Travel presents opportunities for risk-benefit analysis at every turn. Maybe it’s just that we blindly accept the risks at home as a given - like bicycling to the grocery store. Will we be struck by an inattentive driver texting on his cel? Will we get a flat tire? Fall down on broken glass? Will the bicycle be stolen while we’re examining the avocados?

Travel tends to focus our basic needs - food, water and shelter - and food-borne illness is addressed in any publication about Mexico: avoid raw fruits and vegetables unless you wash and peel them yourself, avoid uncooked seafood, don’t chance street stalls, take 3 papaya seeds daily as a prophylactic, drink Pepto Bismol before, during and after the trip - the advice goes on. Yet, at home, in Canada, outbreaks of hepatitis-contaminated salad, listeriosis in cold cuts, and failed restaurant inspections don’t stop most of us from eating out, or buying prepared foods. How to cope?

When I first came to Mexico, I was worried every time I had a taco with fresh salsa or lettuce. Was this going to be the beginning of three agonizing days? In my travels to Mexico and Southeast Asia, I have had travellers diarrhea, including a case of giardia diagnosed in a Kathmandu pharmacy with an on-the-spot microscopic stool exam. That said, my daughter learned to crawl in Bali at 6 months of age. She also started solids there - curried fish, chocolate cookies, little red bananas - fed by restaurant staff who cared for her while her parents dined in peace. She has travelled a fair bit since, including Thailand, China, Belize and Niger, with fewer stomach upsets than most. Is this a case of what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger?

We’ve been eating at food stalls, taco stands, and at small restaurants, without trouble, so far. It wasn’t until recent trips that I began to appreciate the small restaurants and lunch counters in the mercado, or market. Inexpensive, freshly cooked meals, open when the market is. If they don’t have beer, they will send a runner out to buy it nearby. In Mazatlan, we enjoyed shrimps with frijoles and arroz (rice - but not for me), and ensalada for 35 pesos, or $3.50 CAD ($3 USD).

I’ve increased my carbs a little, when eating out. Have to test my blood glucose after meals - in the mornings, it’s in my usual range, but that’s only a snapshot, and not the whole story.