Martes de Cosecha - Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico

Last Thursday we made a trip to Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila in order to go to the beauty shop. While I did manage to get a couple of groceries at Aurrera (owned by Walmart) they did not have a good selection of produce and the little that they had was expensive by Mexican standards.

A cold front and rain are on the way. Decided to take advantage of sunny skies and temperatures in the 80's and made our way back across the border.

The new toll booths are almost finished.  They relocated them for security reasons so they can be closer to new ICE and Homeland Security building.

If you have been reading me for a while, you know that I prefer to go to Mexico on Tuesday as grocery stores like Gutierrez, Merco and Soriana have lower prices on that day.  It used to be called "Martes de Frutas y Verduras" (Tuesday of Fruit and Vegetables" but it is now called "Martes de Cosecha" (Harvest Tuesday).

Was surprised at how many vehicles there were...many with Texas license plates sprinkled with some other states...Snowbirds looking for a good bargain?

I found excellent deals including the bargain of the day, tomatoes at $3.90 Mexican pesos for one kilo (one kilo equals 2.2 lbs).  To simplify this, let's use an example of $20.00 pesos to one US dollar.  3.90 Mexican pesos divided by 20.00 exchange rate equals .195 US cents.

.195 cents divided by 2.2 lbs ( the equivalent of a kilo) equals .0886 cents or .09 American cents per pound.  Now tell me that is not a GREAT deal!

I bought tomatoes, cilantro, onions, bananas, chayote, carrots, serranos, squash, papaya, and melon. Other food items such as Oaxacan cheese, turkey hot dogs, sweet bread, bolillos.  Non-food items at excellent prices...toilet paper and bleach.

$11.90 divided by $20.00 = .595 cents per kilo
.595 kilos divided by 2.2 = .27 American cents a pound

You will find better liquor prices at grocery stores versus liquor stores.

The same goes for beer...

A six pack of Bud Light goes for the US equivalent
of $2.98 

If you prefer to have a mixed drink at a local bar, they let you know up front how much they take your dollar for...

So how much is that in US currency?  The first number is the Compra number, which is how many Mexican pesos you can buy with your dollar. The second number is the Venta number which is how many Mexican pesos it takes to buy one US dollar.  For our purpose focus on the Compra figure. I used 20 to 1 ratio, had I had used the higher rate my bargains were even cheaper.

Here are some exchange rates down Exchange Rate Alley:

The line to return to the USA was just about the same as last week's but this time without cars being searched...12 minutes.

I have been asked in the past if there are some safe taxi companies to take you to Mexico. Yes, there are. To be fair all the taxi companies in Del Rio are safe at least to my knowledge I have never heard of someone having a problem with them.

Before they built the new ICE and Homeland Security building, the city offered free parking lots in case you wanted to walk across. Those are no longer available but you can park your vehicle in the taxi company's lot provided of course that you use them to transport you across the border. These establishments are open 24 hours a day.

There are two companies that have their installation close to the International Bridge...Border Taxi and Amigos Taxi.  However, most taxi companies will take you to Mexico.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.