Los servicios

There are very few things that everyone does every day. A short list would include eat, sleep, and go the bathroom. Certainly there are days when people don't sleep, and sadly, there far too many people around the world that have days when they don't eat. But this blog is about the third item mentioned: going to the bathroom. Well, rather it's about the facilities themselves. After dealing with two years of squat toilets, bring your own toilet paper, and a lack of stall doors in China, I figured that restrooms in Costa Rica would be a paradise. And, yes, they are considerably better. Costa Rica isn't a rich country by any means, but it's considerably richer-on average-than China, and, with the 66th highest GDP/per capita in the world, it's right on the edge of the richest 1/3 of the countries in the world. Most importantly, tourism is a huge part of its economy, and swathes of Americans, Canadians, and Europeans visit the country every day to take in its beaches, rainforests, volcanoes, and wildlife. Yet, I find that public restrooms continually fall short of achieving the triple play that I hope for in every bathroom.  


In case you're wondering, the triple play is as follows: soap, toilet paper, and a towel/paper towels/air dryer. To be clear, I'm talking about public restrooms here, although more than a few bathrooms in houses I've been to lack the towel. Bus stations, schools, restaurants, bars, and stores-these are the types of bathrooms I'm addressing. There aren't any squat toilets here :), and almost every bathroom has a sink. Yet, to me, a sink doesn't serve much purpose if there isn't soap. Rubbing cold water around might get rid of some dirt, but isn't doing much action on the bacteria. If there is soap, it can in no way be assumed that there will be towels or a hand dryer. So, yes, essentially every person leaving a bathroom is shaking their hands like crazy and wiping them on their pants. Another symptom of the no towel situation is the wet handshake, which is something that I still am creeped out by. I'm happy this guy washed his hands, but I'm quite unhappy that my hand is now moist from the handshake…now I've got to look for an opportunity to stealthily dry my hand off on my pants. And, probably the most frustrating of all is entering a bathroom and their being no toilet paper. I always carry back up with me when I'm traveling, so it's no big deal. Surprisingly, the place where I most often encounter bathrooms with no toilet paper (and no soap or towels either) are at schools. I'm surprised by this because Costa Rica is a fairly health conscious country, and especially so for it's wealth/education levels. Additionally, Central Americans-Costa Ricans included-are fairly fastidious about maintaining a neat appearance. The fact that most of the school bathrooms I've used lack soap and toilet paper is shocking to me. But, maybe that's something they say at some student meeting I've yet to attend-always carry toilet paper and hand sanitizer with you. It's also hard to keep anything discreet when you have to walk to the office, grab the staff communal toilet paper roll and carry it with you to the bathroom.


To be fair, I'm sure there are few bathrooms not making a triple play in the tourist resorts and public services in super touristy towns. Of course, the Peace Corps doesn't often place volunteers on tourist resorts.