Small propane tanks in Bolivia?
 

We're looking to buy a small (10lb) propane tank, or the US standard 1lb. propane bottles somewhere in Bolivia. We have a propane stove and adapters and have been using the 1lb tanks through Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, but having trouble finding them in Bolivia. We're in La Paz now, headed south in the next day or two. We did find a place to buy the 25lb tanks but they are just a bit to big for what we need.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Have you tried all the camping outfitters in Calle Illampu? I've bought propane tanks from them before.

Yes, I swear we went to every store on Llampu and a 10 block radius. And every hardware store around Calle Bozo.

The problem is we are looking for the Coleman style 1 lb tanks, also sometimes sold for soldering in hardware stores. But, Calle Lllampu area only has the smaller butane/propane tanks made to work with the pocket rocket style stoves (DOITE brand).

So, we ended up buying a new little stove for Bs280 that runs on the easier to find butane/propane tanks. It should at least get us to Argentina, where we hope we can find a 10lb propane tank.

Thanks for the help anyway!

Get a gasoline powered stove and never worry about finding fuel again unless your transportation runs out. Primus ominfuel works excellent for me and nice not to have to carry any other type of fuel besides gasoline.

@Throttlemeister, I'm totally with you. We had two MSR multi-fuel stoves, but both were stolen back in Costa Rica. We replaced with the Coleman because it's all we could find. And, I must admit, the clean burning propane has been nice.

We did see a few gasoline options in La Paz, but even the crappy stoves were over US$150. We saw MSR stoves in the Tatoo store, for a whopping US$285. That's why we went with the cheap butane option. It might break next week, but we should be in Argentina by then :)

It's probably too late given your request, but I got a Coleman stove from Walmart fo $20 (it's $30 now), had it for 6 years or so without issues. Uses gas out of the bike and has very good temp control.

Yeah, we've heard good things about that stove too, and similar 2-burner models that burn multi-fuel. Unfortunately, they're not available once you leave the States. (Even in Central American WalMarts) If you know otherwise let me know, we have friends in Nicaragua heading south, looking to replace theirs too.

Cheers!