Crossing the border - Peru to Ecuador

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I noticed that our most viewed blog was when we talked about crossing the Chile/Peru border and I am guessing that is because fellow travelers are always curious about crossing borders.

To start, crossing from Peru to Ecuador was significantly easier than crossing from Chile to Peru and even back and forth between Chile and Argentina.

To get to Ecuador we followed the most popular route on the Pan-American highway. From Trujillo we took an overnight Oltursa bus to Tumbes, arriving early in the morning. There is no central bus terminal in Tumbes so we were at the Oltursa terminal. The area is not the best so try to avoid wandering around.

Lonely Planet recommends taking a CIFA bus from Tumbes headed north as it is the easiest, and we could not agree more. As you exit the Oltursa bus station make a right (north) and walk a very short distance to find CIFA. CIFA has a bus that leaves for the border at 8am, shortly after the Oltursa bus arrived. It is about a 6 hour ride to Guayaquil.

I am not sure if it is because CIFA is an Ecuadorian company or what. All I know is we flew through the border crossing and did not wait in any lines. The conductor seemed to exchange money with the police a few times so maybe they have some kind of arrangement there.

Leaving Peru, the bus stopped at the departure office for a quick stamp. Then it traveled through Aguas Verdes on the Peru side and in to Huaquillas on the Ecuador side. The bus stops in Huaquillas for a few minutes. The only reason I know it was Huaquillas though is because Sarah hopped off the bus to get some food and when she tried to pay in soles, our only money, the restaurant owner refuses to accept it and she had to change money at a ridiculously bad rate with another customer. I guess that would be our only tip, at the latest, when you get your departure stamp from Peru, change money to US dollars because you won't have another chance before Guayaquil (or wherever you are heading).

We took CIFA to Guayaquil for $25 soles. They can also get you to Machala easily. We did not find a good, economic way to Quito, but we did not look too hard either. From Trujillo one bus company, Ormeño I think, not far from the Oltursa terminal, sells direct to Quito buses, but they only go Monday and Friday. Based on the prices they gave us, non-negotiated, it is very expensive. Getting to Guayaquil from Trujillo cost us about 75 soles and it would have been another 25 soles roughly to get to Quito for around 100 soles in total. The prices we got to Quito were in the 180+ soles range (and also Trujillo to Guayaquil was around 138 soles direct).

Good luck!

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