For those of us on the World Race one of the common topics of conversation involves the bathroom. We share stories of peeing in a bottle or a even a chip bag on the bus because the bus wouldn't stop. There are discussions on the best stance when using a squatty potty, or the frequencies of bowel movements. So I am just giving you a little insight into our bathroom situations on the race.
I have been very blessed, I feel, by the bathrooms I have had to live with so far. I have had western toilets for most of the race, however, in most countries toilet paper does not go into the toilet. I mean we did have times where things were less than favourable, such as fifty plus people sharing 2 toilets. The water turns off for the evening and if people happen to be sick overnight, it doesn't leave a bathroom looking or smelling too hot in the morning….
We were blessed in Thailand with a full bathroom, including warm showers if you wanted, but we were not likely to take one when it’s a million degrees out and you never stop sweating!
Then we arrived in Africa. We landed in Kampala, Uganda, with Rwanda as our destination via bus. When we crossed from Uganda into Rwanda we got to experience a new kind of bathroom. We had to pay 100 shillings to use the bathroom, a tiny 5 x 5 inch hole in a cement room – well, that’s how most of the bathrooms were. One girl came out of her “bathroom” to tell me that she was charged to go into a room with no hole or drain. She got the luxury of paying to pee on the floor! When we finally arrived in Rwanda we were blessed with western toilets, and a squatty, which we used often because the water would turn off frequently.
Then came Uganda. This is where the bathroom situation gets interesting. We had a 2.5 hour bus ride to get to our contacts in Uganda. Our bus made a stop on the side of the road for some unknown reason. Some of us girls had to pee, of course, so we asked one of the guys traveling with us if there was a bathroom nearby. He proceeded to ask the proprietor of a small hotel if we could use their bathroom. There were four of us, and they graciously allowed us in. But something wasn't right…the keepers of the hotel opened a room and told us we could go there and gave us each a bucket of water. The tiny room had one bed and an open shower….We all looked at each other in great confusion. Then they took the rest of us to another room, and then the last one of us to another room. Were we to pee in the shower?????? Well I guess so, we thought, but this is weird! So we did, because we didn’t know what else to do.
Two of my teammates came out from one room, saying “All done,” with a response from the man who had brought us there “SERIOUSLY?!?” We all proceeded to come out, after rinsing the shower with our buckets of water. We came out of the room dry. Leaving the man totally confused. I guess bathroom here really means bath room. A place to bathe. OOPS! They thought we wanted to take a shower! We all had a good laugh, especially when he directed us to the toilets after we came out of the rooms. I hope they found it as funny as we did… How sweet though, that they would stop and be willing to let us use their facility to have a shower en-route.
So now we are in Masaka, Uganda. We are staying in a small outlying area called Kyabakuza. We have the use of squatties that are a rectangular hole in the ground. And our showers are bucket showers, that we normally take outside in the fresh air. So freeing!
You've got to have good aim to use a squattie! This is what we typically use
Grateful to have any shower at all! This is a typical bucket shower.
