Interesting story from Cancun (Pullover story, long)
 

Well not to go too off topic and I know not everyone cares and what not, but I was on vacation in Cancun last week/weekend...it was AMAZING. The stories and things you hear about, are all true to say the least :D I could go on and on about the crazy stories, girls, drinks, etc I experienced but this post would go on for a while. To keep things simple, it was the most fun I've probably ever had, and I've definitely had some interesting things happen on the vacation (somethings that happened there are probably better left there...:rolleyes: )

Anyways though, I do have one particular story that even now I'm just kinda scratching my head about.

Now I've never tried it here, but from what I know and would guess, when someone gets pulled over here in the US, it's always been my understanding that you wait in the car until the officer/trooper comes to your window... right? I mean hell, if you get pulled over here in VA or DC and you get out of the car before the officer comes up to you, you're either going to

A - get shot at

B - tackled by the officer

C - combo of A & B

Apparently, things are different in Cancun! (maybe all of Mexico, dont know for sure)

So some friends and I are out one night clubbing and it's maybe 4am at this point and we're all heading back to the hotel. We met this one guy who works at the front desk of the hotel we stayed at, he was in college too and he showed us lot of the night life in the area. So he was sorta our unofficial guide -- anyways he came out that night with us, so we were in his car driving back to the hotel. We must have made some kinda illegal u-turn or something, because right after we turn we see the blue and red lights. The FIRST thing that happens when we pull over, my friend Manuel (college student there in Mexico) GOT OUT OF THE CAR and ran back to the cops! My friends and I were all looking at ourselves in shock. I know I was thinking to myself "wow, I wonder what Mexican jail will be like..." cause there's no way you just get out of a car when getting pulled over and run somewhere. He comes back 10 minutes later after talking to officer and tells us "aight guys, he'll let us go but he wants $10 from each of us in the car..." My friends and I look at each other like he must have been insane. YOU'RE BRIBING the cop I said. He said yeah man it's all good, that's how we do things down here usually, and for the cops it's easy money for them. And we all paid, then drove off as if nothing ever happened.

Now again this is my first time out of the States, and so I dont have worldly knowledge of police...but uh has anyone else ever bribed cops before?! And please reassure me, if you EVER tried that in America, you would be in big trouble right? I mean even getting out of the car would not exactly be the smartest thing to do when getting pulled over right?

Anyways though I wish it were that easy sometimes...get a nice speeding ticket, pay him $40 or $50, no points, no ticket, no problems with insurance :D

-drew

LOL....hate to break the news to you....but that "cop" was most likely either his cousin or his brother or some good friend. That con is as old as Mexico! You didn't hear ANY part of the conversation I bet....that's why HE got out and ran back to the cop! Hahahahaha! Sorry man....but you got taken!

Yeah, as far as I know, here in the States, if I ever got pulled over, first thing I would do is put my plate on the dash (didn't have to do it for the old car), pull out proof of insurance, and usually I'm done getting my license out by the time the officer knocks on the window. Never make sudden movements, and if he parked real close, keep your hands on the steering wheel where he can see 'em.

I'm not sure about everywhere, but the law enforcement agencies I've seen pay their officers enough to live on. I still think most of them are underpaid, but they make enough to live on and even save a little for their children's futures.

Damn that is really possible now that you mention it! I never even considered that one. We were all just so shocked he even got out of the car at all. I mean again I don't know for sure, but you're right I definitely couldn't hear any of the conversation (I'm fluent in spanish too, so I could have understood them had I been able to listen in) But I do see what you mean though, we might have well be conned there. But oh well too late now I guess. Only made $30 (me and two friends), so it could have been worse. But either way though this nite wasn't until about halfway through the trip and this guy we were chilling with didn't seem like he wanted to try and cheat us out of money. I mean he had countless other times where he could have told us things were a certain (higher than normal) price, or told us about some special at a bar and taken in extra money. So if this was their scam it wasn't a very profitable one...hehe

you didnt get taken...i have been to cancun and i know tons of people that have had similar run ins with the cops

to say the least mexicans down there are out to con all of the americans....most of them just want your money

your friend might have been a legit friend and he prob didnt scam you ...but if you used your CC while you were there make sure you pay attention to your statements for the next year

anyway..i have tons of stories from when i went to cancun last year...i was 17 at the time (im 18 now and im going to cancun on monday for new years)

anyway..last year we rented a car...got pulled over..and bribed thec cop

cancun definately is a lot of fun..and i expect to have an amazing time this year as well....but last year i used my CC at some place and 3 months laters those fu**in mexicans tried to charge $400 at wal-mart (i cancelled the charge)

there is also another story but its kind of illegal so i dont wanna post it here

i could have wrote an entire book about last years vacation...but all thats really important is to know that while you are busy having fun most of the natives are thinkning of a way to steal your money

there is no reason why you shouldnt have the best time there...but just know that noone is really your friend (only the ones that you came with)

meanwhile...drew...what hotel did you stay at

btw...i didnt mean to imply that just anyone could run at the cops like that...the only reason the cops didnt react is because the kid was mexican...

you can always bribe them..just be smart about it (kind of an oximoron :D)

write it!! :)

Yup....that is what they rely on! $30 isn't much to 99.9% of the Americans visiting Mexico, but $30 might be a week's wages down there.

I have traveled alot down in South America and Latin America. I was working on a cargo/passenger ship...picking up fruit in Peru. One of the things I used to love to do is just haggle with the vendors to see how low I could get them on their prices. And there is some really nice stuff you can buy down there, but you can really get "taken" on prices. At this one port, I had this vendor right there at the gangway talked down from over $100 to something like $7 (SEVEN) on this 3' hand carved wood statue. I didn't buy it. Later that day I was working the gangway security when this rich passenger I had met onboard came up the gangway with his wife...carrying that same statue. He stopped to talk and bragged to me that he talked the vendor down from $500 to $250 on the damn thing! I didn't say a word.

Stayed at the Gran Caribe...it has definitely been the NICEST hotel I've ever stayed at so far. Probably having an ocean view suite helped in making that assertion, but hey who's complaining :D

links to/about the hotel (sorry if I sound like I'm promoting it, but it's really an awesome hotel, everyone is super friendly, and most of the girls at the front desk were HOT as hell) Please dont take that last one to heart so much, cause I may have just been there while there were good looking employees, and besides cancun has beautiful women everywhere. It was just always a plus to come back to the hotel drunk and see beautiful mexican girls saying hi and smiling :D (i have a huge thing for latinas, so you can imagine how much I liked visiting cancun ;) )

http://www.hotelzone.com/core/user/H...n+HZ&force=COL

there's the hotel...try and check expedia.com too for pics, the place is just gorgeous.

-drew

last year i stayed in a privately owned villa...the place was amazing...3 floors with marble everywhere..there was a maid tha cleaned up and cleaned our clothes and made us food

sounds expensive right?...wrong....best value i ever saw

this year we just decided to stay at the grand oasis...cause that basically where veryone stays and its where all the action is...

It's great to hear that Cancun is still the same!!! Takes me back to when I was in college...I went there for spring break three years in a row. IMO if you are contemplating a vacation spot, put Cancun #1 on your list. It's amazing...I just recently went to Cozumel, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands (on a cruise with my bride) but none even comes close to the lagoon area.
Glad to hear you had fun!!! The cops there have fun too!!!

You didn't get taken.Bribing a cop is common practice throughout Central America.While stationed in Panama and El Salvador I never left my house without small bills.

Unfortunately bribing officials is pretty much common practice in any third world or less affluent country. Phillipines is another example. I went there to visit and everyone told me to put like $10.00 in my passport so that the guys inspecting my luggage wouldnt give me a hard time. Worked like a charm. They took one look at my passport and waved me through, while others waited forever.

Hello, i am a fellow member from Mexico, I was raised in the border town of Matamoros ( across from Brownsville, TX). I just want you to know that corruption over here i amazing, and even more in touristic places. Its pretty obvious, just position yourself in the cop's place, you might get a nice amount of extra cash for yourself if you take the bribe, or you might just fine the driver and let the government officials get more wealth. Its just a matter of morals if you ask me, but bribing is a very common practice here in Mexico. If you ever come back (and I know you will because our country is beautiful and you do experience more freedom over here) and face the police again,you can now that 90% of the time you can get yourself out of jail if you are willing to "negotiate" or "fix" the problem on the spot. Happy holidays to all, I wish i could go to Cancun!!!! gotta be happy w/ Mexico City. SS

I've been to Cancun 3 times, and each time was just an amazing adventure to say the least! One night we were walking back to our hotel, and one of the guys that was with decided to take a leak on the side of the road. Cops spotted him, and were going to arrest him, unless he forked over $200US!!!! We didn't carry much cash or credit cards with is when we went out, since most of the bars cost you $20 for all you can drink. So a couple of us waited with our buddy, while the other guys went back to the hotel to get the money. Handed the cops $200 and was free as a bird.

Re: Interesting story from Cancun (Pullover story, long)
 

When I was living in Los Angeles, I wanted to drive to TJ (Tijuana) and asked the mexican guys who worked for me in the kitchen (I was a GM for a large restaurant there) how to go about driving down there. They first told me not to drive there, to go and park and walk across the border, easier than driving there. They suggested that if I insisted on driving in Mexico, to make sure to get Mexican insurance (I guess mine wouldn't cover me over there or something?) and to also have a ten-spot in each pocket b/c the Federales target Americans. They said that each time I get pulled, to give the cop $10 and I would be fine. After that information, I opted to park and walk across the border.

Well, I know for sure that's how it's done in Russia. Cops pull you over in order to get some money from you.

I used to live in El Paso, TX and always went over to Juarez, Mexico. the police over there USED to be crooked. They would pull over Americans late at night and demand payment to them, or else they would throw you in a Mexican jail. you simply paid them some American cash and they left you alone.

It got Sooo bad that American college kids leaving Juarez bars got harassed and threatened with jail time for things that weren't evel illegal. The Mexican government at one point even ACKNOWLEDGED they had a problem with the local police bribing Americans. It's got MUCH better now in Juarez, but I am not sure about the rest of Mexico or any other other countries in Central or South America.

Moral of the story.... When in Rome do what the Romans do...

well im from Poland , and during last summer i was stopped by a cop , going 95 KPH in 55 KPH... now get this , i was advised before that its polite to exit the vehicle and greet the officer so I did , then i spend few good minutes looking for my license in the trunk of my car , he didnt look what i was doing , he was looking at the other direction and then I showed him my NYS driving license I dont have polish or international license which was no problem at all... After few minutes of asking me dumb questions ( ex. names of my parents , mother maiden name etc.. )he asked me to pay him 400 PLN ( about $100 ) , its strange but he had a whole booklet with blank receipts , yes you can pay your ticket on the spot. After about an hour i talked him into giving me a warning ( of course after i sliped him $ 20 in his little booklet ).. so yea , there is a major problem with corruption , and i wouldnt even think of doing that kind of stuff here in US... its not a suprise that the cops are corrupted , they earn anywhere from $ 150 - 250 USD..... per month

Ok heres the scoop from a Mexican that grew up in Mexico.


You get pulled over...He is going to hit you up for some money. The guy probably went back to the squad car so the cop would not see that there are Americans in the car. The cost would have sky rocketed.

Mexicans pay Mexican Fees.
Americans pay American Fees.

Its almost like a routine to just pull out 100 to 200 pesos when you get pulled over. Its a part of life.

An accident... Now thats a whole different story. You dont want to be in one.