One thing I forgot to ask is about is if ICE is ok in Cuenca to consume.
As a North American I love my glass filled with Ice. When I was in Europe and the Middle East if you asked for ice, you got one or two cubes. Even in lots of places in Mexico. But I never once got sick.
So, asking as a North American, can you eat the ice in Cuenca at local restaurants and such without getting sick?
Got Ice?
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201
TX, I have been told the water in Cuenca can be drunk (not the case in Quito) however I would not take the risk outside of home. At home, I would only use ice cubes with purified water.
Even being extremely cautious, it is necessary to take annual pills to kill intestinal germs. Your options at home are purchasing drinking water which is delivered or purchasing a purification system for approximately $200.
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So you dont eat ice in restaurants?
I planned on getting water bottles in my house. But still like my Ice tea, Margaritas, etc.... with lots of ice. Looks like I might get a bit cleaner than I hoped, if you know what I mean.
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Thank you for the replys.
I pretty much have an iron stomach as I can normally eat with a billy goat. But my wife constitution just aint as strong. Good to know that we dont have to worry too much about the water, except as yall mentioned away from the mainstream.
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Some blogger 
had one of these shipped to Cuenca and recommended it.
http://www.amazon.com/Gallon-Countertop … ++purifierhttp://www.amazon.com/Gallon-Water-Cool … pd_sim_k_5
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Would one of the Brita water purifiers that attach to the water spout on the sink work? I could bring one of those on my initial trip.
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Brita is not a good filter. At best it takes chlorine flavor out of water. Get a berky or pro pur brand water filter. To save money, just get the filter and use two food grade five gal buckets. Lid on the bottom one with a hole in the midde for the filtered water to drip through. A small "pinky size" hole in the middle of the upper for the stem of the filter to fit through. This is much cheaper than getting the stainless container from the company(which we have. traveler size 2-4 gal/dy depending on if we fill it once or twice in that time) but it may save in shipping to just get filters as well. These filter out 100's of things and the cost per gal is sometimes cheaper than the tap filters. One filter will do about 1200 gal.. You will like a spigot on the bottom to dispense the water
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