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Hound Dog

Mar 17, 2009, 9:23 AM

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On Crossing the MoMo Bridge

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There is a thread which has been locked on the Chapala.Com Forum that explores the the theory of whether or not the water is potable, generally speaking, in Mexico and the tone of the conversation, which was initiated by a newcomer concerned about his/her health and inquiring about the purity of water hereabouts, had taken on a certain adolescent bravado that reminds me of the old game of crossing the old high-rise wooden bridge on the L&N Mainline between the state capital city of Montgomery and the state deep water port of Mobile thus the name MoMo Bridge and when The Dawg was a boy in the 1950s, the game among young men of the community was the crossing of this bridge upon a dangerous railing above the roadway in order to prove one´s bravery in comparison to one´s compatriots.

Foreigners at Lake Chapala, mostly Americans and Canadians, play a variance of this game displaying what I think of as adolescent bravado and in this variant they tend to dine at streetside taco stands and brag about consuming water not necessarily purified in order to make it uneventful for human consumption. The bravest of the "adolescent boys" cross that figurative water safety bridge with abandon thereby leaving the other, more conservative, boys in disgrace and proviong that their balls are the town´s balls of legend.

These foreigners with a false sense of bravado play this game by consuming comestibles not prepared in keeping with standard hygeinic practices most of us have come to expect and demand and this becomes a game lacking in rational thought and more about that later but for now I must run an errand for my better half before she whups my ass so I will continue this posting later.

When I return, let´s talk unemotionally of the standards of cleanliness of Mexican food and water purveyors and the foreigners who consume their products publicly extolling their virtuous lack of concern for the subject. Feel free, dear reader, to beat me to the punch on this matter.

(This post was edited by DavidMcL on Mar 17, 2009, 4:06 PM)

Hound Dog

Mar 17, 2009, 3:29 PM

Post #2 of 3 (2250 views)

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Re: [Hound Dog] On Crossing the MoMo Bridge

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The intention of the last paragraphs in the first posting is to convey that the risk/reward ratio involved in consuming food or water anywhere which has not been adequately treated to mitigate contaminants is somewhat out of kilter in terms of what is to be gained by being careless in food preparation. Drinking water purified by reliable sources or at home and/or food properly prepared before consumption are normally as tasty as food more likely to be contaminated by bacteria because of inadequate care prior to consumption. Yet, many advising newcomers regarding food safety tend to underplay the importance of food and water preparation prior to consumption as if the consequences of carelessness in said preparation were insignificant. Well, as one who has been brought low by typhoid fever and had recurring salmonella poisoning in Mexico and France and the United States, I can assure you that the consequences of ingesting contaminated food or water are serious indeed.

A contributor to the forum I earlier referred to who normally provides good advice on that forum made light recently of the need to consume properly purified water and this reminded me of how I used to drink primarily purified water sold under a particular label because it was processed by an international company of the highest repute and then that company sold a contaminated batch of that "purified" water that caused widespread sickness in Chiapas and caused me to rethink my blind trust in that company. For this reason, I was intrigued by the idea of one poster on the aforementioned forum that it would be prudent to treat bottled, purified water purchased commercially with the widely available silver based decontaminant with which we normally prepare our food and drinking water at home. This concern I had was only made more urgent when my doctor at Lake Chapala advised me not to drink "purified" water prepared and sold by one local water company there as she mistrusted there quality control procedures.

I had objected to the locking of certain threads prematurely over at Chapala.Com before all opposing points of view were heard. Because discourse was cut short, newcomers were left with the impression that notions that the food and water supply in this country were safe enough that at-home decontamination procedures were uncalled for and I felt that those newcomers were being misled by some posters and might get the impression that no decontamination procedure at home were prudent.

Since the thread had been locked, I brought my concerns here for discussion.

I would appreciate input from others regarding this matter.

(This post was edited by DavidMcL on Mar 17, 2009, 3:50 PM)

tashby

Mar 27, 2009, 12:40 PM

Post #3 of 3 (2112 views)

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Re: [Hound Dog] On Crossing the MoMo Bridge

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Why the hell isn't this in the General Forum?

I've been traveling to Mexico since the early 1980's, and have now lived here one year. (Like so many others, we're in Mah-Jongg, Mexico.)

I used to be the jackass who bragged about eating street food and telling people not to worry so much about the water. I still do those things, but now I'm the jackass going through my 4th or 5th version of *something*. Fortunately, they've all been minor and I've only had to head to the doctor/antibiotics once, but still.

I'm tired of being busy on both ends.

In the past, especially when I was younger, I took this issue very lightly. I don't take it as lightly any more.