Pilgrimage to Algodones, Mexico.

The blog production here is hardly a punctual affair. When I get the urge, it happens.
It's been a while since the last, but there is good reason.
After many years of talking about it, we booked the tickets & flew to Phoenix, Az, USA. en route to Algodones, Mexico.
For us it was a flight of necessity.
We need our teeth fixed and the small town of Algodones has risen to become the saviour of the dentally challenged who are also suffering from financial cramp.
Almost all who walk across the line are doing so as a result of a personal recommendation from someone they know.
The attraction is simple.
Saving money and getting good dental treatment, which in Canada, the U.K; Germany, and the U.S. is a total contradiction. It ain't going to happen.

We are late model boomers, riding the tail of the baby boom years after WWII; we reaped the benefits of the latest medical technology which included a state run dental programme for every citizen of the U.K.
The British are renown for their bad teeth, it must be genetic, dietary or whatever, but we are a nation with bad knashers and the governments of those years decided to do something about it.
Every school kid was subject to regular dental check-ups and at the first sight of a cavity the Amalgam was laid in for the good of the nation.
It was wonderful.
By my 16th birthday my molars were totally silver, filled with amalgam to last a lifetime.
The leaching of the aluminium and other alloys and metals in the fillings was never discussed, considered a small risk issue compared to the work days that would not be lost to our employers due to dental related illness in the nations workforce.

We might be toxic, but we were efficient.

As the years went by, the cost of dental care skyrocketed and the state reduced it's dental offerings, opting to charge fees for and eliminate some procedure coverage.
We now have a mouth full of fillings that are failing fast and facing a very different reality as to how we are going to deal with them.
In my own case, a failing tooth resulted in a serious heart infection which almost ended my run.
We had to do something, but the cost of the work required was staggering.
For several years Alberta has failed to produce any dental cost guidelines, preferring to leave it to the individual dentist to set their own fee schedules.
The result has been price gouging like we have never seen and a reduction in dental care for those who do not have dental insurance, which has itself reduced the amount it will fund each year.

As a good friend once pointed out, if you ain't got money, you ain't got health.

We are small scale farmers by profession, and times are pretty tough.
It has been standard fare to eliminate any unnecessary personal spending for the good of the farm.
The dentist was one of the casualties and although we thought we were doing pretty good with our flossing and brushing after every meal, there was no doubt that we had reached the end of the rope.
A few of our friends had ventured to Algodones for dental care and we therefore had an introduction and some guidance to all that lay before us south of the line.
We purchased an ageing motor home in Phoenix (another story in itself) and headed west for Yuma.
In truth, we went right through Yuma and just across the state line into Winterhaven, California.
There is a small road turning off the highway with a simple sign "Mexico".
The Algodones road is actually the entrance to the Quechan Indians Casino as we are now on Indian lands and a busy little road it is..
Once past the casino entrance the road winds down the hill across the All American Canal and heads south for about 1/2 a mile or so to the fence.
There may be many things said of our native brothers and one for sure is that they are an enterprising bunch.
With the border within a stones throw, the Indians have opened a campground, "Sleepy Hollow", as a base camp for folks just like us to park our little home from home for the duration of our treatments. Rather modest, but quite sufficient.
They have also built a massive and beautifully paved parking lot for the day trippers to park in total security, a few feet from the gate into Mexico.
There is a substantial hill at the campground, complete with the stars & stripes flying on top, which we ascended to survey the sights on the other side of the fence.
When I say fence, it is just that, painted white railings at the crossing, but rusty orange sheet steel panels elsewhere and standing about 10 feet tall with the standard issue barbed/razor wire atop.
Rather unimpressive, Algodones is just another small border town with it's typical Mexican brand of building design, or lack of it, coupled with the stark contrast of shiny modern store-front type developments for the dentists, doctors, pharmacists, optometrists and all the other professional services that have found a home here.
The Colorado river winds it's way down the east side of town and the irrigated fields of green stretch away to the south.
We try to visually reason what is where in the town, but soon abandon the idea and leg-it back down the hill to our sanctuary on wheels, drawing a lonesome comfort from the small Canadian and British flags we attached to the front, now flapping with indifference in the warm evening wind.
Tomorrow, all will be revealed.

In The Begining....

Since embarking on this journey of enlightenment, I have kept an eye open for a title.
My preferred choice being "The Eden Project".
What better name to hoist above our valiant crusade to save the world.
Alas, it seems every human with an eye for what ails this planet and the balls to do something about it has titled their efforts thus.
Initially I was annoyed at the widespread use of this "perfect" title, especially as some of the projects were so far removed from my vision of Eden.
How could something like a city garbage programme possibly warrant such a name?
Over time, I have come to realize that there is no better a title for all these projects, large or small. Pooled together, they are all working towards the same objective.
Who was I to exclusively claim that handle?
So we are now content to become a tiny corner of the garden, to do the best we can in tending it's needs and share in the greater good of making a difference for all to enjoy.

I defy any one of us to name a date that we "started" down this path.
It is a process, an evolution into a mindset that something has to be done and it's my responsibility to do it.
Our, or I should say "my" choice was to move our little farming operation from Bluffton, Ab; which is a little north of Rimbey, to the distant lands to the north.
Sylv was a little less than enthused, but being who she is, she set forth beside me.
We bought a 1/4 section with a summer house and a few buildings about 20 minutes north of Manning which is about an hour north of Peace River in N.W Alberta.
The house was built about 60 years ago out of squared logs cut from the land as it was cleared.
The previous owners had put a new basement under it in recent years and it was in good condition.
The logs were now covered in white vinyl siding, but it still had a charm all of it's own.
The electric power had never been installed, nor was there any indoor plumbing or heating.
It truly was a summer house for use through the busy farming season only.
There was a life-times work in the gardens with hedgerows planted around the lawn, oak trees along the driveway, lilac bushes and all manor of other beautiful shrubs planted around the grounds.
The summers were a paradise of colour and peace. Time stood still it seemed.
We installed a solar power system and wired the house with the basics needed to live.
Next was a Propane furnace and ducted for a minimum provision of heat when all other heat sources were off.
A second-hand concrete septic tank was installed and basic plumbing for the kitchen & bathroom.
In the Kitchen our pride & joy was a "Guelph Sultan" coal & wood fired cook stove with a propane fueled regular stove as a back-up and for the summer months when Sylv didn't want to run the cook stove.
We collected second hand kitchen cupboards via the "Bargain Finder" on our trips to Edmonton and made the best of everything we could find.
In the lounge a large "Triumph" wood stove in one corner would cook us out of the room on some nights but was very welcome on others.
In the basement we rigged a large wood fired furnace which was tied in beside the propane one but which we seldom used.
In hindsight I feel somewhat ashamed of having modernised that old house.
It had survived so well without all the updates for all those years.

Our power supply was fine in the summer, but in the winter we needed a generator to keep things going when there was no sun.
Our first was a 6500 watt Honda which was far too small, but did well until it cratered.
The next was a PTO driven generator brought with us from Ontario.
It had all kinds of power, but we now had to run a tractor in the dead of winter. No fun at all.
Finally we bought a self contained diesel generator which we kept under cover and released us from the tractor episodes. More on those adventures another time.
Water supply was a real issue as there is no good drinking water in much of the Peace country.
We built a cistern in the basement & hauled our water from town. We managed, although I don't know quite how.
All this was done over 6 years, much on the go and as needed.
Our lives were influenced in ways we never imagined.
Compared to living in a modern, grid powered house, we were stepping back in time.
Summer was as close to paradise as I will ever know. There was no finer place to be.
Winter was hell. It always was. This is Alberta.
We learnt in short order that our comfortable way of modern living is totally dependant on a very fragile infrastructure.
Take away the ease of limitless electricity or the luxury of cranking up the gas furnace without a thought and daily living takes on a very different perspective.
When you disconnect yourself from "the system", you really are on your own.
It is true survival and there is no room for failure.

The Way Ahead, Is To Go Back.

There is no doubt in my mind that progress (and I mean "real" progress) should not always be measured in linear terms.
We humans measure our development on a linear scale, usually choosing a display that shows a stark positive or negative achievement depending on the axe we are grinding.
A circular measure is perhaps far more appropriate.
When I look at the heavens above us, I cannot believe that we are the only civilization to have existed in the cosmos.
We may be the only one at this time, but surely there were others.
Somewhere out there it's all been done before.
They ran the race & ended up right back where they started, dust in the wind.

Based on the track record to date, there is no creature on this planet less worthy of survival than the human.
We murder, loot & pillage every form of life and resource in the name of progress, evolution and development.
We then try to appease what is left of our conscience by lavishing ourselves with the spoils of our victories.
A typical example of this is in the brainwashing we give ourselves through television.
The sensationally popular science fiction series "Star Trek" laid before us a vision of the magnificent future we are building for the generations to come.
Money & it's evils will be banished and humans will together work for the common good of all.
We will travel the heavens, dispensing goodness to those who deserve it & what we define as justice to those who don't.
In truth, it's all a con game and the media are the largest perpetrators of that con game.
"Feel good about ourselves, we are on the right path".
We even build our world around this dream, this vision that it's all good.
Look at our cell phone design.
Almost a carbon copy of Star Trek's communicators.
We have spent millions trying to build a "teleporter" device to move objects from here to there.
The scientists have allegedly move a single molecule.
Our greatest human endeavour is to have put a man on the moon, and that event is questionable.

The reality is that we are going in the exact opposite direction.
The planet will be mined and exhausted of every element we can conceive a way to use.
And when it's done, so are we.
Having travelled a full circle, we'll be right back where we started.

In maintaining our present course we are charting our own demise.
Our consumption of rapidly diminishing raw materials is growing daily.
Each one of us has the ability to make a difference to the outcome and yet we continue down the path of doom laid out for us by our corporate visionaries.
Modern society looks to government to do it all for them.
"The government should do something about that" we say.
We have devolved our personal responsibility to government.
We hand our children to government approved daycare & schools, whilst we, as "responsible parents" earn money to buy bigger houses, new cars, R.V's, boats and cottages at the lake.
Consume, consume, consume.
Again, it's all a con game.

Each and every one of us has the in-born knowledge of what is right & what is wrong.
We have a choice, use it or ignore it.
The vast majority choose the later.
Safety in numbers.
Yet the human spirit keeps nagging away.
Something is wrong and we know it.
Each of us has the responsibility for our planets survival and a duty to conceive ways to make a difference.
To know where we are going, we have to know where we are from.
Looking back will teach us a greater truth about where we made a wrong turn.
Allowing the visionaries to lead us to a future where science will fix the consequences of those wrong turns is a fallacy.