Job Discussion Forums

[MELEE]

[John Hall]

Hmmm... so Latin Americans are "hoverers" on public toilets, you say. It will be interesting to see what others have to say about your theory...

[Guy Courchesne]

Mexico varies in this...for example, in Mexico City, you'll find the seat missing in dingy places, but decent restaurants will have them. It's apartments where you won't find them when you rent one. I always assumed toilet seats were simply a very personal thing to Mexicans, so you bought your own new one when you rent a new place.

[danielita]

I'm with MELEE, I just assumed it was a cost thing. Why pay for a seat when you aren't going to use it? And if you have to do the bucket flush, the seat just gets in the way. Of course there are many times, I have been thankful that there is no toilet so I didn't have to make the hover or not decision....
Luckily for the next person that rents my apartment, we left the toilet seat (unless we subscribe to Guy's theory and then they'll just bring their own...)

[sarliz]

Hee. I just wrote an article about the mysteries and variables of the Mexican toilet. For your enjoyment -

Mexican Bathroom Loteria!

In Mexico, the bathroom concepts are the same - there�s no hole-squatting going on - it�s just that you never know which of the pieces of the bathroom puzzle you�re going to come up with at once. It�s a little like playing Loteria. The big 3 of the bathroom game: Seat, Water, and Paper.

The seat is the glorious device that keeps you and your hiney from direct contact with the cold, and perhaps dubiously cleansed porcelain of the loo. For reasons that are unbeknownst to me, a good 60% of Mexican toilets are going seatless. It�s unclear whether there�s widespread seat thievery resulting in an ever-growing toilet seat black-market, or possibly the people are just taken with the bone-chilling sensation of cheek meeting porcelain. Whatever the case may be, you�ll have several opportunities to work on strengthening your quads whilst hovering at inopportune times.

Water is another bathroom feature often taken for granted. When droughts are on, many bathroom water tanks go unfilled in favor of having something to drink. In dry areas you might come across a drum of water sitting outside your stall with an empty can nearby. If this is the case, all you need to do is dump in a can full of water to initiate an auto-flush. Unlike my first experience with a waterless toilet in a Chiapan village, you can dazzle the locals with your lack of confusion.

Paper is the last suit in the deck, and comes with two exciting issues of its own. The first is its availability - sometimes it�s there, sometimes it�s not, sometimes it�s being sold outside of the bathroom in laughably teensy portions. Buy two. Better yet, always carry some with you. Issue two is that Mexican plumbing systems are mysteriously ill-equipped to deal with paper being flushed into them. This brings several crude questions to mind, but rather than ask them, it�s better to accept the explanation of ancient pipes in old city centers and chuck your used paper into the wastebasket in your stall.

In Mexican bathroom Loteria, when you find a bathroom that unites the trinity of a seat, toilet paper at the ready, and a tank that flushes, you�ve won. Mark it on your map, visit it from time to time, and reminisce fondly about it while you�re stuck hovering over a bowl that someone just stole the seat off of.

[MO39]

Loved your article, sarliz! I feel very lucky to live in an apartment in Mexico City whose toilet comes equipped with a comfortable seat and which allows one to flush the TP along with that other yucky stuff!

[Phil_K]

I'm afraid I'm one of the flushers! Much as I try to Mexicanize myself, leaving my cac� behind is a definite no-no, even when advised not to flush it down. I live in a modern apartment (my own) and flush vast quantities of paper with no problems. For that reason, I try to complete my business at home if possible.

I can't believe I'm writing this!!!