Just wondered with the passport thing, are people still going to TJ?  Both for hobbying and for general tourists.  Has it killed the club scene?  I haven't been since the documentation change.  But I can't imagine the 18-21 year old kids grabbing their passports and heading down to get drunk, nor the SeaWorld/Zoo/TJ tourists from Bakersfield.

Can anyone give us a report on the scene?
Thanks!!!!

I've been down a few times for my normal afternoon bombing runs.  Twice the wait back for pedestrian line was completely non-existent, the other time there was almost an hour wait.  A Monday no less -- go figure.  (The vehicles lines didn't look any shorter than normal.)

Two of the visits I hit the Zona.  Both times it was fairly quiet.  AB was full of chicas but not too many hombres americanos.  CC was dead but it's always dead in the afternoon.  HK was happening and seemed to have many hombres méxicanos.  The number of SGs was down but there were still plenty of chicas on the menu.  Supposedly, the chicas will start dribbling back into TJ after their xMas holiday.  But isn't that supposed to have happened by the end of January?

Can't report on Revo -- I rarely ever go there and never go to any of the bars there.

I do agree with you, though.  The new restrictions and the recent bad press will most assuredly dissuade many of the San Diego tourists and convention visitors.  Although if I were an 18- to 20-year-old SDSU or community college student who wanted to party & drink legally down in TJ, I think I would fill out the paperwork and get myself a passport.  It's not that hard.

The only constant is change.  But it looks as though la Zona and the TJ escorts will survive the new restrictions.  ¡Viva México!

I think the Zona is slower during the week from my most recent observations.  The weekends have been quite busy.  As for our escort service, we have seen more business after the change than the two weeks prior.  I think it is too early to tell what the impact will be for the long term.

A person without a passport can still go to Tijuana.  A drivers license and a birth certificate are accepted from those without a passport.  

I think there has been a drop in tourism; however, Tijuana is far from dead.  Last night (a Saturday) it took me 2 hours and 36 minutes to return by car.  They didn't run my ID so ID checks aren't the total reason it took longer than normal.  I think Tijuana and points south still have tourist business.

are the police still abscent from the sentri drop off?  I have read that things, at least as of a couple of weeks ago, are still quiet under the new leadership.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tijuana17feb17,1,7541274.story

are the police still abscent from the sentri drop off?  I have read that things, at least as of a couple of weeks ago, are still quiet under the new leadership.
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Shakedowns at the SENTRI drop-off stopped when Ramos became mayor in December 2007.  That's still the case as of this date.

Sometimes a couple of cops are present, sometimes not.  When present at La Linea the cops are doing "real police work" instead of shaking down tourists.  

Thus far Mayor Jorge Ramos is doing a good job of fighting police corruption.  A long week ago 70 cops resigned.  The reason is Ramos announced he would begin investigating if the houses cops owned could be purchased on a policeman's salary.

Well, I made a quick trip on Saturday afternoon around 4pm.  Walked across and down Revolucion.  At any point I saw one or two non-hispanic looking people.  On Revolucion, I was often the only American on the whole block.  Interestingly, the businesses and restaurants still had people, but they were Mexican.  On the 2nd floor bar/clubs, about 3 or 4 tables with Americans.  They seated them at the rail to make it look full.

Saw some cops, all just patroling.  No one at the Sentri.

And the pedestrian border crossing back was the longest line I'd ever seen.  Not only did it extend to the right of the ped bridge as I have occasionally seen it, stretching up a block into the neighborhood, it actually snaked back DOWN the street and the tail of the line was almost back to the bridge.  A woman was selling $5.00 bus tickets to cross the border, so I tried that.  It was still an hour and a half, but at least you could sit.  Don't know if it moved slower than the pedestrians.  Probably a toss-up.  And the crossers were almost all Mexican, or at least dark haired/dark complected, not necesarily Mexican citizens. Closer to the crossing booths, I saw a lot more birth certificates than passports.

Overall it was sad.  I couldn't help but think that the narco-traffickers have fucked the whole city, many of whom are just trying to make a living.  And the cops finished it off by shooting themselves in the foot.  It's gonna be a while before I take another trip down.  It just wasn't worth it anymore.  I hope to hear good news from you guys.

He's right.  I've repeatedly been behind someone in the vehicle line that hands the guy their ID and 4 or 5 big ass legal sized paper birth certificates.

I got pulled over about 2 weeks ago after messin around with some hookers.

They pulled me over for basically no reason like usual and asked where I was.  I told them I went to see a few hookers because I couldn't sleep.  He said "Yeah, that happens to me sometimes.  You don't have any pills or anything in the car do you?"

I said "Nah.  If I wanted pills, I'd go to the doctor, not to a hooker.  That's a different kind of doctor."

He laughed and told me to take care and they left.  They're being a little nicer now than before.  Before I would have to get real stern with them and I had to go in front of the judge a few times.  They seem to be more easy going and calm.  If they're nice to me, I'm nice to them.

Amazing how you're able to spot Hispanic people and Americans just by looking.

I've lived in 4 different countries on 2 continents and to this day, I'm unable to tell someone's nationality just by looking at them.  Not to mention everywhere I've traveled.

I suppose it's easier with the Hispanic people that are indiginous (sp?) that look like Aztec Indians, but other than that, I'm at a loss.

Please share some tips on what an American looks like.  If you're white, there's only about 500 countries you could be from.  If you're black, you could be from America, the UK, France, any country in Africa, Haiti, Cuba....  If you're asian, there's a few possibilities there as well.

If you saw me, I'd give you as many guesses as you wanted to guess where I'm from, and you probably wouldn't get it.  If you heard me speak (Spanish or English) then I'd give you 5 guesses and you probably still wouldn't get it.

I doubt you can tell by looking.

okay, sorry i was using shorthand. at other times i've said i could only see a handful of brown, red or blond haired people in a sea of black haired folks. of course some of those were american citizens.  but walking thru the city, i saw a handful of european looking tourists getting on a bus, a half dozen asians, speaking japanese (yes, it was japanese).  what i was getting at was that the caucasian/black/asian population is way down. btw i'm mixed race myself. just an observation about the tourism patterns due to the new rules, in no way a judgement. in fact, i would hope that the locals start frequenting the establishments, because the Bakersfield tourists that do the Sea World, Zoo, and TJ visits have dropped it from the list of things to do.  90 percent to be pretty exact, and considering only 23 percent of Americans even HAVE passports, i just feel really bad for our friends trying to make a living.  i have always tried to support the restaurant and shopping community, especially in the Zona Rio.  i feel bad about what's happened.  that's my point. and i did spend several hours in a line and on a bus at close quarters with the statistically viable sample of the afternoon's border crossers.  the local shopkeepers and club owners are going to be in a world of hurt, thanks to American policy, as well as the narco-boys and the local LE.  peace man.

-- Modified on 3/16/2008 9:18:46 PM

I don't think the American policy is the problem.  In Europe, you need a passport to get on just about any train that crosses a border.  If people want to travel, they get a passport.  Americans spend most of their time watching television, and most of their money buying big houses and big cars, while the rest of the world spends a lot of time outdoors or at least outside of their house, and the majority of their extra money is spent on traveling.  

It's just 2 different lifestyles that are glaringly obvious when you've lived in different parts of the world.  If the Tijuana business people banked all of their projected earnings on American tourism, then they're shit out of luck and that's their problem.  No victims here, just bad business practice.

I highly doubt that "local shopkeepers" will be in a world of hurt.  The owners of those shitholes in the bad part of Tijuana are pretty wealthy and have plenty of money.  The indigenous person working at the cash register may look bad off, but don't have any sympathy for the people that own the place.  Same for the cops.  If they bank their whole wallet on American tourism, they're shit out of luck too.  Again, bad career choice and bad business.

Maybe I'm different than you, but I'm not "friends" with people I do business with.  It's business, not personal.  So they're not my friends.