peru ecuador transit

[19naia]

my first trip across the land border from peru to ecuador and back was just over this new year transition...I took the bus from tumbes to aguas verde and it dropped us off in the neutral zone past the peru immgration office and before the Ecuador immigration post...I walked towards the " welcome to ecuador" sign expecting to find the ecuador in-processing center but nothing but crowded market stalls with huge crowds of people and cars squeezing through,i was in ecuador and wore myself out walking around town to find where to do my immigration processing...The road seemed wide open to go any where in Ecuador as most people were doing,and beyond to colombia..There was military and civil patrols for safety in a dangerous border town and that was it..i could come and go through peru and ecuador at will and not worry about immigration processing...I still wonder if the highway out of town further into ecuador has to pass through the immigration post,but the immigration post doesn't hang outside making anybody come in and get processed..
My purpose was to renew my visa for peru,visa run...So i settled into ecuadors border town,got a hotel,talked to a taxi and found out i had to cross back to peru side to find the office there to stamp me out and then took a taxi over a stretch of desolate highway to the joint peru ecuador immigration processing post,a modern new installment..it cant be more than a few years old.....Any way it took far more effort and off the beaten path transit to get my document in legal order...In cases where im not having to keep my entry permits in order such as short trip border cross adventures while i still have time on my stamp to last beyond when i re-enter,i will just follow the crowds and cross in and cross back at will and see no immigration post...When i get back,my stamp will still be good up to date and create no hold ups when i fly out to USA....i must say that the agua verde market crossing on foot is hectic and it was a mad house as i was told,on the day i went,there was a mob and some police in its center smacking on a mans head as the pushed him along with the mob shouting and every body talking about what went down...I heard assault,knife and few other words and didn't ask for any more details,moved along out of there...

[19naia]

i live in trujillo area now and it seems cheaper to fly to USA from Guayaquil Ecuador than from Lima or Quito...Not any harder getting to lima from here than to ecuador border and then the trip to Guayaquil isnt that bad at all to save a few hundred dollar or more....Every time i check,Guayaquil comes up far cheaper than the lima or quito....

[tupacperu]

You need to be careful crossing into Ecuador without an Ecuador Immigration Stamp. The fine for not having it , last time I was there was around $200.00, even if you lose the stamped paper.

Even if you have merely overstayed your visa in Ecuador for one day the fine is $200, overstay your visa for longer periods of time without a good excuse and that fine can increase to $2000.

[19naia]

yeah its $200 and more likely to be marked for a year against rentry even if no prior extensions beyond 90 days.....All that applies to whoever is documented in and scrutinized at exit....Most people crossing who cant afford $20 fine much lees $200,are crossing without documenting in or out...They have to document an entry to determine if an overstay fine is due...its so easy to go and come back as long as my peru stamp is still current before and after...there really is no one at the border seeing to making people register peru exit or ecuador entry or the reverse process....I would forgo the process if the immigration process line is packed taking all of my one day trip anyway ,if i was doing a trip for a day or two and then return...

[ardilla]

Did you know that you no longer have to cross at Aguas Verdes? (I agree, that crossing is not for the faint of heart)

But the new crossing option is amazing!

There is a new Centro Binacional de Atencion Fronteriza (actually two of them, one on each side of the border of each country). I've crossed easily and with safety and speed, back and forth here, as have members of my family, en route from Guayaquil to Tumbes. It is open 24 hours all year. The setup is great: Peru and Ecuador have set up the binational border crossing so that all of your migratory document checking is done in one building, for both countries. The immigration officials from Peru and Ecuador sit right next to one another in the immigration building. You finish your "check out" of Peru with one person and then go right next to that person to "check in' to the other country.

This is the nicest border crossing I have experienced in all of my travels. There are restrooms, a restaurant, a place to walk around, and even a Peru tourism representative available at times.

See this link for a description and photos of the new border crossing (scroll down for photos): http://www.ministeriointerior.gob.ec/do ... ador-peru/

[19naia]

yep thats the one and only option these days..Its modern and well equipped,isolated and guarded...Its just outside of town and the road into agua verdes has a highway divert to the new outpost otherwis through the over crowded market border cross...If you go the old way,theres no one to process stamps/passports,although on the peru side there is still the old office that stamps passports out....It cost 3 to 5 dollars to get a cab from in town to the new modern immigration outpost and yes you actually have to cross the border into ecuador to get to the new immigration outpost...Its perfect how its isolated from town or the actual border,because that area has gone to the dogs and the sewers..Great idea to pack up and move it into fresh air and clear fields....Still can be a hassle of long lines of rude bus loads doing bulk processing,as i found my first time there,so after my place was cut out from infront of me by eager gluts,i walked off to the food court to sit eat and wait til the line was empty...Yep small food court,restrooms and taxis into town and back...Taxi to tumbes from there cost me 12 dollars and much quicker and comfortable than the bus..

[rudder]

How come no one on here ever talks about taking the bus from Jaen, Peru to Loja, Ecuador for the visa renewal?

[InsidePeru]

We haven't done the Piura to Loja crossing, but I believe it's not as popular because it is in the mountains and windy roads... I would think.

We always cross the coast route. The best way is to take an overnight bus (except you miss the sights) from Piura or Mancora to a town in Ecuador. We usually go to Machala or to Guayaquil to visit friends.

We crossed a few weeks ago to Machala, overnight, and back here to Huanchaco (Trujillo).

We have decided now to avoid the bus line CIFA if there is any way around it. Security is non existent. They told us both ways that the bus was nonstop, but that was a lie. We have taken CIFA in the past and it has gone from poor to just plain bad.

Unfortunately, CIFA has the most runs.

The new border crossing is great. Just avoid traveling Sunday night as that is when most others are coming or going. We got stuck on a Sunday afternoon for 3 hours waiting for two buses ahead of us, one of which was school kids. Kids need special authorization if they are not with their parents, and it seems the school had not done that previously. Although they actually came in after us, they bumped them up, causing us to wait until they were done.

Oh well. Next time, I believe we'll come back in on my Peruvian DNI and then start the process for my wife's visa.