The first thing you should know about this blog is that sometimes it will be just plain wrong.  Straight up bad advice. That’s the beauty here, you never really know.  Isn’t this fun? YOU get to become a part of the experiment in wandering.

For example, last week I explained that getting medications delivered through a virtual post box was our plan for dealing with long term medications.  Pfft! Easy as pie.

Um, no.  A fellow Seasoned Wanderer set me straight on that with this email:

“Sara! Are you freakin’ nuts!?! We are wanted in the both the United States AND Mexico due to our attempt to get meds in this way!”

This traveler, let’s call her Pat, ordered her medications through her on-line pharmacy and had them delivered to her virtual post box. She then had the medications along with two months’ worth of mail sent to her in Monzanillo, Mexico.

Well she TRIED to have them sent.  Alas, the package was stopped at Mexican customs and refused entry. Ack! Drugs!

Pat was told by “A Very Kind Man” that he could take care of everything (“mui simple, Senora”) for a small fee (“una pequena kindess…”). Our term for this in English is bribe.

Now, Pat is a very law abiding woman and this did not sit well with her. She refused and so Mexican customs sent the package back to the U.S.

But alas, the package was stopped at U. S. customs and refused entry. Ack! Drugs!

Sadly, Pat’s migraine medications became the pharmaceutical equivalent of Tom Hanks in The Terminal.

Pat had to petition customs for their release, and her U.S. doctor had to fill out a small mountain of forms. Then the drugs, along with the forms, went to the FDA. This agency was charged with making certain that these drugs were exactly what they said they were.

They also opened the unopened prescription bottles to make absolutely certain that they were unopened.

In the meantime, of course, Pat ran out of her medications and had to get new prescriptions from a Mexican doctor.

THIS turns out this was the best method.  At least in Mexico.

Lesson learned. We’ll let you know what other lessons we learn.  Maybe.