So heres the deal;
My friend and i are traveling to Quito, Ecuador to volunteer teaching english. Since we have another friend who lives in northern Perú, we decided to get together with her for a few days. She is going to drive up to Quito to pick us up, and bring us back to Perú.

The problem is that we are flying back out of Quito, and my friend cannot drive us back to Ecuador.

I was planning on taking a bus or something, but I heard that it is very unsafe to cross borders on a bus or taxi, and/or they rip off Americans... basically, now i don't know what to do, and I have never been to South America before, so I'm a little nervous.

Should we change the flights to Lima? (again, we are on a budget, and i have no idea how much that would cost...)

anyone ever been in this kind of situation?!?!?! I'm leaving in 2 weeks! help please!!!