road trip

Today I learned that going to the dentist on the Mexican side of Nogales is pretty much just like going to the dentist here in town, but you have to park a few blocks away and take proof of residency. Or just look like one o' them Amurrican tourists.

Since this blog is all into unnecessary details, here they are:

• There are several handy parking lots just on this side of the border. The one we chose cost $4 and closed at 7 pm.
• I didn't sniff it, so for all I know it could be coated into unusability with overly perfumy cleaning products, but there's a restroom on the US side of the border.
• Very close to the entrance gate, all the stores are pharmacies and dentists' offices. If you turn a corner, they are all souvenir places, and at a glance, they all appear to carry the same stuff.
• My friend (who actually went to the dentist) said he read that there is one good restaurant on the Mexican side, and we didn't eat there.
• The air quality on those little streets with the totally unregulated car exhaust is pretty bad.
• I'm not going to develop a habit or anything, but Sprite is kind of yummy. I suppose I should have tried sweetened-with-sugar Coke, but I forgot. I was too busy being impressed that I didn't react to anything in the Sprite.
• Observant Jews don't eat corn during Passover.
• I think I paid a shopkeeper $8 for entertaining me. I got some earrings out of it, too, so maybe I should look at it as $5 earrings I'll probably never wear plus a $3 tip for letting me talk her down from $15.
• If you whack your kneecap on a rock, the trick is to hit the edge more than the middle part with the tendon going over it. Then just two days later you're able to wander around loose in Nogales while your friend goes to the dentist.