedly private apartment and has the gall to dictate the limits to how one socializes -- like he's running a YMCA?! Wake up grandpa this ain't 1952 anymore!

Anglo-Francophile landlord should return his pink hide across the Pond and live under Big Brother since he approves of it so much

A check of the personal contact of the advertiser reveals a United Kingdom email address with a Frenchy handle. The U.K. is one of the countries with the most prevalent surveillance. It was also, you might recall, the inspiration for George Orwell's 1984. And France is, well, French -- and socialist. It sounds like this Anglo-Francophile expat landlord should return his pink hide back across the Pond and live under Big Brother socialism since he approves of it so much. Don't want families/pets/smokers/children? Then stipulate it. This is Mexico for fuck's sake not litigious 
USA/UK/Germany where political correctness forces people to lie. 

I wasn't interested in this ad - apart from a geriatric who in the hell would? - but was put off enough to email the owner about his hubris. This is how he replied (do notice the funny characters alongside the iPhone. Suddenly the greediness all makes sense):   

FUCK OFF YOU BLOODY BASTARD! If I don't like u r not obligated to stay with us. We charge extra to prevent tenants from bringing the entire family as many of u tried to do it in the several occasions. Do u get it stupid!
iPhone Россия/אןלימןר גיירמן 

Well! Wonder what finishing school the poor chap went to.

Murals in Tijuana (Playas)

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Most of these murals in Playas de Tijuana line the boardwalk along the beach. I think you'll agree it is much more appealing than graffiti; there is some graffiti art, though, and it, too, was commissioned. (While writing one afternoon I saw the artists completing it. Truth be told, graffiti art (and it can be art when not done to damage people's property) is fascinating when you actually watch the spray-painting in progress.)  

outdoor gallery along boardwalk in Playas

(2d from rt. by David Aleman) 

talk about home decoration!

 "We must eliminate all that you think of freedom."

"But I want to be free..."

"Shut up!"

 creepy doll in doll house.

(...well looks creepy to me)

Facebook pages of Steve Jobs & Julian Assange.

(This is on the streets of Mexico?!)