So now it has been about 30 minutes since we left the border crossing and we are still as lost as ever and all of a sudden I look in my rear view mirror and what do I see?????? A set of blue lights going round and round. And who do you think these blue lights belonged to? Yes sir, your friendly neighborhood Mexican police officer. I pull over immediately into a little dirt drive way and sit back and wait for him to come up to the truck. When he got to my window I didn’t wait for him to say anything but rather I immediately showed him my map and asked him if he could point me in the direction of the highway I was trying to find. Well my try at misdirection didn’t work for he immediately looked at me and said in a rough voice, “My friend, I am the police and I just stopped you” (which I took to mean….shut up and I will be the one doing the talking) so I shut up. He then went on to tell me “my friend, it is very bad here in Mexico not to stop when a policeman is trying to pull you over..my friend, I have been following you for 3 kilometers and you would not stop…my friend, this is a very bad thing for you not to stop your car when a policeman wants to pull you over…my friend, get out of the truck and come back here.” I got out and followed him to the back of the truck; all the while asking myself why in the world he kept calling me his friend….cause he was not acting like my friend at all.
So he pretty much repeats the same things he has already said to me and then tells me that he is going to have to take me to the police station. He says to me, “my friend, you are going to the police station with me, it is very bad what you did.” And then he says that it is going to cost me $450 when we get to the station. So I tell him that I don’t have $450 and start going into this story about us trying to see beautiful Mexico and his town and tell him that I wouldn’t be able to get to my destination if I gave him all the money I had. So then he says, “my friend, you must follow me to the police station but it probably won’t be more than $250…do you have $250? It was at this point that I realized what was going down….I realized that the stories I have been told by other missionaries that live and work in Mexico were true. The other missionaries told us that the police are very corrupt down here and they just try to get money off of you even when you haven’t done anything wrong. So I thought I would go along with him at this point and play his game so I told him I would give him $100 if I didn’t have to go to the station with him to which he said, “well let’s go to the station then since that is not enough.” So I finally said that I would give him $125 and told him that was all I was going to give him. So he told me to get into the police car, so we got in and he lifted up the console of the car and told me to put the money there so I did.
Now the funny thing is that right after I paid him, he did become my friend because he immediately asked me about the highway I was trying to find. So I told him and he said to follow him. He then stopped traffic and let us back up onto the street and then he went in front of us and led to the correct highway. All in all, I guess you could say that at least I got something for my money so all wasn’t lost.
So he pretty much repeats the same things he has already said to me and then tells me that he is going to have to take me to the police station. He says to me, “my friend, you are going to the police station with me, it is very bad what you did.” And then he says that it is going to cost me $450 when we get to the station. So I tell him that I don’t have $450 and start going into this story about us trying to see beautiful Mexico and his town and tell him that I wouldn’t be able to get to my destination if I gave him all the money I had. So then he says, “my friend, you must follow me to the police station but it probably won’t be more than $250…do you have $250? It was at this point that I realized what was going down….I realized that the stories I have been told by other missionaries that live and work in Mexico were true. The other missionaries told us that the police are very corrupt down here and they just try to get money off of you even when you haven’t done anything wrong. So I thought I would go along with him at this point and play his game so I told him I would give him $100 if I didn’t have to go to the station with him to which he said, “well let’s go to the station then since that is not enough.” So I finally said that I would give him $125 and told him that was all I was going to give him. So he told me to get into the police car, so we got in and he lifted up the console of the car and told me to put the money there so I did.
Now the funny thing is that right after I paid him, he did become my friend because he immediately asked me about the highway I was trying to find. So I told him and he said to follow him. He then stopped traffic and let us back up onto the street and then he went in front of us and led to the correct highway. All in all, I guess you could say that at least I got something for my money so all wasn’t lost.
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