Matthew Suarez

Matthew Suárez (Matingas) was born in Mexico City in 1986 to American parents and grew up in Querétaro speaking both English and Spanish. He moved to Michigan (downriver) for his awful senior year of High School. He went to college at Saint John’s University in Minnesota and graduated with a double BA in Music and Conflict Studies. After college, he worked as a photojournalist chasing celebrities around. Yes, he was a paparazzo in LA for four years though he only intended to do it for only a year (hey, it was 2008 and the economy was in a recession and his photographs were published worldwide). In 2011 he turned twenty-five and pondered about what the f*ck he was doing chasing celebrities around. He went on a 3-month journey of self-bullshit discovery through the United States driving over 5,000 miles visiting friends and relatives in various cities. When he returned to Los Angeles, he couldn’t stand the city or chasing celebrities anymore that he desired to be a vagabond. That didn’t end up well, so he fumbled around San Diego for some months, and ended up in the forsaken land of Tijuana. The first months in Tijuana were spent drunk, miserable, and absorbing the wild city (that’s where the first book starts). With nothing to do, he started to give tours to lost Gringos and created Tijuana Adventure. He also started writing his blog narrating encounters he had with celebrities and about life in general named “Word Vomit.” At around the same time, he also landed a job writing about soccer in English for a spin-off page of MedioTiempo.com. After a year of dealing with the world of sports journalism and inspired by his sensei master “Chad,” he quit his job and ventured to the realm of freelance writing, submitting most of his work to the San Diego Reader where he is still published to this day. His first cover story in the magazine was about the rise of craft beer in Baja. It was followed by more cover stories about dealing with the border, living in two cities at the same time, deported friends, and the Spanglish language. With his background in photography, he also became the photographer for the Reader taking pictures for over 100 covers since 2017. He continues his life in Tijuana as a freelance writer and photographer, border crosser, beer aficionado, street taco connoisseur, an avid gamer, Reddit shitposter, and classical guitarist.