Ruth and I had done this drive with the little blue car back in 2013, I think it was. Not really the type of road that you want to take a car on, but we are adventurous and did fine.
And, they have repaired quite a bit of the road and it's actually in better shape now than when we did it back then.
Ready to go...hang on tight!
No longer a dirt road.
Looking back at Valle de Juarez.
But eventually, it does go back to a dirt road.
This old tree had a funny hole through it.
More great views...we are up to about 8,900 ft now!
Group photo...missing one or two who had decided not to go.
Beautiful scenery up in the mountains.
The tour bus dropped us at the town of Mazamitla. Ruth and I have been here many times before, and we knew a great restaurant, La Troje, where we wanted to bring the group to have lunch.
We were back at Hacienda Contreras around 2:00pm and we relaxed for the afternoon. At one point, a lady stopped by who owns a nearby organic farm. She had crates of "certified organic" avocados that she was selling for 5 pesos (40 cents) per kg!
Truckload of avocados for sale.
I had my dentist appointment for 6:00pm. One of the guys lent me his truck (thanks Larry!) and Ruth and I went in to town. Dr. Lisette took us in right on time and sat me in the chair. She had a look and poked around at the three molars that I knew needed work. I wasn't in any pain, but I had lost a filling in one a couple of years ago, and broke a piece off another one a few months ago. Then only a couple of weeks ago I lost a huge filling out of another one.
The two top ones need some kind of cap. She said it's like a crown, but different. And she thought she could repair the bottom one.
She did the preliminary work on the upper ones last night, and the full job on the lower one.
But the caps need to have moulds made and sent off to the lab. This takes time, and I have to go back on Friday for the moulds. She won't be able to complete the job until March 12th, meaning that if it all goes according to plan we'll be out of here March 13th.
So on the one hand, we are happy that we get to hang around here longer than expected and visit with friends Barb and Sal, and Heinz and Ulli.
But it will put us a little behind schedule for our drive up to Los Angeles area for the end of the month. Still...not a big deal.
And the cost of all of this dental work? Two caps, a large filling, and a cleaning for both me and Ruth... a total of 2,500 pesos ($195 CAD).
I love Mexico.
We sat around a campfire with a few of the group in the evening. We said goodbye to them all this morning as they headed out at 8:00am to the beach at Melaque. Partly sad to see them all go, but it was overall a good experience and we made some friends who I'm sure we'll see again at some point. I can see us leading another caravan sometime in the future.
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Today only, at Amazon.com...
And in Canada...
Hi Guys, Glad to hear you are getting your pearly white teeth fixed up. As you have traveled Mexico, do you ever go on day hikes? (5-8 miles round trip) Are there many established trails to hike? I truly enjoy reading your posts. Hope to see you on the road someday.
ReplyDeleteHi Joe...yes, we've done quite a few hikes in Mexico but most areas don't have well marked trails the same way they do in Canada and the states.
DeleteWOW...you dental work price is even lower than what we paid, and I thought we got a big bargain. Enjoy.
ReplyDeleteYou did get a deal compared to what the same procedures what have cost in the U.S. or Canada. However the border towns are not the real Mexico, and whenever you pay for anything in U.S. dollars while in Mexico, you are paying more than you should.
DeleteIt cost $129 to have Cameron's teeth cleaned back in August.... he was 4!
ReplyDeleteYep, Canadian and U.S. dentists are crooks.
DeleteAnd where we are, it's the dentist herself who does the cleanings...not a hygenist.
Sure do love Dentists and Optometrists in Mexico, I got new prescription tri focal glasses Glasses there 4 years ago and hope to get new dentures about $400.00 complete.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about Optometrists but we know for sure that if you can find a good dentist away from the border towns and the tourists areas it is even cheaper and the dentist here in Valle de Juarez is a great dentist! Just another reason why we love this area. Still if you can't make it inland then even the border is better for prices than Canada, the one thing we don't like about the border is they charge in US$ which we don't agree with!
DeleteWOW!!!All that Dental work for 195.00 CAD. I had 2 root canals, 3 crowns. and a bridge done in MX last week for 1600 USD and I thought it was a Steal, My insurance will pay half.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is definitely a deal and the price is quoted in pesos not US$! I had to have a crown done in Algodones a year ago and we were pissed that ALL the prices were in US$ which made the procedure even more expensive for us, still it was way better than what the price would have been in Canada.
DeleteI usually pay $1.67 for one avocado!
ReplyDeleteThought that price would get your attention!
DeleteMmmmm, I love avocados -- when I lived in Southern California (a lifetime ago), I had a huge, really huge tree in my yard, and all the avocados I could eat! BTW, it looked kinda smoggy in Valle de Juarez. Si?
ReplyDeleteWe aren't as fond of them ourselves, if they are on our plate then we will eat them but I think that if I had gotten a kilo of them they would have gone bad before we got through them all. Many people here in the countryside will have at least one avocado tree in their yard as well.
DeleteValle de Juarez itself isn't smoggy at all but sometimes the wind will push some of the smog from Guadalajara into the distance which could be what you might see far off in the distance. Also the Colima volcano isn't all that far away and it has been fairly active over the year or so, so it is possible that it has also blown this way.
Sal & Barb have a big avocado tree in their yard.
ReplyDeleteYes, I was pretty sure that they did and Barb confirmed that the other day with us. :-)
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