Traveling from Ecuador to Peru

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We spent 2 full days traveling from Puerto Lopez, Ecuador to Lima, Peru. The first leg of the trip was to Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador. It has an awesome bus terminal that is huge, modern, clean, and also functions as a shopping mall. From there we went to the Ecuador border town (Huaca-something) to get checked out of the country. Then we took the same bus across the crazy border to Tumbes. Thank god we booked a bus straight through to Tumbes because it would’ve been hectic and difficult (and, we heard, dangerous) to cross on foot. We heard about taxis that, instead of taking you across the border, take you to a slum and police officers get in the taxi and make you pay them ludicrous amounts of cash in exchange for not leaving you in the slums. I believe it because at the immigrations office on both side of the border there were men INSIDE the offices that were offering to exchange money… for fake currency. Our bus driver said all the money they exchange is fraudulent. Crazy that they set up shop right inside the government offices, right?

At Tumbes we had to take a mototaxi to an ATM so we could take out some Peruvian soles. Little did we know that US dollars (the currency used in Ecuador) is widely used in Peru as well. Then the driver took us to the bus station where we got on a bus to Trujillo, 10 hours away. We were on this bus overnight, and although it wasn’t too comfortable, at least is wasn’t like being stuck in a cooler like the overnight buses in Colombia! From Trujillo, we took the most luxurious bus 9 more hours to Lima. This bus was called a “bus cama” or “bed bus”. This is a 2-story bus where the seats lean back nearly all the way and a leg rest comes out. You get first class service by hostesses, breakfast and lunch, unlimited movies, a blanket, and a pillow. My seat was the first one on the 2nd floor so there was nothing in front of me except a big window. It was pretty cool. I would’ve liked to have slept, but instead I looked out at the scenery and watched movies the whole time.

We arrived in Lima in the evening, around 6 p.m. and took a taxi to Miraflores where we checked into Flying Dog Hostel. We had some dinner around the corner at El Parquetito and roamed around for a bit before going to bed. It was so nice to finally be in a real bed and not on a bus!

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Photos

Views of Ecuador...
from the bus window

Views of Ecuador...
from the bus window

Views of Ecuador...
from the bus window

Views of Ecuador...
from the bus window

Views of Ecuador...
from the bus window

Views of Ecuador...
from the bus window

Views of Ecuador...
from the bus window

Views of Ecuador...
from the bus window

On the luxury bus
Last leg of the 2-day trip

Comments

[Diana]

Frenzy
This blog helped me very much thank you! My son Nathan has decided he wants to travel South America (against my maternal instincts) Nathan is a young adult (God bless and keep him) so I couldn't stop him but the pictures you showed helped calm my anxiety. I had envisioned some very rustic unpaved road ways but the bus line you depicted was clean modern and not much unlike our travel system here in America so I feel my son may actually be safe. My only concern is that he mentioned his bus ride would be 38 hours and yours was 2 days in the same direction.