Crossing Into Colombia From Ecuador By Land

prospector911 wrote:

Superstore vaccination card? You mean one you buy off of Amazon or eBay? No Q codes.......They dont check?  Just another govt bureaucratic formality?

I call it a superstore vaccination card because I received the Moderna shots at what I call superstores, in the pharmacy section. 

For the second shot in May, I went to a Costco in Arvada, Colorado (metro Denver).  There the pharmacist marked and signed for my injection. 

The card doesn't look as official as a laminated state-issued card.  However, it was good enough to easily get me past all the  security checkpoints at airports from Denver to Houston .. and HOU-UIO.

I don't know any Q code except Marjorie Q Green .. and I don't usually discuss her at Expat.com ...

cccmedia in Quito

mtbe wrote:

Land border from Colombia to Ecuador is closed...Ecuador is closed for entry.  You can enter Colombia from Ecuador....

Ecuador and Colombia each have dominion over border entries, so the above is possible.

However, reports vary on what's open lately.

Ipso facto, it would be useful for readers if posters on this thread would state the source of what they are posting about border crossings.

For instance, if Mtbe posts that the border is open only in one direction (into Colombia), does he know that from having just obtained a tourist permit himself .. or having just been denied a crossing .. or what he read in the Ipiales newspaper .. or what is currently posted on the Nomads insurance website .. or was it simply 'heard on the street'?

cccmedia

prospector911 wrote:

How likely is it that those alternate routes are still open to illegal crossings?
... maybe they like to leave an escape valve open to relieve pressure.

I don't expect to understand 'the lay of the land' until I arrive at or near la frontera on October 6.  It would not surprise me if I don't really grasp what's going on at the border until the 7th.

I deliberately planned to arrive at mid-week .. because it's so easy for them to blockade the border on a weekend.

'Humanitarian' visits to Colombia have supposedly been considered for entry when standard visits may have been denied.  How is 'humanitarian' defined -- who knows?

My deep backup plan is to park on the Ecuador side .. and fly to Colombia, in order to qualify for a tourist permit.  I would only do that if both I and my car were denied entry in the Rumichaca/Nariño/Carchi area.

cccmedia in Quito

prospector911 wrote:

I have never once been asked to show documents in Colombia in at least 10 trips there.

I have been stopped for documents while not driving .. in Popayán .. and on several occasions while driving in downtown Medellín at night.

If you are stopped and unable to provide documents, the authorities have the discretion potentially not just to fine you, but to deport you and block you from coming back to La República any time soon.

cccmedia in Quito

prospector911 wrote:

@CCC  there is another bridge at Urbina or Urvina which crosses into private property on the Colombian side....Colombian taxis waiting on the other side. Appears to be the route that most are using altho a young Venez guy working the bus routes told me you just walk right across the bridge and nobody says anything. The worst they can do is turn you back....

And apparently there's a crossing at Tufiño, Ecuador, as well.

The problem is that, at those unofficial crossings of la frontera, you can't get an official exit stamp from Ecuador nor the entry stamp from Colombia .. you can't get temporary papers to bring in your car (if that's even allowed in a pandemic) .. and if they check your papers at a roadway cop-stop mid-stay in Colombia, there could be a multa, a messy deportation, and a barring (for say, one year) from returning to Colombia.

cccmedia in Quito

prospector911 wrote:

@ccc  We did pass a SOAT agency office on the alternative route where the driver said you can get a permit for your car, but how can you get a permit if your not legally stamped in? In any case, the taxista who took me to the terminal told me they were staging a big protest right there at the bridge in Rumichaca today to demand the Ecuadorian govt reopen the border right away. Another person told me it was slated to be opened in 15 days (3 days ago). In which case your problems are solved.

I'm going the other direction (Ecuador to Colombia), so Ecuador potentially opening its border does not help me during my trip this week (into Colombia on Wednesday). 

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I agree with you -- if one doesn't have a legal Colombia entry document, one doesn't have a chance of getting a legit car permit for Colombia.

cccmedia in Quito

prospector911 wrote:

Since the protest on Monday on the border in Rumichaca, has Ecuador finally relented and done what they should have done a long time ago? Open the border and allow free movement of people and vehicles?

The authorities in Colombia believe the protest(s) or manifestaciones that began on Monday will last all week.

Except for special exceptions, the border was physically blockaded/closed when I arrived at the Rumichaca bridge coming from Ecuador just after midnight last night.

I didn't speak with the Ecuadorian authorities.  The Colombian agent on duty reviewed my documents and determined that my health certificate (a.k.a. mig-check) dated October 6 had expired 20 minutes earlier (at 12:01 a.m. October 7) and therefore I had no right of entry to the country until that document is replaced.  The document vendor, iVisa, had assured me that the mig-check would be valid for 30 days.   I have messaged them asking for a replacement at no extra charge.

cccmedia, "stranded" in Tulcán, Ecuador,
                       near the Rumichaca border crossing

prospector911 wrote:

So just leave your car in a secure place for the time you will be in Colombia and travel by bus. Its very stressful driving in Colombia....

If I had to leave my car on the Ecuador side, I would probably leave it at the Chevrolet dealership on the Panamericana highway in Tulcán.  (It's a 2016 Chevy Sail.)

I left it there for a month on a trip a few years ago when my one-year series of permits for having the car in Colombia ran out while I remained in Ipiales, Colombia, two miles from the border.  Chevy in Tulcán did some maintenance work on the car while it was there.

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With so many in-city buses and taxis available in Ipiales, it's easy to get around town without a car.  However, if you're bringing in extra stuff as I am -- such as space heaters, a microwave oven and some lamps -- the concept of getting all your stuff from the Ecuador side to an Ipiales AirBnB apartment without a car can seem like a logistical nightmare.

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I disagree with the idea that it's stressful driving there (Medellín is a different story).  Ipiales is a small city easily negotiated by car; parking is not a problem.  An exception is some holiday weekends when parts of the city can get clogged by hordes of shoppers visiting from Ecuador who are taking advantage of 'peso arbitrage' to stock up on inexpensively-priced electronics and other productos in the Colombian border town.

cccmedia in Tulcán, Ecuador -- pronouncer:  tool-KAHN