Red Tent Sisters

I’ve been using the DivaCup for over 3 years now and I certainly don’t need to be convinced of its many virtues. However, my recent trip to Costa Rica gave me one more reason to love my reusable cup.

I arrived in San Jose on day two of my period. Having recently gone off the pill, my flow was particularly heavy. Unfortunately, there were no bathrooms except for the public washroom in the bus terminal which charged 250 colonnes (about 50 cents). Having arrived with $50 US bills (the banks in Toronto didn’t take into account that these would be rather useless in a third world country where the average meal is less than $4), I was out of luck. I was going to see if I get some change from the ticket booth operator, but our bus arrived before I got the chance. The bus didn’t have a washroom, which would have been fine except the trip was about 4 hours and we didn’t stop once! We finally got onto the ferry, which thankfully had a toilet (that you didn’t have to pay for!) I was grateful that I wasn’t wearing a tampon, since I would have had to worry about toxic shock. Not to mention you aren’t allowed to flush anything (including toilet paper) in Costa Rica because their septic system can’t handle it. While I’m not concerned with hiding my menses, I’m not sure anything else needed to be added to the overflowing garbage bin (don’t get me started on the smell . . .)

Considering I spent the entire week in my bathing suit, I was grateful I didn’t have to wear a pad, nor did I have to scrounge up change to use the bathroom every couple of hours. While I could have done without the cramps on my travels, the Divacup made my period a minor inconvenience, rather than a disaster.