Tijuana -- is it worth it

[Guest JimSFO]

Hi,

I keep thinking TJ must be a pretty hot place to find hot mexican rent boys. Does anyone have any experience with the gay scene there. I hear there are a couple of fun discos, but the action starts, typically for all of the Mexican places I have been, after 11 pm. Anything happening earlier for those morning persons amoung us? Supposedly there are supposed to be strippers in some clubs as well as drag shows. Do the strippers take it all off. Will they meat with you after work, etc??

 

Thanks,

 

Jim:o

[marko]

The place for meeting Mexican men in Tijuana is in Plaza Santa Cecilia but you must be very careful because the cops are always on the look out.There are a couple of gay bars in the plaza that have men working there during the day as well, of course, as at night. Sometimes they are in the bar, often standing either just inside or just outside the front door of the bar. (I don't remeber the bars names, one is called DF, I think. They're located more or less next to each other, some three of them, I think, in the plaza.)I was once leaving a bar in the company of a young man named Jose and he was arrested, cuffs and all (this happened just a few months ago). The cop did it to get me to pay a bribe; he and Jose weren't working together as I thought at first. I did pay ($20) because por Jose was really going to be in trouble if I didn't. He was crying and begged me not to leave him. We went to another bar where he cried really hard he was so outraged by the humiliating treatment from the cop. Once before (a little over a year ago) a cop robbed a young man named Javier who was waiting for me outside a store. The only reason he wasn't arrested and taken off was because I intervened saying the young guy was my guide and had done nothing wrong. I was scared about standing up to a cop there because they have such a terrible reputation but I did it hoping to protect Javier. It worked, I guess, because the cop had robbed Javier and all he wanted was money. There are also men working on the front steps of the big Sanborn's at the far end of Avenida Revolution. They appear there after dark... I've never used their services, although some of them look really hot. Despite all this bad news here, however, Tijuana can be wonderful! I have had great experiences there, especially with Jose and Javier, and with a couple of other young guys that I have spent three or four days with at a time. But you must have some command of Spanish. A lot of the guys you'll meet have some English, but not nearly enough to do business with. There may be better English spoken by guys in the fancy clubs like Extasis and others that open late and stay open all night, but I don't like those places or the late hours. So, is it worth it? Well, not if you don't speak some decent Spanish; not if you don't want to deal with cops. Let's put it this way: I've gone there just twice and have had BAD experiences with TJ cops both times. Just today I read that Mexican federales and the army arrested 120 TJ cops on corruption charges in a surprise raid. I have no plans to return any time soon, but the guys I have met there were wonderful. It's a tough call.

[Guest JimSFO]

Thanks, that's just the type of info I have been looking for.

Where do you take your young men after making contact? Have you ever met anyone in Extasis?

Very unfortunate about your run-in with the cops. I have been stopped several times for traffic stuff on the way to Ensenada camping with friends.

[marko]

Sorry to be getting back to you late. I stay in really cheap places...a clean room and hot water are all I want, so I've just taken the guys to my hotel. It may be risky doing so but I've never had a bad experience anywhere in Mexico (Mexico City, Acapulco, Oaxaca, TJ), but my Spanish is good and I prefer to hire during the day if I can, although it is not always possible. I stay out of places like Extasis and discos and bars generally because they're too loud and smoky and I don't like the late hours. If you meet a guy in one of the places in Santa Cecilia Plaza, arrange to meet him outside the plaza to avoid problems with the cops. I read just the other day that the cops had stopped patrolling the plaza and there were increasing instances of gay-bashing as a result. The cops are back and so the palce is supposed to be safer from bashers, but the cops can be bashers so be careful. Good luck