The trip that almost wasn't

I keep two calendars of appointments one for mother and one for myself.  Hers is obviously more important.  With the administration threating to shut down the border since last October 2018 and actually doing so in California for several hours last year I canceled my remaining appointments for 2018 so I could resume them in 2019.

This year did not start any better with the long lines at the border.  Have only managed a trip to the dentist thus far.  Scheduled a follow-up appointment but could not find my calendar so left the card in my purse and of course, forgot about it.

I was reading Barney's blog (OFM Adventures) when he mentioned his own trip to the dentist and something just kept nagging at me. Yesterday morning I found the appointment card only to realize it was today at noon and had less than two hours to get ready!  Thank you, Barney.

My dentist is a stickler for punctuality as one should be so was surprised that I had to wait for 30 minutes.  Listening to her son talking on his cell I understood why.  He had driven with his mother from San Angelo, Texas (a 3 hours drive) for her to have an emergency root canal.

Today I had the old filling removed from my two molars and replaced with a more natural color substance.  Fillings are $58.00 dollars each so today I spent $116.00 USD.

Tuesday's are Martes de Cosecha...Harvest Tuesday at Gutierrez.  They have really good specials on fruits and vegetables so much so that the other stores do not try to match their prices anymore and now offer their own version but on different days.

The shade canopies at Gutierrez give
it a leg up on the competition.

Drove by Gutierrez which has a much larger parking lot than this picture depicts, there is more on the side and the back...it was packed!  You know my rule...NO LINES...unless they are unavoidable like the lines to cross back to the USA.

Drove to the smaller Bodegas Aurrera (owned by Walmart) mostly so I could use their Wi-Fi as my cell phone does not work in Mexico and I wanted to check the Border Wait Times App.  It said there was a 35-minute wait which seemed incredible to believe.

Their limited shade canopies are no match
to those at Gutierrez.

Before I list the prices...here are the Exchange Rates...top number is the BUY rate for $1.00 US dollar you can buy $17.40 Mexican Pesos. The second number is the SELL rate, they will sell you one US dollar for $18.70 Mexican Pesos.

Exchange rates for 5-07-19

I wanted to buy some onions and tomatoes but I did not like the prices so I will buy those in Del Rio.

The last time I was in Bodegas Aurrera was at their larger store on the northwest part of town.  I remember mentioning then that there were stockers everywhere and empty shelves. The same took place today at this smaller location.

I was going to buy a bottle of Kahlua and save $3.75 (Texas liquor tax per bottle) by crossing at the Amistad Dam Port of Entry but the liquor shelves were barren.  Ended buying 3 bottles of hot sauce that were on sale for $20.00 pesos (20.00 divided by 17.40 equals $1.15 USD).

With the re-routing of traffic to the new Mexican Customs building
you have to pay attention to the signs or end up lost like what
happened to me the first couple of times.

With no reason to drive to the Amistad Dam Port of Entry headed back home the regular way still doubting the 35-minute wait quoted on the App. Tolls to cross to the USA are 28.00 Mexican Pesos the equivalent of $1.61 USD.

 

 When something sounds too good to be true it's because it is.  This was NOT a 35-minute line.

It was hot and humid around 88 degrees and it took 1 hour 20 minutes to cross the border because only two lanes were open to traffic.

When I got home I decided to make an early post because I had my NBA Semifinal games this evening only to find the cable, internet and home phone were not working.  The cable came back in time to watch my games but both the internet and telephone were out until 7:32 a.m. this morning.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Trip to the dentist in Ciudad Acuna

Last Thursday March 12th we made our way back to Mexico so mother could get a tooth pulled.  Remember back on Christmas day when she fell?  Well, she broke her tooth in half and it had been bothering her.


With the main road out of the subdivision closed for a month, it took us 35 minutes to get to Mexico when normally it would only take us five minutes.  Besides being an excellent dentist one of the reasons we go to him is that he has his own private parking and mother does not have to walk very far.


Having to run out to feed the parking meters is not fun.  On a positive note Ciudad Acuna did away with said meters recently and I am very happy they did as I have been on the receiving end of parking citations in the past (two).


Her tooth extraction cost $45.00 US dollars and it included the exam, X-rays, antibiotics and the actual extraction.  I have no idea what it would cost in the States as the last time I went to a dentist in the US was back when I lived in Houston and had dental insurance...a long time ago!


Usually I will pay in Mexican currency but as volatile as the exchange rates have been lately, I thought it best to pay in American dollars.


Would love to post some pictures but I am now using Internet Explorer the only browser that will allow me to go online and it is not compatible with Blogger.  I also apologize for the large gaps but again it is caused by having to use IE :-(


Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Spurs Corner


No Spurs game tonight but I sure did enjoy watching Lebron get beat up by his former teammates :)

Long Postponed Trip to Dentist

After reading this post title you are probably saying...yes Belinda...we know you are a procrastinator.  I will admit to that, but in this case it goes a lot deeper.  When I was 8 years old my two front teeth would not come out and I had to have oral surgery.  I had previously been traumatized by other dentists and would usually put up a good fight, my mother said no more...dad said "how bad can it be?"  He soon found out!

While it was a horrible experience... I can now admit to getting a sick pleasure at seeing my dad suffer and kind of playing it up a bit (shame on me) jajajajaja!  I also have (and this is not make believe) a terrible fear of needles.

Private parking exclusive to the Dental Center.
No more parking meters to feed or parking tickets to pay.

I believe I may have been banned from Castle Dental Centers in Houston after I screamed my head off when they were pulling two of my wisdom teeth.  They had the nerve to ask me to please be quiet because I was scaring the children, lol... I.NEVER returned to that horrible place again!  If they had sedated me properly, I would not have felt the pain!

I have been grinding my teeth for years and my night guard has taken a beating and was in need of replacement.  I had a filling that fell out years ago but that had not bothered me until recently.  So needles or not, I had to put on my big girl panties and have the matter resolved.

I think I did pretty good...I did not scream when he twice injected me.  He took it like a trooper when he placed the mold mixture in my mouth and I gagged and almost threw up on him.  He did not seem to be annoyed when I did not follow his instructions to breath through my nose instead of my mouth.  All in all I believe I did not give any cause to be banned from this dental practice :D

I think if this wonderful Dentist could put up with me...well, he can put up with anybody :)

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.