Unconditionally Mine

I've done quite a bit in describing my feelings and such, but nothing to describe where I'm living and the weather.

Imagine, you are driving through Mexico and you car breaks down in one of those run down suburbs of Mexico City. All the buildings are made of stone and are half falling apart. The sun beating it hot rays down on your shoulders. There is garbage everywhere and there are flies and mosquitoes as far as the eye can see.

You are dropped off at your place for what you think will be just a few days. The door is hanging on the top hinge and the signs says "lift when opening". The floor looks of tile, dirt, sand and dust blanketing the hall way, and the smell of urine over whelms the rest of your senses. Turning your key to unlock your newest home the unlocking mechanism turn over once. You try the door but the lock is still in place. The key rotates a few more times and the door swings inward. Water drips from the AC in the top right corner of the room and smell of mold fights with the odor of urine coming in from the hall way. Both causeing you to gag and a little bit of throw up comes up into your mouth. You swallow it with pride and move it to assess the damage. Two beds fill the room, a bunkbed on your left with no matresses, and a single bed on the right, with 3 mattresses. There is only one pillow and you ro-sham-bo your room-mate for it. Paper beats rock. Damn, he wins. Both you and your room mate set down 4 duffle bags, a ruck sack, a computer bag, and a carry-on bag and head out into the hallway following the strong scent of urine like a bloodhound chasing the scent of a wanted killer.

A doorless room which you assume is the bathroom, looks... like... your standard bathroom. Three stalls, and across the stalls are two sinks. You take your chances with door number one and you see a hole in the floor, what seems to be a toilet backing on the wall with a string attached to it. A sign is posted underneath the toilet backing reads "Do not throw toilet paper into the toilet" and you can not imagine squating, like you do in the forest, and shitting into one of these holes. This is what they call a 'european toilet'. Get with the times. Door number two opens to two geckos crawling up near the ceiling and a standard porcelain american throne in the center. Again the sign reads "Do not throw toilet paper into the toilet". A trash can sits on the floor and you notice it filled with toilet paper. Again, you gag a little and move on to door number three. A faucet with a pipe heading up towards a shower head. Sounds simple enough. And it is. You test the water and just as you expected it's brown like watered down coffee. So you let the water run a while thinking it will go clear like it does in the states. Well, it doesn't. And you just shrug, turn off the water and head out. An officer greets you into the hallway with "so you're the new guys" and tells you the standard operating procedures for the bathroom.

"When you take a shit" he begins to explain "don't throw the toilet paper into the toilet. It will back it up and because they don't have a fuckin' sewer system here it just sits and will back up the entire fuckin' line." We both just nod when he walks away continuing "oh and you have to flush your own poo".

What? How does one flush his own poo. I assumed I was flushing my own poo when I held the lever down and the water swirled around the toilet and out the poo went.

"After you shit, you must lift up the lever, and dump a bucket of water down the toilet to help the shit go down."

My roommate and I cringe, look at each other, shrug, and leave to our room to unpack. You wake up at 5:30 to shower in the illustrious water, shave and brush your teeth with the non-potable water that flows like the nile through the faucets, and change for PT. As you dress, your lights go out and the air conditioner stops working. Peering out into the hallway, you notice all the electricity has gone out. Every morning at 7:00AM you loose power. Which of course makes your trip that much more enjoyable and you realize that it is unconditionally yours.