no more nopales! • 21 comments • I stopped by a hole-in-the-wall taco stand and ordered a taco con nopales y queso. I'd never heard of nopales and the menu indicated it was cactus-like vegetable, so I figured I might as well try it. The taco was great, but a half hour later I came to the sudden and uncomfortable conclusion that eating stewed vegetables that had been sitting in the sun probably wasn't the best idea. I mentioned to Mina how much I enjoyed the nopales (before I got sick) so later, when we were eating in a proper restaurant, we decided to order nopales and nopales con queso (with cheese). We assumed (incorrectly) that we would get a handful of each. Instead we got 10 huge slices of nopales. At this point I really can't see myself eating this vegetable in the foreseeable future. On a related note, a fellow traveler told us about her solution to avoiding stomach issues in Mexico. She was advised to take HCL (Hydrochloric acid) with Pepsin by her acupuncturist. I know what you're thinking, but we researched it online and apparently e.coli bacteria can be rendered inactive when the Ph level of your stomach is decreased (which HCL does). We've been very paranoid about the water and fruit here, so I'm hoping that this might offer us the chance to try more foods. - Alex
