Algodones, Mexico – A Unique Place In The World

Mary is no longer available for RV traveling, but we remain good friends.
Because we have 4,000+ postings, I’ve invited her to continue posting entries on this blog.

I’m currently in my 22nd year of full-time RVing and my lifestyle is changing, For more info click Here

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The motorhome is parked at the Paradise Casino in Yuma, Arizona. I was expecting to leave here recently, but I’ve changed my mind. I currently have reservations at Thousand Trails in Palm Desert, California, February 13th. Between now and then???? For the moment I remain in Yuma.

 

 

I just love the ability to change plans at a moments notice. As I tell everyone…All my plans are firmly etched in Jello!

 

 

 

Today’s subject: Algodones, Mexico – A Unique Place In The World

 

 

 

Today’s Blog was first posted in January, 2014…

 

 

 

Yesterday I drove the Bronco seven miles to the border and walked into Los Algodones, Mexico. What makes this a unique place?…you ask. it’s because within a four block radius there are more pharmacies, doctors, dentists and opticians than a similar four block area anywhere else in the world!

 

 

To read about today’s location, click this link… http://gosw.about.com/od/southwestmiscellaneous/a/Algodones.htm

 

 

The primary reason for our visit was that I could get two pair of prescription eyeglasses…one for reading and one for driving at about 1/3 of the price in the United States. Several thousand snowbirds cross into Agodones, Mexico every day during the winter season.

 

 

Here’s a view of the border crossing as seen from the walkway of our parking lot. The tall building is our destination…

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A sign inside Mexico…

 

 

 

 

 

I have been here a number of times…Mary’s second.  One of the many fun things about Algodones is the “pitchmen”. Immediately passing through the gate into Mexico, several…all about the same time start shouting…“Looking for dentist, optical, Pharmacy? Over here for the best price. Cheaper than K-Mart!”

 

 

 

 

 

We proceeded to the street level of a newly…currently being built…plaza at the recommendation of a couple of friends of mine…

 

 

 

 

 

To Algodones Optical. Not some small dusty little store you might expect to find in Mexico…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The doctor told me I have a large cataract in my right eye which I should attend to within the next year. We picked up my new glasses three hours later. I got the two pair with ultra-light ply carbon lens and a 30 minute eye exam for $199.00 U.S. Dollars. Would have been about triple that figure in the United States.

 

 

 

 

 

While the glasses were being made, Mary visited her dentist office…

 

 

 

 

 

We wandered through some of the many tourist shops and finally ended up at our favorite eating place in Algodones. You won’t see a sign like this in any United States restaurant!…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At 10:00 o’clock in the morning we both had a Tecate Beer with our meals. Mary had the shrimp and fish tacos while I had the 1/2 chicken. As usual…wonderfully delicious!…

 

 

 

After picking up my glasses we crossed back into the United States.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the photos and videos.

 Yesterday was mostly sunny and 66 degrees. Forecast for today is mostly sunny and 67 degrees.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of Arizona. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

My current travel rig is a 2006 Fleetwood 26′ Class A Motorhome and a towed 1986 Ford Bronco II, Eddie Bauer Model. This photo was taken in the desert at Slab City near Niland, California…

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 700 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://get.google.com/albumarchive/110455945462646142273?source=pwa

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original works copyrighted – Jim Jaillet -2017

Sandy And Charlie Brown – Bremerton, Washington

Mary is no longer available for RV traveling, but we remain good friends.
Because we have 4,000+ postings, I’ve invited her to continue posting entries on this blog.

I’m currently in my 21st year of full-time RVing and my lifestyle is changing, For more info click Here

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The motorhome is parked at Fort Townsend State Park in Port Townsend, Washington. I’ll be departing from here this coming Sunday.

 

(Note: I’m currently a little discombobulated right now. My normal mode is to blog what I experienced yesterday. Right now, I’m several blogs behind my experiences. I expect to be back in my normal mode within a couple of weeks.)

 

A week ago Monday I arrived in Bremerton, Washington for what ended up to be a four-day visit. It allowed me to visit with my friends, Sandy and Charlie Brown, three different times while there. I met Sandy and her husband Ted in Yuma, Arizona back in the days when they were RVing. The below photo was taken in December, 2006. Ted passed away in 2014…

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I met Charlie Brown when he was adopted by Ted and Sandy in January, 2007…

 

 

 

 

Fast forward to 2016. Sandy (no last name being provided because she is now a single woman), came to visit me in the motorhome upon my arrival…

 

 

 

 

Sandy drove me around town to see some of the local attractions. While we were out, Charlie Brown guarded her car. Charlie is now nine years old…

 

 

 

 

 

Sandy was 70 years and two-days old when I took this photo. Looking good for an older lady!  :)…

Thanks for a nice visit Sandy.

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the photos!

Yesterday was cloudy/sunny and 73 degrees. Forecast for today is cloudy with a shower and 66 degrees.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of Washington. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

My current travel rig is a 2006 Fleetwood 26′ Class A Motorhome and a towed 1986 Ford Bronco II, Eddie Bauer Model. This photo was taken in the desert at Slab City near Niland, California…

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 700 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original works copyrighted – Jim Jaillet 2016

Central America Trip #64

Mary is no longer available for RV traveling, but we remain good friends.
Because we have 4,000+ postings, I’ve invited her to continue posting entries on this blog.

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The motorhome is parked at Shady Acres Mobile Home and RV Park in Yuma, Arizona. I expect to be here a while hiding out from the cold, wet weather. Average temperatures in January are high 69.6, low 47.6. In February, high 73.8, low 50.1. As nice as Yuma is, I wouldn’t want to be here in August.  🙂

Recently I’ve been running blogs about my 2004 Central America trip. While here, I’m intending to continue those postings while also alternating with Yuma area blogs.

Today, I’m taking you back to my…

2004 Central America trip…

This trip ended up being 343 days and 16,000+ miles through the back-country of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. 11 rigs started the trip, within a week we broke into three smaller groups for ease of traveling. Only myself and one other rig went the full, pre-planned route. All the others dropped out for various reasons. All returned safely to the United States. I’m planning to show these photos, more or less, 10 a day, whenever I’m not doing something else deserving a blog entry. FINALLY, it must be remembered these photos are prior to my switching to digital in 2006. The films were developed during our trip and the lack of quality control sometimes is plainly evident.

Today…Guatemala (north-bound) #3…

Once we departed potentially dangerous El Salvador and crossed into Guatemala, the “danger in the air” feeling left me. We proceeded to Guatemala City and as we did, passed the 8,000 mile of the trip. Most very large cities in Central America have a some potentially dangerous feeling. We spent only a couple of days there and then continued on through the very mountainous country to what is called the most beautiful colonial city in Central America, Antigua, with a population of about 43,000. It is set in a valley at about 4,900 feet and surrounded by four volcanos, one over 10,000 feet and the other three at over 12,000 feet. It is a most spectacular and delightful setting. Unlike other places where we have been the only tourists, this is very much a tourist city, with many tourists from Europe, who were not at all friendly. When you say hello to them, they do not even acknowledge your presence. Consequently, the local Guatemalans were not very friendly, which was very disappointing, in comparison with some of the other places we had been. We spent four days in Antigua…

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

We are still in Antigua…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s my trip website link…http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

I hope you enjoyed the photos.

 Yesterday was partly cloudy and 77 degrees. Forecast for today is mostly sunny and 64 degrees.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of Arizona. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

My current travel rig is a 2006 Fleetwood 26′ Class A Motorhome and a towed 1986 Ford Bronco II, Eddie Bauer Model. This photo was taken in the desert at Slab City near Niland, California…

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 600 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original works copyrighted – Jim Jaillet -2016

Poets Reunion

Yesterday I drove the motorhome the 15 miles back from the BLM land north of Yuma to the Paradise Casino at Winterhaven, California, directly across the Colorado River from Yuma, Arizona. I’m parked here with my friend Randy Vining and others. After all the noise from the previous night, it was nice to get a good nights sleep again. It’s really quiet here.

Mary is now expecting to rejoin me here in late January.

Yesterday Randy and I hunted up an old friend from our ex-WIN singles RV group…Ted Trombley. We had heard that Ted at age 81 was in a local hospital. After some detective work on our part, we found him recovering from COPD treatment at a local rehab center. Back in the old days Randy and Ted were our outstanding creative poets about the RVing lifestyle. We found Ted just as he was about to have lunch so we didn’t stay long. Ted returns to his mobile home in a Yuma trailer park next Tuesday and we’ll visit him again in the near future…

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

Ted was also a member of a small caravan to Baja California Sur, Mexico for six months during the winter of 1998-99. It was my first trip to Baja. I found this photo of Ted in my files from that trip…

The photo provides many memories for me of fun and happy days in Mexico. I eventually gathered about two years and 15,000 miles of driving an RV in Mexico. An interesting aside…tomorrow I will begin my 19th year of full-time RV living. It’s a truly wonderful lifestyle.

Yesterday was a mostly sunny day at 65 degrees.  Forecast for today is sunny and 68 degrees.

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of California. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 500 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273?authkey=Gv1sRgCKrvzqm8-IKGdA

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2013