what's safe to eat?

longford reminds me...
I believe everyone should get immunized with Hepatitus A vaccine.
If not from your doctor, your public health clinic can do this for you.
As much risk for this serious fecal borne liver disease in the USA as in going to Mexico.

i ALWAYS used to get sick when i ate food in mexico... i have a sensitive stomach as it is, and i get sick when i eat too much meat even here, so i would be sick for at least two weeks AFTER i returned home. i took ciprol after one trip, but even that didn't help. so i talked to a doc about it, he told me to take a pepto tablet in the morning and one at night. pepto's enzyme's help to coat your stomach to protect it, so essentialy by keeping it "protected", nothing will bug it. so i did that. and it was so nice to not have to worry about what i ate and worrying if it would make me sick or not. i have had nothing but enjoyable trips since then, and welcome homecomings, as well :)

addendum to my last comment:

BUT, taking so much pepto can make you constipated, so it's important to stay well-hydrated. i cut down to 1/2 a tablet if anything of that sort starts up.

Here are all the vaccines that one "should" take before travel to Mexico and other central American countries, as suggested by CDC. But I doubt that if there is one ever take so many at a time... http://www.cdc.gov/travel/camerica.htm#vaccines<BR><BR>My trip will be beginning in about one week, so I guess it won't make much difference even I get vaccinated now.. :( Regarding Hepatitus A, I forgot whether I took that before or not when I was in middle school... I think I did...and hopefully, I won't get sick!!!

We tend not to have the same eating schedules as Mexicans - at least until we've been here awhile. I think the best time to eat street food is when everyone else is eating. I got sick within a few hours from eating at an unfamiliar stand when they first opened. I think they had leftovers from the day before. Better going into a REAL restaurant or buying some junk food in a store - or a few beers are filling.

Raw seafood of questionable origin - like not on the beach. Guadalajara and Patzcuaro both got me with 'fresh' seafood.

Hotels that have the banquet style breakfasts/brunches often leave stuff out for hours. Beach vendors that walk for hours in the sun trying to sell their cut fruit. I avoid salads with MAYO or tortas with mayo if it looks like they use homemade.

I still get sick once or twice a year and mostly eat at home anymore.

*** Eat at busy stands where Mexicans are eating.

That's the key thing.

Apart from that you don't want to order ANYTHING (cooked or raw) that has been sitting out for quit sometimes. As for cooked stuff make sure that it's cooked right there before you. For raw stuff (like Cerviche) or cut fruits I would shy away.

For fruits, go and buy something thickly peeled like citrus or bananas that you can peel yourself. As the pre-sliced stuff (pineapple, watermelon, papayas, etc) may not be clean or sat out for a while. Even if they don't cut it till someone orders the question is that if the knife they used is clean or do they just wipe it off with an apron or dirty tea towel after each use?

try the fresh oranges with salt and chilli..served all over the yucatan..yummy

Lots of great ideas. I done such things as the pepto bismal, acidophilus and even buying grapefruit seed extract and putting it everything liquid I drink. I think the big thing I learned and have never been really sick since then, is using antibacterial liquids and wet wipes before eating. That has cut down on the violent illnesses with vomiting etc. which I had several times while travelling in Costa Rica, Guatemala and Mexico. Now if I have any problem, it is minor. I also squeeze lots of limes on everything.

One should always remember that everywhere in the world has its own particular mix of bugs that infect the food that the locals are resistant to due to constant exposure, this includes the US, Canada, Europe, etc. nobody is excepted. It is common that traveling to a new place and eating the food is going to give most people a little bit of discomfort no matter what they choose to eat and where they eat it. My peruvian relatives always have a day or two when they come here, my Mexican friends joke about "don't drink the water." and I have heard it from others.

If you are willing to accept that you have a good probability of having a little stomach upset at some point and that it is also not going to be the end of the world (just a day of forced inactivity as you stay close to the throne) you will find your trip a lot more pleasant.

That said there is a lot of good advice on the post prior to this one. A few general rules to go by, if the food is cooked to a high temperature (at least boiling point) in front of you or held at a high temperature the microbes will be dead. This does not mean that the food cannot still iritate your digestive system because some microbes produce toxins in the food that survives the cooking process but once your body passes these through they will not bother you further.

Fresh fruits and veggies in an unbroken skin are almost universally safe as long as you remove or safely clean the skin.

This can sound counter to logic but unless you eat a lot of highly processed foods at home, avoid the temptation to eat a lot of processed, packaged foods on the road. In Mexico and throuthout Latin America many of these are very high in salt, preservatives, and cheap, hard to digest oils, as well as chemical flavor agents, etc. that can cause more stomach discomfort than the bacteria you are trying to avoid. They also tend to be low on the nutrition scale and lack fiber which can lead to constipation.

Most importantly, remember that the locals don't like to get sick either, if you follow their lead and eat where a lot of them eat and make similar choices you are more likely to have a good experience. I also agree with the comment about lime juice, it is used all over Latin America and although I have never seen anything scientific I believe that it does help. I have seen many cases where the worst places to eat as far as safety and cleanliness in the kitchen are the more expensive tourist oriented resturaunts. They know that in most cases it takes anywhere from 2 days to a couple of weeks for the infection to really hit you and by then the customer has moved on and is likely to blame the stuff he/she ate the day it hits, never suspecting the real culprit.

if ou get sick Escapar works great. Mexican doctors have lots of experience with gastri ukknesses