MEXICO—MORE THAN MARGARITAS

Mexico is famous for warm weather, sandy beaches, cheap tequila and we’ve all heard that things that happen in Mexico stay in Mexico.  Well, we are just a few miles from Los Algodones, Mexico and it is world famous for having the largest concentration of dentists and pharmacies in a 4 block area.  People from the US and Canada flock to Los Algodones to purchase medications and to get dental work done at very reasonable rates so we had to try it ourselves.

We obtained a recommendation for a dentist from someone here at the RV resort and made an appointment for this past Tuesday.  It takes about 20 minutes to drive to the parking lot on the USA side of the border and then you just walk across without anyone checking you or your credentials.  On the other side, you are bombarded by Mexicans inviting you to purchase all sorts of tourist items in crowded shops along the sidewalks, medications from the pharmacy and of course, to “come see the best dentist in the world.”  Trust me, having an appointment and sticking to that plan is the best way to go.

We checked in at the office early and were told that we should come back in a little while so we went out and had a late breakfast.  That was nice as it was a cool day and we had a hot breakfast of eggs, refried beans, red chilaquiles (tortilla chips with sauce and white cheese) and a tossed salad.  Back at the office, we did wait for a while and spent the whole time talking to other patients who were in the process of getting work done.  I was just there for a cleaning but Stuart wanted a cleaning and needed to get a couple of crowns done on the two molars that he had root canals performed on in October.

The dentist and his staff spoke English fairly well and overall, it was a good experience.  The cleaning was very quick and not as thorough as at home but for $30, it was worth it.  Stuart’s crowns were about one quarter of the cost back at home ($200 per crown) and they were perfectly colour matched and fit well.  We had to go back on the Thursday to replace the temporary crowns with the final ones and it gave us a chance to look around more and do some shopping.  You can’t buy too many T-shirts when you’re away from home!!

The line-ups to get back into the US weren’t bad at all.  The first day, it took us about 20 minutes to get through and the second time was about 45 minutes.  We heard that the lines can be very long and take up to 3 hours—sure glad it was quick for us.

The weather is warming up even more and we are in the mid-seventies during the day and about 50 F (10C) at night.  People are starting to hang out around the pools and generally doing more walking, biking and visiting.  It’s a bit like a never ending party around here for some people.