My mom would say I'm finicky about having clean clothes, and she's right. She would say I wear it once and wash it, but I have been known to sometimes wear it twice before laundering so there! Backpacking is tricky business when it comes to clothes, your limited for space and you have to be thoughtful to what items you bring so multiple outfits can be made. Often the humidity levels in the countries I'm travelling are higher than Edmonton so the clothes often are damp and all being to take on the same smell HAHA. When I'm backpacking I'm better about wearing the clothes again and again it's just part of the experience. Laundry services are by the kilogram meaning you pay a small fee per kilogram of the weight of your clothes so it's quite cheap and therefore I do have my clothes washed probably more than the typical backpacker. I'm nearing a home stretch to the end of my travels but there was a t-shirt, my jeans, a sweater and few other things I wanted fresh and clean for these last few days so I asked my hotel last night if they do laundry, the gentleman explained they don't have a washing machine or dryer so no, but showed me on a map a laundry service. This morning I packed up the few items I wanted washed and that would be my first errand. The directions were good but upon arrival the lady said she was not doing laundry today how about tomorrow which was not possible for me so I asked her to point me in the direction of another laundry service. She indicated there was one about a block away, perfect! I got to that street and walked up and down and saw no sign of laundry. I asked a lady and she indicated it was right on the corner, but when I got to the corner still nothing. Crossed the street and tried that corner, nope nothing. Again asking a local for help the pointed me back to the first corner....I went back, nothing. It's very common to see a policia officer in busy traffic intersections, I suppose they are there to keep the peace and avoid problems and issues. This policia officer must have seen me going up and down the street, crossing and coming back and forth so he waved me over. I asked for the "La Lavanderia" and I hate to say this because it's so cliche but because he was a man....you could tell he had no idea HAHA. However he felt this was obviously of great importance and radioed dispatch to ask them to look up the closest Lavanderia. He was going back and forth on the radio for a full five minutes and then finally he explained to me that yes this is the correct corner, however in Otavalo there is no laundry service on Mondays at all. Ok...well that ends that. I headed back to my hotel were the gentleman who is always here on hand to help me saw me coming back in with my shopping bag of laundry and looked concerned, I told him my findings that there is no laundry on Mondays. Being that he knows I'm leaving tomorrow I needed my laundry done today he took me to a lady here at the hotel and they together explained she would was my things by hand very well and that I would have my laundry done not to worry. The gentleman knew I wanted them machined washed so they went into great assurance in Spanish that this was going to be great! I wasn't really that worried, I just felt bad having someone was my clothes by hand HAHA. I realized later in the day that if they don't have a washing machine that means all the bed linens and towels are hand washed and I have been very happy and impressed with my fresh towels everyday so it was all going to work out :-) Once again I could not get over the kindness they showed me by seeing that my clothes got washed one way or another! However I still think the best part is what all the other Policia were thinking when they heard that conversation on their radios!! HAHA!! My Spanish was not nearly strong enough to understand what he was saying and the responses, but I can read body language and I'm sure there were a few raised eyebrows on the force today!