There is a certain risk to drinking in Latin America that is a little more common down here than back home.
In my experience as a professional drinker (read: alcoholic), it's very unlikely it will impact you.
Especially if you stick to very touristy areas.
But, above all, it's just unlikely to impact you whatsoever when you as a foreigner are only living in touristy areas.
It is an issue though that you should be aware about anyhow.
And that is the fact that you have more commonly places down here selling "adultered" liquor or beer that could pose to you certain health risks.
While it's unlikely that they will if the bar is handling the issue alright, sometimes shit does fuck up.
The other day, I happened to be in a bar in Chalco of Estado de Mexico.
Chalco is an area next to the south eastern part of Mexico City.
While sitting down in a bar, I order myself a beer, a michelada and some more booze.
At first, it was fine.
You can see a photo of some of what I had to drink at this bar in this photo here.
I was just sitting by myself checking out this place called Chalco before heading back to my apartment in Mexico City by an Uber.
Before I did though, I had another beer and noticed something odd about it.
Nothing more than the fact that it had a certain smell to it that didn't seem right.
Granted, if they had been selling adultered beer, I suppose I'd have been fucked anyway by that point given I already had more than a liter of beer.
So I figured "fuck it, if I'm fucked, I'm fucked."
Thankfully, nothing bad came from it.
Didn't go blind.
Didn't die.
Though, out of curiosity, I did look up the bar afterwards on Google and, as you can see here, the beer this bar sells is supposedly adultered.
Here's some key quotes from other clients.
"Las bebidas están adulteradas porfas arreglen eso es un excelente lugar con una buena ubicación, la bebida adulterada no está chida"
"Si quieres cheve jala, pero la cocina tarda, cuidado venden alcohol adulterado. Pedí un bacacho y la neta olía a alcohol del 96, hice la prueba del poner un poco en el dorso de mi mano, al evaporarse el alcohol no quedó aroa de nada y debería de quedar un olor amaderado y nada. Es mi perspectiva"
To be fair, maybe they are just talking of their ass.
No proof that the beer is actually adultered in anyway.
But I also smelled something weird about what I had that night.
So who knows.
I will say though that my eyesight has gotten worse over the last few years.
But that's probably due to the excessive drinking in general than drinking anything bad.
In the few days after I had their "adultered" beer or whatever it might've been, I didn't notice anything bad though.
No worsening of my eyesight nor sudden death.
Having said that, shit does legit just happen.
Above all, it's really nothing more than example of how regulations are not enforced as well down here for even simple shit like the booze you get in bars.
Sticking to Mexico strictly, we have this interesting article that came out recently:
"La alcaldía Milpa Alta, en la Ciudad de México, encabeza la lista de las 10 ciudades del país con más presencia de robo de combustible, delito conocido como huachicol."
From what I've read, supposedly huachicol is some adultered alcoholic beverage as you can read here.
It is what it is.
I'm sure it happens in other Latin American countries (and even the US to be fair).
I don't want to scare you though nor exaggerate this.
In all of the drinking I've done down here, I'll reiterate that nothing has ever happened to me.
Only that, if I had to guess, I suppose the risk is a little bit higher in some Latin American countries (not all) than back home.
If I had to take a wild guess, I'd say that your risk is probably lower in nicer establishments and establishments in more touristy areas.
Granted, as you can see here from the Dominican Republic, sticking to the booze of the touristy areas is no guarantee here.
Though, from what I read, supposedly the FBI investigated and denied that tainted alcohol had a role in the deaths of some Americans on that island.
So it is what it is!
Above all, you'll probably be OK.
I was OK after that booze in Chalco.
But shit could happen.
If it does -- well, tough shit then, huh?
Anyway, I got nothing else to say.
Just something I've noticed over the years and it came to mind again when I was in Chalco.
If you got anything to add, drop a comment below.
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Thanks for reading.
Best regards,
Matt