Just crossed into Ecuador this morning, after a 24-hour delay thanks to a change in the customs procedures. The blokes on the border post are no longer able to authorise entry for vehicles without a carnet, and travellers need to cross during business hours.

The procedure is straighforward and fairly quick once you get to the (open) office, about 500m north along the same road (Panam, main street of Huaquillas), on the left. The office opens at 0800 on weekdays.

Cheers,
Andy.

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www.outforaspin.blogspot.com

Are you saying that you need a carnet now to cross? I have a friend that crossed about a week ago and he said he had to use his carnet. I was not sure if he had to or just could not get them to give him a permit to cross. I plan on crossing in about 2 weeks. My bike is stored in Lima and I fly back to get it on June 10th. Larry

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Larry Davis

First I,vw heard of this!!! It may just be a guy in Immigration trying to make a couple of extra bucks,tell us more,how did you actually solve the problem?
Albert theturtleshead

Don,t forget to drop in for a when you get to Quito,you,ll find the details with a quick search on this site.
Albert theturtleshead

i thought that the carnet thing was sorted out a few years ago, getting into ecuador ?
what about the following ? (taken from a quick web search)...... sounds like officials either trying it on or stuck in times pre 2004



----------


Ecuadorian Motorcycle Federation


Motorcycle Touring Commission


PRESS RELEASE


ENTRANCE OF TOURIST´S VEHICLES INTO ECUADOR IS REGULATED


On February 11, 2004, the General Manager of the Ecuadorian Customs

Corporation, signed the resolution no. 083, which regulates the Procedure

Manual for the entrance of Vehicles of Tourism into the Republic of

Ecuador.

As the result of an international campaign of protest, organized by the

Motorcycle Touring Commission of the Ecuadorian Motorcyclists Federation and

supported by innumerable motorcyclists and tourist national and

international entities, the Ecuadorian Government modified the articles 82

and 83 of the Customs Law, by means of the executive decree no. 2082, sign

by the President on September 21, 2004.


As consequence of this great victory of common sense and civic action,

tourists entering Ecuador traveling on their vehicles, see facilitated and

simplified the customs procedure to enter and travel across Ecuador with

touristic purposes.


Summarizing the Ecuadorian Customs Resolution no. 083:

The entry and exit of Tourism vehicles can be achieved in any Customs

District of the country.


The delegate of the Department of Control of Primary Zone (delegado del

Departamento de Control de Zona Primaria), is the responsible of the receipt

of the Tourist vehicle.


The owner of the vehicle is to be provided with two ( 2 ) original DJT

forms.


(Declaración Juramentada del Turista, propietario del vehículo)


The Tourist will have to attach copies of: Passport, registration of the

vehicle and drivers license.


Once the information needed is provided in the DJT forms, the delegate of

Control of Primary Zone, will verify the recorded information and will give

one of the forms signed and stamped to the Tourist, keeping the second form

in power of Customs.


The maximum term of permanency in the country of the Tourist vehicle, will

not have to exceed ninety (90) days.

yeah the guys at the bridge said it was only in the last 15 days that this procedure had been taken out of their hands, so it seems it is a brand new thing.

i speak good enough spanish to first try to cajole them, then joke with them, then boss them around a bit and finally give them a little light-hearted lecture about how this silliness was hurting their country, and say 'tut, tut, tut,' that their superiors in the bureaucracy were not giving them the satisfaction of doing their job. all to no avail, and i was in their office about an hour as i was not going to be told 'no'. but they were well serious about it, and pretty annoyed themselves as it turns out. so i believe this is indeed a new situation, and that they can do nothing about it. they did not refer to bribes at all, and when i tested the water on this subject (though i woujld not have paid), all they said was that they wished they could help.

the blokes in the border office were not obstructive, and even offered to show me to a hotel where i could 'rest'.

also, when i went to the customs office in the morning, it was clear that they had just updated systems - the boxes of new computers all over the place, and the guy who served me was a learner on the new system.

there were carnet stubs in the book they showed me, so carnet-carriers can get in no drama regardless of the day of the week. this hassle should only happen on sundays - but travellers might want to check the actual opening hours of the main street office.

cheers,
andy.

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www.outforaspin.blogspot.com

sorry.

larry, no you don't need a carnet. i don't have one.

albert, sorry but i have already left, back over the pass in the pixxing rain to tandapi. no internet during the day and again heading south.

siggsy, it is indeed a DJT form, just has to be done in the office on a computer, something the blokes in the little border office do not have now. the main office kid did the photocopying for me.

cheers again,
andy.

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www.outforaspin.blogspot.com

I have left my bike in Lima with a great friend that really helped me out when my brother died and I needed to fly home for the funeral. I will be going back June 10 to get the bike and continue my journey north. Looking for travelers that might be going that way to tag up with.

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Larry Davis

10 days back I crossed the border. The border official asked me to show carnet. I have one, I passed through the border with in 10 minutes. I didn't know about the new rules when I passed through the border. I thought he wanted carnet to reduce his work.

With out carnet I can't ship my bike out of Dubai, UAE. I got a carnet because of Dubai's rule. But carnet helped me in most of the countries in South America. even though it is not compulsory in South America, I feel, it is better to have a carnet. It reduces lot of time delay and paper work.

cheers.

i just came out of ecuador back into peru at the same (panam) border crossing. no big hassle but you still need to pass on a weekday, in business hours as the exit procedure also requires the use of a computer, not available at the border post.

as i was travelling alone i had to leave the bike unattended at the border, was not too impressed with that but all's well that ends well.

ciao,
andy.

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www.outforaspin.blogspot.com

passed back out of ecuador into peru yesterday, same crossing.

turns out they need to use a computer for this procedure too, so again it is necessary to cross during business hours, best in the early morning i am told.

cheers,
andy.

__________________
www.outforaspin.blogspot.com

Things might be different at the Macara border crossing which is pretty basic.

Be advised the road north of Macara is rough. Gravel, construction, fog, rain, mountains, and a really mean kid who will shoot you in the eye with your own laser pointer.

Eh, Laser Jock?

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I crossed from Peru to Ecuador at Macara on the 19th. Unfortunately, the Customs guy spotted my Carnet and insisted on stamping it. I showed him the reference to the change in rules since 2004 and he acknowledged that it could be done without a Carnet, but insisted on stamping it as it was 'mas facil' and he was lazy.

If you don't have a Carnet, just persist until they finally fire the computer up and do it properly.

in Februrary through Huaquillas . No hassle, the only one being you had to do it during business hours . I had checked before with Ecuatorian consulate in Brazil just to make sure : just bike document, passport and driving license. No money asked they were only worried about the motorbike being stolen recommending me to report to Inland Revenue immediately if that happened. In the end I left the bike for 45 days in Quito to return to Brazil for a while . On crossing on to Colombia the control was pretty shabby, the guy just picked up the document without checking it.