I have had two bad experiences with water in Mexico, so I was especially worried about the combination of the E-coli bacteria and the poor rest room facilities here. I was very cautious of drinking any water anywhere. The trouble with this paranoia is that not only must you start avoiding water, you must also avoid anything washed in or including water. Orange juice for example is often made from concentrate with water. Any drinks which contain ice must also be questioned.
Water in Manila is said to be OK to drink but always be on the lookout for small restaurants that purchase their ice in blocks. Block ice is transported through the city streets on dollies and there is no telling where it has been or what it has touched on it's journey to your glass.
Several areas such as the town of Batad (unfortunately, we didn't visit this place) have notably bad water. Precautions should be taken. Kurt borrowed a PUR Scout water filter from a friend and brought it along wherever we went. This filter comes very highly recommended for removing biological contaminants from water. Every night we filtered enough drinking water for the next day's travel. Just to be on the safe side, we even filtered the drinking water in Manila. If you don't want to purchase a filter, water purification tablets are available in any store that carries camping equipment. Unfortunately, they usually leave a bad aftertaste. I took some of these tablets along just in case, but did not have the need to use them.
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