Day: March 21, 2015

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Public Toilets in Mexico

I am surprised by how easy it is to find a bathroom in Mexico when you need one. I’ve seen everything from dedicated rest areas to people actually giving access to their own personal bathroom in their home! Look for a sign that says baño or servicios. I have yet to come across a Pemex gas station that doesn’t have a public bathroom

Bathrooms are often a little worn and grotty but still clean. I have yet to find a Mexican bathroom that is as scary as some bathrooms I’ve encountered in the US and Canada. Sometimes, there will be an attendant and you will need to pay a token amount to this person (usually 5 pesos), who will give you a few squares of toilet paper and possibly paper towels.

Of particular interest to ladies, often toilets do not have seats. I think this is because seats and toilets are sold separately in Mexico (don’t quote me on this, but I’m sure I read it in someone’s blog about building a home in Mexico). Today, both the bathroom at Pemex and at Soriana were luxurious — free to use and stocked with toilet paper, paper towels, and hand soap, but they had no seats. You can’t have everything, right?!

Ladies will also want to carry tissues and sanitizer in their purse, or, even better, wet wipes, as sometimes there is no toilet paper and/or water and soap to wash your hands. Always check the stall before sitting/squatting to make sure there is paper. Sometimes, as I learned at Ley this week and Soriana today, the paper dispenser is actually by the door (either inside or out!) and you have to grab some on the way in!

If there is a bin by the toilet, you need to put the paper in there, not into the bowl (ie. do not flush it). Please, please, please, cover your paper if it is messy. I really wish I didn’t have to say this…

Mazatlán Centro Histórico bathroom tip: pay admission at the Museo Arqueológico (less than 30 pesos and free on Sundays!) on Sixto Osuna (just past Plazuela Machado en route to Olas Altas). They have super clean newly renovated bathrooms with toilet paper, paper towels, water, hand soap, AND SEATS.

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Today Was an Expensive Bust

I was up early to get L&N’s friend to the airport and was on the road heading to Maz by about 8:15. I had planned to spend part of the day at village called El Quelite a little north of Maz, but made an irreversible and expensive mistake: I got on the cuota (toll road) instead of the libre (free road). It doesn’t matter that it took me ages to realise that I wouldn’t be able to access the town from the cuota, I still ended up having to practically go halfway to Culiacán before I could turn around. This meant I had to go through the toll booth in both directions, which cost 109 pesos EACH WAY!!! 🙁

The Pole Palace night club sounds like a very classy establishment.

The Pole Palace night club sounds like a very classy establishment.

Mexican open top double decker bus... Yes, those are people poking out of the top of it!

Mexican open top double decker bus… Yes, those are people poking out of the top of it!

When I was finally able to turn around, it was at an oasis along the barren road, a Pemex/OXXO combo, where I was very glad to have access to a bathroom (which had paper, water, and soap, but no toilet seat) and to be able to get a coffee (which tasted not great; I’ve been so spoiled by Rico’s!).

Turning around, I thought I could salvage the day by visiting some petroglyphs L&N had mentioned and the access road for which I had passed on the way north, but this being the first day of spring, there were massive crowds. I was almost 5KM down the dirt track to the location when a cop signaled for me to pull over. I did so and he spoke very quickly to me.

I said, ¿Mande? and he looked at a loss for words and managed to get out in English that he doesn’t speak English. I shook my head and said that if he spoke slowly and used simple words I would understand. He tried again and I repeated what I had understood: I had to go to the end of the road, go around the parking lot, come back up the track, and park at the head of a long queue of cars. The cop grinned and said exactly.

So that’s what I did and let’s just say I had no desire to park almost 6KM from the entrance and hike down to something I had no details about when it was obviously a special day and people were heading out for the whole of it, with parasols and coolers.

I made it back to the cuota and drove straight to the Soriana off Mex-15 that I went to in December. I actually wanted to check out Mega, but did not have the energy at this point to brave the traffic down Rafael Buelna.

Soriana didn’t have much or, rather, I’m not in the mood to cook, so I pretty much just stocked up on paper goods, crackers, sliced ham, and kielbasa. Something told me to check my email before going into the store and I had a tiny order from Contessa, that I was able to fill. I am always glad to do that for people! When I would do my supply runs to  Whitehorse, I would often have full huge lists of shopping for people, hundreds of dollars’ worth… and I would have the favour returned when others did their supply runs.

I dropped Contessa’s things off and got in around 2:30. I had a beer while I read a bit, then I decided I was hungry and moved my reading to the El Velero restaurant where I made the mistake of filling up on chips (damn their awesome pico de gallo!) and limonda, not leaving me much room for my chicken tacos. So I brought most of the tacos home and will have a nice breakfast tomorrow.

Not counting any expenditures from Soriana onward, my day cost me about 500 pesos in tolls and fuel with absolutely nothing to show for it. Very disappointing. If I wasn’t driving such a gas guzzler, I would have enjoyed the drive, something I haven’t done much this winter, but all I could focus on was the gas gauge needle dipping lower and lower and lower. If El  Quelite had had anything really remarkable to see, I might have made a point to find my way to the libre and gone there after all, but there was really nothing that spectacular to see to justify the extra mileage.

I wish I had a navigator.  You can’t drive and navigate here, it’s too dangerous. A navigator would have been looking at the map for me and telling me to stay in the left lane while I worked at avoiding getting into an accident.

To be honest, I wish I had done what I wanted to do today: come home from the airport and go back to bed with a book. 🙁