Do You Eat The Salsa?

[Cozoholic]

Got it...but I was diving all weekend with students...AND...I don't answer e-mails on Sunday's anymore I need a day off

No problem !! Just wanted to make sure you got it !!!!

 

[Rick Inman]

The water situation "purification" has gotten mucho better over the years. Its one thing you can thank the boats for. Wouldn't have happened in our lifetime if the boat people never came. The power of numbers.

Hey! Take it to the POD People thread, would 'ya! We're taklin' salsa here.

 

[divematt]

On my first trip to Coz last year, I ate the salsa every day and night and had no problems. On the second trip, I ate it sometimes two small bowls one right after another. After two of these bowls at Ernesto's Fajita Factory, I got sick. Several hours later I was so sick I had to go to the hospital. I had the fever and all of the rest. The Mexican doctor there said that I should have been careful and not have eaten too much of the salsa. My girlfriend ate the same stuff as me but only about a third of the salsa that I had. I wasn't going to eat it this year, but you guys have got me wondering now. I was very sick though.

 

[ggunn]

A couple of years ago, on the way out for a tour around the island, we stopped for ice on the way out of the hotel. The cooling unit on the box was not working, and there was about a foot of kinda greenish water in the bottom, but there were 3 or 4 mostly melted bags floating around in it. We we just cooling beer, and we were in a hurry, so we just grabbed what ice was there and went.

Sometime that day, some people in our party, not wanting to litter, tossed a couple of empties back in the ice chest.

The next day, we were out on the hotel patio, and my sister got us a round of beers out of the ice chest, and she didn't realize that one of them wasn't capped. I thought she had opened it for me. I took a big double gulp from it and swallowed before I realized it wasn't beer.

I have never been so sick in my life. We were on Cozumel for 12 days; I was in bed for seven of them, and I barely recovered enough and in time to get on the plane for home.

I have been to Cozumel many times since my first visit there in 1978. I eat the salsa, and just about anything else, anywhere else I want, and with only that one rather spectacular episode as an exception, I have never had a problem.

 

[Rick Inman]

A couple of years ago, on the way out for a tour around the island, we stopped for ice on the way out of the hotel. The cooling unit on the box was not working, and there was about a foot of kinda greenish water in the bottom, but there were 3 or 4 mostly melted bags floating around in it. We we just cooling beer, and we were in a hurry, so we just grabbed what ice was there and went.

Sometime that day, some people in our party, not wanting to litter, tossed a couple of empties back in the ice chest.

The next day, we were out on the hotel patio, and my sister got us a round of beers out of the ice chest, and she didn't realize that one of them wasn't capped. I thought she had opened it for me. I took a big double gulp from it and swallowed before I realized it wasn't beer.

I have never been so sick in my life.

That is the most disgusting story I have read on this board. :dropmouth

 

[Ron Brandt]

While searching on how to avoid the tourist trots, I read that one of the most common causes of getting sick in MX is eatting the salsa. Say it isn't so!! Last time I was in MX (Puerto Vallarta) I was very careful with the food and water, but ate every scoop of salsa I could find - and I got sick on the last day. Could it have been the salsa??
Truthfully, I don't know it I can do it - not eat the salsa. Come ON, this is Mexico!
Before I start to cry at the thought of going on the salsa wagon, tell me you eat all the salsa you want in Cozumel and you don't get sick

I eat the salsa all the time I'm there. Never been sick.I the only thing I can think of that might be affecting some people is the Habinaro peppers that is one of the ingreedients.

My stomach does turn the odd time but I believe it's just the excess food and beer.

Ron

 

[Rondo]

I always take acidophilus supplements when traveling anywhere,keeps everything working correctly and occupies the space with good critters,nowhere for the bad guys to set up camp.

Things like Pepto and immodium just create toxic backup.

There is a new antibiotic drug approved specifically for tourista(the first),it can be used prophylactically,it's not a systemic antibiotic like most,this one stays only in the intestines.Rifaximin (xifaxan) Salix Pharm.

 

[Mawg]

There is a common myth that merely squeezing a lime over food is some sort of magic bullet against the bacteria that cause the turista. Not true; the very minor pH change that is brought about by the inclusion of a little lime juice is not sufficient to disinfect food.

My rules on Cozumel are simple. I don't drink water out of the tap, and I avoid getting water in my mouth in the shower. I brush my teeth with bottled water. I don't eat Caesar salad (raw or nearly so eggs) or ground beef. I don't bite my fingernails, and I don't drink alcohol to excess. That's pretty much it.

Gordon,

I have also found that if I drink 2 very cold bottles of Bohemia with salsa, I never have any problems. ............... 35 days and counting...............

 

[Mawg]

This is SOOO ancient and this topic always strikes a nerve with me, because it's so far from the truth.

No matter what restaurant you go to touristy or local dive, you will NOT get served TAP water. The locals don't even drink the tap water. ALL ice on the island is made from purified water. The water trucks (5 or 6 companies) drive arouns all day every day delivering 5 gallon jugs of purified water to homes, restaurants, hotels, and businesses. THAT is the water that is served to everyone.

Furthermore, many restaurants and hotels now have water purification systems, AND I hear that our water is now being treated, but still not 100% potable, and still not served in restaurants. Restaurants also use an anti-bacterial solution in the water to soak and clean veggies if not being cooked.

You are just as likely to get food poisoning in the US as you are here, and that is the truth.

In fact, I got a SERIOUS case of sominella in the states several years ago, from a very well known and respected restaurant, to the point I was hospitalizedfor 2 days.

I have been here 4 years now. I brush my teeth with the water everyday, I wash my veggies in the tap water with the drops, I drink water in the restaurants, and those who know me, know what a fanatic I am about having a cup/glass of ice with my diet coke, gatorade or whatever I am drinking, I eat at nice restaurants, dives, and street vendors, etc. and I have never had food poisoning here.

Tourism is the economic base here...hotels and restaurants take all necessary precautions to make sure they don't "kill" the tourists. I'm not saying it can't happen here, of course it can...but it's just as likely to hit you in the US or any other country for that matter than here. Give the island and it's people a little more credit, please.

Couldn't agree with you more Christi. All the times I have been to Cozumel in the last 13 years, I have eaten anything I wanted and never gave it a second thought. I eat salsa and cevice' ALWAYS! It has been my experience that people who go to Cozumel or anywhere else and THINK they are going to get sick do get sick. I'm way too busy enjoying myself to get sick.

 

[Rick Inman]

There is a new antibiotic drug approved specifically for tourista(the first),it can be used prophylactically,it's not a systemic antibiotic like most,this one stays only in the intestines.Rifaximin (xifaxan) Salix Pharm.

Everything I read on Rifaximin says it is used as treatment, not prophylactically. Can you point me to the data?
Thanks!