November Summary
November Summary
My "real" wallet, which has my credit cards, ATM card, and drivers license, is kept in an inside, zipped pocket of my Mountainsmith Tourpack which I always carry with me when I'm off the bike.
Nov 13 - Tegucigalpa, Honduras On the street which encircles the National Stadium, I ran a stop sign which I didn't see since I was concentrating on the crazy traffic around me. Next thing I know 2 traffic cops on a motorcycle are motioning me to the side of the road. At that point I still didn't know what was up. He took my license and bike papers, returning the bike papers after checking them, but kept my license. Then he explained I had run a stop sign. I explained I had not seen it, that I was looking at the traffic and street signs trying to figure out where to turn. He said the ticket was going to be L300 (US$25) but made no motions to actually write any kind of ticket, simply repeating that it was coing to cost me L300.
Now in the US US$25 would be cheap for running a stop sign, but in Honduras that was about a weeks worth of hotel stays, and besides I only had about L450 left as I was planning to leave Honduras in a couple of days. If I paid him L300 I'd have to hassle with finding a bank and exchanging more money. Besides,I had a feeling the L300 was an inflated bribe going in his pocket, and for the average Honduran it would be a lot less. So I said I didn't have L300. He reiterated the ticket was L300. He said a lot of other things which I honestly didn't understand to which I always said "No comprendo", and reiterated that I hadn't seen the sign and that I didn't have L300.
I think he thought I was saying I didn't think there was a stop sign since he finally said to get back on my bike and he led me back around the stadium and pointed to the offending sign. I clearly had run it and was guilty, but I still was not going to pay him L300. We rode back to where he first pulled me over, and once again got off the bikes. Again he said the ticket would be L300, but still made no motions to write anything up. Again I replied I didn't have L300. He said more stuff which I didn't understand to which I again replied "No comprendo". It was at this point I began to get images in my mind of being thrown in jail over $25, so the next time he said it was L300, I said I didn't have L300, but that I did have L100. I still wasn't ready to pay L300, but L100 i could live with. Somewhat surprisingly, he basically ignored what I said and repeated that the ticket was L300.
During all this there were several periods when nothing was being said, both of us I guess assessing the situation and what our next move should be. During several of these we actually digressed from the immediate situation at hand and talked about my bike and my trip. I thought that was good, since we were relating on more common ground, and on a non-confrontational basis.
When he still insisted the ticket would be L300, I decided to change my tactics, and said "Vamos a estacion de policia" (Let's go to the police station). Not surprisingly he basically ignored this as well. We went through several more iterations of his saying the ticket was L300, and me saying I didn't have L300, and let's go to the police station. Finally he hands my license to his partner, who was standing next to me and my bike, and gets back on his bike. I'm not sure what he wanted; he made some motions like he wanted me to follow him and said some things I didn't understand to which I again replied "no comprendo", and initiated a conversation with his partner who now had my license. In any case I wasn't going anywhere my license wasn't going. The other guy then rides away on his bike, leaving the other officer and I standing there by my cycle.
Did I mention that this officer carried a submachine gun? Now I had images of the other officer getting the paddy wagon to haul me away, leaving the bike by the side of the road for the thieves. A couple of minutes he was back. He takes the license from his partner, and motions for his partner to get on the bike behind him. He then hands my license back to me. I say "Todos?" and he says "Si", to which I reply "Muchas gracias, senor" and they rode away. Cost: L0.00. I quickly got on my bike and rode away before he could change his mind.
Basically I think what was going on was that the L300 would have gone into his pocket, that the official fine for running a stop sign was much less, and when he saw I was not going to pay the L300 and insisted on going to the police station, decided it wasn't worth the hassle. Plus our having related as motorcyclists, if even for a bit, probably helped when he saw I wasn't going to pay the bribe.
Nov 23 - Stopped by Costa Rican Transit Police in a radar trap. One cop was riding a BMW R80 and just wanted to talk bikes. No ticket. Got a photo of him and his bike before I left.
Nov 24 - Transit Police checkpoint. They simply checked my papers and waved me on.
Nov 28 - Thanksgiving Day - While eating breakfast in a small restaurant in San Jose, Costa Rica, my Mountainsmith Fannypack was stolen. It contained all my documents, including my passport, motorcycle title, and Costa Rican entry papers for the bike, my "real" wallet with my credit cards (Amex and Visa), ATM card, California drivers license, my small Yashica camera, a guidebook, the bag with my computer accessories including a critical modem cable, US$530 of Amex travellers checks, about US$80 in Colones, and several rolls of exposed film..
I had set the bag on the seat to my left and was reading email on my computer (which is why it wasn't stolen; on the other hand if I hadn't been engrossed in my email, my fannypack might not have been stolen.) A man tapped me on my right shoulder and, pointing to the floor, asked if I had dropped my money. Not thinking through the possible consequences, I bent over to pick up the money which was slightly behind me, thanked him, and went back to reading my email. It wasn't until 10-15 minutes later that I glanced over to my left and saw my pack was missing. Of course by then the thieves were long gone. I filed a police report and immediately called Amex and Visa to report the cards missing. My travellers checks were replaced that same day.
The next day a man found most of my documents in the gutter about 20 blocks away, called the US Embassy, and later brought them by my hotel. All my documents except for my passport, credit cards, Calif. drivers licence, half my motorcycle title (I have a copy of the entire title), and one personal check were recovered. However, the same day as the robbery, the thieves charged more than US$7000 on my two credit cards. Fortunately, since I reported them stolen immediately, I won't have to pay those charges.
Because of the Thanksgiving weekend I was not able to get my new passport until the following Monday. I wasn't able to receive my new credit cards until about a week later in Panama City, and the modem cable was not replaced until January 23 in Quito, Ecuador when I received another sent to me from the States by Paul Thompson.
November
1 Todos Santos, Guatemala 2-3 Chichicastenango, Guatemala 4-7 San Bartolome Milpas Atlas, Guatemala (near Antigua) 8 Chiquimula, Guatemala 9 Copan Ruinas, Honduras 10 Comayagua, Honduras 11-12 Tegucigalpa, Honduras 13 Valle de Angeles, Honduras 14 San Juancito, Honduras 15-16 Matagalpa, Nicaragua 17-18 Leon, Nicaragua 19-20 Grenada, Nicaragua 21-22 Liberia, Costa Rica 23 La Fortuna, Costa Rica 24 Monteverde, Costa Rica 25-30 San Jose, Costa Rica
Doug Ruth
druth@bayarea.net