Maps
The widest selection of maps covering Ecuador is published by the Instituto Geografico Militar ; outside of Ecuador these are available by mail order from South American Explorers and Latin American Travel Advisor . The best general map of Ecuador is the 1:1,000,000 International Travel Maps Ecuador map (345 W Broadway, Vancouver, BC V5Y 1P8, Canada). They also produce a map of the Galapagos Islands, which you may be able to pick up in Quito's best bookshops , where you should also find a series of blue pocket-guides to Ecuador by Nelson Gomez E. published by Ediguias, which have reasonable fold-out colour maps of the country and major cities. He has also produced guides containing snippets of history, general tourist information, and street plans for Quito, Guayaquil (Spanish only), Cuenca (Spanish only) and Otavalo, a similar guide for the Galapagos, anda road map of the country. Road maps are, however, notoriously unreliable in their representation of unpaved roads - cross-reference between different maps to avoid difficulties. The Instituto Geografico Militar (IGM) in Quito, at Venezuela 573 and Sucre, next door to the Casa Museo de Sucre in the old town, and up on the hill overlooking the Parque El Ejido at Senierges and Paz y Mino (for this office you'll need to bring a passport or ID along), have maps on a variety of scales, including Hojas de Ruta , a selection of the most popular specific driving routes (for example, Quito-Esmeraldas and Quito-Tena-Puyo) with tourist information marked on them. The most useful maps for trekking are their 1:50,000 series, which show accurate contour markings and geographic features and cover most of the country except for remote corners of the Oriente. Unfortunately, popular maps are often sold out, in which case you'll be supplied with a difficult-to-read black-and-white photocopy. Maps are also available in a 1:250,000 series for the whole country, and a 1:25,000 series for approximately half of it. You may need a supporting letter from a government agency if you require maps of sensitive border areas and the Oriente.
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