Weddingbee Blog

I would like to preface this post by saying that we did, in fact, have a very relaxing honeymoon, and the Caribbean Ocean simply cannot be beat. However, this post is not about how great our honeymoon was (that comes tomorrow). This is a post about getting really sick, and how you can avoid getting really sick yourself.

We’ve been back from our honeymoon for a week, and I have been sick for a week and a half. There’s no need to get into the details of exactly what kind of sick I am, as I’m pretty sure you can use your imagination. Mr. Cream Puff is also sick, but not quite as sick as I am. The day I got sick, we went on an excursion to Tulum. The excursion involved swimming in a cenote and zip-lining. We were not allowed to bring our own water for some reason, and they provided water for us. Their water was not bottled. I originally thought I got sick from this water, but looking back on our pictures, I already looked sick, and I remember feeling not-so-hot as we were preparing to do the zip-line. Evidence:

I am clearly unwell in this picture, which was taken prior to the actual excursion. Thus, I have concluded that I actually got sick from the water at our hotel. We talked to several other people at our hotel who were sick as well. This leads me to believe that we were not the only people who thought the water and food at our resort were safe.

Yes, that’s right. I was a fool. I laughed with the rest of the theater during the Sex and the City movie when, while in Mexico, Charlotte avoided eating anything that wasn’t pre-packaged. Midway through our trip, however, I started thinking she was on to something. I’ve become a teensy bit of an expert on food-borne illness since I got home. And because I can’t do anything but eat saltines right now, I’m going to share my tips with you. I present, my dears, The Cream Puff’s Guide to Surviving Your Honeymoon:

Part 1: How to Avoid Getting Sick on your Mexican Honeymoon

1. Do not fool yourself into thinking that your fancy resort hotel will be any different than the hole-in-the-wall down the street. No matter how fancy the glass it’s served in, that water might have billions of little bacteria swimming around, ready to wreak havoc on your body. Play it safe. Our honeymoon was in a nice, fancy hotel. We thought the water was safe, and we were clearly very wrong.
2. Don’t drink water unless it comes out of a bottle. This means toting around a bunch of bottled water everywhere you go, which can be a pain in the neck–rest assured, it’s worth it.
3. Bring a water filter. I’ll be buying one of these or one of these. I’d rather look like a paranoid loser than be sick for 2 weeks, that’s all I have to say.
4. Do not drink anything with ice in it–even if the water is bottled or the coke is canned, the ice is made from tap water.
5. You might even want to avoid brushing your teeth with the water, according to my doctor.
6. Do not eat any raw fruits or vegetables that you did not personally peel.
7. It might be best to avoid eating any raw fruits or vegetables, period. Remember the tomato outbreak here in the US? How about the jalepeño outbreak? Those were imported from Mexico. After those outbreaks, the FDA did a bunch of research. Apparently, when a tomato/jalapeño/melon is picked from the field, the processor will sometimes run it directly through a “bath” of water to clean it off. If the bath is cold and the fruit is warm from the sun, the water can be sucked directly into the fruit or vegetable through the stem. If the water in the bath is not clean, it will contaminate the inside of the fruit which obviously cannot be washed off. This is why they were saying that raw jalapeños from Mexico were bad, but cooked or pickled were okay–once it’s cooked, the bacteria is killed. This “bath” practice is not done in the States because it’s too dangerous, but the FDA found that some farms in Mexico are doing things this way. This may have led to the outbreak. The moral to the story: be careful when eating fruits and vegetables grown in Mexico.
8. Bring Pepto Bismol and Imodium (although, not to be gross, this really didn’t help us).
9. Wash your hands often, and don’t forget the soap.
10. Bring bug spray (this is somewhat unrelated, but still very good advice).

Part 2: What to do if You Are Already Sick

1. Revert to the “BRAT” diet: Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast.
   • The rice and bread must be white. All this time I’d been eating wheat toast when I was sick. It needs to be white. Seeds and grains will make it worse.
   • Saltine crackers also fall under the “Toast” category.
   • As a side note, this diet really sucks–it has to be made up of the most boring foods ever.
2. Don’t drink anything other than cola, water (bottled, of course), 7up, or gingerale.
3. Drink your pepto. I saw people on our trip drinking it straight out of the bottle.
4. If you’re totally miserable and still sick when you get home, go see your doctor. You might have any of a number of nasty bacteria, some of which involve worms!

Other than that, I have no suggestions on how to make yourself feel better. I, personally, am still pretty miserable.

Anyone else got any tips?