Now that I’m feeling okay, I can laugh at the past two days. I’ll start by stating that my 4 days at a Puerto Vallarta resort was absolutely fabulous. I will never travel again unless it is all-inclusive! What a treat not to have to pay for a thing, figure out pricing, or decide against the fruit plate due to the $12.00 USD cost.

I treated myself to wine, beer, margaritas, Starbucks coffee, as many sweets as I could stuff into my face, Italian dinners, fish tacos to die for, and a great meal at the Mexican restaurant as well.

My goal was to get away from the U.S. political disarray, away from face book, email, texts, telephone and computer, and I managed about 85% of that. It’s difficult not to message your kids and send photos or to ignore a answer messages from my sis. SO I accomplished sitting by the pool, sitting on the beach and sitting in the bar, restaurant or lobby. I went to town once to shop, but overall spent 4 days sitting. Yay!

Everything was fine until mid-morning of my final day. As I was sitting in the lobby looking green and racing to the bana (bathroom) every 15 minutes, my concierge came over and asked if I was well. “No, I told him; I am not!” He looked chagrined and I could tell he was hesitating. He didn’t work for the hotel — on the other hand —. “Did you drink orange juice by any chance?” he asked quietly. “I did this morning,” I replied. He shook his head and I waited. “Ahh,” he said, “well in mexico… well, sometimes … well, about this time of year … we have problems with the orange juice.” I’ve since read that it’s basically because the juices are not pasteurized. There’s a reason we pasteurize in the U.S.

He offered to go to the little shop across the way to get me Lomotil but I managed to go on my own, between bathroom trips. Within an hour I was able to get into the taxi and to get onto the plane for my return flight. It has subsided and I hold no grudges. It happens. In fact it’s no longer just Montezuma’s Revenge, it’s called Travel Sickness. Basically our bodies are only programmed with bacteria we find in our own countries. I’ve been to Mexico about six times. I’ve gotten sick only once before and had eaten in a little out of the way restaurant our last night in Mazatlan. It happens and because I thought to take some left-over Cipro antibiotic, I caught it early.

But — remember — do not drink the O.J. in Mexico, at least this time of year…