I'll share briefly: I was using a non virustat water filter while backpacking in CO in 2006. I contacted a virus(was/is unknown even after 3 days in hospital & many tests-$10k worth!) & proceeded to lose 1/3 of my kidney function in that one event. I like your steripen idea but caution that many filters out there from most of the mfgs. are for bacteria only. Furthermore it is a huge risk to "play" with unknown water sources. We eat from our farm/garden everyday here & eat lots of veggies,etc., but my point is that no one should take a water risk anywhere. We drank/bathed in/with our untreated spring water here at home as our only water source from 1979 until we got city water 3 yrs ago, so it isn't just about if my intestines have the flora & fauna thing going on & I don't think yogurt would have saved me from the virus. BTW, I eat street food often when traveling in Mexico. Nice place, yours!!! Maybe we'll meet?
Sounds to me like you were either very unlucky or I'm very fortunate. I forgot to avoid the tap water years ago, and no problems so far. I think it has a lot to do with where you are. I think the city water here is probably pretty safe. Simply the different minerals in the local water are enough to give you "the Aztec two-step" or "Montezuma's revenge" Wait... Maybe those phrases are trying to tell us something That said, I get nailed after eating chain restaurant fast food all the time.
And now, tell me about camping. (again by my female self) Not necessarily planning this for Baja next month, but for potential long trip on mainland this spring.
We have spring water that feeds our town well. The water is from the foothills of the mountains to the east. But you never know how many cows are up there. The locals protest every time the state of Sonora forces the town to use the chlorination system because they hate the taste and the smell. The state has promised a new system - we'll see. I have come to like the taste of our local purified water product. It does have the unfortunate name "River Water" though. With bottled water available everywhere in Mexico you are well covered. I used to drink right from the streams up high when I lived in Colorado but I stopped after finding a dead marmot in the water about a quarter mile up stream from where i had just taken a drink. I guess I'm luck as well.
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You can get very inexpensive lodging in Mexico (except of course at my luxo hotel ) so if saving money is the object you won't save much. Check in with ADVer Hewby as she is una mujer sola on her way to TDF.
Have been following Hewby, but will ask directly. "Inexpensive" means different things to different people, but your comment duly noted.
Send John a PM about camping. He's in Mexico right now, and nobody posting in this thread is/has camped more in Mexico than him. He'll tell you the good, the bad, and the in-between of the whole experience. He's really pushing economy and not trying to be one with nature. If he had a bigger budget, I don't think he'd camp if he didn't need to - but get the straight skinny from him. I'm in Sjoerd's camp (no pun intended) - there is so much low cost hotel space to be found. But like you say, low cost means different things to different people. These are fair questions. Like the ones on insurance, paperwork, security, and recommended things to see, they come up all the time, but they're fair questions. To search the historical archive on camping south of the border, type site:advrider.com camping in Mexico into the Google search box. You can place anything you want after the protocol site:advrider.com and search for that too.
This travel alert is a bit audacious. Someone trying to make a name for themself by posting an extreme warning. On the other hand theft is abundant in the Miami/Ft Lauderdale area. We stayed in a RV resort and during the two weeks we were there a bike or two was stolen every night. My car was broken into as well as my neighbors. All around Miami and the metro area there are police watch towers in the parking lots of major retail stores. We moved across the alley to Naples and found it to be a much safer.
Will do. Thanks for the reference. Generally I've enjoyed my US camping, but there always time when I'd like to do otherwise. Being a flutist and having a herd of bikes... well, then way I afford it is to cut corners everywhere else. Forgot about that trick. Works better than forum searches, often, dunno why.
Do they make lava proof tents? Popol angry today! Beautiful sight for about 100km. The clearest view I've ever had of the smoke. Unfortunately I only had my cell phone with me If only the resident photographer was there to do it justice That's just his day job. At night he puts his underwear on the outside of his pants and swings from buildings. No restraining order will stop him! No sir! He's going to retaliate now by posting a picture of me in my power-ranger suit.
No, I won't do that, I am too busy prepping the tell all tale of how and where I found La Hayek's furry little monkey! I only did the underwear building swing trick a couple of times on a bet. I stopped doing that but I miss it. Nice pics of the big smoke, bet it smells like Los Humeros where we were on Monday. Remind me to tell you the Los Humeros joke, I forgot to mention it.
there is also a very nice view from the visitor centre at 12000 ft ASL Then for excitement ride down the silt road on the backside to Cholula
All I did was copy the alert from Canada's travel site.. Not trying to make a name at all, the intent was to show different perspectives.. The US may say Mexico is dangerous (along with many other countries) instilling fear, but from another countries perspective the US is every bit as bad.
I may wrong, but my interpretation was that the "someone" referred to was not you, Snownut, but whoever wrote the warning in the first place.
It was reported the other day that there are 300 million guns in Central North America. There are people in other countries who are not comfortable with this fact. They read the papers and watch television. I don't go to places where I am likely to encounter one of these guns, even with one of my own, but random acts do happen. Our friends in Southern North America do not let us bring guns there and the penalties are severe if you try. Most of our friends to the North who have weighed in on this issue are just baffled by it. I don't know if their constitution or charter or whatever their governing document is has a Bill of Rights or a Second Amendment but I will no doubt hear about it.
I was on it the day before yesterday. For some reason I didn't know that section was unpaved... I think I searched for info about it some time ago, didn't find it, and just forgot about it. A more thorough search would have been in order eh? So needless to say I was a bit surprised when the road ran out just after the first bridge construction site. Considering it was used for the Baja 1000 2 days prior, it wasn't in such bad shape. I think if I'd known it was dirt for 70 miles I would have still taken it, but would have given myself more time. As it was I arrived at Coco's at dusk. Here's the end of the road This is what it's like for the most part But then there is a sandy section. I was doing alright, staying in the mainly-straight wheel ruts left by cars, but then there was this one wiggly one left by an earlier bike. I gave it half a chance, and my front wheel decided to take the wiggly one. Pretty soon I was into the berm, and over the top of it. Fortunately there is plenty of traffic on that road, so it wasn't long before Baja racers returning home came along and helped me drag the Tenere out. In the last 5 miles before Coco's the rear suspension started feeling very weird. Zero damping, apparently. The stock Yamaha shock couldn't take that load on that road, for 70 miles. It's not like I was going fast or anything, average speed was probablly 30-40mph. So now on my way back to San Diego to take delivery of an Ohlins, and make a claim with Yamaha for a new shock. I thought going back to SD would be less messy and cheaper than having the shock shipped to La Paz or somewhere in Baja. It's actually lucky that the shock failed this early in the trip - it was one of the things I was unsure about. Now I know it's crap, and fixing it now is a lot easier than if it had failed in Bolivia... Will have the shock fitted by the weekend, then I'll be turning around and back to Mexico. May change my route though, now that I have seen at least part of Baja. Mexicali and south-east from there? Trevor
