THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH.

There is no reason not to find the fountain of youth  if exercise has anything to do with it-and, in my opinion, it does. The so called “snowbird” resorts of warm winter climates like Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Florida  and Southern, California attract thousands of Northerners from the U.S and Canada of retirement age.  Drive the streets of Apache Junction, Yuma, Mesa, Maricopa or any number of other places and row upon row of  gated communities  are filled to the gills with retirees.  Activities vary but most have swimming pools, a club house, spa,  scheduled and special events. What’s not to like? The sounds of friendly gatherings, music, barbeques, people chatting with their neighbors, catching up with “the news” or having visiting grandchildren or friends in for a day is testimony to the homey, feeling of snowbird resorts like Country Side, (where we stayed last year), and Golden Sun where we are now.

Yesterday morning, I passed by the pool exercise group and attended a stretch exercise group for an hour.

I snapped this picture just as everyone was getting ready to leave. Provided is a wooden bar and weights of differing size. The stretches cover every muscle group from your toes to eyes. Invigorating.

I returned to the motor home for 45 minutes and then attended a yoga  class.  The instructor was humorous and had all of us laughing and sending bad vibes away. The one hour session ran over by 15 minutes and was so much fun, I would like it if  I had access to a class like this every day.  She teaches a  morning and afternoon class.

The schedule here is Tai Chi, Lap swimming, Floor exercises, Stretch exercises, Water exercises, Sweating to the oldies and Yoga, everyday or set days of the week.

The rest of the activity schedule varies. For instance, Monday: Women’s Pool (billiards), Shuffle Board, Round Dancing, Men’s B Leage Pool, Line Dancing, Craft Class, Potluck Social & Dinner, Texas Hold’Em, Ceramics.

Tuesday: Smell The Roses Hiking, Charity Quilters, Bridge, WWarII Vets Meet.

Wednesday:  Shuffleboard, Quilting, Golf, Mens Senior Pool League, Ceramics, Games.

Thursday: Women’s Pool, Women’s Pool League Bridge, Line Dancing, Cribbage, Texas Hold’em.

Friday: Hiking With Rex, Shuffle Board, Men’s A Legue Pool, WWII, Dance.

Saturday:  Nickel Bingo, Games

Sunday:  Couples Pool.

Those are regular activites with special events added in. The Dance on Friday nights is always live music.

A constant round of activities from which you can partake or ignore.  The resort at Country Side, as I remember, had more golf aficionados with there own, home-made golf course on vacant land across from the resort. Snake Hole Golf Course was blogged here January 13, 2011, if you wish to see it.

In 2008, we rented a less fancy place for $250 a month in Yuma to have my dental work done.  For us, we move in for a week or two, partake and leave. But, for those who like a permanent address for six months of the year for good weather and fun?  The choices are endless, and golden agers have found the fountain of youth. Exercise, friends, social contacts, sunshine, economy and bring your pet if you have one.

SETTLING IN

We woke up to a cute little bird sitting on our mirror, looking very fat and happy. After packing things in for travel mode, we moved a short distance to Golden Sun RV Resort. We looked in at the rec center, 8 pool tables, swimming pool and spa, a large exercise room, a huge library, a card room, ceramics room and many planned activities including  live music dances on Saturday nights. They have planned hikes, excursions, golf nearby and volunteers pick seasonal fruit for local food banks. They serve dinners and breakfasts every weekend.

Trade books,  stored in the Bronco, came out of hiding. Found two Anita Shreves and picked three new authors to try since the price is a simple trade.

Apache Junction’s post office is the biggest I’ve ever seen. I waited in line for twenty minutes to pick up one piece of mail. I got the scoop later in the evening from Nancy and Tom who shared a table with us at the Moose for their Friday night fish & Chips.

“I used to be a snowbird, said Tom. Now I live here.  Any business we have, we take care of  in the summer otherwise you wait in lines all over  town. The snowbird invasion.”  He chuckled. Locals love it and hate it. Great for business but, inconvenience comes with it.

Tom recommended several places to eat. He seems to know them all.

Today, I’ll contact  friends and relatives I hope to see.

 

LUNCH IN ALGODONES

This is a sign you can understand in any language and not one we see much. Algodones, Mexico, about five miles West of Yuma  is reputed to have the highest density of dentists, pharmacies, doctors and opticians in a four block area,  than any similar four block area  in the world.

Hawkers reach out and offer to guide you to a dentist, doctor, etc.  every step of the way. Not that you need guidance, every other sign is for one or the other.  For most of them you don’t need an appointment. We arrived at 9:00 a.m. to be first in the door to Denny Salinas’ office, except, he was no longer at the same address as our last visit in 2009.  A young woman named Bettina walked us several blocks away to his fancy new digs. We learned you now need an appointment. But, as a former  customer,  he took a look at a problem I was having with an implant he did and fitted me in for ex-rays and a diagnosis.

We walked around town to look around. People, many recognizable “snowbirds”, were sitting in a busy square sunning themselves and  listening to a very good musician play several types of flute. Hauntingly beautiful sounds I recognized from Peruvian culture.

His partner was selling  his very popular CD’s. I could have stayed an listened for an hour.

The spray can artists were also working the square. They can do amazing things with spray paint and a piece of paper, rubbing the paint on then quickly drying it with a hair dryer. Jim cautioned this guy waving  a cigarette near the painters  but he laughed and defied the notion that a cigarette around all of those chemicals was in danger of exploding or starting a fire.  Popular pieces are the television dishes snowbirds have on their RV’s. In fact, Algodones depends so much on Canadian and American tourists they have a closed-street block party in December welcoming snowbirds  back to Algodones.

In our motor home we don’t have room to buy “stuff” but I like to look, anyway. People buy cheap drugs and liquor here as well. I got a bottle of vodka.

We like an open restaurant, hole-in-the wall type, that starts you off with three  kinds of salsa  a red, a green, both hot and home-made. Then avocado salsa,  sour cream, limes,  and chips.  A plate with tomatoes, onion, cilantro and shredded cabbage.  They cook their meats on a charcoal grill in front of their place. I tell you that because I haven’t a clue what the name of the place is if you go.

The food is always good and cheap, $5 for a whole chicken with rice and beans. Jim took a small portion. I ordered four tacos forgetting that they fill them really full of meat. Our two meals with Tecates cost us $13.00. The Tecate is good with a squeeze of lime in it. I never have this much fun when I go to my dentist in Murphys, doncha know!

Jim likes to go early so we get back across the border before the crowds line up. We didn’t make it. I didn’t mind at all talking to other folks in line. It was about a twenty-minute wait before we went through the friendly immigration inspection.

Something new since our last visit, for $5 you can be driven over in the yellow cart  and skip the line. The drug sniffing dog sniffs the cart and all the cars, too.

Los Algodones, Sonora, Mexico

Yesterday Mary and I walked across the border into Los Algodones, Sonora, Mexico. Why did we do that…you ask? So Mary could visit her dentist.

It’s reputed that within a four block radius there are more pharmacies, doctors, dentists and opticians here, than a similar four block area anywhere else in the world! Daily thousands of American and Canadian Snowbirds visit Los Algodones. I’ve been here a number of times…Mary first went there with me in 2009.

It can take as long as 2-3 hours later in the day to wait in line to cross back into the United States. The secret is to go early…get your business done…leave early. I abandoned Los Algodones dentists a number of years ago. My dentist is now in San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora, Mexico…about 20 miles south of Yuma, Arizona. I visited him about one month ago.

Here are some photos I took while Los Algodones…

As always you may click upon a photo to see and enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

Walking towards the border crossing…

If you bring guns or ammunition into Mexico…you may never be seen again…

Immediately after crossing into Los Algodones…

There are LOTS of signs like these all over Los Agodones…

Here’s photo of Mary in 2009 standing in front of her then dentist’s office…

Thanks to Mary and her oldest son Ken, her dentist now has a nice, new office…

Right next door to her dentist’s office is Maria’s Factory…

A pretty painted restaurant…

With a nice courtyard…

A typical street scene…

In a small central plaza…

Trinkets of all sorts can be found…

You can also watch artistic painters working with spray cans painting pretty scenes on satellite dishes…

We stopped at our favorite eating place. You can see Mary in the background…

You cannot beat the house policy…

After you are done eating you can step in the back to wash your hands…

Lots of places to buy booze…

Lots of pharmacies…

Another typical street scene…

And then you get in line to return to the United States. It wasn’t too bad…only about a twenty-minute wait…

Unfortunately Mary needs one more appointment…so next Monday we’ll once again return to Los Algodones, Sonora, Mexico. Hopefully that will conclude Mary’s dental activity and we can head on out to the Great adventure on Tuesday. If you do not know what the Great Adventure is…you can find out by clicking this link…

http://wp.me/pDCku-3lE

To find out all about Los Algodones, click this Wikipedia link…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Algodones

Here’s a good description of Los Algodones…

http://gosw.about.com/od/southwestmiscellaneous/a/Algodones.htm

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

“TAKE THE ROLLS, HONEY.”

Most “toads”, like Jim’s Bronco, are outfitted for storing things like our lawn chairs, books, tools, the brake buddy, emergency kit and any number of useful items that one might need on the road as a full timer. Jim has the bronco divided into two layers to store twice as much stuff.  We went to the grocery store and recycling center yesterday. While Jim put the groceries in the back of the bronco I took this picture:

In Palm Springs, people scoot to the store in their Rolls Royce. The parking lot sometimes resembles a sports car dealership. And, instead of playing the music from the local radio show, or standard elevator music, here you listen to Vivaldi or Chopin while you shop.
But, I regress. Back to the “toad”. Everyone kind of accepts that when you go somewhere with other couples, everyone goes in their own separate vehicles. Living in snowbirdville, as RVers, comes the problem. I decided to sign up for one of the activities at the lodge, a “Girls Day Outing”. Its lunch at the Elephant Bar and shopping at three different second hand stores. I love cruising the second hand stores and I’m particularly looking for another plastic drawer divider for my spoons, knives, forks, etc. You can find them for five bucks or less at any store selling household goods, except, RV drawers are so small, none of the standard size fits. You can go to an RV store like Camping World and buy one for $16.95. That is so clearly a gouge that I simply refuse to buy one. Instead, I stick with what I’ve got, even though it is stained and looks dirty when its clean.

When I signed the list to go, 14 people were signed in, every one of those save two,  needed a ride. Only two drivers had room in their vehicles for others. Jim had previously arranged  to visit his friend,  Bill Dobb, and can’t drive me. It will be interesting to see what happens when we all show up on Thursday.