On my first visit to Mexico City in 2003, I didn’t eat any fruit or salads or street food because I was terrified of coming down with Montezuma’s Revenge. I didn’t even want to say the word, or think about it. Contracting… you-know-what… in a land where you can’t even throw your toilet paper in the commode? It sounded completely awful.
Now that I’ve suffered two bacterial infections and have learned the difference between “Montezuma’s Revenge Lite” and “intestinal hell,” I’m much more at peace with the idea of a little gastrointestinal stress as the price to pay to live here. Diarrhea happens. It’s a fact of life. This city has so much to offer in the realm of food and drink that you really can’t get mired down in the fear, because it’d take all the fun out of living here.
For instance, it’s pretty magical to eat a taco standing up and douse it with salsa from a plastic bucket, or to sample the homemade requesón (the Mexican version of ricotta cheese) from the lady at the tianguis. Or to drink a homemade agua de mango, or sip mezcal inside the fading, formerly opulent Bar La Opera, where Pancho Villa once rode in on his horse and fired a shot into the ceiling. I’ve never gotten sick once by doing any of those things.
Of course, one has to exercise caution. But I’ve slipped on that lately. I now brush my teeth with tap water, like everyone else I know. I disinfect only certain items from the tianguis, such as lettuce and tomatoes. Apples and carrots go straight from the market into my mouth. And it’s fine. I even bought chorizo verde from a tianguis dude last Sunday and fried it up last night. Who wants green sausage and eggs.
It’s just funny how things change. We’ve been here barely five months. My dad got a little sick when he came to visit last week, because his stomach wasn’t used to the spicy food. I tried to calm him down by telling him that at least he didn’t have giardia or salmonella.
“If you had that, you’d really be in bad shape,” I told him. “You’re going to be fine. It’ll clear up in a few days.” It did.
You have such a good attitude. I fall into the camp that diarrhea — even mild versions — should not be an acceptable part of life for anyone, in any country.
And I still don’t eat nearly as adventurously as you.
(It’s interesting to see how each of us ex-pats has a different love of Mexico. Mine is definitely more about the land and the nature than the food. The food is damn good, but I don’t get excited about it like I do about whale sharks or seeing the best surf beaches in Michoacan. You know? We’ve all got our thangs…)
I accept diarrhea as a fact of life here, too. I just said to Nick yesterday, “You know, this is the first week in a long time that neither you nor I have gotten diarrhea.” haha.
And, hey, diarrhea, makes more room for street food. A blessing in disguise…
Jajajaja! Gross!
Lesley, about carrots: you do peel them, don’t you?
We wash apples and tomatoes under the tap (our tap water was tested and approved) but we peel carrots and disinfect them and any leafy green vegetable. Strawberries and cilantro are particularly prone to harboring bacteria.
I avoid raw milk cheese, and I DEFINITELY don’t eat carne apache from a street or market stall.
Mezcal, in moderation, won’t hurt you.
Saludos,
Don Cuevas
Check out Joy! She’s even laughing in Spanish 🙂