Day Trip to Mexico

 

 

A day trip to Mexico?  Why not, especially when you've been staying at a New Mexico State Park called Pancho Villa State Park, just 4 miles from the border and there's a Mexican town right across the border. A friend and I had been hearing of people going over for dental work, eyeglasses and just general shopping. There's a large store/restaurant called The Pink Store - and it is painted pink - a Pepto Bismol pink! They have wonderful Mexican pottery and glassware as well as the woven rugs and blankets, jewelry and some clothing. Unfortunately, most of their items were pricey.

 



Since I had not seen a dentist since I left Florida about 7 months ago, and my friend needed to get hers cleaned, I decided to get brave and get my teeth cleaned. The dentist was a woman who knew very little English, but any time she had to relay any information or answer any questions, she had a translator come into the room. They are set up to service lots of Americans, especially RVers.

The pharmacies have a full stock of medications and most can be obtained without a physician's prescription, even if one is needed in the States. I went found that a medication I take was cheaper than in the States, so I bought a small supply. This is typical is most countries and I always got great deals in the Caribbean on anything I needed.



We had lunch at a tiny local restaurant, not at all in the tourist district. The waitress/cook didn't speak a word of English. I didn't recognize some of the food items, since it's different from the States, but we knew the basics. I had a burrito and Coke for $2 and my friend had 4 beef tacos and Coke for $5. Great prices and the food was good too.

Robin wanted sunglasses, so she brought her prescription to one of the stores and she had glasses made while we explored town and had lunch. I had a pair of old prescription sunglasses that I only used a few times, so I had the lenses changed to non-prescription sunglasses for spares. That cost me only $20, when WalMart had given me a price way over that.

 

We had a very interesting day, and I really enjoyed walking around town and seeing all the shops and trying to communicate with people with my limited knowledge of Spanish. It reminded me of some of the places I saw in Venezuela.  After going through Customs, we headed home to our park.