Old 20 Nuevos Soles Banknote, Peru

Just a quick post in honour of my favourite cash machine in Tarapoto. This ATM is awesome. OK, it’s very occasionally out of order/out of money, but I reckon the success rate hovers around 89%, which is pretty good for San Martin.

Scotiabank ATM and Money in Tarapoto

Anyway, the beautiful thing about this little treasure (if you have the right type of card – please see Leonarro’s comment below) is that you can choose the amount you want to withdraw (I’m not sure what the maximum is, but taking 1000 soles has never been a problem for me). Most of the other ATMs in Tarapoto have a 400 or 500 soles limit which, quite frankly, is a royal pain in the rear – especially when you are trying to avoid withdrawal fees using a foreign card. Also, this machine is kind enough to nearly always hand over a few 50 soles notes (which is much better than getting a load of 100 notes which can be tricky to use in smaller shops etc).

The Coolest Peru ATM

So, if you don’t want to wait in line inside the bank and you’re looking for an ATM, check out the Scotiabank machine in the main square. If you’re looking up the square towards the Real Grill restaurant, look left and you’ll spot Scotiabank across the street on the corner.

Also, if it’s unbearably hot in the street (which it could well be), the air conditioning in the Scotiabank ATM cubicle is heavenly! Unfortunately, if you try hanging out inside for more than a few minutes the security guard starts getting a bit edgy….

(Oh, by the way, the 20 soles note pictured here is just for decoration – if an ATM gives you one of these then you’ve got problems…)