CROSSING THE BORDER

POST # 57



Many years ago, 1985 to be exact I was standing at the reception desk of a large hotel in Mexico City. With me was a travelling friend, Don. We had only been in Mexico for a couple of days at this point, but on the flight down we had made friends with a young American who happened to be studying in Mexico City and who also happened to be fluent in Spanish. He became our de facto translator and so up to the point of where we now stood, we had managed to dodge the reality that there was a language barrier. Both Don and myself were world travellers and we had always managed to find that in most places there was at least some English spoken. Our translator had now departed, and here we stood at the desk, ready to check in for the night.
Don and Paul: "Hi, we'd like a room for the night please."
Person at reception desk: A BLANK STARE AND SMILE
D&P: This time more slowly. "We'd like a room for the night please."
Desk person: THE SAME BLANK STARE

It was at this point that we both realized that it was time to get out the Spanish/English dictionary so that we could find a few words to help us communicate, and eventually we managed to get a room. Just a little aside, it's always amusing how people tend to talk slower or louder to try and be understood in another language. As if that's going to make any difference. If the person you are speaking to doesn't understand the language, speaking it slowly or shouting at them isn't going to help at all.

But anyway, why am I rambling on about an event that happened so long ago? Well it came to mind because during this past week I have made a couple of trips to a little border town close to Yuma, called Los Algodones. Los Algodones is the northern most town in Mexico and its northeastern tip is the most northern point of Mexico. Another interesting geographical distinction is that if someone were to travel in any of the four cardinal directions from anywhere in Algodones (due north, due east, due south or due west), they would cross a U.S. border. The population is rather small, just over 5000 souls, and as soon as a person crosses over into Algodones, or at least as soon as this person crossed over, there is an immediate feeling of community, with lots of people out on the streets walking here and there or just sitting down and enjoying the day and each other's company. The other thing that is very apparent is the proliferation of dental clinics, and pharmacies which are packed cheek by jowel along all the main roads in town. And this is really where this story is leading to today.

Back in late February of last year, I was having a conversation with the folks in Grand Forks where I was about to start my housesit, and the topic of Yuma came up while we were driving into town one day. That is when I first learned about the fact that Los Algodones, aka "Molar city" is where a significant number of Canadians and Americans go to in order to get any dental work that they need done. This fact was confirmed to me again when I arrived here in Yuma by my Dawson friends. Plenty of testimonials to say that they were all happy with their Mexican dentist. So, armed with this information, and because I had two fillings that had come out, I made my first journey across the border. Now of course, I am no dentist, but even I could tell by looking at the photos of the two teeth concerned, that just replacing fillings wasn't going to solve the problem. I, like many of my baby boomer friends, have plenty of teeth that are more metal than tooth at this stage of the game in life. So the prognosis was that in order to do a proper repair, I was now faced with getting two root canals, a procedure that I had never experienced before.

Well, more appointments were made and the long and the short of it is that I have now had one and a half root canals completed as well as a procedure called crown lengthening done where the gums around the tooth in question are cut back to help facilitate the proper mounting of the crown later on. The reason for the half root canal, is that the tooth had an infection, so I am currently on antibiotics to get rid of that, and I will return for the completion of that procedure later this month. Once that is done, then I will be measured up for two new crowns, and then it will all be done, and hopefully that will give me a happy mouth that doesn't ache for some time into the future.

Now, circling back to the earlier part of the story regarding the language issue. It has been an interesting experience to be in a dentist's chair while he works away at his craft, in my mouth, and during the procedure he will talk now and again to his assistant. What are they talking about? It's anyone's guess. I have to assume that it's all related to what is happening right then and there, but because I don't speak the language, I guess they could be having a conversation about the weather, or last night's dinner, or the news, or lottery tickets, or whatever, and I wouldn't be the wiser. Where is my Spanish speaking friend Ted, when I need him? The bottom line though, of course, is that I really don't care what they are talking about as long as the work is done properly and that I come away from it all in better shape than when I arrived. But having now spent time with three different doctors, the dentist, the endodontist and the periodontist, I am left feeling confident in their work and I anticipate that this will all soon be behind me.

If there is one good result about all this focus lately on my mouth, it's that I have sort of forgotten about my leg, and what it's been going through. The good news there, is that my daily dog walks with Watson out in the sand dunes just across the road have been very beneficial, and for that I am thankful.

I will be glad when the second root canal is completed which should eliminate the final pain that is still lurking there in the background and once that is done it will be crown time, and then I should be back to some sort of normal. What's normal these days? That's anyone's guess. In the meantime I have to be patient as my mouth heals from all the recent surgery, and for now, I'll be "gumming" it when it comes to the eating department. Thankfully I love oatmeal, and homemade soup, so things shouldn't be too difficult.

Back here in Yuma this morning for the very first time since I arrived, I could see my breath when I walked outside with Watson. The wind is coming out of the north and a look at the satellite map shows a weather system coming all the way down from the Yukon to here. It's my Yukon friends sending me a hello via the jetstream. But the sky here is blue and my mood is up, so life is good.

Happy Trails

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer