Nuevo Progresso, Mexico

My first day in the dentists chair.....

 February 2011-  I arrived for my dental appointment with Dr. Fabio Durzzo in Nuevo Progresso, Mexico at the appointed 10am. I met Dr. Durzzo (who prefers to be called Dr. Fabio) who welcomed me warmly saying he was sorry to miss out on dinner the night before. He asked if I was comfortable at my hotel and if I needed anything before we got started. His English is pretty good, better than my Spanish for sure! Daisy speaks good English and she was present for any questons I had. 

The office is modest but very clean and all the instruments he used came out of unopened individual sterilized packages. Everyone went straight to work chatting in Spanish to each other and all the time smiling at me and stopping to ask if I needed anything. 

I was surprised how much Spanish I began to understand once my ear was retuned to the language. You'd think I'd get enough exsposure to Spanish here in Amarillo but truthfully unless you seek it out, most folks here speak English all the time. But it is different when you're in Mexico :) Duh.. 

We went over my notes on what was going on with my teeth and then he did a full set of X-Rays. After a morning of assessment we decided on a treatment plan which would involved several root canals, some implant surgery and perhaps a surgical procedure to repair a poorly done root canal I had been living with for several years which was painful all the time. Dr. Fabio told me what he thought needed to be done and we talked about a schedule and the estimated cost.  I would end up with crowns or permanent bridges except for three teeth that would need two implants on either side of a crown tooth replacement.

We finished up about 2pm and Daisy said I needed to be back in the office the following morning at 9am to begin the root canals etc. Ugh. Oh happy day, how can I wait for all this fun? And me a dentaphobe to boot. I definitely needed something to drink.

I left the office and decided to explore Nuevo before heading back over the bridge to the USA.  (The picture above is of the main north/south street of Nuevo. Wall to wall shops and pharmacies, dentists and beauty salons.)

I was getting hungry by this time and followed the street south and around a corner to a small cafe called "Jessica's - Pharmacy and Cantina" I know it sounds funny doesn't it? Every single business that can have one, has a pharmacy in it. So you have things like Maria's Beauty Salon and Pharmacy, or Leon's Boot shop and Pharmacy or Granada Liquors and Pharmacy! 

This picture is looking south as you enter Nuevo Progresso. Note the turquoise building on the right, top floor on the corner, "Arturo's Plaza."  That's "Omni Dental," Dr. Durzzo's office. Also note the Mexican soldiers standing by the army tank stationed at the intersection edge of the border.... the heavily armed, Mexican soldiers I might add. 

I wandered into Jessica's Cantina and went into the small well lighted bar (and pharmacy) where a man was singing American pop hits and Mexican favorites accompanying himself on an organ. The bar was populated by about five gringos(as) smoking cigarettes and drinking beer or margaritas (which were on sale for $1.50 :)

I ordered a Corona and a plate of Mexican tacos and beans and chatted with the folks sitting next to me at the bar. As the afternoon wore on the cantina got pretty crowded with Americans and Canadians drinking and singing to the requests the cantate performed. I met some very nice folks from Toronto and another couple from West Virginia (imagine that) It was pretty surreal. No one from Nuevo was there as a guest, they were all working.

I left about 4:30 and walked back across the bridge to the US Border station where they looked at my passport and ushered me through. And I remembered to save back change so I'd have another quarter to put in the turnstyle to get back into the USA. Tomorrow was going to be a big, long, painful day. I hoped it would be worth it. 

I'll let you know. - Kyt