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How Could I Forget the 30 Peso Pit Stop?
I can’t believe that I forgot to write about my pit stop at the bus depot in Playa Del Carmen. First, I had to pay 30 pesos to use the potty. There was actually a turnstile that you had to use to get in, and the only way it turned was to put the coins in the slot. Luckily, my husband had enough pesos to buy entrance for both he and I.
The last time we had to pay to pee was in Martha’s Vineyard, a place where the businesses don’t open their restrooms to anyone but a paying customer, meaning you have to either buy something from them or order their food. The only exception to this was the police station, which we made sure to stay in close proximity of at all times.
So I get in the bathroom, do my business, and look for the toilet paper. Where in the heck is the toilet paper? Is this how it’s done in Mexico when you are off the resort? They don’t use toilet paper?
This is where I have to tell you that I drink water like it’s going out of style. I carry around with me a 36 oz. water bottle that I refill probably three times by noon each day. I breathe and then drink water, breathe some more, and then drink some more water. As a result, I am constantly peeing. I’m wondering to myself, just how am I going walk around Playa Del Carmen all day long in the 90 degree heat and stay hydrated?
As I exited my bathroom stall I noticed a single toilet paper dispenser on the wall, outside of all the stalls. Are you kidding me? There wasn’t even a sign to let the patrons know that they needed to take their TP first, then scoot on into the potty. This is just crazy.
My next rest stop was a little restaurant where we stopped for lunch. This time there was toilet paper, however there were no doors to the stalls. NO DOORS!! And both of the stalls faced the main doorway. I’m sure that a drunk girl would have had no problem using the facilities in such a manner, but not me, I waited until the bathroom was completely empty and then made sure the main door was locked.
When I made the decision to spend they day in Playa Del Carmen, I had no idea just what I was in for.
There was this one restaurant that we were thinking of going to along 5th Avenue. We were paging through the the menu, trying to decide if there was anything on there that I would eat, and the host was doing his best to get us to take a table. When he realized that we were going to move on, he asked us if we were on our honeymoon, because we looked just so happy in love. I thought we looked hot and sweaty and maybe had a touch of sunburn coming on. This guy definitely needed to work on his salesman skills because he started to tell us about his two failed marriages — and then when that didn’t work he moved onto selling us a time share. Oh, sure, because we didn’t want your food, you made us feel totally uncomfortable when you spilled your guts about your marriages, but we’d be more than happy to hear about a time share opportunity.
At one restaurant we were promised ‘air conditioning upstairs’ however, it turned out to be the exact same air that we were standing in on the street as there were no walls upstairs and only a thatch roof to shield the sun. Although, they did serve me the best damn pina colada I’ve ever had.
My husband just told me that he thinks I’m “best traveled in developed first world countries”. There’s a reason I like 5 star resorts and air conditioning. They have things like electricity, room service, good wine, and excellent food. Not to mention toilet paper. That’s important too.
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OMG, paying to pee, a single tp dispenser and no doors on the stalls. What joy!! Glad you are home.