I was told you could buy any dental, optical, or medicine just over the border in Algodones, Mexico, and they weren't kidding. Everywhere you go in a four block area you are bombarded with hawkers trying to get you to buy their wares or willing to recommend someone else.
It started with us driving just over 3 hours from Casa Grande to Yuma. Then you go one exit into California, turn South and two miles later you are at the border. We parked on the US side and walked over.
You should have seen the look on Mary Lynn's face when I parked the car and said get out; we're walking over the border into Mexico. It took awhile for me to convince her it was a lot easier than driving into Mexico, fighting for non-existent parking spots, and then taking the car back through US Customs. Basically this is because vehicles have many 'nooks & crannies' to inspect. Consequently a car is subject to a much longer inspection. This means the line of cars waiting to re-enter the US is quite long. Not to mention you need special insurance for driving in Mexico.
I finally convinced her and we were across the border and into Algodones within two minutes.
This border town specializes in meeting the medical, dental, and optical needs of US seniors. Many of these seniors are on fixed budgets and have little/no insurance. Heck, even with insurance some medicines are obscenely over priced.
Even before you are across the border you see the sides of the buildings in Mexico advertising complete offerings of dental services at unbelievably low prices. Many of the dentists are US trained; some live in the US and commute over the border to take advantage of the lower operating/insurance costs.
It seemed that every dentist office also hosted an optician on-site who could sell you glasses that would be ready for pick-up within an hour or so, including an eye exam. Lowest price we found was $40 for basic frames. They'd even recommend a restaurant to grab lunch in while you waited.
MLA does not particularly like the verbal assault that takes place as you walk down the streets. Several times I had to remind her that she was in charge and could simply say "No, I'm not interested". And as good a bargain hunter that she is, I had to keep reminding her that no one pays the first or second price offered by the vendor; every thing's negotiable. In fact, it's expected and built into the pricing. She likes to comparison shop based on price and that's tough to do when nothing is marked.
That said, the pharmacies were pretty well run. All you had to say is what medicine you were interested in and they would quickly produce both the medicine and the prescription for that medicine, all at a very low price. I've talked with several people staying at various RV parks here in Arizona that have purchased medicines in Mexico and have found the medicine to be effective as well as extremely low priced.
MLA & I get almost all of our prescriptions mailed to us (by US companies) at a great price. With us travelling all over it's easier than moving prescriptions from town to town. However I do have one medicine which is incredibly expensive -- in the US. In Mexico it was less than 20% of the cost in the US. Wow!
Also available over the border is low cost alcohol. MLA and I don't drink much however about once a month MLA likes to enjoy a margarita so we picked up a bottle of Tequila and a bottle of Grand Marnier. That's almost a year's supply for MLA unless she invites the neighbors over...
The best was hearing a few of the hawkers out front of the pharmacies trying to lure the tourists in by saying something to the effect of "Put some ohmm-paw back in gran-paw -- Viagra sold here". Too funny.
In addition their are vendors selling jewelry, leather goods, straw goods, stained glass windows, and a huge variety of gaudy lawn ornaments, usually some form of pottery that's been hand painted in bright colors. Everything you can imagine. Unbelievably (to me) people were buying this stuff like crazy and then lugging it back across the border.
I saw one women struggling to carry a huge turtle about the size of a kitchen trash can as we started through US Customs. Turns out she had several of her friends carrying other pieces of pottery across the border for her.
Not our thing however she was ecstatic with her 'bargains'.
See Ya!
It started with us driving just over 3 hours from Casa Grande to Yuma. Then you go one exit into California, turn South and two miles later you are at the border. We parked on the US side and walked over.
You should have seen the look on Mary Lynn's face when I parked the car and said get out; we're walking over the border into Mexico. It took awhile for me to convince her it was a lot easier than driving into Mexico, fighting for non-existent parking spots, and then taking the car back through US Customs. Basically this is because vehicles have many 'nooks & crannies' to inspect. Consequently a car is subject to a much longer inspection. This means the line of cars waiting to re-enter the US is quite long. Not to mention you need special insurance for driving in Mexico.
I finally convinced her and we were across the border and into Algodones within two minutes.This border town specializes in meeting the medical, dental, and optical needs of US seniors. Many of these seniors are on fixed budgets and have little/no insurance. Heck, even with insurance some medicines are obscenely over priced.
Even before you are across the border you see the sides of the buildings in Mexico advertising complete offerings of dental services at unbelievably low prices. Many of the dentists are US trained; some live in the US and commute over the border to take advantage of the lower operating/insurance costs.
It seemed that every dentist office also hosted an optician on-site who could sell you glasses that would be ready for pick-up within an hour or so, including an eye exam. Lowest price we found was $40 for basic frames. They'd even recommend a restaurant to grab lunch in while you waited.
MLA does not particularly like the verbal assault that takes place as you walk down the streets. Several times I had to remind her that she was in charge and could simply say "No, I'm not interested". And as good a bargain hunter that she is, I had to keep reminding her that no one pays the first or second price offered by the vendor; every thing's negotiable. In fact, it's expected and built into the pricing. She likes to comparison shop based on price and that's tough to do when nothing is marked.
That said, the pharmacies were pretty well run. All you had to say is what medicine you were interested in and they would quickly produce both the medicine and the prescription for that medicine, all at a very low price. I've talked with several people staying at various RV parks here in Arizona that have purchased medicines in Mexico and have found the medicine to be effective as well as extremely low priced.MLA & I get almost all of our prescriptions mailed to us (by US companies) at a great price. With us travelling all over it's easier than moving prescriptions from town to town. However I do have one medicine which is incredibly expensive -- in the US. In Mexico it was less than 20% of the cost in the US. Wow!
Also available over the border is low cost alcohol. MLA and I don't drink much however about once a month MLA likes to enjoy a margarita so we picked up a bottle of Tequila and a bottle of Grand Marnier. That's almost a year's supply for MLA unless she invites the neighbors over...The best was hearing a few of the hawkers out front of the pharmacies trying to lure the tourists in by saying something to the effect of "Put some ohmm-paw back in gran-paw -- Viagra sold here". Too funny.
In addition their are vendors selling jewelry, leather goods, straw goods, stained glass windows, and a huge variety of gaudy lawn ornaments, usually some form of pottery that's been hand painted in bright colors. Everything you can imagine. Unbelievably (to me) people were buying this stuff like crazy and then lugging it back across the border.
I saw one women struggling to carry a huge turtle about the size of a kitchen trash can as we started through US Customs. Turns out she had several of her friends carrying other pieces of pottery across the border for her.Not our thing however she was ecstatic with her 'bargains'.
See Ya!
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