A Way of Life

When I first arrived, I ate in the street and never got sick. I was perfectly healthy for the first year. Then I got salmonella from a market stand. Then E. coli (yes, this was my second round), which stayed in my kidneys for 2 years. Still, I see no reason to be particularly obsessive . . . it takes away the enjoyment. Just careful. I wash our fruits and veggies in water with a few drops of bleach in it, take typical food prep precautions and when eating in the street, I have couple of places that I always go to because I know they are clean. Though that hot dog stand is now off my list, or at the very list, I'll be requesting no cabbage.

You can either try desperately to stay perfectly healthy and not enjoy anything, (and probably still get sick from time to time) or you can be careful, take your chances to a certain extent and enjoy the wonderful Guatemalan foods around here.

Oh, and stay away from the water. That gets me every time.

While living in Guatemala, my very first and nasty case of giardia came from a hotel swimming pool, while visiting in the States It took a long time to get rid of those bugs. I have had some, but not many, intestinal upsets in the 15 years I have lived in Guatemala. I have never really been able to attribute it to any one type of food or restaurant except, as Mazbeach points out, shaved ice. I went to a horse competition, it was windy, lots of bacteria flying around (from the horses) and as stupid as it sounds I ate a shaved ice drink. Neither of my daughters got sick, they both ate shaved ice, but I picked up a nasty e.coli. My first year in Guatemala I had more problems with strep throat infections than anything. But I was working with kids and no matter where one lives if you work with kids you will get sick until you build up a resistance. I have to admit I am really bad about washing fruit or vegetables. I never use the special stuff they sell to wash veggies with and often I will eat strawberries, blackberries right from the market. Which generally shocks my Guatemalan employees who are extra careful about washing all fruits and veggies for our kids at the children's home.

Now when I got back to the States, to visit, I have to drink purified water because I always get a stomach upset and diarrhea if I drink tap water. I think being too careful does not allow one to build up any type of resistance to local infections no matter where you live.

Our first bout of bad tourista…never had it diagnosed, was when we were living with a Guatemalan family for 6 mos. ten years ago. Unknown to us til later, the lady of the house bought and served as her own, tamales from a street vendor in front of La Merced. We all, everyone who ate them including her, were deathly ill for a day or two. We were so weak we couldn't leave the house to get a diagnosis…the cook treated us with some herbal thing tea from a leaf from some tree in front of the house.We have never eaten a tamale since and we used to adore the ones in Mexico, especially from Oaxaca.

Later the same stay we noticed every once in awhile we could get sick and no one else in the house was.We ate exactly what they ate….finally we figured it out. We had leftover black beans for supper every night with bread…that was supper. No one in the house ate supper (I think they snacked from private reserve in their rooms). It was weird….then we realized, they had a fridge from the 1950's that worked more like a cooler than a fridge. THe cook made black beans on MOnday…the family ate them on TUesday with breakfast…by the end of the week they weren't being served at breakfast and we were getting the dregs at supper to finish the beans off so of course the problem was, the beans were not being properly reheated to kill bacteria and in that fridge it was not cold enough to kill it as it grew.

We finally figured outwhy we got food poisoning at the end of the week many weeks. After the second month we quit eating supper there and stopped getting sick….so those were it. We went out to movies and ate supper out from then on. And never touched black beans in that house unless the family was eating them too.

In ten years that had been it until this past winter when my husband got a horrible case of ameobic dysentery and e-coli together. We are pretty sure it was on the melon from the market…on the skin. We have always use the anti-baterial soak for raw fruits except watermelon and melon and banana which we peel. THat is the only thing my husband ate that I did not to infect him. So now we scrub the skin with detergent and water (all those ridges on cantaloupe) and then soak. We soak all veggies and fruit except bananas, even avocados. It may be overkill with things that get cooked etc but it is better for us to feel safe…everyone's tummy is their own to do with whatever they choose.

I know lots of people who take few if any precautions. MOstly they are repeat travelers not ex-pats. MOst ex-pats do something to limit their risk and exposure.

It cost us a thousand dollar hospital/doctor/pahrmacy with IV treatment bill not to….it was Easter Week and we thought we had it under control using Lomotil (didn't know he had the amoeba) until my husband got so dehydrated he HAD to go into hospital. They say not to use things like the Lomotil as it masks underlying problems and this one time that was correct for us. He had gotten better but suddenly in one day got it rebound and he was in a world of hurt.

After ten years we thought we were immune or had things sussed out pretty well….after that experience we are more careful than before and we were careful before.

Trudy, I think Rudy's comment above proves that some Guatemalans will be insulted, because they will see in the comments what they want to believe (the worst), that expats look down on them and are fundamentally racist. I suppose some are, but mostly I think it's part of that chip on the shoulder that I referred to as GuateGrudge. It's easier to blame 'the man' than to accept responsibility. So, it's easier to call me El Diablo and a contemptuous racist than it is to just say, "Yeah, we as a nation have a long way to go when it comes to growing and handling produce in a sanitary way."

But of course we all know this already, there is a reason every guidebook and embassy warns people of the water and the food here and where to eat. The difference is that I'm willing to say it publicly and not couch it in all the diplomatic language that comforts the consciences of people who believe exactly as I do but don't want to admit it.

Anyone who uses their brain will realize I have told dozens of stories on this blog about all the fantastic eating experiences I've had in Antigua, and I'm quite sure that there's not a single cracker in the kitchen preparing my sushi at Nokiate, salad at Hectors, quesadilla at JPs or the steak at BistroCinq.

But sure, I get lots of death threats from Guatemalans and no doubt will continue to as long as I bring up uncomfortable topics. Whether it will remain worth it for me to continue blogging is an unknown. And perhaps the hope that my supposed fallacies would be corrected by rational discourse which would enlighten all readers and demonstrate my ignorance, instead of anonymous threats and insults about my education or bigotry is foolhardy on my part.

I think getting diarrhea, drinking tap water in the States, comes more from the chlorine and chemicals in the water and the change of water. I am also someone who drinks a lot of water so it does make a difference to me. I do drink filtered water in Guatemala.

The sickest I have been in Guatemala has always been from strep, staph infections and pneumonia and not parasites and amoebas. However, I have to be very careful when I have visitors in preparing food (washing everything well). And I thought I was going to die when I got sick from the shaved ice drink.

Our cook, in the children's home, is super careful about food preparation. In the past, when we had more children and younger children in our care, and had several sick children we did stool samples on all the staff that handled the kids and treated everyone. I have to say when I first started our children's home that teaching our nannies to wash hands before and after diaper changes was a huge challenge. I learned that we had to have the hand washing area right next to where the diapers were changed. When there were 20+ kids with diapers to change washing hands had to be easy. And we had to teach our nannies the connection, over and over again.

The comment you made, Mark, about people defecating the fields is an interesting one. I live on a coffee farm and when the workers come to cut coffee there are never any portable toilets anywhere. I never gave any thought to where people went to the bathroom until my dog, who I was walking and was off leash, came back covered in human feces. He had rolled in it. Yuck!!! But where in the world are these people, adults and kids, going to use the bathroom? Certainly not in the fancy hotel or restaurant nearby. The farm owners should, just by common courtesy, should make portable toilets available to farm workers.

Hectors doesn't advertise (no website). But I'm happy to mention any place I eat (if I don't get sick). Let's see, there was Casa de los Mixtos on 3rd Calle, Queso y Vino, Travel Menu, No Se, Cafe Sky, Papa Zitos, Reilly's, Mono Loco…I'll add other examples as I think of them.

don marco, why are you arguing with these people. that fact you are a wingnut conservative doesn't have anything to do with it…i don't know of any expat who's been here more than a few weeks who eats from street vendors or even at the tipico restaurants. the restaurants you mentioned are all run or managed by foreigners or upper class guatemalans who understand personal hygiene and proper food preparation. most expats don't even shop at the mercado for the very reasons you mentioned-these people have no concept of proper handling of food. there is a reason why the organic farms are popping up, and it has nothing to do with guatemalans being oppressed or you being a racist (which you might be but has nothing to do with food). tourists go home deathly ill all the time because of the same sort of stuff you're dealing with. i hate to say my liberal brethren have been drinking a little too much of the kool aid and probably fear you because you're saying publicly what no one else will dare say except at the after-parties or in the safe confines of a expat home. you have to realise almost every gringo here is tied into the tourist industry in one way or another, either through a publication, a business, property they rent out or services they provide, such as the internet provider you recommend. they all want more people spending more money, not people hesitating to move to guatemala because you might get robbed, shot or deathly ill.

p.s. i warned you this would happen. it's not a guatemalan who will kill you, they will just send emails bc they're too afraid to actually do anything. it's a pissed off expat whose business is going down the tubes because of the bush depression and they'll take it out on you for trashing their restaurant.

Well, I am almost half-way through my three weeks in Nicaragua and I think I will probably buy some of that Secnazidol (or whatever it's called–I'm sure they'll know at the pharmacy) to take home and then I will dose myself when I get back to Michigan. Until then, I guess I will keep eating the shaved ice and the enchiladas with cabbage and whatnot from the street vendors. (Too late to stop now.)

The "touched by Guate hands" crack was–and this could not have been more obvious–hyperbole for comic effect. I thought it was pretty funny, and one of the reasons (again, obviously) is that it would be impossible to avoid, in Guatemala, eating food that's been touched by Guatemalan hands.

The U.S. Government has already gotten a heads up. That is why the C.D.C. is now suggesting that all fruits and vegetables, bought from stores in the U.S., be treated the same way that they should be treated in their country of origin. A great percentage of produce for sale in the U.S. is grown in C.A. or S.A., or picked or handled in the U.S. by workers from these countries.

This does not condemn a country or a race. It simply means that this class worker, from these countries lacks the education as to what is proper hygiene. This does not make them bad people. It simply means we must acknowledge facts and act accordingly.

In the Antigua area, many of us don't recognize the many new pathogens we are exposed to. Much of the feces we see on the sidewalks does not come from dogs. We are overly protected in the U.S., often to our detriment. There are still laws on the books that forbid spitting on the street, but we seldom see a man urinating on a church or other public building. We live in a different culture down here (which is part of the appeal of Guatemala). We simply must adjust.

I think getting sick or not getting sick has just as much to do with the constitution of one’s stomach as the cleanliness (or lack thereof) of the hands that have come into contact with the food.

Fortunately I have been blessed with a stomach of steel, an asset that has proved invaluable in the 20 some developing countries in which I have spent time. I don’t bleach fruits and vegetables; I don’t even wash them unless I see visible dirt (or whatever that is). I don’t avoid street venders or salads at restaurants or beverages with ice cubes. I’ll drink water from the faucet if there isn’t any bottled water around.

Yes, I’ve had giardia and e. coli and diarrhea, but FAR fewer times than people I know who are religious about food sanitation.

Mark,

Are you referring to the same "Guatemalan hands" that in 2008 alone handled edible fruit, nuts (i.e. bananas and cantaloupes) ($511 million), spices, coffee and Tea ($377 million), a total of $888 million transacted with the US “with lack of personal hygiene”? http://www.ustr.gov/countries-regions/americas/gu...

You should give the heads up to the US Government.

Darn Mark! You've been warned before and here again? I'm telling you, watch out. Those business owners are just not taking the short end of the stick.

So, stop arguing with "these people" and get down to business man… hehehe

I did get sick once at Reilly's…but trust me, that wasn't the food, but the buzz. Now, el Mono Loco is another story, I'll never eat or drink ever again in that place.

Quesos y Vinos is a place that I do recommend. I've eating in that place for over 20 years, never got sick. Pino really knows his business.

People are insulted when other people say something deliberately stupid and mean spirited. I was insulted by the comment originally, but then I thought that I was being overly sensitive because almost everything that you eat are made by Guatemalan hands. Then you made the comment about seeing Guatemalans urintaing and defecating on produce. OK. Then you blame Guatemalans being insulted because of Guategrudge and not because of your comments. You are racist. I don't have a problem with that, most americans are. Perhaps our germs are protecting Guatemala from foreign invaders a la War of the Worlds.

Hey G-Money. We love tourists because they leave. Despite all the hoopla around the differences between liberals and conservatives, you are all the same — racist to the core. Not that there is anything wrong with that. We all are. By the way, we chapines think as highly of you as you think of us. Actually, we feel pity, which is infinitely better than disdain.

Well I am sure learning alot for when I end up going to Guatemala for a visit this coming Spring. Down in RI I buy Guatemalan food at the local stores. These tamales, pupusas and chiles rellenos are made at people's homes (and I can bet they don't have a local license to do so!) and then sold to the bakery or stores and resold to customers. I've been to houses where they sold tamales on Saturdays and cringed when I saw the cockroaches running across the ceiling. And cringed even more when I went to a local restaurant and saw two cockroaches dueling it out on the table as I was being served my meal. But I ate it. There are times I have been sick, but I think that anytime we are eating out we are taking the risk of not knowing exactly how our food has been handled. My mom had a friend who worked in the lunch program for the schools-she told my mom that they had a rodent problem and that instead of throwing out the food they would just flick the mouse droppings off it and cook it and serve it up to the kids. They couldn't afford to go over budget by tossing out the contaminated food. Now this was years ago, when I was in school-so don't know if it happens now or not. I do wash fruits and veggies here and would continue to do so when visiting Guatemala. I probably will eat from a street vendor, but be sure I have stocked up on lots of meds just in case! Fancy restaurants are ok, but so not my style. When I go on vacation, I am the type of person who wants to go where the locals go. I think one just has to be careful when eating out, irregardless of where you are. Sure, we have food standards and regulations here in the US but sometimes it takes awhile for enforcement to happen. When I worked for the state, we'd all go to our fave Chinese buffet to eat chicken fingers and other "chicken" specialties. We had NO idea that lots of residents in the area near said restaurant were missing their precious Fluffy. A few months later, after enjoying MANY meals there—we went to the restaurant only to find it closed per order of the Health Dept. One of our own inspectors (the state electrical inspector) called up a friend in the Health dept. and found out that a few days before the restaurant had been raided on a tip from a local resident. They found Fluffy AND Spot and plenty of their buddies hanging by meat hooks in the back room…ready to be made into chicken fingers and other dishes. To this day, my son still looks at chicken fingers and calls them "carne de gato" ! So irregardless of where you are, here, Guate or somewhere in between-if you don't make it yourself then you really take your chances every time you go out to eat-whether it be a street vendor or the local five star restaurant.