Yesterday, I was chatting with the RV Park maintenance guy. He really liked the bus and we talked about it for some time. He asked where we were headed to, and I said we were headed to the pyramids of Teotihuacán. He promptly gave me directions on how to get to them without going on the toll roads – several “returnos” where you go past where you want to exit, but there is no exit, so you go beyond, and find a round-about or ramps or simply lanes cut through medians to turn around. He then also mentioned that the police in a particular town (Tultitlán) were tied to the cartels and were corrupt – ten cuidado – he said. The most common issue was “hoy no circula”. In the State of Mexico, as well as CDMX, to reduce congestion and pollution, you can only drive on certain days except if you have special permission. I got my 14 day pass, so that wouldn’t be an issue – or it shouldn’t be an issued.
Today was supposed to be a casual travel day from Tepotzotlán to Cholula with a stop at the pyramids of Teotihuacán. About half way from Tepotzotlán and Teotihuacán, we were casually driving down the road in the town of… yup – Tultitlán – and my ever-aware state when driving noticed a police vehicle ahead. We passed each other several times as traffic was heavy – then they got behind me. Always paying attention to cop cars, I stayed in my lane, and obeyed all rules of the road.
Red lights and siren – horn honking, they told me to pull over. Now this is a six-lane boulevard and there are no parking signs all over the right side of the road. No where to park/pull over. The cops swerved over to the left side – yelled at me to pull over I and shrugged and said where? There’s no where safe to pull over… They then pulled in front of me and basically stopped traffic in the far right lane for me to pull over to.
I shut the engine off, started my dash cam rolling – I have three cameras on it, one pointed at the door so it records everything.
The three cops (because it takes three – one to write the ticket, one boss to call the shots, and one to have their six because… no idea) came to my door and started talking to me. Scolding me because my bus was “hechando humo” – smoking. Now while my exhaust does come out visible now and then, it certainly wasn’t smoking. More likely, they saw it blow dirt and dust while I was accelerating from a stop.
She asked me if I saw it – nope didn’t see it. She asked me to hit the gas to show it – but the engine was off. She then asked me for my papers – license as my permission for the driving was taped to my door – in their face. Now it’s never a good idea to hand the police in Mexico your papers unless you have exhausted all other means. I questioned the reason why they pulled me over and she pulled out her little book of laws. Showed me the current year, showed me the “contamination” rule – vaguely written, and then showed me the consequences – impound and towing of the vehicle. I questioned what “contamination” meant as visible particulates are not the same thing as NOX (an invisible poison, etc). The fine it seems – was $6700mex – AND impound. She had this neat little tablet gadget with a credit card reader, etc to pay tickets on the spot. But I would still have the bus impounded, etc. Using all of my delay tactics, I held off for about 20 minutes before I relented and gave her my license. About a minute later, she said “is this expired?” Umm… damn, she caught on to my decoy. So I looked around for another 10-15 minutes for my “valid” license. All the while, the was peppering me with hurry up – we don’t have all day, etc. So I relented and “found” a copy of my valid license. I told her it was a copy, for when I couldn’t find my valid license – so that she knows that I wasn’t trying to pass off a copy as the real thing. She got mad at that one…
She showed me the book of rules – so I took pictures of the things she was calling me out for…
So then I said something to the effect of “I know it’s here somewhere…” and I disappeared back into the bus and looked for the real one – I really did misplace it. Between the three different wallets, backpack, computer case, passport holder, vehicle documents, and other hiding places in the bus, I finally found it – 20 minutes later.
So we’re here for almost an hour now. They aren’t happy and they are “calling the tow truck”. I silently laugh as there is no way they even have number for “their tow truck” that can tow a 28,000lb bus, but they are going through the motions.
At this point, she’s got me for a “smoking” bus, and a fake license. Then she goes and “talks” with her boss… She comes back and tells me to step to the side (away from my camera) and talk to her boss. He states that the fine is $4600mex and impound – I can pay the fine there through here, but the bus would still be impounded – I’d have to pick it up the next day. I basically told him (paraphrasing), “I can pay the fine now, if you give me a receipt and via my credit card on your little machine, but I am not going to pay with cash – I will not pay a mordida.” He quickly denied it was a mordida – or bribe.
To me this was not a game – and my stress levels were fairly high, so as usual, my voice became intense. The lady copy asked me if I was OK, and my reply was “of course I’m not. You’re telling me I have to pay a fine AND you’re taking my home away from me. Where am I going to sleep? My breathing machine is in the bus and I won’t be able to breath at night, etc, etc. I am stressed”.
She then went to her boss and they talked in hushed tones. At this point, I turned my phone video camera on and tucked the phone under my arm pointed right at them – I had also asked my friend to take pictures of them as they presented no ID and would not show it to me when I said I was going to take a picture of it. Back on track… I had my phone recording them, she came back and told me that the fine was now $1200mex and impound and asked me if I was OK. I gave her the same response… saw the phone and told me to put it away.
She then offered that I pay the fine of $1200mex and no impound – and asked me if I was OK then. Same response – of course not. The the offer turned into a verbal warning with no fine, no impound. She asked if I was fine then, and I relented and said that it would make things better. She asked me several times after that if I was OK – and each time, as realization that I might get off with no impound, I started to calm down. Finally she “gave me a warning and told me to have a nice day”.
HOLY SHIT – my stress level was so high it lasted from 0930 until we got to our final destination at 1730 – even with a three hour break walking around the pyramids…
Pizote Adventures 