Tumbes and Border of Peru and Ecuador

by Big D
(Mancora Peru)

We had heard over the years of the awful border crossing after leaving Tumbes to Ecuador.

However, we left Mancora on a night bus (bus cama) and got to the immigration and customs checkpoints around midnight/early a.m. What a difference. Only a few people awake to try to shake down the travelers and everything quiet and smooth.

It was wake up, get off the bus, stand in line for about 15 minutes with nobody pestering anyone, back on the bus and back to sleep.

The only thing that was "typical" was on the way back into Peru at night. At the Peru immigration stop, there were two guys just inside the building saying, "Americanos? Pasaportes!" We thought they were official. However, they were just taking the passports to fill out the immigrations sheets. So I said, "Ladrones," grabbed our passports back, a couple of the sheets, and did them ourselves. Some of the other foreigners on the bus got stuck for like 5 bucks for the "help" they were given.

Anyway, no big deal.

So, if you don't mind traveling at night, it is definitely the way to go to cross the border!