{"id":228,"date":"2019-06-08T20:56:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-09T00:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/2019\/06\/08\/mexico-and-tummy-issues\/"},"modified":"2019-06-08T20:56:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-09T00:56:00","slug":"mexico-and-tummy-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/2019\/06\/08\/mexico-and-tummy-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexico, My Tummy and Advice from Kelly Clarkson"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nI am sitting by the pool of Casa Estrella in Guanajuato,
\nlooking out at the spectacular view that has become warmly familiar in the five
\nand a half weeks we have been here. I have barely eaten in three days.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nBlame my tummy. And my determination to experience everything
\nMexico has to offer.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

\nGastronomic Curiosity<\/b><\/h3>\n
\n
<\/b><\/div>\n
\nSince we are trying to experience true Mexico and not
\ntourist Mexico, we are NOT eating at the Hard Rock Caf\u00e9 or the typical tourist
\ntraps. We are eating the Mexican way.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
My first street food foray, in Leon:
\nAn Agua Fresca Mandarina (Mandarin Orange Fresh Water)
\nstraight out of a plastic bag. It was delicious,
\ngave me no side effects, and emboldened me to be adventurous!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\nWe only drink bottled water, like all Mexicans. We buy local
\nproduce, bread, chicken and fish at local mercados<\/i> (markets) and tianguis<\/i>
\n(pop-up markets), which means we have to ignore the presence of the flies and wash
\neverything carefully with disinfectant before we can eat them. We enjoy meals from
\npuestos, food carts, often with seats, eating tacos, tortas<\/i> and lonches <\/i>(different types of sandwiches, filled with meat and cometimes smothered with sauce) and gorditos<\/i> (little filled pancakes).<\/i>
\nWe love buying raspadas<\/i>, which are shave-ice and syrupy fresh fruit, often
\naccompanied by sugar-drunk bees.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A delicious cup full of salmonella
\n(Just kidding –  raspadas never made us sick.
\nOnly supremely happy. Every damn day.)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWe love to eat at out-of-the-way, hole-in-the-wall places,
\nwhere we have made some magnificent discoveries. I found the best green salsa I
\nexperienced in Mexico, with mouthwatering chunks of avocado, at a walk-up food
\nstand in the Mercado at Plaza Embajadoras. Whenever I can, I indulge in Horchatas
\n<\/i>and Horchata Fresas<\/i>, a uniquely Mexican rice, cinnamon and vanilla drink that
\nis made even better by adding fresh strawberries.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
My favorite street food in Tlaquepaque: Elote<\/i> (corn)
\nwith a (mystery) crema<\/i> (cream of indeterminate origin)
\nand queso<\/i> (shredded cheese)
\no<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\nWe drink Mexican craft beers, local mescals, and a variety of
\ntequilas. We indulge in nieve de garafas<\/i>, ice cream handmade in metal jugs
\nwith ice and energetic stirring with a wooden mallet. Flavors include elote<\/i>
\n(corn), pay de manzana<\/i> (apple pie, with real pieces of pie), queso de zarzamora
\n(blackberry cheesecake), Ferrero Rocher, Nescafe, and often 10 or 20 more. Bob\u2019s
\nfavorite place in Tlaquepaque offered at least 60 flavors.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

\nHecho a Mano<\/b><\/h3>\n
\n
<\/b><\/div>\n
\nEverything is handmade in Mexico. Who knows how often hands
\nare washed. You just have to not think about it.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The best salsa in the world …<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
… and the pork tacos I smothered with them<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAnd the fact is, sometimes you don\u2019t have a choice where you eat. You’re driving to the beach and there’s only one restaurant to choose from at the mid-point when everyone’s hungry. So you chow down and hope for the best. And sometimes you just have to throw caution to the wind if you really want to experience a place.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

\nPaying the Price<\/b><\/h3>\n
\n
<\/b><\/div>\n
\nSo occasionally we pay the price for our adventurousness with
\na few days of service to the commode. <\/span>I
\ndon\u2019t think you need me to explain the symptoms. It has happened to Beto and me
\ntwice and Lex only once (she is not as adventurous, which may be a good thing). <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nEach bout takes four or five days to recover, during which
\nwe rest a lot (because we\u2019re weak and moving is painful) and enjoy a riveting
\ndiet of ginger ale, Saladitas (Saltine crackers), Gatorade and chicken and rice
\nsoup. We call them inadvertent dieting opportunities, which have given us a chance to shed the pounds we gained scarfing down ice cream through every city we visited in Europe last fall. I assume each tummy bout makes our systems stronger and more acclimated to whatever may be in the food.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nI look at it this way: When we first moved to Mexico, I had issues with my legs, calves, and Achilles tendons for the first two months as my body adjusted to the fact that I was walking many miles every day on hard sidewalks or cobblestone in flat shoes. My stomach has had to make the same adjustment to different foods, spices, and even microorganisms. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

\nTo Quote Kelly Clarkson<\/h3>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAs Kelly Clarkson would say, \u201cWhat doesn\u2019t kill you makes
\nyou stronger!\u201d<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am sitting by the pool of Casa Estrella in Guanajuato, looking out at the spectacular view that has become warmly familiar in the five and a half weeks we have been here. I have barely eaten in three days. Blame my tummy. And my determination to experience everything Mexico has to offer. Gastronomic Curiosity … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Mexico, My Tummy and Advice from Kelly Clarkson”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[76,43,69,77,26,27,4,78,79,5,6],"class_list":["post-228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-elote","tag-guadalajara","tag-guanajuato","tag-kelly-clarkson","tag-lifeisshorttheworldisbig","tag-messysuitcase","tag-mexico","tag-montezumas-revenge","tag-street-food","tag-travel-blog","tag-travel-blogger"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}