It could have been a disaster on Day One had we not changed plans and a really EMBARRASSING disaster on Day Two had I not found the Portuguese official's private bathroom before the ticking time bomb triggered by my stomach had gone off. I did read a warning in advance of the trip not to eat food from street vendors there but my wife bought a fruit cup and gave me a strawberry and a piece of pineapple and within seconds I could actually hear my stomach loudly gurgling followed by a feeling of impending internal eruption.
I worked for a couple weeks in Durango, Mexico in the summer 1977 and was ultra cautious about what I ate and drank. One Sunday afternoon I was strolling about town on a VERY hot day. I mean scorching hot. So I let my guard down and bought a snow cone from a street vendor. I thought to myself “What are the chances of a single street vendor snow cone causing me troubles?”
Big mistake. I got to jobs in Ecuador, Chile and Argentina after Mexico. By the time I got to Chile about three weeks later, I was feeling pretty bad. In Argentina a couple weeks after that and the man I was working with said “You have Hepatitis. I’m taking you to the hospital.” They confirmed Hep A and I flew home the next day.
Moral of the story: NEVER buy any food or drink from street vendors in foreign lands.