Today I feel well enough to write a little bit on the blog. But still am not completely well. One very important thing I have learned is that if I walk into a clinic or doctor's office and see NO Mexican patients, to walk right out. I can't stress enough how there are two economies here, the Expat and the Mexican. Just as people joke about there being two times. M.T. And E.T. Mexican time or expat time. If you are dealing with Mexican time, well just be patient. That time could end up many hours later than agreed upon, or even days or weeks later. Or not at all. And don't bother calling that person because you will just get another time set up that won't be met. At that point just give it up and go on with your life. You can mostly count on Expat time.
When I first got sick, I could have walked about two blocks further to the Ajijic Hospital and seen a doctor for 300 pesos. Instead I thought I would try the clinic just one block from my house. The doctor was walking out the door as I walked in so I only saw the nurse. She listened to my lungs and gave me a shot and a hand full of prescriptions to have filled.
When I went to the counter to pay I knew I was in trouble because the clerk was adding up a very long line of figures. It came to Two thousand pesos and I hadn't even seen the doctor. Then is when I looked around the waiting room and saw no Mexicans. But it was too late for me by then.
They rented me a nebulizer for three days at eighty pesos a day. When I took it back I complained about that bill. And said I was feeling worse. The nurse said that I was really sick and needed to see the doctor and she would see if she could get the appointment a bit less expensive for me. I was sicker than when I first walked in the door a few days earlier. And I was angry at the bill, about ten times what other doctors charge, IF the doctor hasn't decided to go the expat way of treatment and billing. I will never return to that clinic and only see doctors that I already know, reasonably priced ones.
Anyway I wasn't even told what was wrong with me. I could hardly breathe. So I am guessing broncitis. I am writing about this as a warning to new people. Find a good, inexpensive doctor before you get sick. Don't let yourself get caught up in the net of expat prices. Unless you are rich enough that price means nothing to you. Then I say, lucky you and ignore the rest of this post.
I am still a little sick. It has been about three weeks. I am guessing that I could have stayed in bed all that time and had the same results as paying to see that nurse and buying all those meds. They did nothing to help me either.
This place is really changing. I must be more careful with each encounter here now in order to avoid the expat economy. I do my best not to write anything negative on my blog. It always returns tenfold but I am very upset at their charges. I will not mention the clinic. I just want to warn others about how things have changed here and to be careful before you see the doctor, and ask what to expect to be charged. Look around the waiting room. Are there any Mexicans? If not, you can guess that you are going to be charged expat prices.
Many very fine doctors here charge three hundred pesos a visit and specialists charge six hundred pesos, maybe a little more now. But I have never been charged two thousand pesos just to see a nurse and get a shot. As I wrote earlier, things have changed here. Since I am still sick, I won't write much more for a few days. I just wanted to get this off my mind as a warning to others.
