More Ethiopian toilette stories

Ethiopian hotels have one feature you seldom see in other countries. Chamber pots.

Normally I opt for the cheapest hotels and so I don't get my own toilette and shower in those. In Ethiopia, the toilettes were sometimes difficult to reach at night. At one place you had to dress, put on your shoes, go out the gate and back in again by the front door, through the bar with a crowded dance floor and use the toilette in the back. That's about the point where I discovered that, yes, I can piss in a pot.

I was reading a website where some Ethiopian kids took a poo in their pot. They emptied it themselves so that's acceptable I suppose. When I asked about it, I was told that taking a dump in the pot was not OK unless you were desperately sick and about to die.

People also throw garbage in their chamber pots. One hotel had a way of sieving the garbage out so the pee drained into a ditch but they could burn the garbage.

Another time the cleaning lady just slopped the pee under the toilette stall door. It was a squat type toilette and the floor of the bathroom was sloped so probably most of the pee just ran down and drained away. I guess what struck me most about that was the unfortunate timing. Although in a more literal sense what actually struck me was urine seeing as how I was squating in there when she did it.