Comfort Room
I would be remiss in my blogging duty, pun intended, if I did not speak about the personal adventures of traveling about Mindanao while dealing with diarrhea. The first reality check came when I realized that rural areas of Mindanao are “non toilet paper” regions. In fact, most are simply toilet commodes and a are usually lacking a seat, so squatting is not an option it is an absolute. The floors are all wet and that is because dousing oneself with water from a plastic pail that is floating in a near by bucket is the common way one cleanses oneself after using the facilities. But, this local cleansing remedy, I realized to my chagrin, was personally not going to be sufficient, due the volume and velocity of the diarrhea caused by my abrupt change in diet. However, I learned very early to never go any where without a pack of handy wipes in my pocket. This would serve to be a golden rule. Second, never take your shoes off and go to the comfort room. Trust me, did it once very early on, because the comfort room was inside a home, but regretted it with soggy socks the rest of the day which I had to toss in the trash. Third piece of advice is to buy bottled water at every stop, hydration is a key component to happiness.