Safe and Sound Travel Focus of New Books

Christine Delsol
Sunday, November 7, 2004

Americans are traveling again, despite orange alerts and Asian bird flu. Some recent releases can boost the chances of doing it sensibly. Mexico: Health and Safety Travel Guide. by Robert H. Page, M.D., and Curtis P. Page, M.D. (MedToGo, 466 pages, $19.95). Deserved or not, Mexico has a reputation as dangerous to a traveler’s health. This book should reassure the hesitant and educate the rest, whether it’s warding off turista, determining if the scorpion that nipped you was one of the 3 percent that can do serious damage or avoiding revolutionary hotbeds and predators at tourist resorts.

Sections on trip preparation, safety and special health needs could be applied anywhere, as could the catalog of symptoms. The payoff comes when the authors unravel the complexities of the Mexican health care system. Private hospitals in Guadalajara, Monterrey and Mexico City, it turns out, are among the most advanced in the world, and many smaller cities boast very good medical centers.

The hefty final section reviews hospitals and profiles nearly 200 recommended doctors, all based on personal interviews. The authors are frank, bashing Cancún’s web of payoffs between hotels, doctors and hospitals that jack up costs. On the other hand, they are generous with their praise of Mérida’s and Guadalajara’s services.