Nogales MX ~ Dentist and View of City (houses, neighborhoods)

[RichCapeCod]

Yesterday I went in for a cleaning at Dental Laser. Cost was $31 dollars (they paid for parking on the United States side (at the Burger King lot, across the street from Mexico. Four bucks.). I then went for a tour of Nogales Mexico with a friend. He’s an “Anglo” (white Caucasian U.S. citizen.)

Don’t get me started on some of these bizarre definitions of people’s races which are bandied about around here (both in the U.S. and in Mexico). I once pointed out to a friend, a United States citizen of Mexican decent, that our skin colors were identical, and asked her so how come I’m considered “white” and she wasn’t. She smiled and told me I wouldn’t understand. She was correct.

The family from my friend from yesterday’s trip has been living in Nogales AZ since the 1920s and he is fluent in Spanish. He also has some small businesses in the city.

Nogales AZ has a population of around 25,000, while on the Mexican side the population is around ½ a million! The economy on the United States side of the border is, putting it kindly, dead in the water. On the Mexican side there are Walmart’s and shopping malls and all the usual retail outlets you would expect in an American city.

There is a tremendous, and obvious, disparity between the “haves” and the “have-nots” in Mexico. Some parts of Nogales seem 3rd World, while other sections look just like upscale United States neighborhoods. It’s a very complex issue.

Here are some photos from yesterday:


Dental Laser, front of building.
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Looking toward the border from Dental Laser.
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Near where we parked. Note the border marker jutting up near the border fence. It's on the line between the two countries.
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Looking out from our lunch restaurant.
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Our "hero."
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Menu on the wall. Prices are in Pesos. Lunch for three, with drinks, around $23 dollars. I also gave our server a $5 dollar tip.
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High-end residence in the city. Lots of high walls and fences in this neighborhood.
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Nogales mall.
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Some streets were very narrow!!
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[dirtydan57]

Pics - good idea. Wish I'd have thought of it.

[BJBwantsTucson]

Did you feel safe there? My 21 year-old daughter wants to go when we are there.

[dirtydan57]

We felt fine there and are definitely going back.

[RichCapeCod]

Yes, I felt safe. Dental Laser is just over the border.

Rich

[famlife]

May do this. Kinda nervous lol. But better than paying over $5000 for all the work they want to do here.

[Salpointe59]

My son is going steady with a girl from NOGO. She is a nurse in the VA Hospital unit in NOGO. I have trophy from the coaches at Nogales H S honoring me for being the most successful coach against them during my 8 years at another school. 15-1

[tijlover]

So many go to border cities for the dental work, cheaper drugs, but what about other medical care? Anyone stumble across a good Orthopedist or other medical specialist in Nogales? They must be there, somewhere!

It always takes my breath away, to see them build houses so close to the end of cliffs down there, and I marvel, when down in Nogales, gaping up at those houses on the cliffs. I can only imagine the views they get from those houses!

[Hal Roach]

There is a superwalmart and home depot on the Arizona side. Thousands cross per day to shop the Arizona side...gasoline and milk for starters. Retail has vacancies, JCPenny left, just like Orange County. Sewage overflow from Sonora is one of the big issues for the Arizona side. Housing market is strong on the AZ side. Zero cheapies.

[tijlover]

Have you ever browsed through a big supermarket on the Mexican side? Look at those prices and think of what the minimum wage is per day in Mexico, and you'll see why many cross the Border for cheaper prices.

All I've been able to gather, that the grocery prices are as high, if not higher, than the U.S. is Mexico can't afford to subsidize agriculture like we can.