South of the Border

Friday was the Mexico run day. Enough talk, it’s time to chase that cheap liquor! Ya, there were murders, people disappearing in a drug war along the border. Well, it was last year since they had any big stories of violence (Dec. 08). So grab the passport and away we go. South from Deming approx. 30 miles lies Polomas Mexico; our destination. The drive down was uneventful except for the two road runners we saw cross the road in front of us. I never have seen one before and we were lucky enough to see two of them. Of course I didn’t have my camera with me. There was no possible way I was going to be walking around Mexico with a brand new digital camera. In fact I changed into my old underwear. There was no way if I got shot, or scared for that matter, that I would ruin a new pair of underwear. So anyway, there are no pictures of this adventure.

At the border you park your car on the American side and walk across. Am I the only one thinking if we are leaving everything of value behind that there might be a valid reason to assess whether this is a good idea?...Yup, just me. We park at the Duty Free store and head into the store to see what the liquor prices are there before we head over. Prices are cheap, no question, but there is a procedure that needs to be performed to get these prices. This booze is for export only. In other words, it’s for export into Mexico so it doesn’t have the taxes. So you buy here, then get a ride by a Security guy to the border where you walk across into Mexico, then walk back into the United States. You report it at the border, and you might or might not have to pay taxes. If you don’t take much over, they will usually wave the fees.

Well, we didn’t buy anything; we wanted to head to Mexico to see if we could get it cheaper. So we walked through the 20 ft steel walls separating the countries, and there we were, in Mexico. We walked down the street, Shirley looking for good shops to go into. The main stores I observed were pharmacies and Dentists. Evidently Americans come across the border for prescription drugs and dental work. We headed into one store, but there weren’t any lights in the place. After we were in, a girl turned them on so we could see the merchandise. There wasn’t much there, so we quickly left. Walked a couple blocks, from the border then turned around. On the way back to the border we headed into the Pink Store. This store is set up for the American tourist. It’s a large store with the usual Mexican stuff you would expect to see. But it also has a restaurant attached to it. So the clerks in the store will offer you a drink while you shop. After a few minutes we headed into the restaurant and ordered us some Margaritas. We were the only customers in the restaurant when we sat down. There really didn’t seem to be very many Americans around at all. A few American tourists came in while we were there, but there really wasn’t much of a business.

We ordered lunch and a second Margarita. These drinks were really really strong. There was a musician playing music for the restaurant. Halfway through the second drink Paul was dancing with the store’s owner. We all knew two was our limit. I offer to pay for lunch and head to the cashier. She rings up the bill – 654.55. Whoa, we didn’t eat that much! Well of course it wasn’t dollars; I’m in a different country dummy, so the cashier explained the exchange rate for peso to dollars. She also explained that the dollar sign with one vertical line through it was for peso, two vertical lines for dollars. Ya, sure, it really didn’t matter at that point I guess. What was I going to do? Refuse to pay the bill?

We head back over to the American side and the Duty free store. There Paul and Shirley pick up a couple bags of liquor and it’s on the golf cart back to the border. Walk over the border again, and then return to the American side to declare the liquor and hope we don’t get charged the duty. I felt like Paul and Shirley’s drug mule pushing booze through the border. I was along to provide another body so each person is only bringing in a couple bottles a piece. Well, they let us pass, even though we were probably still half in the bag from those wicked good Margaritas we had for lunch. We walked back to the car, loaded up and headed back to Deming. Nerve racking trip, but somewhat uneventful.

Got back to the RV and took a nap. Don’t know what was in those drinks, but I know now why they take siestas.