TRANSITION
Suddenly two things were happening: my trip was abruptly over along with the time here of the second yoga group. It was the impending snowstorm that brought my trip to an end three days early. By Sunday, the day I was booked to return to Asheville, the whole East Coast of the USA was threatened to be encased in ice, and even if the storm didn’t shut down the Asheville airport, American Airline schedules would be so twisted out of shape that it appeared that I might be stuck in Dallas/Fort Worth for days. My basic air ticket was not changeable except for a $200 fee but American Airlines sent an email waiving any fees and encouraging people to fly home ahead of the storm if there was room on flights. So I changed my ticket from Sunday morning to Thursday morning, giving me now 24 hours to get ready to leave.
I had two things to complete before I flew home. One was to get a crown put on an implant by Dr. Guiterrez, and the second was to buy Todd, my son in law, a ninety day supply of insulin since insulin was so expensive in the United States. The unknown for me was how much trouble I would run into at the border because of Donald Trump’s world wide tariffs, 25% I believed from Mexico, and an FDA ruling that it was illegal to import Mexican insulin since only American insulin was safe. I had brought back insulin years earlier from Nath Brothers Chemists on Connaught Place in New Delhi, India, and knew that the safer American insulin was made in India and relabled in the United States and that the FDA ruling was a Big Pharma ploy to protect their outrageous profits. But I was still nervous that Trump’s new policies would mean added scrutiny and the insulin would be either confiscated at the border or I would be charged 25% on $800 worth of insulin. I read on line that I could legally bring in a 90 day supply for my personal use. So when I went to Dr. Guiterrez and asked her what to do she said that I could go to Dr. Lulu, a doctor who would write me a letter in English saying that I was taking home a 90 day supply of insulin for my personal use. I paid her $45 for her letter and for prescriptions for two kinds of insulin. I went to the pharmacy she suggested and they had 6 pens of one kind of insulin and 3 of another. I needed 12 of each. I went to a second pharmacy and they had three and three. Another had one. No one spoke English and I had trouble explaining myself. Finally, after two hours of searching, I completed my purchase at the upscale City Market, everything protected by ice packs. I had to buy a second bag to put everything in and sign up for a checked bag on the way home.
Here I was feeling like a drug smuggler when I was simply evading outrageous American pricing on life saving drugs and not making a penny in the process. But I still had to get by customs and the trouble Trump’s tariff tax was causing me.
But before all on my way to the dentist as I walked by the square in front of the huge cathedral I notice a an air of excitement and people dressed in costumes. At the square there was a group of school bands in uniforms, lined up. One by one they marched stiffly and precisely up to the crowd gathered at the square and performed with trumpets and drums. Above them was a sign celebrating the 200th anniversary of Miguel de Allende, an early leader of the Mexican revolution, for whom the city was named. As I watched and photographed for a while I thought of how rich Mexican culture was with festival after festival with everyone joining in. It made me sad to leave.
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BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 