Colombia, Ecuador and Visa Trouble – Part 2

Part 2

We decided to travel light, only bringing a change of underwear and a clean shirt, and throwing these into a backpack. On Tuesday morning we woke up early, showered, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and set out for Columbia. The walk to the bus terminal is about a mile from our apartment, we jumped on the bus heading to Ibarra for the 25 minute ride that would get us to our first stop.

When we arrived in Ibarra we found we had just missed the next bus to Tulcan, our next destination, and the Ecuadorian city that borders Colombia. An hour wait until the next bus gave us time to eat a more substantial breakfast, because our next meal would probably not come until mid afternoon or early evening. After breakfast we jumped on our bus, choosing to sit in the back. The bus was pretty modern and only ½ full. The estimated time to Tulcan was 2 ½ hours…but we soon found out the Mario Andretti must have some Ecuadorian in him because our bus driver set a personal best, pulling into the Tulcan station in record time. Well, not sure if that is true or not, but Grant and I were sliding all around the back of the bus as we took corners on narrow mountain passes that a mountain goat would envy.

After the bus ride, it is a 5 minute taxi ride to the immigration office and the ‘actual’ Ecuador/Colombia border. Getting out of Ecuador required that we stand in line for 2 ½ hours, and was bureaucratic inefficiency at its finest. 2 hours was spent standing in line outside the building. Gina started talking to people, as she always does, and met a young Colombian man and they chatted for hours. We have met many Colombians on our travels, in Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, and obviously Colombia. We have enjoyed their company very much. A couple of the Colombians we met we consider friends, including Gina’s art teacher in Ecuador for the past 3 months.

Anyway, when we finally get into the immigration office one of the officers comes around the counter and starts yelling at a policeman. I could not understand what he was saying, but he was apparently upset that they let more people in. There were only 2 officers, although there were computers and workstations for 10 officers, and neither of them looked very happy. Getting out of the country was no problem once we arrived at the front of the line…they stamped our passports and we headed out.

Welcome to Colombia

As we made the 5 minute walk from Ecuador across a bridge to Colombia, it was fun to reflect on what this moment meant to us. We had lived in Ecuador for 3 months, it was the first time the kids had lived anywhere other than Oregon, it was the first time Gina had lived outside of the U.S., and as we stepped into Colombia it marked our 4^th country in four months.

Colombia Ecuador Border

As you walked up the slight grade towards the Colombian immigration office, the first thing that struck you was the military presence. There were armed military everywhere, some patrolling, some checking vehicles, and all of them fully armed. It was enough to get your attention. The border office was very nice with a covered walkway and covered waiting area. You are approached by all sorts of characters, selling food and drink, offering taxi rides, van rides, and offering to exchange your money for Pesos’. As we made our way through this throng we reached the line for immigration, it took us only 15 minutes, we were not asked any significant questions, and before you knew it we had our Colombian Visa’s.

Now that it was official we needed to exchange our money for Peso’s. We tried negotiating with them but that did not get us anywhere, seems they are all in agreement about what the going rate is. With our Peso’s in hand we needed to find transportation. Our friends that made this trip had all taken a van…they pack them in as many as will fit about 15 or 20 in a van that holds 13 J The cost of the van is $.75 each person, but we found the taxi ride was only $3.50…so for our family of 4 we were comparing a $3.00 dollar van ride with a $3.50 taxi ride. Now, I am cheap…but I am also BIG so I’ll take the comfort of a taxi over cramming into a van with a bunch of strangers for $.50 difference any day.

Colombia Immigration Border Office

The taxi ride is a short 5 minutes to Ipiales, a Colombian border town of about 50,0000 that even the locals told us really has nothing to see or do other than the Sanctuary of the Virgin Church. I will write about the trip to the church separately, but our visit made the trip worthwhile. We were dropped off at the town square in the middle of the city. It was hustling and bustling with people everywhere going about their business. It was nice not to have a bunch of suitcases with us, and we made our way across the busy street and found a bench in the square to sit on and get our bearings.

There is that initial moment when you arrive in a new place that you have never been to that is a little disorienting. I do not experience it when we travel by plane, probably because everything is organized and you are “herded” into the direction they want you to go. But when you step off a bus, or are dropped off in the middle of a city by a taxi…it takes a moment to regain you equilibrium and figure which way to go. So as we sat there taking in the sights and sounds, even those of our kids who were tired of traveling and not wanting to sit in a town square in the heat of the day, we regained our balance, grabbed our belongings and started walking…looking for someplace to sleep for the night. Thankfully it did not take long. Gina spotted a hotel that she thought looked alright, we poked our head in and it looked pleasant enough, and they said they had a room for 4. The price was more than I wanted to pay, $45.00 for the 4 of us, but when traveling with kids sometimes you need to make concessions to the original plans to keep the peace. I knew that going in search of another hotel to save $10.00 for the night would not go over well, so we took it.

We spent the rest of the day resting and exploring a little bit of the town, we had to do it all over again the next day. Our plans for the following day included taking a tour of the Sanctuary of the Virgin Church, and heading back to Ecuador. Tomorrow I’ll finish the tale of how we almost did not get let back into Ecuador, and subsequently why we are on an amazing race to get from the Colombia/Ecuador border to the Peru/Ecuador border in the span of a week…stay tuned!