Marty's Travels

My house has wheels

Pretty evening

The full moon rising on the east, an acceptable desert sunset to the west, warm temperatures, no wind. Very nice.

Had my teeth cleaned in Algodones this morning. Got there early so no waiting, and no problems found. I was pleased they had remodeled their office. Correction, their patient rooms. The medicos in Algodones don’t put a lot of money into waiting rooms, frontal appearances, potted plants and the like, focusing on the things that actually matter. Keeps the prices down. All new equipment, I was impressed. And the basic cleaning and (very quick) inspection was still $45.

You can get that for free in Algodones, but you can bet they’ll find a reason to charge for you for something. I did a walk-in to find this dentist and they’ve (he and his wife) been fair and competent, no tricks. Quite satisfied with them for seven years now.

I watched a lady lose it with an aggressive street seller. “What is wrong with you people?! Stay away from me!!” Not an unusual sight, just a case of failure to adapt to foreign cultural norms.

Watching the spray painters in the town square (such as it is) is always interesting. Last week the artists had sold out of Seahawks stuff (plenty of Broncos things), but had replenished the supply by today. Big seller.

There are always children around selling things, usually starting the trade at about age 6 or 7. They offer small baskets of chewing gum or something quite trivial, are extremely polite, quiet, and heartbreakingly charming, so most people give them a dollar and refuse the bit of candy. I used to do that.

Roughly speaking, poverty level in Mexico is about one US dollar a day. Give a child a dollar, and her family will at least survive another day. I sat and watched a family with three ultra charming kids sell gum and noticed that about 6 people did the dollar thing in about 15 minutes. At 9 in the morning before the crowds showed up.

So even a bad day is a pretty good living. It’s a real fingernails on the chalkboard to Americans and their values, but this isn’t America.

Watching this, particularly a beautiful little girl selling wrist bands, I realized she looked a lot like my granddaughter Maizie, about the same age. I didn’t make a scene like the lady in the street did, I just left.