My Reward

Yesterday's trip to Ciudad Acuna was exclusively to get my dental work done.  So much so that I did not even take my mother with me which does not happen often.  I figured I would be in pain and in not so good of a mood and would come right back.

I was not photographing this store but the exchange
rates on this block

To my disbelief the opposite was true, I was in a good mood and had no pain (was still numb). I therefore decided to go purchase my medication for this month instead of waiting till next week.

I am always looking at the dollar exchange rates and if they are favorable I will buy or sell pesos depending on the occasion.  Today was an odd day, it seemed the exchange houses had different rates.

It was not a good day to sell dollars but it was a good day to buy them.  Since the Dentist charges in US dollars it was not an issue.  However this is also a Cyber Journal so I wanted to document today's rates.

A little known secret if you happen to purchase your medications in Mexico.  As you go further away from the main tourist district the price of medications drops even at the same pharmacy branches.  I prefer to buy mine at the pharmacies located inside of grocery stores like Gutierrez and Bodegas Aurrera.

As I made my way to the pharmacy...I happen to pass by their bakery and this cake called out to me...

Decided that I deserved a reward and what better reward than a chocolate cake with strawberries and slivers of white chocolate on top?  It was 115.00 Mexican pesos.

                                      115.00 divided by today's best rate of 12.45 = USD $9.24

The lines to cross back were not very long and I got a nice young officer to greet me back to the United States of America.  Home Sweet Home!

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Company, Dr. visit, more rain

Hi guys :-)  Decided to stay one more day in Houston and drove back to Del Rio early Monday morning.  Good thing I decided to load the car the night before because it was raining quite hard at 5:00 am and the last thing I needed was to get wet.

Knew my favorite uncle was going to come visit us but in a way I was dreading it because I have brought so many things down from my house in Houston that my room is crammed full of boxes and since my room also doubles as the guest room, that meant moving them.

Yesterday me, my mom and my uncle went to Mexico so I could see a doctor.  Most pharmacies have a separate doctor's office and I got to see one with no waiting line, was given a prescription, went and got the medication at the same pharmacy and was on my way in 15 minutes only because I had to go back to get him to apply the two penicillin shots he prescribed for me.

He charged me $35.00 mexican pesos for the office visit and $20.00 for each shot he administered for a total of $75.00 pesos.  Since I am lazy I use an exchange rate of $10.00 pesos to 1 USD.  So I saw the doctor for about $7.50 USD.

Medications cost $216.00 pesos or the equivalent of $21.60 USD.  The medication included 15 antibiotics, 10 gelcaps for fever and aches, 2 shots of penicillin, a small jar of cough syrup and a package of 4 disposable syringes.

Total cost for doctor and medications came to $291.00 mexican pesos or $29.10 USD. probably less because the exchange rate yesterday was $12.85 to $1.00 USD but I had pesos handy so I did not need to exchange dollars.  If I had bought dollars it would have cost me $22.65 USD.  For people who live along the US-Mexico border and do not have health insurance this is a viable option.

Last night we got more rain, I don't know how much but it was a good test for my Kodiak Canvas tent and it passed with flying colors.  I did not get a single drop of water in it and all my boxes are dry.