Los Algodones, Baja California
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Los Algodones, Baja California, is a small Mexican town located on the extreme northeastern tip of the municipality of Mexicali, approximately 16 km (10 miles) west of Yuma, Arizona, USA.
Situated near the borders of both southeastern California and southwestern Arizona, Los Algodones has become a popular tourist attraction in recent years due in part to inexpensive shopping and restaurants as well as inexpensive medical care and prescription medicines. The warm, dry climate of the area attracts a number of older tourists from across the United States and Canada who settle during the winter in the nearby towns of Yuma, Winterhaven, California, and Andrade, California. Organized day trips from the Coachella Valley are popular among seniors as well.
From the US side, Los Algodones is most easily reached via Interstate 8 and south a short distance along California State Route 186/Andrade Road to the international border at Andrade. From Andrade, visitors can elect to park their vehicles for a small fee and walk across the border or to drive across.
The popularity of both inexpensive prescriptions and medical care catering to American and Canadian seniors have prompted a virtual explosion of pharmacies and dental offices which have largely displaced a great deal of the open-air shops and restaurants immediately across the border and have effectively shifted the town's focus from tourism to medicine. Nevertheless, a number of shops and restaurants remain and Los Algodones capitalizes on the tourist trade with frequent fiestas throughout the year, most notably around the Christmas season.
The exact geographical location is at an elevation of 110 feet/33.5 m above mean sea level.
The Spanish-language name Los Algodones translates into English as "The Cotton Plants" ("the Cottons").
