Vacation 101….Don’t Drink the Water

When Husband and I were young and childless we used to travel.

One year we decided to try one of those all inclusive club resorts in Mexico.

It was snuggled into the base of two small mountains that opened to a horseshoe shaped beach, totally secluded from the outside world.

The villas nestled up the sides of the mountain with winding pathways draped in blooming bougainvillea.

The ‘clubhouse’ was in the middle and opened to the beach.

It was beautiful!

We knew NOT to drink the water. And I came prepared with several bottles of Pepto Bismol, you know, just in case.

But we were meticulous!

We remembered NOT to have drinks with ice cubes.

We didn’t order any meals that involved water…like soups.

We ate only fruits and veggies that had to be peeled not washed.

We even had bottled water to brush our teeth! (and remembered NOT to open our mouths in the shower!!! I thought we were being quite diligent!)

Until  early one morning when I went to the bar to get a few more bottles of water and I watched in horror as the bartender placed the empty bottles in the sink and filled them from the tap!!!!

To use the bathroom in your villa it was quite a trek up the mountain side (especially when time is an issue.)

So people began to use the centrally located bathroom in the clubhouse.

This was a large unisex ‘room’ with enclosed stalls on the outer walls separated in the middle by a wall lined with sinks on both sides.

For the first few days there was a natural tendency for the women to use one side and the men to use the other.

All very prim and proper.

But by Wednesday all bets were off and people were dashing into whatever open stall they could find!

Gender be damned!

And by Thursday anyone with ‘the pink stuff’ became the most popular ones at the resort!

For the last few days of the week we all sat around the pool swigging Pepto straight from the bottle no longer caring about proprieties or appearances.

Still, not a bad vacation.