The dentist office was going to pick us up on the Mexican side of the Zaragoza Bridge border crossing so we parked at a nearby Walmart, took and Uber to the border and then walked across the border. Crossing the bridge into Mexico cost fifty cents and other than that there were no other checks. We just walked out of the United States and into Mexico without going through any immigration checks and the only customs check was a quick bag X-Ray on the Mexican side in Ciudad Juarez. On the Mexican side we waited at a small strip mall for a bit before the car from the dental office picked us up and drove us 15 minutes to the dental office. The dentist office was nice and very similar to any dentist office in the US. We both got teeth cleanings and Holly got X-Rays and four cavities filled for $240. People in the office spoke English and we just paid by credit card.
Once everything was done the car drove us back to the strip mall by the border and we had a nice Mexican dinner. We then paid forty cents per person to cross the bridge back to the US. There we went through a short line, US immigration swiped our passports and we were back in the US. We took an Uber back to Rover and since we were already in a Walmart just spent the night there. As we breezed back across the border I reflected that what a simple 10 minute walk for us is an all but impossible dream for many people who wait years and literally risk their life to be able to cross the US border. We are truly fortunate.
It was not until we got back to Rover that Holly informed me that she had only done half the fillings she needed. She wanted to give the dentist a try before committing to all the fillings. It was just as well because she was in the dentist chair for almost four hours. She made another appointment for two days later to return and do the rest of her fillings.
The next day we went to a nearby library for the day to keep cool. The library even had a free kids crafting workshop so it worked out well. That night we went to another Walmart to spend the night since we don’t like to spend more than one night at any particular Walmart.
After a quiet night at the other Walmart we returned to the Walmart by the border and repeated out trip to the dentist office with no issues and $180 later we were back to Rover. We immediately headed out of El Paso and drove three hours to the Faywood Hot Springs resort just outside Deming, New Mexico. I had booked us a couple of nights at the resort for $70 a night. A friend had recommended the resort and a couple of nights soaking in some hot springs would be perfect after the hot, dusty days in El Paso.
We arrived just as the sun was going down and it had been a tiring day so we just set up and had dinner. It was still quite hot so the idea of getting into a hot pool was not very appealing. It turned out that Faywood had 14 small hot springs pools but no large pool. That evening, after Olivia had gone to bed Holly and I snuck out to enjoy the hot springs a bit. There were also very few other people so we got to enjoy a private hot spring pool under the starlit night. The pools came in differing temperatures so we were able to find one that was perfect for us.