There is something very familiar about being in Ecuador. Parts of Ecuador are so similar to Bolivia, where I spent four months a few years ago. I felt very comfortable from the moment I arrived. That being said, there are still some things that I need to get used to because they are very different from Bolivia.
I am still trying to get used to the bathroom situation here. I was expecting to have the same problems as I had in Bolivia, but it is pretty different here…surprisingly so.
What exactly do I mean by the bathroom situation? I mean the bathroom situation.
In Bolivia, people often do not take care of the bathrooms. They can be very very disgusting. And more often than not, you will find that you have neither soap nor toilet paper. Every traveller quickly made it a habit to carry toilet paper with them. Individual toilet paper rolls were sold everywhere because it was just such a necessity. The host family we lived with even charged us for toilet paper.
In Ecuador you can politely tell someone that there is no toilet paper in the bathroom and, instead of getting a bizarre “so what, why are you asking me”-look, people will put more toilet paper in the bathroom. Individual toilet paper rolls are not as abundant as cigarettes, and you don’t always have to stock up on serviettes when you go out for lunch. In the house I was living there are three bathrooms. Once I used the toilet paper in my bathroom, I started taking toilet paper from the other two. After a while, I realized how different bathroom culture in Ecuador is…so I asked the housekeeper for toilet paper. And she gave me a roll of toilet paper.
Toto, we aren´t in Bolivia anymore!
It never occurred to me that someone would give me toilet paper. Talk about culture shock!
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