WATER SOUTH OF THE BORDER

A friend tells the story of walking by the housekeeping closet at an all-inclusive resort in Mexico and glimpsing the maid filling the complimentary "bottled water" straight from the tap. As someone who is extremely careful of what he eats and drinks in foreign countries, he was outraged at the thought of drinking unsafe water. "But the hotel water is purified," the manager said with a shrug. While that may be true, I never trust the quality and cleanliness of hotel purification systems in other countries and stick to one basic rule: If you don't personally break the seal, don't drink it. No exceptions. Also,I only drink from disposable bathroom water glasses.