International Travel to Los Algodones, Mexico

Another reason we chose our campground at Hidden Cove was its proximity to Mexico. We've heard that the town of Los Algodones makes for a safe trip across the border. So we loaded up the passports and headed west to cross into Mexico. We are used to making border crossings in Texas, where our first order of business was climbing up and over the bridge over the Rio Grande River. But here the crossing is flat and dry. We parked our car for $6 in an Indian reservation parking lot on the U.S. side, and began our exploration of Los Algodones, Mexico.

The streets are a little crowded, and the traffic a little chaotic, so we were glad to be walking instead of driving.

There are the usual stalls of brightly colored goods that the shop keepers hope to tempt the American tourists to take home. But tourists that live in a motor home can't be tempted with these big heavy pieces.

So the only shopping we did was for services. That would include a cheap pedicure for Denisa.

At the same place, Mark got a $5 hair cut. Instead of adding weight to the motor home from buying things, technically we should be coming home lighter.

We reversed this trend, by stopping by the open-air restaurant in the middle of the plaza for lunch. We shared a combination Mexican plate for lunch, and enjoyed the music on the stage. We even did a little dancing after our chimichanga and enchiladas settled. This place was really crowded with Americans and Canadians enjoying the beautiful weather and great deals of Mexico.

One of the reasons that many of those people cross the border is for medical services. We stepped inside several different optometrist offices that look just like the ones back in the United States. Our next door neighbor at the campground made the trip to Southern Arizona just to get new bifocals in Mexico.

The streets of Los Algodones are lined with dentists and optometrists and pharmacies. There was a news story on our local television channel that explained there are more dentists per capita in Los Algodones than any other city in the world. There are 300 clinics with 900 dentists in this tiny border town. We talked to other campground neighbors that are in this area specifically for dental procedures. One reported that the procedure their dentist in New Jersey estimated would cost $3,000 was completed here for $800. So we have personal testimonies from our neighbors here that the international medical trips are certainly being used.

Our last stop in Mexico was for gelato before we headed for the border. Okay, so we're definitely going back heavier instead of lighter! But that's not a bad cup of strawberry ice cream for 80 cents.

We took our ice cream, and walked--and walked--and walked to find the end of the line to go through customs. The good news is the entire line is shaded, but the bad news was the line was several blocks long. It took a full hour to get to the customs officers, who seemed surprised that we had absolutely nothing to declare when we crossed back into the United States.

We had a good day in our first trip across the border at Los Algodones. Our favorite story of the day happened as we walked down the street with our gelato. One of the street vendors teased us that his favorite flavor was strawberry, and he would take it off our hands. The same vendor gave this guy a hard time about the load of bricks in his trailer. He yelled, "Are you going to use those bricks to build the wall?" There's still a sense of humor in Mexico!