General Reports

[Bunter Hiden]

Just got back from the greatest Disneyland man city in the world this afternoon. At four pm the Ped East lines were very short but at the bottle neck right where sentri has to pass to get into the tunnel things were a bit hectic. Lots of Mex Nationals trying to figure out how to come to America after 20 months. Paperwork. It will pass but another problem I have noticed this week during my two visits. The powers that be now say that they will not be opening up Ped West anytime soon. Noon Thursday when I arrived to park in the Jack in the Box lots both high and low where down to their last few slots. And $10 is now the new $8 per 8 hours. Parking will become impossible if holiday traffic mixed with the fine monger hoards we are need the historically limited choices on the east side. Parking on the west side is quite the hike BTW. Might be time to do a walk thru on parking a trolley station one or two stops up and at least know what the situation is. Often when I turn onto the approach street to get to Jacks parking options it takes 20 minutes. Between cars trying to idle to pick someone up to every four minutes the crossing guards going down it's like you're balls deep in NYC instead of someone's hard working sister. And exiting the lots has gotten much tougher. From the time I left HK in a cab and transited the border and to my car, it took me longer to go from car ignition to sliding onto I five. I'm lucky from that point I only have 24 minutes home. And my average speed is 80 and still never see a CHP.

[BrotherMouzone]

You did not pay for FMM. So that is only valid for a few days and not 6 months.

So, you were able to go through Mexican citizen line only because it was less than 7 days. Right?

How long can you keep skipping foreigner line?

You may get into trouble if you try to skip the foreigners line after 7 days. Right?

Yes, I've only ever done the 7-day FMM, which is free. I know absolutely nothing about the 180-day FMMs. Have no interest in them as I live on the East Coast and only go to Tijuana for a few days at a time. I would assume you can enter / re-enter using the same 7-day FMM through the Mexican Nationals line for the entire 7-day period. I'm African-American and very clearly not a Mexican but they still always let me through the Mexican Nationals line anyway if I'm re-entering with a valid, stamped FMM. (If I'm entering for the first time with an FMM that hasn't been stamped by a Mexican customs official yet, of course I have to go through the Foreigner line.).

Of course they would not let you into Mexico period if your 7-day FMM is expired. I assume you'd either have to get a new FMM or pay a bribe, though I've never been in that situation before.

[Rambo1969]

Will also mention that I used a printed, already filled out FMM this trip to enter Mexico.
The lady at the border reviewed my form, stamped it, and let me go through without asking any questions. I had to leave Mexico to pick up a rental car .... So upon re-entry I was able to avoid the Foreigners like which, based on the length of the line, would've been a 30+ minute or so wait time this past Saturday night.

You did not pay for FMM. So that is only valid for a few days and not 6 months.

So, you were able to go through Mexican citizen line only because it was less than 7 days. Right?

How long can you keep skipping foreigner line?

You may get into trouble if you try to skip the foreigners line after 7 days. Right?

[BrotherMouzone]

How is the pedestrian line at PedEast now when coming back to the USA With the opening of non essential travel? How long are the waits on a Sunday morning between 10 am and noon? I know PedWest will be closed for quite sometime due to a migrant camp.

I've done the pedestrian PedEast line twice in the past few days. This past Saturday morning I had to go to San Diego to pick up a rental car. Was in line by around 8:30 am and was through customs and into the USA A little less than an hour later, around 9:30.

The 2nd time was Monday morning, which I would assume is a peak time going from Tijuana to the USA Was in line at 6:30 am and in the USA 65-75 minutes later (around 7:45).

Both times the lines were "long" but the lines moved really fast. Especially Monday, they have extra customs lanes open to compensate for PedWest being closed. Pre-COVID I've done as long as 3. 5 hours on multiple occasions so the 1 hour wait times during peak periods wasn't bad at all. There were people hanging out near the end of the line selling tickets to skip the line via bus ($20+) saying the line would take 2. 5+ hours but as I've just explained the wait time was less than half of that both times.

Will also mention that I used a printed, already filled out FMM this trip to enter Mexico. The lady at the border reviewed my form, stamped it, and let me go through without asking any questions. I had to leave Mexico to pick up a rental car (as I mentioned above) but when I re-entered Mexico late Saturday night, I went through the Mexican Nationals line, showed them my stamped FMM + passport, and they quickly let me though back into Mexico without asking any questions. So upon re-entry I was able to avoid the Foreigners like which, based on the length of the line, would've been a 30+ minute or so wait time this past Saturday night.

[Baxter Slade]

How is the pedestrian line at PedEast now when coming back to the USA With the opening of non essential travel? How long are the waits on a Sunday morning between 10 am and noon? I know PedWest will be closed for quite sometime due to a migrant camp.

Well before the opening to non essential travel leaving around 8 or 9 A.M was not to bad. But this past Sunday I crossed at 8:30 and the line was super long. However it might have had something to do with Monday being a Mexican holiday.

[Scbb1]

How is the pedestrian line at PedEast now when coming back to the USA With the opening of non essential travel? How long are the waits on a Sunday morning between 10 am and noon? I know PedWest will be closed for quite sometime due to a migrant camp.

[UfcNumberThree]

The Saturday night of UFC 268 I was walking by the corner by the taco stand west of HK, and there was a guy out there trying to promote the club kitty corner northwest across the street (so west side of Ninoes Heroes, just north of Coahuila). I was like whatever, then made the mistake of looking. The club had these flashing lights showing and a screen promoting UFC. Sweet! I wanted to watch Usman vs. Covington and had no place to be.

So I venture over and walk inside. No UFC. Instead they had the Canelo boxing match card on all the TVs. D'oh! The club is dark, one long rectangular level, low ceiling, blue lighting, lots of mirrors, with a few stages not being danced on. Quite a few dudes in the place, maybe 6 gals or so spread out around the room keeping guys company, no head turners. Probably should've walked out (like others did later on shortly after entering), but I figure what the hell. The old skinny mesero guy offers me a bench / table to sit at. A few minutes later, I get assigned my chica. A butter face, but nice big boobs. Didn't speak a lick of English (I can speak minimal Spanish), and she's one of those gals that can go on and on and tell stories in Spanish, and you just nod your head, and don't have to understand a single word of it. I'm no hurry to go anywhere, figure I'll watch Canelo, so I stay and fed her $8 fichas. Maybe made her night, who knows.

The club in the back has a VIP section which would resemble the private dance area of your everyday run of the mill strip club. It doesn't seem so private, so I'm not sure what all you could get back there outside of maybe a blow and go, but I'm sure more adventurous types might be able to make something work. The old mesero offered a few times that I could take a gal back there and it would be worth my time. Didn't venture to find that out.

The worst part of this place, though, is every 10 minutes or so a smoke machine would fill the place with fog, slowly dissipating and leaving a haze. So my recommendation is to leave this place off your list, unless you want to venture in just one time to try and find that diamond in the rough ATF that isn't getting high mileage at the other places.

[Dogers69]

Just checked and pedwest is still closed.

I don't think it will be open during the Biden administration. Border patrol is so overwhelmed that they admit some nights a thousand people can go through border on their cameras in just one area but they don't have man power to send any men to them. So a 2nd open border checkpoint is the last thing they need right now. It's to the point now I don't know whose actually not allowed in anymore. So it's a time consuming process to pick everyone up, take them to a shelter for couple days fingerprint and arsge transportation to whatever city they are moving to.

[Hargow20]

Just checked and pedwest is still closed.

I was told last week that Ped West would open today.

[Gregyyr]

I researched real estate in Mexico and you could do it legally, but it is either all cash deal or mortgage rates in the double digits. Why not leverage in SoCal and use single digit rates and use debt arbitrage to pay for your rental in Mexico? Just in past year housing prices in SoCal appreciated at 25%. Most could probably cash out refi and pay cash for some of the new construction going on down in Tijuana.

I do believe you could totally do that. But the way I know the market here in San Diego I need to have that level of expertise in Tijuana plus a ton more to reduce my risk. I totally do believe you could buy a fixer upper or buy a small place around Tijuana and put sweat equity into it and resell as the value and market rises.

I could do that with equity I have in a property here in SD but but no way I am going to risk it knowing just how much I don't know down there.

If I moved down there and lived for a while. Then yea, I could see giving it a go. Kind of like how I didn't go down to Tijuana for 20 years. As I just didn't know the area, was afraid of what I heard on the news etc. But thanks to you mongers and a lot of experience now I feel very comfortable going down to Tijuana.

G.

[Sol12]

It is actually the area the asylum seekers from Central America ended up. A YouTube video showed who lives their and interview of their lives. Some tried to escape MS13 or gang hits on their husbands, brothers, and sons. One said if a husband or brother died during their service to the gang, then they owe their son to the gang. Screwed up and don't want to make it political as I despise freeloaders, but at the same time should give people that are actually going to work an opportunity. Not sure where they would relocate them.

From what I read a majority of the migrants are from Mexico. They have been trying to move them out of that area for a few weeks but only a few have agreed. They think by staying close to the border gives them some type of priority on getting into the US so they are apprehensive to relocate to a shelter. Last week they put a fence around that area and it really upset the migrants, than the power mysteriously got cut off to them so they didn't have any electricity. Some were afraid that the migrants were planning to all try and make a dash for the border knowing that they couldn't all be caught. Also seems to be more and more boats landing on California beaches. Now they have more migrants arriving from Brazil and Venezuela. I think the WhatsApp Groups are telling them to just get into the US because Biden will soon be giving all citizenship.

The hard part with hearing those stories about the gangs and such is that they all communicate with each other and know what to say in order to get asylum and the government doesn't have time to verify and usually let's them into the US for a later court date. The ex has been trying to get her family to come but thy aren't interested in it. Others she knows have come claiming asylum spent some time here than were rejected so now they are working to save money to just come back illegally.

If you want to do something o impress your girl since she likes to give money to the poor you can get some old clothes especially for winter and take to the shelters to give to the people. Actually any of you reading this can do this. The guy that runs one of the escort sites usually does a Christmas party at the beginning of December to try and raise money for the local Tijuana orphanage. Not sure if he still dos but I know with the cold weather coming most won't be prepared for it.

[Member #4730]

Basically it's not really "investing" . As you kind of need to accept that your money could be gone when you buy something. I am thinking anyone who does buy down there probably can afford to loose the money if all hell breaks loose.

G.

I researched real estate in Mexico and you could do it legally, but it is either all cash deal or mortgage rates in the double digits. Why not leverage in SoCal and use single digit rates and use debt arbitrage to pay for your rental in Mexico? Just in past year housing prices in SoCal appreciated at 25%. Most could probably cash out refi and pay cash for some of the new construction going on down in Tijuana.

[Member #4730]

One thing they need to do it move all the tent people who are living in the square that pedwest leads to in Tijuana as it's still filled with tents.

G.

It is actually the area the asylum seekers from Central America ended up. A YouTube video showed who lives their and interview of their lives. Some tried to escape MS13 or gang hits on their husbands, brothers, and sons. One said if a husband or brother died during their service to the gang, then they owe their son to the gang. Screwed up and don't want to make it political as I despise freeloaders, but at the same time should give people that are actually going to work an opportunity. Not sure where they would relocate them.

[VIslander]

Rambo,

Unless you are on a walker or wheelchair, Cascada would rent you tiny rooms with high prices, $90 a day would be $2700 a month.

If you can walk or take UBER, fairly nice, clean, quiet apartments in safe areas near La Zona can be rented at much lower prices. We can have a nice, quiet place to take your sweethearts all night and have good sleep. Most bar girls would go to guys' places for TLNs with discounts, making late dinners, drinking, partying and of course hot sex all night.

Many girls new to Tijuana would love to have a nice, clean, safe place to stay while they start their bar careers and find permanent places. They are the sweetest girls to have around.

I have been looking for apartments in safe and convenient areas near La Zona. A couple guys can split a multibedroom apartment with full kitchen, cleaning maids cheaply. GF's will provide some of the finest cuisine you can get anywhere in BC..

If I show my friend this post he'll apply for permanent residence, LOL.

[Gregyyr]

Depends on where you invest. If you invest in property that becomes a locale where illicit activities such as drug dealing is facilitated they will offer to buy it from you but at a price that you can't refuse. Be careful where you invest. Due diligence is key.

Basically it's not really "investing" . As you kind of need to accept that your money could be gone when you buy something. I am thinking anyone who does buy down there probably can afford to loose the money if all hell breaks loose.

G.