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Is it safe to drink any drink from the bars and restaurants?


amangoaday

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We have been cruising the MR for many years and never, ever did we get ill drinking my favorite, maragritas. So, to all those afraid, you are missing a great beverage. I've even had the best iced tea in Cabo and I also had fresh mangos from the mango lady in Cabo (those of you know who I'm talking about) and enjoyed that with a mango margarita sitting on the beach loving life.

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Interesting discussions - pro and con but what is the fun of traveling if you don't experience new things in the world...within reason. I've traveled and worked in many parts of the world and take normal precautions like not eating at street vendors. Sure, the local small cafes and large restaraunts could have a problem as well but less likely.

 

But also travel prepared. I always have a prescription of Cipro with me which we only had to use once while in Mexico. My wife picked up a bug at a nice place alone the ocean and some bad shrimp.

 

Travel, eat, enjoy and build memories - life is short to be huddeled up and afraid to try new things.

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As for pure ice, well... we were in a cab at a light in Mazatlan in front of a resterant and saw a van that had "Puro Llelo" (Pure Ice) on the side. A guy open the back, pulled out a large block of ice which slid into the GUTTER! He drag it into the resterant! Yes, it was dragged through a gutter and along the sidewalk, but at least it was "Pure Ice"!

 

That ice you saw is intended to keep the cans and bottles cold, is not used in any drink or food.

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That ice you saw is intended to keep the cans and bottles cold, is not used in any drink or food.

Not always. Oftentimes, some restaurants and street vendors use the blocks of ice sitting on sidewalks, restaurant counters/floors, etc. to shave, chip, etc., and put into drinks. I'll agree that many to most expensive restaurants or bars use cubes from a purified source, but there are so many establishments and vendors serving the tourists throughout the region who seek to keep costs down and use the form of ice traditionally used in the country. These have been my observations and experiences.

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Not always. Oftentimes, some restaurants and street vendors use the blocks of ice sitting on sidewalks, restaurant counters/floors, etc. to shave, chip, etc., and put into drinks. I'll agree that many to most expensive restaurants or bars use cubes from a purified source, but there are so many establishments and vendors serving the tourists throughout the region who seek to keep costs down and use the form of ice traditionally used in the country. These have been my observations and experiences.

 

I have NEVER, in 15 years of going to Cabo seen this. We go to some expensive places but mostly medium priced places and even some tiny, cheap places and every place that we have been uses purifed ice cubes in the drinks. Restaurants and bars do not want to get people sick. They depend on repeat business and word of mouth especially now with forums like this. They wouldn't be in business for long if they were. I would love to know where you have seen this occur.

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I have NEVER, in 15 years of going to Cabo seen this. We go to some expensive places but mostly medium priced places and even some tiny, cheap places and every place that we have been uses purifed ice cubes in the drinks. Restaurants and bars do not want to get people sick. They depend on repeat business and word of mouth especially now with forums like this. They wouldn't be in business for long if they were. I would love to know where you have seen this occur.

 

Nor have we seen this during the last five years of going to Puerto Vallarta on a steady basis.

 

Truly we seek out the cheap, hidden off the beaten track restaurants and taco stands....not the expensive tourist type places on the PV malecon......so if the local restaurants are good...my pesos are betting that those expensive tourist restaurants are following suit. We LOVE the local restaurants and such.

 

I see that Gomexicoa spends much of their time in Acapulco and maybe this is typical of restaurants and bars there.....:rolleyes: but honestly I can say that this is NOT typical of restaurants in Puerto Vallarta and I would bet pesos that the local experts in Cabo would say the same.

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Not always. Oftentimes, some restaurants and street vendors use the blocks of ice sitting on sidewalks, restaurant counters/floors, etc. to shave, chip, etc., and put into drinks. I'll agree that many to most expensive restaurants or bars use cubes from a purified source, but there are so many establishments and vendors serving the tourists throughout the region who seek to keep costs down and use the form of ice traditionally used in the country. These have been my observations and experiences.

 

I have NEVER seen block ice in use at any bar or restaurant in Mexico! :confused:

 

At any given minute, there are tens of thousands of tourist eating the food and drinking the beverages in the resorts and restaurants at these Mexican tourist destinations (my family included).

 

Use the same common sense that you would use at home. Avoid food from alleyway stands and local beverages sold on the streets from plastic jugs. Stick to the areas where tourists hang out and all will be OK.

 

The combination that gets most people sick (anywhere in the world) is too much booze, too much sun, too much rich food and too little water. Bottle water is available everywhere and at 1/3rd the cost we pay in the states. There is no excuse for getting dehydrated.

 

Enjoy!

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  • 2 weeks later...
No, not all tourist restaurants and many local ones use purified water and ice. There's no way to verify such a statement. My advice is to drink only bottled beverages - no tap water and no ice from bars and restaurants (buy your own bagged ice if you want and use that if appropriate).

 

My husband and I were in Ensenada in October and drank a margarita. A few hours later, my husband got really sick and so did I, but it did not last long... :eek:

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Been to Baja many times and haven't gotten sick yet.

 

We eat in the tourist restuarants and have eaten from recommended shacks. Not even the one year old got sick from the shack.

The Paletas in Mexico are very good. These popsicles are in unfamiliar flavors.

 

Just use some sense and you should be OK. Food bourne illness can happen anywhere.

 

Traveling in and of itself can cause 'issues.'

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Gastrointestinal problems occur in Mexico, amongst residents, generally, at almost epidemic rates from what I've seen/read/heard not just recently but for a very long time. It's a serious problem, which includes Hep. A.

 

Many to most foreign visitors I'm familiar with and whose comments I've read over the short-term past report various problems during their trips or when they return home - problems they don't experience when eating at restaurant and at "stands" when at home.

 

Some of the problems for the foreigners may be due to different bacteria being present in Mexico than in their home regions, and their bodies are adjusting/reacting - but, overall, my experience has been that sanitary and personal hygene standards in Mexico, as compared to Canada and the USA, are far less and the level of education on such matters is lacking.

 

I find it a common sight to see food workers sneeze and cough in the food cooking/prep areas, handling filthy money with bare hands then touching the food they're preparing and then handing it to you to eat, etc.

 

Just because someone eats at a street-side stand or small comedor-type restaurant doesn't mean they'll be sick, but the odds of having problems increase with going outside of the high-end tourist places. One could get sick at a well-known commerical restaurant, also - which has happened to me in Mexico several times, so it's not just the small places that experience problems.

 

One's immunity, and how it may be compromised, plays a part in becoming sick and many people who travel should, obviously, be paying more attention to the sanitary conditions.

 

We can't just lock ourselves up and not travel or interact with others, so, as is often said, using common sense is a good, the best guide. However, when we're on vacation and traveling to unfamiliar destinations we often toss caution to the wind . . . to have a good time. We become preoccupied.

 

Be very careful when eating at a buffet in a destination restaurant, drink bottled beverages (not things poured from pitchers or jugs nor from the "tap"), do your darndest to determine if the ice is in the processed cube form (which is often easy to determine by the look/shape) or shaved (stay away from shaved or chopped ice) and observe a street-side food vendor carefully before buying anything to eat/drink from one (paying attention to hygene practices, how many other customers are patronizing the stand, etc.) and you have a better chance of avoiding GI problems which can disrupt your trip or, in some cases, cause serious illness.

 

Enjoy the journeys!

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My son and I both got a GI bug after cruising in the MR. We ate and drank in all 3 ports. Thankfully, we didn't get sick until we got home and it wasn't too bad. We did go to the Dr for meds tho.

 

Someone said that when on a cruise and eating in other countries one of the easy, recommended foods to eat is yogurt because of the live bacteria (did I get that right?) Anyway, who knows where the "bug" came from, it wouldn't stop me from going to those same places and eating/drinking again:) I'll just make sure to have my daily serving of yogurt;)

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My son and I both got a GI bug after cruising in the MR. We ate and drank in all 3 ports. Thankfully, we didn't get sick until we got home and it wasn't too bad. We did go to the Dr for meds tho.

 

Someone said that when on a cruise and eating in other countries one of the easy, recommended foods to eat is yogurt because of the live bacteria (did I get that right?) Anyway, who knows where the "bug" came from, it wouldn't stop me from going to those same places and eating/drinking again:) I'll just make sure to have my daily serving of yogurt;)

 

Since you didn't get sick until you got home, it's probably more likely that you caught it from the ship, not a Mexican port. Either 1 of the 3 meals you had on the ship that last "at sea" day or the breakfast you had on the morning of debarkation. Depending on the ship, it could have even occurred on the final (2) "at sea" days since some ships have PV or Manzanillo as their last port of call and 2 "at sea" days before debarkation. A GI bug typically presents itself within 24 hours of consumption.

 

We do the yogurt trick every day for breakfast while on a cruise. This is done more to protect us from the bugs that other passengers seem more than willing to share through their poor personal hygiene than from anything we might get in port.

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I also heard that when in Mexico to be sure to eat yogurt at least once a day. It has pro-biotics that will help your system in case of gastrointestinal problems.

 

Anytime I am away from home I make sure I eat yogurt or take some form of pro-biotics, that said, Mexico has the best yogurt, even the same common brands we get up here taste way better down there.

 

Here is a very good link (that helped me alot when I first ventured into eating at PV Taco Stands), actually this whole website is wonderful filled with alot of information about Puerto Vallarta.

 

http://www.vallarta-info.com/streetfood.html

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  • 4 weeks later...

We went to Las Gatas beach in Zihuatenjo. There are about a dozen bar/restaraunts on the beach. Is it safe?

Well, they have all outdoor kitcheans with dubious sanitation. My wife used a nearby bathroom, there was toilet paper on the wet floor, but no soap. Now, what this means is that if the cook need to take a dump, he will go in that bathroom and emerge without washing his hands, to touch and handle your food!

If you are ok with that and think that being on vacation gives you an immunity to getting a disease, then you should feel ok eating there.

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We went to Las Gatas beach in Zihuatenjo. There are about a dozen bar/restaraunts on the beach. Is it safe?

Well, they have all outdoor kitcheans with dubious sanitation. My wife used a nearby bathroom, there was toilet paper on the wet floor, but no soap. Now, what this means is that if the cook need to take a dump, he will go in that bathroom and emerge without washing his hands, to touch and handle your food!

If you are ok with that and think that being on vacation gives you an immunity to getting a disease, then you should feel ok eating there.

 

And how is your story unique to Mexico. You will find this exact same lack of sanitary conditions everywhere you go across the globe.

 

Many people use the condition of an establishment's bathroom as an indicator of what to expect in the kitchen, here in the US and wherever they travel.

 

Was the bathroom used by your wife a public facility or was it in one of the bar/restaurants? Do you know if the bar/restaurants had a sink with soap `n water in them?

 

Your story is painted with a broad brush. You imply that all of those establishments are the breeding ground for the next pandemic just because one restroom on a stretch of beach didn't have a bar of soap in it? Get a grip!

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We went to Las Gatas beach in Zihuatenjo. There are about a dozen bar/restaraunts on the beach. Is it safe?

Well, they have all outdoor kitcheans with dubious sanitation. My wife used a nearby bathroom, there was toilet paper on the wet floor, but no soap. Now, what this means is that if the cook need to take a dump, he will go in that bathroom and emerge without washing his hands, to touch and handle your food!

If you are ok with that and think that being on vacation gives you an immunity to getting a disease, then you should feel ok eating there.

 

Why drag up a thread that has been buried for almost a month??? What you have posted could be ANYWHERE in the world....

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Why drag up a thread that has been buried for almost a month??? What you have posted could be ANYWHERE in the world....

 

The comments which have seemed to upset you so much are being made by someone who said they just got back from a MR cruise, so I think the report is about as relevant as any could be - and while other parts of the world may experience lower standards of personal hygene and sanitation (such as Many parts of Mexico) than we face at home, this is a forum about Mexico and the MR region and that, too, makes the comments relevant. We're not talking about "anywhere", we're talking about the MR.

 

Have a healthy and good 2010!

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The comments which have seemed to upset you so much are being made by someone who said they just got back from a MR cruise, so I think the report is about as relevant as any could be - and while other parts of the world may experience lower standards of personal hygene and sanitation (such as Many parts of Mexico) than we face at home, this is a forum about Mexico and the MR region and that, too, makes the comments relevant. We're not talking about "anywhere", we're talking about the MR.

 

Have a healthy and good 2010!

 

My mistake, I just reread his post and realized he had just returned home.

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Boy, I am feeling queasy just reading the posts... Anyway, we have been to Mexico several times, both on cruises and staying in resorts. The only time we ever felt bad was from drinking a margarita on a shore excursion (just felt like crap for a couple of days) and eating "mystery" lunch meat at a resort in Ixtapa. So I personally now only drink beer/bottled water and stay WAY clear of any meat I don't recognize. Have fun in Mexico. We leave for there on the 16th.

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