YumaBev goes to Mexico

The walk over to Mexico

We took a trip to Mexico. The small border town of Algodones is just 25 miles away, so we park on the USA side and just walk over. Once you cross into Mexico, the hawkers start their chants: "Need a Dentist?", "Need Glasses?", "Best prices on drugs" are standard ones. Then there are those who have a sense of humor: "Leather purses, made from real cows" or "Gold chains, almost free" and my favorite "Pretty dresses, for teenager like you".  The sidewalks are uneven, the alleys are narrow and the hawkers sometimes get too close. I'm afraid of falling, so it's stressful.  If I didn't have Parkinson's Disease, I might enjoy it and look around, but I am in a hurry to get what I need and get back to the USA.

Mary's sells everything

Why go there? Because Algodones is filled with Dentists, Pharmacies and Optical shops. You can buy leather goods, jewelry, liquor, pottery, clothes, hats, paintings, etc.  You name it and Algodones probably has it and some of it is actually made in Mexico.  And you can buy all these items cheap, sometimes one tenth of what it would cost in the USA.

Shelves full of medicines

I went to get medication for my Rosacea (red face) and $20 is a much better price than $85. The medicine is made by the same Big Pharma, the only difference is the instructions are in Spanish.

Even Viagra is available

First time visitors are shocked by the Pharmacies, long shelves of medicines and sign boards outside with prices. No prescriptions needed, but there are limits to how much you can bring back to the USA, so we make several trips each year. Some folks go every few weeks.    

Getting in takes minutes, getting out can take hours depending on the time of year. When my step-daughter was here in February, it took 2 1/2 hours to get up to the gate, today there was no line at all.

No line to get out on this trip

It was a hot and slow day in Algodones, even the watch dog was sleeping, but the hawkers were more gregarious than usual, so I didn't stop to look at purses or hats.  I didn't even get a cinnamon roll, the bakery has closed for the summer.

Let sleeping dogs lie, but take a photo, might come in handy

I did go to the Dentist and got some new glasses, but I'll tell you about those adventures another day. After my foreign excursion, what I really wanted was lunch and a nap (and I got both).

Que tenga un excelente día - Have a great day (in Spanish) 

Thank you for reading this story, I hope you enjoyed it. This is just one of a hundred stories in my book, Parkinson's Humor - Funny Stories about My Life with Parkinson's Disease. Please consider purchasing a copy from Amazon or your favorite online book seller.  Thank you and have a Happy Parkie Day!