Mexico.com - The Official Mexico Travel Site

• When you arrive at a major airport, especially in Mexico City, find the taxi counter inside the airport and pre-pay your fare there. Your fare will be calculated based on the zone that your destination is in. After paying, you will be directed to an authorized airport taxi area. Don’t get into a non-authorized cab (known as piratas), as these are not safe and robberies are frequently reported.
• Order a taxi via phone from a sitio (radio taxicabs) instead of flagging one down on the street. When getting into a cab at a hotel, be sure that the driver displays his permit. Also, negotiate the price ahead of time should the cab driver not be using a taximeter (taxímetro).
• While public transportation is usually safe during the day, avoid it at night and call a sitio taxi.
• Try to blend in and look less like a tourist. You might want to determine your route for the day in your hotel room, so you don’t have to pull out the map in the middle of the street, which definitely outs you as a non-local.
• For women, it’s best to simply ignore catcalls and keep on walking. To avoid catcalls altogether, consider dressing conservatively, especially when inland.
• When using an ATM, try to do so during the day, preferably at ATMs inside busy shopping centers.
• Resist the temptation to hike, alone or as a couple, in remote areas of national parks and conservation areas. It’s best to hire a tour guide and/or go as part of a group.
• To avoid being a target for theft, limit your alcohol intake so you are always aware of your surroundings. If you still want to enjoy those tequila shots, consider going out with a larger group of people and hopping in a sitio taxi right after you leave the bar.
• Make a copy of your passport and driver’s license and carry them with you for identification purposes. Leave your original documents in a safe place; preferably, in a safe inside your hotel room. Better yet, scan your documents and e-mail them to yourself at an address you can easily access from abroad.
• Just in case, keep the American Embassy number handy. The American Embassy is in Mexico City, and when calling from inside Mexico, dial (01) (55) 5080-2000. For after-hours emergencies, call that same number and ask the operator to put you in contact with the officer on duty.
• For emergencies in Mexico City and its surrounding areas, dial 060. For the rest of the country, use 080 or 066.
• For roadside emergencies, call the Ángeles Verdes, who patrol most major Mexican highways, at 078.
• Use common sense and don’t carry too much cash or wear flashy jewelry. It’s best to just leave your valuable jewelry – and jewelry that you are sentimentally attached to – at home.
• Before you go to Mexico, exchange sufficient dollars into pesos for the first days of your trip. This way, you will avoid having to carry around large amounts of cash.
• A good way to keep your money and documents safe is to use a money belt; it’s chicer and safer than a fanny pack.
• Watch your valuables when you are in a crowd, as pickpockets favor working where there are large groups of people. Ladies: don’t swing your purses, but keep them close to your body.
• When in doubt, ask. Your hotel manager or concierge would be a good person to ask whether there are certain parts of town that you should avoid.
• Go with your gut. If a situation doesn’t feel safe, it probably isn’t, so get away from it as quickly as possible.

To read travel warnings for Mexico issued by the U.S. State Department, visit their site at http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_970.html

-- By Judy Jenner

During the ’80s, Mexican tap water had to be boiled for at least 20 minutes before it was fit for human consumption. The introduction of bottled water has made life much easier. Many restaurants in Mexico, especially in busy beach destinations, cater to tourists, and make serving purified water and enforcing health and hygiene standards a priority.

• To avoid any chance of illness on your hard-earned vacation, we recommend you stick to drinking bottled water. In restaurants, opt for bottled water instead of ice water. In most good restaurants, the ice water is perfectly safe, but you can’t go wrong with bottled water.
• When drinking soft drinks (refrescos), your best bet is to drink them directly out of the can or bottle, hence skipping the glass with ice. Alternatively, you can ask for your refresco without ice (sin hielo), which is not that uncommon south of the border.
• The mouth-watering aguas frescas, the Mexican version of a soft drink, are made with fresh fruit and water. While it is fine to drink them in upscale restaurants, you should resist buying them from food stands, as the water may not be purified.
• Most produce is washed in possibly unpurified water, so it’s best to eat vegetables that have been boiled and fruits that have been peeled. Skip the salad unless you are eating at high-end restaurants or establishments that cater primarily to tourists.
• Food handling procedures and hygiene standards have seen dramatic improvements in the last decade or so, but if you decide to eat at one of the irresistible food stands, make sure that the person who is preparing your food is not handling cash as well.
• Most food stands serve food on plates that have been covered in plastic that is then stripped off and thrown away. Look for those, as it means your plate didn’t get washed in possibly-unclean water.
• It’s recommended to brush your teeth with bottled or purified water. While that’s usually not necessary in high-end hotels, if you want to be safe use bottled water anyway.

-- By Judy Jenner