Most frustrating day yet.....

Well yesterday was a real pain in the backside!! All we needed to do was buy the relevant maps and white gas for our stove before we started trekking.

I suddenly have a new respect for the Ordnance Survey; in Ecuador the only place to buy topographical maps is the Institut Geographical Militar in Quito. The only useful ones are 1:50,000 and have been made from aerial photos taken between 1985 and 1990. You need to leave your passport with the army security guard to get in and head to the map department. You then hand the lady at the first counter with a list of the maps you want. She then copies them down by hand onto a new list. You then wait for 5-10 mins before you are summoned to another desk. They then provide a list of the maps now typed in duplicate and you pay for them. One copy goes to the print desk and you keep the other. After about 30 mins the maps have all been printed and you can go to a final desk to check them and collect them. After all this they are not waterproof and we have been told the ink runs on them when they get mildly damp!

We shouldn´t complain though, in Bolivia apparently you have to place your order and then return the next day to collect!

The white gas for our stove was even more frustrating. We compiled a list of all the camping shops that we had seen recommended anywhere. Every one we went in told us it was hard to get hold off and they didn´t have any but why didn´t we try........ We kept trying in camping stores and hardwear stores with out luck. We even got a taxi out to an out of town shopping centre but no luck. Even in a huge hardwear store with a camping section drew a blank. We went back to our hostel very frustrated and started to work out what else we could use in the stove - thinners, meths, unleaded petrol, diesel, kerosene or a mix of the above.

Frustratingly and happily we refused to completely give in and I asked this morning in a small shop next to the internet cafe we were in yesterday and low and behold they had some! Not sure if this makes it all better or worse but off to buy another bottle for them to fill up for us.

In the end, it is a happy tale: we have all the maps we need in Ecuador and white gas and got some good high alltitude training in during our treks around Quito!