Robbed! (and a roadside sermon)

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Missionvango has passed relatively peacefully through Texas, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and into Nicaragua. However, we finally had the experience we have been halfway expecting all along.

We were waved over to the side of the highway by a pair of police officers. Unlike the many police and military checkstops we have passed through, this pair conducted a "safety inspection". After checking for everything that they could possibly write us a ticket for (including not having a a fire extinguisher, brightly colored safety vest, road triangles, etc. all of which we had) they began to get agitated. Finally, one of the officers pointed to my Crocs. "Those are not officially approved footware for driving" he said.

Are you serious?

He confiscated my driver´s license and said he was going to have to mail it to the capital city Managua. However, I could have the license back right away "for a small fee". Well, it wasn´t that small of a fee but he knew I wasn´t going to let him take my license which would have stranded us for weeks. In the States we don´t have to deal with this kind of street level corruption and we have no idea how thankful we are about that.

But that´s not all.

Just a matter of days later, our van began to experience grave clutch problems. We had lost every gear but first (and occasionally second) and we were hobbling toward the border with Costa Rica. (Another blog post in itself) Just a few minutes from the border, it happened again. This time, rather than the silly Crocs reason, they picked an even dumber one (if possible). "Your license place is obscured" he said. I looked to see what he was talking about. (It was a little bit dirty but clearly not "obscured"). Ugh. Sandra had had just about enough. She jumped out of the car and strongly exclaimed something more or less like...

"God put you in this job to uphold justice and if you think this is justice, may He repay to you and your family what you are doing to us!"

Yeah, talk about "Release the Kraken!" While one of them was not only unmoved but became even more rude and aggressive, the other began to look around nervously and pulled the first over for a talk. They "decided" it would be enough if I just washed the license plate right then and there. I am not officially endorsing giving crooked cops a roadside sermon but you might consider it. Just saying.

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Comments

[anonymous]

The right words for corrupt cops
Hi. I just found your site, and have an old van like yours parked in the barn, which we enjoyed many years ago. We're in Mexico at present, and here the expats say the best way to end a standoff with crooked cops is to say "Senor. Da me mi multa, por favor." (Sir, write my ticket please.) This is supposed to end discussion and formalize the charge. You can find my travelblog here by clicking on bloggers, and searching for HatCat. I'll check out the rest of your entries. ~eric.