Tuesday, 27 January 2009

• How Do You Flush this Thing!

  by Molly

  

  Toilets are a great invention.....though they can oftentimes be confusing, disgusting and kind of terrible. When I travel, I like to take in the local cultures and be accepting of the facilities available to the area that I am in. But when I was in Peru, I kind of wanted to cry a little bit when I saw the toilets that we were expected to use.

  Now....when I say Peru, I am mainly referring to the remote regions, specifically on an island called Amantani on Lake Titicaca. This is a very remote area, and it is interesting because the locals have been able to carry on traditional languages (Quechua), dress, belief systems and diet that they did hundreds of years ago. All of these differences were amazing to see, and I was happy to have the opportunity to experience them. Although, the toilet system was a little different than I was used to.

  The restrooms on Amantani are basically an outhouse in the yard. There is a toilet bowl, a bucket with water, and a little plastic scooper. Toilet paper....nowhere to be found. Flushing handle....nowhere to be found. Light....non-existant.

  So, I was in the bathroom, ready to learn about how to use these foreign toilets.....and I went to flush. They are clearly toilets that need flushing, as they aren't a hole in the ground, but I had no idea how to do this. There is a bucket of water with a scooper outside the outhouse....but I wasn't really sure what that was used for. There was a little trash pale in the outhouse....again....not helpful to my current situation.

  I went outside to ask someone around how to use this thing, but there is of course nodoby in sight, so I decided to take the water pale and try putting some water into the toilet. I did that, and it seemed to flush! I had figured it out.....for now.

  So the next morning, I walked out of our little dirt-made hut and ran in the freezing cold to the outhouse. As I finished up, I went to pour some water down the bowl....and it was completely frozen! Oh no! Panic! There is nowhere to get water either. My family was still asleep, and there are no hoses or faucets anywhere. I felt terrible, but I had to just leave. Thankfully it wasn't the dreaded "number 2" that I left, but I still felt pretty bad just leaving it in there. Hopefully my family wasn't too angry with me after I left!

  What is the worst bathroom you've had to use? Have you experienced the Peruvian water flush outhouses?

  • 6:18 PM
  • 919 Views
  • 14 eProps
  • 7 Comments