Thank God for the U.S. Embassy (and cell phones)!

Oct. 21, 2007

The policeman on motorcycle waved us over just as we crossed from the Distrito Federal (el DF) into the state of Mexico. Two of his cronies soon joined him. We knew the mordida would be high even though we had broken no law; the mordida (literal meaning, the bite) increases in proportion to the number of cops. We know the drill: get out of the car, ask politely what's wrong, come to an agreement about the seriousness of the "infraction" and the amount of pesos.

Pollution control measures require drivers to comply with "Hoy no circula" rules. According to the last number of the license plate, cars must not circulate on certain days. Rocinante's plates end in 8, so we don't drive on Tuesdays. These ladrones claimed that because we have foreign plates, we cannot drive on Friday; according to them, this is such a serious offense that they must impound our car. Our protests only served to increase the length of time in the pound from just one day to the entire weekend, the pesos from 1500 to 3000! We were incensed enough to call the U.S. Embassy, easy to do because I had programmed the number into my cell phone before we even left Maine.

The woman at the Embassy said, "They're crazy!" and asked me to pass the phone to the one who seemed most in charge. The ladrones asked who we had called. I replied, "The U.S. Embassy." One of them quickly jumped on his motorcycle and sped off. A second one asked, "What did they say?" I happily replied, "Francamente que Uds. están locos." But it makes me sad and angry that corrupt thieves like these give Mexico such a bad reputation. Without the embassy number on speed dial, a cell phone that worked in the city, and the ability to speak Spanish, we would have been at their mercy. It was almost worth the hour delay to get the best of these clowns.

By the way, to call the embassy from within the DF, dial 50-80-20-00. If you're in other areas of Mexico, call 01-55-50-80-20-00. We've had four incidents with corrupt police over a period of several years - two within the last week; I would not want to travel without having these numbers handy.