Crossing the border from Corumba, Brazil to Bolivia

I'm posting this for other US citizens (and Canadian, Australian, New Zealand) who need to get into Bolivia from Corumba, Brazil. It's not the easiest process.

Crossing the border to Bolivia from Corumba, Brazil.

What you need: 

1. $135 USD in crisp, new bills. There is a money exchange just past the Bolivian border, which you can go to before you get your stamp.  They are aware that the bills need to be crisp.  I've heard people using Bolivianos, but they really want USD.

2. Two copies each of your passport photo page, credit card, and Yellow Fever vaccination. This may vary depending on how hard the officials want to be at the time, but on the Bolivian side there are cheap copy places.  

As soon as we stepped out of the bus in Corumba, men were asking us if we wanted a hostel or wanted to buy tickets for the train or the bus to Santa Cruz, etc. They were selling them for $20 more then you'd pay if you bought them yourself so keep this in mind. They said that the border was really busy and took hours to get across. We just decided to ignore them and see what happened. We spent the night at Hotel America 80 Reales, but it had WiFi and free breakfast of bread, cheese, ham, queque, coffee, juice, rolls. However, you can go to the border, cross to Bolivia without your stamp, and stay in the really nice, new and clean Hotel Vini for $21 USD a night, less than half the price, for double room with AC, flat screen with cable and brand new toilet paper, soap, and even shampoo! You can also get your train or bus ticket for Santa Cruz. This is because you can simply walk across the border and no one stops you. Yes, bizarre. I know. Hotel Vini is literally 1000 feet from the border. The Brazil and Bolivia custom offices are only 1000 feet from each other. It's super close and super easy. This way, you can get up early and leave your stuff in the room and go get your exit and entry stamps. If it's not Sunday, you could do this any time, except on the Bolivian side, they close for lunch between 1 and 3 I think. The Brazilian customs doesn't. On Sunday, the Bolivian customs closes at 1pm for the entire day. We spent 2 hours in the line and it closed... so have a look at the length of the line and see if you'll make it before 1pm. :)

Also food is so much cheaper in Bolivia.

Depending on the day you try to get your stamps and the time of year (after carnival the border is much busier) you may have a two day process crossing, so why pay Brazilian prices if you don't have to?

We read in our Lonely Planet that all “procedures” to cross the border had to be done at the police station at the bus terminal in Corumba. We thought this was probably untrue, but Jesse walked over from Hotel America in the morning to check it out. There was no need.

If you decide to stay on the Brazilian side or just want to get to the border quickly and cheap you can catch the city bus. To get this bus, you have to go to the small plaza near a church in the center, not the main plaza. You will see the bus stop on one side of the plaza, it's covered and there are a couple lanes. The bus to the border will say “Frontera” on it, and we heard it comes every half hour, but we were there on Sunday, so it may have been every hour, cos we felt like we waited forever. The bus ride is only ten minutes. Then you get off and the border is 500 feet away, and you get in line. Yes, there were lots of people there, so if you want to be first in line you probably need to get there at 5am just to get out of Brazil. Keep in mind you may have another 2 to 3 hour wait to get your entry stamp to Bolivia. It really makes no sense to stay on the Brazil side but if you want to spend the money and time, get there early.

*When you get into the Bolivian customs office they will have you fill out about three different forms at different times and have you wait in three different lines. FUN! 

If you do stay on the Bolivian side the town has internet cafes, restaurants, grocery stores, pharmacies, a bank with an ATM.

We went to buy our bus tickets to Santa Cruz but the bus was not running because of a blockade/protest. So we went to the train station. The train station is near the bus station. It's a 15 Boliviano taxi ride from the border and keep in mind you can pick up your tickets before you even get your stamp into the country, this may be a good idea since the tickets can sell out quickly. This happened to us the trains for that day were sold out, so we took the 4pm train the next day which cost 127 Bolivianos per person, it was actually cheaper to stay the night because the train we missed was 251 bolivianos. The one we took was the Oriental, and it was perfectly acceptable. They do serve hot food on it, but small little plastic boxes, and they ran out by 7pm, it is recommended to bring food. Also they only have Sprite, Fanta, Coke, and water to drink. They don't serve alcohol, so bring a bottle of rum but keep it hidden as they try and say there is no drinking on the train. If you do forget food, when you stop at stations, people sell you food and fruit through the windows but you are taking chances since you never know what you are getting when you buy food through the window of a train or bus.
Good luck, hope this helps.