"I Gotta Go!"

Occasionally in the states one will have the unfortunate occasion to pass by someone relieving themselves in public. That is to say...we have all done it, either out of necessity or inebriation but, at some point, duty calls and there is nowhere to go but in a dark alley or behind a large stand of bushes. In Ecuador, however, there seems to be a large portion of the population that feels ANY tree, corner or inanimate object is open for interpretation as a public bathroom. Obviously not all of the citizens of this country see things in this light, but the audacity of some people has not ceased to amaze us.

One time we were going for our afternoon jog on one of the main streets in town. A woman in front of us, probably in her 70’s, simply slipped between a couple of hibiscus plants, hiked up her skirt and without looking, dropped trow.

At the football game the other night, one well dressed and somewhat older man was not satisfied waiting in line and so decided to pee in the corner of the hallway leading to the bathroom. Oddly enough a teenage boy took note and decided he would do the same.

In front of our apartment on the busiest street in town, we regularly see people peeing into the river from the edge of the sidewalk (as shown in this picture from our balcony). Upon further inspection we noticed that every one of the large trees on the the boulevard has a permanent stain on it.

On the same street about 3 blocks away, the taxistas have decided their pee spot is the slow lane. They simply pull over, open the driver’s side door and act as if they have stepped into a public bathroom.

These are just some of the more mundane and regular sightings we encounter and obviously it gets much worse at night when people are walking around drunk. We won’t go there.

This seems to be a country-wide phenomena that is as ubiquitous as litter. It’s one thing that has been very hard for us to understand.