Reality Check

So the other night I went to the movies. Since it was an almost 3 hour long movie, and because I have way too strong a relationship with my waterbottle... I knew that I needed to use the bathroom before I permanently took my seat for the movie.

So I use the bathroom, and I go to put my hands under the faucet to wash my hands.. and guess what happened!?!??!

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

What the!? Do you mean to tell me that there was still a public bathroom on this earth that didn't have automatic sinks??

"How very peculiar", I thought to myself. So I turned on the faucet and lo and behold, water came out and I rinsed my hands.

Forgetting the little lesson I had learned not even two seconds earlier, I placed my palm under the soap dispenser, expecting a perfectly measured little squirt of foam soap to land delicately into my hand.

Nothing.

I won't even begin to explain how silly I felt upon realizing that I also had to pull the little lever up and down and up and down if I wanted to have paper towels to dry my hands.

Now, please don't think me lazy or high maitenence, I was perfectly fine with performing these teeny, tiny unsanitary tasks that are usually automated at public restrooms, I was just taken off guard!

And then I remembered...

Just over three months ago, I was on a floating island in Puno, Peru. Here on this little island there was one bathroom. When I say bathroom, I mean there were makeshift walls surrounding an area smaller than your average porter potty, where visitors stood in line to use it one at a time. After each use, a young Peruvian boy would take a bucket of water and pour it down the "toilet" to clear it out for the next user.

No flushing, so seats, no sinks, and don't even think about asking for soap.

I couldn't find a picture of the aforementioned bathroom, but it was on a floating island like this one.

That was the norm though! When we went to Mauchu Piccu we had to pay one sol for just a few squares of toilet paper. Most just went without.  I can probably count the number of times I used a real (by low, low American standards) bathroom in Peru.

And here I was in the movie theater shocked that everything wasn't automatic?!

Oh man, it was nice to have that little reality check.

How grateful I am for American bathrooms!

Love, Noelle