So… we’re back at the Correos, our post office. [you want to check your POBox at least once or twice a week, because there is NO mail delivery at your house... only at the main post office]

It’s bit delayed, but Steven and I are having a bit of an Anniversary celebration. We had spied out the Ametrines (”bolivianitas“) and had found some that he wanted to get me for our 25th Wedding Anniversary. And, it just HAPPENED to be at the tiendas I had discovered when I mailed my Secret Santa package! (see previous post, AIWTDW… Mail a package).

But I didn’t have time to go to the bathroom before we left the house, and I didn’t want to be distracted while we shopped again. So as Steven and I entered the post office, I found out where the bathrooms were and he found out where the “unclaimed/undelivered mail” was… he’s missing 3 packages we’ve been expecting since we’ve been here.

We went our respective ways, I to the Damas (ladies) room and Steven to the derelict mail room. I went to the bathroom… noticed there was no toilet paper OR any paper to dry your hands with, and I had nothing in my purse. [It's not unusual to have no toilet paper in public restrooms... people steal the rolls and take them home. It's a poor country.]

So, I saw the young lady who had cleaned the restroom (and who had done a GREAT job! You just don’t go to public restrooms in Bolivia!) and asked her about the toilet paper. She was able to communicate to me that I would have to go outside and BUY MY OWN TP! lol… For some reason, I found this situation highly amusing! A “do-it-yourself” bathroom!

As I went back out, I met Steven, who had had disappointment of his own at the unclaimed mail room. He didn’t have enough spanish to be able to find out if his packages were there or not. I explained my dilemma and so we went outside to find SOME kind of paper suitable for wiping with. [relax... it will NOT get too very TMI*]
[*TMI = too much information]

So we go downstairs and we start walking from stand to stand of vendors. I’m not seeing any toilet paper! All I’m seeing is that strong brown paper I used to wrap Karen’s Secret Santa package and… well… UNH-uh! no way THAT is gonna happen.

So… I’m at the stand of this lady who likes to charge “gringo prices” when she sees a gring. She wants way too much for that package of tissue packs! So, I bargain her down, only to find out that Steven doesn’t have any little change! That kind of defeats the purpose of bargaining, you know? Built into the bargaining premise is the intimation that you don’t have more than 3 Bs to your name. So when you pull out a 50 to pay 7, it’s kind of awkward!

So… to buy more… what can I buy, what can I buy… we get a not-too-cold Coke for our taxi driver and I make a joke about how all I needed was paper to go to the bathroom with! And so WHAT does she pull out from under her stand?

That’s right… TOILET PAPER!!! And it is SCOTT, no less! lol… So, I buy the toilet paper, walk back up the stairs and into the post office and around the corner to the Damas room!

I’m thinking, “wow… all this trouble, but at least NOW it’s over and I can go to the bathroom.” Well… the need was a bit more “urgent” than I had thought. So now I really needed to be able to flush this toilet. I push the handle. YES! It flushed! … but wait… “o no… it’s coming BACK!”

No… it did NOT overflow. In fact… there is NO WAY it could overflow! They had the tank set to fill by only 1/3! “Ah..” thinks I… “so THAT is why they have that plastic jug with the corner cut off in the other stall!” So, I go get that jug, fill it with water, pry the top off the tank in my stall and fill it up. It takes two of those jugs, but YES… the toilet FLUSHED!!!!

Yes, I know that no one knows me in this city and that no one was going to know who left that in the toilet, and most of them probably wouldn’t even notice to begin with… but *I* would know! So this minor victory was worth the effort.

So, I left one roll of TP in each of the toilets [Merry Christmas to the next few people who visited that bathroom! lol...] and then I’m out to wash my hands.

How pretty! Someone has left an ivy rooting in a cup on the sink. How precious that someone (probably that same young lady who was taking such pride in her work before!) cared that much.

So, I’m using the sink and immediately feel splashes on my feet.. WHAT in the world is THAT? OFF goes the water… I jump back and look under the sink… there are NO pipes under there!! I’m laughing out loud by this time… A sink hanging on the wall, with water connected to the faucet, with NO pipes to carry the water away!

Wow… WHAT an adventure!

So, I dry my hands on some of that toilet paper I bought, toss it in the trash and go to meet my sweetie and get my anniversary present. Our day was quite eventful!

In the immortal words of Yakov Shmirnov, “I LOVE thees con-tree!”