...one way not to bribe a cop.
I'm so over these long detours to avoid driving across Mexico City. I think that next trip I will insist we just drive across it. I would have done that a long time ago if we traveled in a car but we are in a dual rear axle motorhome and towing a car. We did drive across it once using an eastern route on surface streets but we did it at 6am on a Sunday. Yes, it is possibly the largest city in the world and the transitos or traffic police have the reputation as the most corrupt in Mexico but all roads lead through it and going around it is a long detour that takes all day.
This was our 3rd time using the western route around and what a PITA. First, you have to get off the highway in Puebla and navigate across this huge city to catch the highway towards Atlixco and Cuernavaca. Puebla is very easy to get lost in and has horrible traffic. Second you have to get around or across Cuernavaca and I have yet to do that flawlessly. Third you have to find the small road that heads over the huge mountains, wind along it up to over 10k feet on a narrow 2 lane road with stupendous hairpin curves hanging over long drops - and do it with everything from lumber trucks to groups of 20 or more motorcycles trying to pass you. Fourth you have to navigate across Toluca, another huge city with less than adequate signage and an altitude -over 8500ft - that makes thinking difficult. The only positive to this all day extension to a normal drive time, is that you don't have to deal with the probability of some huckster transito in Mexico City trying to make a buck off you.
This trip I lost even that small advantage. At the top of the narrow 2 lane mountain road, in the only wide spot, a gang of Estado de Mexico police, not transitos, had a roadblock. Even though it was on the opposite side of the road they saw us and flagged us over. I was driving the jeep separate from the RV because we got stuck on a tiny street coming out of Cuernavaca and had to unhook the jeep to turn around. I didn't have my seatbelt on, but of course that was not why they stopped us as they couldn't see that until I turned in.
So, after telling me it was an infraction not to wear my seatbelt and my agreeing with him, the cop asks for my drivers license and then tells me that my CA license is not valid in Mexico. I told him he was wrong, it was valid. He said, this is not the US, this is Mexico. I told him again with more emphasis that he was wrong and my valid US license was valid in Mexico.
He then said that I was missing my smoking sticker. The whole conversation was in spanish and I really didn't have a clue what he was talking about with this. He pointed to the windshield and since I had a pack of Marlboro's sitting on the dash I really thought he was going to try and tell me I couldn't smoke in the national forest we were in. But no, he said the sticker was for good air and I realized he was talking about a smog sticker. He said I had to have one in Estado de Mexico. I asked him just where and when I should get it since I was a traveler and only in the state for one day. He said his favorite line again this is not the US this is Mexico. He then said I should have gotten it in Quintana Roo, I had told him earlier that I was coming from Akumal in the state of Quintana Roo. I said it's not required in Quintana Roo so how would I get one and where would I get one.
I was getting a little peeved at him and I was not hiding it but I was keeping it polite and semi-friendly. He told me to wait he was getting his book, back he came with the Vehicle Code of Estado de Mexico. I thought we were still going to discuss the smog sticker but the section he pointed out to me was the seatbelt law.
I told him again that he had me on that, that I had been in a hurry because we were blocking traffic and that I forgot. He repeated that it was an infraction and got out his ticket book. Then he asked what was I going to do for him, did I want to just pay the fine right now. That's the standard line they use to ask for a bribe. I told him emphatically NO and that it was illegal. Next he asked if I wanted a ticket. I told him to do whatever he wanted. Then, I asked him if he was going to give me his name and badge number if I paid him the fine. Things are changing in Mexico and it is now possible to report any officer that tries to get a bribe, there are significant penalties and they count on tourists not knowing this. He pointed to the badge on his hat and I looked and said that there wasn't a number on it. Of course, he had no name tag on. So, then he points to his gun. I said "Oh, this is not the US, this is Mexico so it is all right to kill someone for not wearing a seat belt?" At that point the guys around him started laughing. He looked fairly irritated but he said forget it, just go on.
Instead I went back to the RV and got one of my old uniform patches and found him in the crowd and gave it to him.
By the time this BS was over, it was dusk and we barely got off that mountain before it got dark. Yes, I still can say that I've not paid a mortida (bribe) since we started coming south in the RV - with qualifications, I've paid many of them in the long ago past to transitos and I have paid a couple in the last few years to expedite stuff like Telmex installation, CFE fixes, etc. So, I'm no saint about it but I really would hate paying one to a cop and so far I haven't.
I can't say my approach would work for anyone except a retired cop the age of their grandmothers and I did refrain from using my new favorite word in spanish, orgullo (pride) because although I really wanted to say something about the lack of pride in their job I didn't think I could pull it off and stay within the argumentative but polite zone.
I told Mimi afterwards that the worst thing that could happen if we just drove the whole rig across the middle of Mexico City is that I'd finally have to bribe a cop and that spending a whole day extra plus almost having to bribe a cop was not a reasonable alternative. Since she is the one driving the RV, she still looked dubious but I'm over this detour stuff.
postscript: This happened on our way to Patzcuaro. After we got here I got a call from our attorney in Mérida who is working on the house purchase. He was worried and said that while working on our file he discovered that he had not returned our visas to us when he copied them. We didn't realize it as we had our passports back and the visas are usually folded up in there. My first thought was that I had gotten so pushy with these cops in the middle of nowhere and all the time I was basically an illegal in Mexico, without any papers. That thought made me a little weak in the knees. I doubt I would have been so cocky with them if I had known. It will all work out, we have copies of our visas and the attorney is overnighting them to a friend's house in Ajijic where we will pick them up tomorrow.
I'm so over these long detours to avoid driving across Mexico City. I think that next trip I will insist we just drive across it. I would have done that a long time ago if we traveled in a car but we are in a dual rear axle motorhome and towing a car. We did drive across it once using an eastern route on surface streets but we did it at 6am on a Sunday. Yes, it is possibly the largest city in the world and the transitos or traffic police have the reputation as the most corrupt in Mexico but all roads lead through it and going around it is a long detour that takes all day.
This was our 3rd time using the western route around and what a PITA. First, you have to get off the highway in Puebla and navigate across this huge city to catch the highway towards Atlixco and Cuernavaca. Puebla is very easy to get lost in and has horrible traffic. Second you have to get around or across Cuernavaca and I have yet to do that flawlessly. Third you have to find the small road that heads over the huge mountains, wind along it up to over 10k feet on a narrow 2 lane road with stupendous hairpin curves hanging over long drops - and do it with everything from lumber trucks to groups of 20 or more motorcycles trying to pass you. Fourth you have to navigate across Toluca, another huge city with less than adequate signage and an altitude -over 8500ft - that makes thinking difficult. The only positive to this all day extension to a normal drive time, is that you don't have to deal with the probability of some huckster transito in Mexico City trying to make a buck off you.
This trip I lost even that small advantage. At the top of the narrow 2 lane mountain road, in the only wide spot, a gang of Estado de Mexico police, not transitos, had a roadblock. Even though it was on the opposite side of the road they saw us and flagged us over. I was driving the jeep separate from the RV because we got stuck on a tiny street coming out of Cuernavaca and had to unhook the jeep to turn around. I didn't have my seatbelt on, but of course that was not why they stopped us as they couldn't see that until I turned in.
So, after telling me it was an infraction not to wear my seatbelt and my agreeing with him, the cop asks for my drivers license and then tells me that my CA license is not valid in Mexico. I told him he was wrong, it was valid. He said, this is not the US, this is Mexico. I told him again with more emphasis that he was wrong and my valid US license was valid in Mexico.
He then said that I was missing my smoking sticker. The whole conversation was in spanish and I really didn't have a clue what he was talking about with this. He pointed to the windshield and since I had a pack of Marlboro's sitting on the dash I really thought he was going to try and tell me I couldn't smoke in the national forest we were in. But no, he said the sticker was for good air and I realized he was talking about a smog sticker. He said I had to have one in Estado de Mexico. I asked him just where and when I should get it since I was a traveler and only in the state for one day. He said his favorite line again this is not the US this is Mexico. He then said I should have gotten it in Quintana Roo, I had told him earlier that I was coming from Akumal in the state of Quintana Roo. I said it's not required in Quintana Roo so how would I get one and where would I get one.
I was getting a little peeved at him and I was not hiding it but I was keeping it polite and semi-friendly. He told me to wait he was getting his book, back he came with the Vehicle Code of Estado de Mexico. I thought we were still going to discuss the smog sticker but the section he pointed out to me was the seatbelt law.
I told him again that he had me on that, that I had been in a hurry because we were blocking traffic and that I forgot. He repeated that it was an infraction and got out his ticket book. Then he asked what was I going to do for him, did I want to just pay the fine right now. That's the standard line they use to ask for a bribe. I told him emphatically NO and that it was illegal. Next he asked if I wanted a ticket. I told him to do whatever he wanted. Then, I asked him if he was going to give me his name and badge number if I paid him the fine. Things are changing in Mexico and it is now possible to report any officer that tries to get a bribe, there are significant penalties and they count on tourists not knowing this. He pointed to the badge on his hat and I looked and said that there wasn't a number on it. Of course, he had no name tag on. So, then he points to his gun. I said "Oh, this is not the US, this is Mexico so it is all right to kill someone for not wearing a seat belt?" At that point the guys around him started laughing. He looked fairly irritated but he said forget it, just go on.
Instead I went back to the RV and got one of my old uniform patches and found him in the crowd and gave it to him.
By the time this BS was over, it was dusk and we barely got off that mountain before it got dark. Yes, I still can say that I've not paid a mortida (bribe) since we started coming south in the RV - with qualifications, I've paid many of them in the long ago past to transitos and I have paid a couple in the last few years to expedite stuff like Telmex installation, CFE fixes, etc. So, I'm no saint about it but I really would hate paying one to a cop and so far I haven't.
I can't say my approach would work for anyone except a retired cop the age of their grandmothers and I did refrain from using my new favorite word in spanish, orgullo (pride) because although I really wanted to say something about the lack of pride in their job I didn't think I could pull it off and stay within the argumentative but polite zone.
I told Mimi afterwards that the worst thing that could happen if we just drove the whole rig across the middle of Mexico City is that I'd finally have to bribe a cop and that spending a whole day extra plus almost having to bribe a cop was not a reasonable alternative. Since she is the one driving the RV, she still looked dubious but I'm over this detour stuff.
postscript: This happened on our way to Patzcuaro. After we got here I got a call from our attorney in Mérida who is working on the house purchase. He was worried and said that while working on our file he discovered that he had not returned our visas to us when he copied them. We didn't realize it as we had our passports back and the visas are usually folded up in there. My first thought was that I had gotten so pushy with these cops in the middle of nowhere and all the time I was basically an illegal in Mexico, without any papers. That thought made me a little weak in the knees. I doubt I would have been so cocky with them if I had known. It will all work out, we have copies of our visas and the attorney is overnighting them to a friend's house in Ajijic where we will pick them up tomorrow.
posted by Jonna at 11:05 AM
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