When I was about sixteen, my boyfriend at the time and I drove down to Tijuana, Mexico. We had a blast at the open-air market. I took a huge chance and got a burrito from some guy that had a food cart. It was yummy until my boyfriend told me what the meat probably was.
Anyways, after a while I had to go, and I mean GO RIGHT NOW! Back then I was so Shameful. It was so bad that even at school I would never go into the bathrooms. Bladder of steel! If the urge to poo came around, I'd ditch school and run home. But here I was, looking around for a bathroom in Tijuana, Mexico.
I saw this building that was in the middle of the market. I saw a line of women. After staring at the sign, I figured out that was the place I wanted. Maybe. Standing in line, doing the please-God-don't-let-me-shit-myself-in-front-of-my-boyfriend chant for about ten minutes, it was finally my turn at the window, where there was a lady who kept saying, "Ten cent." She must have thought I was totally retarded. Not understanding her (and not really 100% sure of what this building was), I just stood there, breaking out in a sweat. Finally the lady behind me says in English, "Pay her ten cents."
Oh cripes! I'm yelling to my boyfriend for change. Red-faced and grateful, I take the dime and hand it to the attendant. She hands me one (1) sheet of toilet paper! The gal behind me says, "OK, you go in."
Good lord in Heaven... I walk into this room that had no light. Only a very small window (closed, of course) to navigate by. When my eyes adjusted, I got disgusted. No stalls, no privacy, just six holes in the cement floor. Women were squatting over them, doing their thing. I was paralyzed with fear! The other women behind me were clicking their tongues, cursing me (at least I know how to cuss in Spanish) and telling me to go on, hurry...
Well my bowels were screaming at me to just do it. No choice here, Chicky. Gotta go. So I lower my pants and squat. By now I hate my boyfriend for bringing me here. The smell was like hundreds of years worth of poopies. My eyes stung. My lungs burned. Trying not to breathe, I close my eyes and do the doo. I almost fell over from the relief. I reached back with one hand to steady myself. EWWWW that floor was nasty! Not thinking things through, I then use my one piece of toilet paper to wipe off my hand.
The moment that the one little piece of paper disappeared into the abyss, it hits me. What do I do now?!?
I have no idea how long I was in there. Must have been too damn long, because the attendant lady was suddenly standing right in front of my squatting form, yelling something. The only thing I can understand is "hurry." Damn it all to hell. I stand up and, with a gut-wrenching show of strength, I pull up my pants. I'm totally disgusted with myself for not having a dollar to buy more toilet paper or at least to wipe with.
I scurry away like a scolded dog. Outside, my boyfriend is patiently waiting and smiling like an idiot. He asks if I'm okay. I am definitely NOT okay, but I'm too embarrassed to say anything.
"Let's go to Rosarita Beach," he says. Hell no! Take me home!!
I'm emotionally exhausted from my experience. The six-hour ride home was no picnic, either. That all new not-so-fresh feeling was horrible. I could feel it drying and caking. Kinda like watching grass grow. Every second was an eternity.
That was a very quiet ride. Not a word was said between the two of us. I kept hoping that the smell was just a memory of that place and not real. Nope. I realized it was real when it started to rain and the boyfriend kept his window rolled down! What a gentleman. His girl smells like she just crawled of Satan's asshole and he doesn't say a thing. Maybe I should have kept him.
I remember that day as The Day I Became A Woman. Since then, I've become a Shameless Shitter and grown much more appreciative of American bathrooms. And I learned two lessons that day:
- Everyone poops. Go ahead and use public toilets. It's okay. Plenty of privacy. At least you won't have twenty people watching you create your intestinal sculpture.
- Never leave home without toilet paper. Ever!