In the United States, there are all sorts of systems, laws, codes, and customs that keep you safe. People begin to think that these things are universal, because they are used to seeing them everywhere.
But they are not universal.
For instance, rails on balconies in the United States are high enough that if you run into them, your center of mass is below the rail, and you do not tend to flip over and fall. However, in Mexico, these rails are often only 36 or even 32 inches high, and if you run into them, you tend to go right over. This is, obviously, a bigger issue if you are drunk.
What I heard was the resorts were getting home made moonshine and substituting it for rum, vodka, etc.
Some probably knew. Others may not have known.
The people know the Gringos are their best customers.
Even the cartels typically leave this Yucatan area alone.
They don’t want to kill their best customers. It would be like spiking your heroin product with too much fentanyl. Your best customer might die.
This kind of stuff happened all the time during prohibition. People made bath tub gin. If you make methanol instead of ethyl alcohol it can kill or blind you. Any good moonshiner knows that.
Many bars and restaurants in the US do the same thing to some extent. They pour cheap vodka, etc. into the expensive booze empty bottle. Most people don’t notice the difference unless you are drinking it straight. You never would know if you are drinking some frozen umbrella drink or mai tai.
That is until the next day when you wake up and feel like crap. If you wake up.
When I was in college I worked at a bar. Tuesday was our slowest night. We advertised our new Tuesday special. $2 cover charge and all vodka drinks were FREE from 8-10. From 10-11 $1. From 11-12 $2. From midnight- 4am regular price.
Tuesday went from our slowest night to the place to be. It was packed 5-6 deep at the bar. We made vodka drinks ten at a time. People could not understand how we could do it? We had to be losing money.
We bought the cheapest GENARIC VODKA you could buy. Less than $3 for a 1.75 liter bottle(1984-85). The drink of choice was vodka and ice tea. We mixed Nestea Ice mix in 10 gallon containers. We calculated it cost $.06/drink including the plastic cup. We were making money even during the first two hours with the $2 cover charge. You could not possibly get more than 6 drinks in the first two hours because the bar was so packed. We had two bartenders, one bar back and myself and a 6’5” bouncer guy worked the door
and checked ID’s. The drinking age in NY was 18 at the time.