does anyone have any tips or suggestions on what i should do about drinking the water in foreign countries?? i’m heading to mexico for a four week trip and am concerned about getting sick from the water. of course, i will be drinking at night, but during the heat of the afternoon i will need to hydrate myself. i get sick from water easily. i always buy bottled water when i visit relatives out of state. any info would be MUCH appreciated…..

Bottled water, beer, or diet sodas... that's usually what I stick to. And make sure you don't get ice!

Also, if you're that easily affected by water, make sure you peel the skin off of any fruit you may buy while there.

Omisan said it right. Plus I'd say be aware of salads or raw vegetables in non-touristic restaurants as they may have been washed in water. Usually touristic restaurants use boiled water for our fragile stomach.

If you go eat in a private home, don't be shy to ask for boiled water.

There are kits you can buy for cleansing water, but I've never tried them. I had one with me in Asia, in case I'd go to remote places for a while and couldn't buy bottled water, but it stayed in my backpack the whole time.

In a private home, I once was given a bowl of noodle soup that I had assumed previously boiled but :cry: nop, it was only hot water. 90 minutes later, I was lying in bed. Stomach in pain. For 24 hours.

Montezuma's Revenge...ahh, what fun.
Never actually been to Mexico myself. So really, I don't have anything to add to this thread. Except to say, Omisan and Atchoum are right. Yup.

Bottled water, boiled water, skin off the fruit (if you eat it), and non-touristy dining establishments, stay away from things that might have been washed in non-boiled water. Good advice. :)

If I go to Mexico, I will hydrate with the wonderful creation of cerveza.

Besides what has been said, you can get tablets for treating water - but bottle is eaiser.

And if your really concerned don't forget about the ice in drinks from the bar.

ev

Thanks for the advice, i will have to remember the no ice in drinks when i go out. what are the tablets like? do they taste gross when added to the water?

The tablets are basically iodine or chlorine and taste nasty in the water.. usually, you take stuff like that on backcountry trips and use them once in a while when you have to neutralize yucky, still water. You're far better off just getting bottled water :)