Colombia to Ecuador Border (Rumichaca)

We stayed the night before in a hotel car park around 500m before the border. We always try to do border crossings as early as possible to avoid the crowds that often appear later.

The Colombian side of the border was fairly quick and easy. We drove slightly past the border building and parked out of the way on the road and then walked back to Migracion. This was a 2 minute process, although we did have our finger prints scanned – all very hi-tech.

Then all we had to do was get our vehicle import papers cancelled. It took a couple of minutes to track down the right building – you need to go to the Dian window for importing vehicles. You go inside the building hand your Temporary import papers to a guy and you’re done.

So far so good.

We hopped back in the Beast and drove the 250m to the Ecuador side of the border. Here we were directed to park behind the customs building and then go do our paperwork.

The migracion section was easy to find and is the same place for exit and entry. We handed over our passports and instead of stamping them the immigration officer placed them in a printer which gave us a printed entry. We got 90 days without asking.

Next we had to find Aduana. This was a bit more difficult as it was an unmarked office. To get there go out of the main entrance to migracion and turn left when you hit the road. The office is a small room right at the left end of the building.

Here the customs official spent a few minutes filling out an online form – he needed copies of the  registration,  my passport and driving licence.  He also needed to come out see the truck and check the VIN number.

Once this was done we got a printed Temporary Vehicle Import Permit for 90 days.

To get into Ecuador we had to drive round the building and then turn right up the hill. All done in less than an hour, the quickest border crossing we’ve done yet. Maybe the crossings in South America will be more straightforward than Central America.