Health

You will need to stop at the entrance of most buildings at a Filtro de Sanitario (sanitation checkpoint)

Many buildings have established separate entry and exit routes

Many businesses control the number of patrons inside

Many businesses do not accept cash

Many restaurants do not have individual menus

• Menus can often be accessed via a barcode on the table

• Menus are often posted on a wall

Present at the entrances of most businesses and public buildings

You will usually get your temperature checked

You will need to apply hand sanitizer

You will need to step on a shoe decontamination pad

Wear a mask at all times except when alone at the house

"Clean in, clean out" - use hand sanitizer when entering and leaving places, including Casa Suzana

Eat outdoors rather than inside restaurants

Use delivery services to avoid restaurants

In particular, avoid bars

Food safety is a priority to owners of restaurants as well as to local residents

Local restaurants are very safe to eat in

Food stalls rely very heavily on repeat local business and food safety is a key to this

We have never had any problem with street food on the island

City water from the tap is actually fairly safe

• It doesn't taste very good.

• Locals drink only purified water

Water ordered at a restaurant will come in a bottle or was poured from a carboy and is safe

At Casa Suzana, fill the carafe in your bathroom with purified water

When going out, you can fill bottles with purified water from the dispensers at Casa Suzana

They are always made with purified water

This includes the aguas frescas that almost everyone drinks with meals

This includes ice in drinks or used to make treats

Only use purified water from the dispenser to make ice at Casa Suzana

Factors can include: dehydration, overuse of alcohol, overeating, sun overexposure, and more

Sports drinks such as Gatorade are NOT very good at preventing dehydration due to diarrhea

Rehydration drinks such as Pedialyte (only the kind with sugar) ARE good at preventing dehydration due to diarrhea

• Pedialyte is readily available on the island

Tropical sun is very intense year-round

Without protection, you can get severe sunburns surprisingly fast

Sunburn is still easily possible if the sky is overcast

White T-shirts are only SPF 6 when dry, and practically useless for sun protection when wet

Local shops have a wide range of high-SPF sunscreen

Don't forget to reapply sunscreen per package recommendations

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends applying a repellent containing DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus (OLE), PMD, IR3535, or 2-undecanone

• The US EPA characterizes DEET and picaridin as “conventional repellents”

• EPA refers to OLE, PMD, IR3535 , and 2-undecanone as “biopesticide repellents,” which are derived from natural materials

No other repellents of any type have been shown to reduce mosquito-borne illness

No vitamin or anything else taken orally has been shown to reduce mosquito-borne illness

No gadget has been shown to reduce mosquito-borne illness

Dengue is a possible problem here with several fatal cases per year

• Dengue is potentially fatal and always miserable, nicknamed "bonebreak fever"

Zika and Chikungunya are possible problems here

• They are no fun and hard to tell apart from non-hemorrhagic dengue

Malaria is not endemic on the island and prophylaxis is not necessary

• If you plan to travel away from the coast on the mainland, you should check with a travel medicine doctor for recommendations

I'm a US-trained, board-certified specialist. I don't hesitate to access healthcare on the island when needed and have always been happy with care (though not always happy that I've needed it).

A wide range of competent, well-trained specialists are available

Good imaging and laboratory facilities are available

Many medications that aren't controlled substances at home don't require a prescription

• You can probably get your blood pressure medication, erectile dysfunction medication, antidepressant, or such things without a prescription

Medication is not always especially cheap in Mexico - bring enough from home for your entire trip

EpiPen® is not available in Mexico at all, though you can bring your own

Antibiotics (all antibiotics except topical ones) require a prescription from a Mexican physician

Controlled substances require prescriptions from a Mexican physician, including

• Opiate pain medications (which are nearly unobtainable even with a prescription)

• Opiate cough suppressants (e.g., codeine) and gastrointestinal drugs (e.g., loperamide)

• Benzodiazepines

• Sedative-hypnotics ("sleeping pills")

• Barbiturates

• Anabolic steroids

If it's a controlled substance at home, it almost certainly is in Mexico

Pseudoephedrine (e.g., Sudafed®) is banned in Mexico, and is illegal to transport into Mexico

• This applies to pseudoephedrine by itself or in combinations

• There are no exceptions, even if you have a prescription from somewhere else

• Tourists have been jailed for bringing in personal supplies of Sudafed®

• Phenylephrine, marketed as Sudafed PE®, is fine

It does not matter if you have a cannabis authorization at home - that doesn't apply in Mexico

Anything you may have read about Mexico's relaxing cannabis laws currently applies to Mexico citizens and legal residents only