Unplanned trip to Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila - México - UPDATED

One of my mother's close friends is an elderly widow that does not drive. She has an older sister who is not in good health and lives in Ciudad Acuña (across the border from Del Rio, Texas). She called me Sunday night to ask if I could drive her to Acuña today as her sister has once again been hospitalized. I have no problem taking her.

Hard to believe that I have not been to México in six months, my last trip was in September 2018. My goodness, there has been so much progress since then. On my last visit, they were building a new Mexican Customs building. It is now complete and very nice. I wish I had been able to take pictures but my camera broke a while ago and I am not sold on using my cellphone as a substitute camera.

I had to be vigilant as they have changed the traffic direction of many streets to ease the flow of incoming traffic which now offers several alternatives to different parts of the city. I drove her to the hospital her sister was at and thought how lucky we were to find a parking space up front.

When we got to the entrance it was locked and there was a sign on the door saying they were only receiving ER patients. Soon the guard opened the door to tell us the same thing but upon informing him her sister was hospitalized there he allowed us to come in.

You might ask yourself why a hospital would lock their doors?  This is not a public hospital, it is only for federal government workers.  Her sister is a former school teacher and in México they are considered federal employees. It falls under the ISSSTE whereas non-government employees are under the auspices of El Seguro Social and have a separate hospital and health system.

It turns out it was a national holiday in México. The actual holiday is on March 21st to honor Benito Juarez the "Benedict of the Americas" and one of the best President's México has ever had. Following the footsteps of many countries, they decided to celebrate it today so Mexicans could have a three-day weekend.

If you have been reading me for a while you know that my favorite day of the week to go to Acuña is on Tuesday, also known as "Martes de Cosecha"...translation..."Harvest Tuesday" where they have excellent prices on produce.

Since it was Monday, I headed to Soriana where they have good quality produce any day of the week as I will not be able to return tomorrow. Stocked up on celery, cabbage, chayote, and onions (for a future soup).  Was disappointed they did not have serranos and while I could have bought jalapeños I have found that the spicy consistency varies.

I also bought Nutrisse (hair color) and Johnson's Baby Oil at a fraction of the cost we pay in the USA. Nutrisse because it is manufactured in México and Johnson & Johnson is made in Colombia.

Bought several bottles of hot sauce and one of guacamole dip and got a free mole. Went by their food courtyard and found a special on rotisserie chicken. One sold for $79.00 pesos ( $4.22 USD) at an exchange rate of $18.70 but if you bought two you got it for $119.00  (6.36 USD).

When we were heading to Mexico the lines to cross to the USA were long (At the time I had no idea it was a holiday and everybody was headed to Del Rio to shop). Was hoping that by now those lines had shrunk but unfortunately that was not the case. It took me 1 hour 7 minutes to cross the border back to Del Rio.

There were a lot of vendors on the bridge selling their wares, I was interested in buying a cowboy hat but no one was selling those today. I would much rather buy it from these individuals than from stores that exploit them and pay low prices for their handmade goods.

I am going to go on a mini-rant (Yes, another one)... I do not know where tourists got the idea that these people enjoy haggling for their goods...they DO NOT!  Please do not try to negotiate a lower price as they are barely making a profit as it is. Consider yourself fortunate that you can pay the asking price and a dollar or two will not make you or break you, yet the same can not be said for them. If they can make a decent profit in their country they would not feel the need to migrate to ours...end of rant!

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Spurs Corner

I can not say enough about OUR Spurs.  The game this evening against the champion Golden State Warriors was a thing of beauty.  We played defense, we executed our game plan and we WON.  We are the hottest team in the league with nine wins in a row!

Go Spurs Go!!!