Riding a Trike through Central America

[markharf]

I'm kind've amazed that your correspondent encountered a genuine traffic stop with a genuine ticket payable....but even more amazed that he handed over genuine documents. There's a lesson in this story somewhere....

[Catours]

Originally Posted by TeeVee

tell me you meant a 40 cordoba fine! $40 = 940 cords--a very stiff fine.

p.s. 100 cords would have had you on your way...

My Error, my mistake if you like.
I got pulled over, quite normal! If I am honest, I probably wasnt awAKE that it was a pay- off bribe Cop.
I never recognized it, I think he suggested I buy him something, dont recall it that well.
Foolishly I suppose I knew I had done nothing wrong, and he starts writing a ticket out.
Maybe I shouldnt of said your wrong, when he started talking crap, I think he gave me the opportunity to be
corrupt, but I just missed it, not always perfect.
Anyway the Fucker just gave me a ticket, and held my licence...
I had little choice I went and paid it, so to get my licence returned, which I did.
I would agree one or two hundred would of put me on my way, next time maybe?
For me the Nicaraguan police were far less friendly.

[TeeVee]

yeah, a lot of them are cocks, crooked cocks at that. but i've learned my lesson too many times. i always give up an old license that i keep on the bike, if need be. but honestly, i've found that after paying 15 or so bribes that acting humble and apologetic works. haven't gotten a ticket there since i started doing that and only had to pay off one nasty fat chick who needed a "regalito" for christmas. she was not going to let me drive away since i allegedly committed a "red" offense. no way i ws gonna let them two my truck and take a cab home. so 100 cordobas later, i was on my way.

[TeeVee]

Originally Posted by SR

Good for him for paying at the bank and not forking over cash to the crooked cops. He did it right. Insted of cash in their pocket they wasted their time with him. He got over on them! Saludos!

40 cordobas is $1.70. 100 cordobas is $4.25. gas in Nicaragua now cost about 30.5 cordobas per liter. not sure how many mpg's the trike is getting but i'll assume it's not very economical. not sure how far outside of granada he got stopped, but having to return to granada, find the bank, park, wait online in the bank, pay fine, ride back to location of stop, figure he spent at least one hour and probably about 1 liter of fuel. seems to me he would have been better off paying the bribe and going about his merry way.

oh and they didn't waste their time. they do have to show their crooked bosses that they are doing something.

[markharf]

The obvious ideal is to give them a fake or defunct license, take the ticket, and carry on with your journey without paying (or needing to come back to retrieve your license). Failing that, I'd rather the people who precede me don't establish a precedent by paying bribes....but it's undeniable that sometimes that's the only practical thing to do when the police catch you doing something illegal. I have a strict policy of not paying a cent when I haven't actually done anything wrong; sometimes this means hanging around stubbornly for a bit when I'd rather be riding.

Sometimes they demand astronomical rates--a hundred, two hundred dollars--but bribes can be negotiated down to around US$5 without too much trouble almost anywhere in Latin America (don't try this in Chile or French Guiana!). A trucker in Honduras told me around US$1-2 is the right rate for locals. They get stopped a lot on spurious charges same as we do--he told me about having been hit that day for drinking coffee while driving: two bucks.

I'm still astounded that he had to pay an official ticket, but I suppose better him than me.

Mark

[TeeVee]

Originally Posted by SR

Clearly handing the cop cash would have been faster, easier and cheaper. That's obvious. On behalf of anyone who will have to deal with these cops at some point in the future. Thanks again to the OP for taking the time to do the right thing.

People like you crack me up. You ride thru a country for a few days/weeks whatever and you think the world revolves around you and other riders.

Ever stop to think that the locals do the same shit? Do you think they wanna run around town to the bank and then to the transit office to show the receipt? You clearly don't understand...it wasn't foreign "adventure" riders that created the payoff opportunity/problem.

[markharf]

Originally Posted by TeeVee

People like you crack me up. You ride thru a country for a few days/weeks whatever and you think the world revolves around you and other riders.

Ever stop to think that the locals do the same shit? Do you think they wanna run around town to the bank and then to the transit office to show the receipt? You clearly don't understand...it wasn't foreign "adventure" riders that created the payoff opportunity/problem.

Get off your high horse. The crucial piece that you're missing here is that locals pay significantly lower prices in bribes than do foreign riders/drivers. Look again at my post: locals pay a couple of bucks, whereas the OP would have paid two or ten or twenty times that if he'd paid mordida. I've heard many times about Euro or North American riders paying bribes of a hundred US dollars or more for imaginary offenses--and then going on the internet to brag about it. You've heard these stories too, if you're paying attention. No local pays that much. If you're paying that much yourself, you're merely establishing that you don't really get it.

Foreign riders did not start the whole corrupt deal, but by paying way over the odds we establish the fact that hassling a foreign rider is far more lucrative than hassling locals. That's a problem for the next rider to come along....and it might be me.

[TeeVee]

Originally Posted by markharf

Get off your high horse. The crucial piece that you're missing here is that locals pay significantly lower prices in bribes than do foreign riders/drivers. Look again at my post: locals pay a couple of bucks, whereas the OP would have paid two or ten or twenty times that if he'd paid mordida. I've heard many times about Euro or North American riders paying bribes of a hundred US dollars or more for imaginary offenses--and then going on the internet to brag about it. You've heard these stories too, if you're paying attention. No local pays that much. If you're paying that much yourself, you're merely establishing that you don't really get it.

Foreign riders did not start the whole corrupt deal, but by paying way over the odds we establish the fact that hassling a foreign rider is far more lucrative than hassling locals. That's a problem for the next rider to come along....and it might be me.

No high horse here. Just a guy that owns a house in Nica and has been driving and riding there since 2004. So yeah, maybe I know a little.

Although my vehicles are registered in Nica my license is from Florida so I'm not a local as far as the cops are concerned.

When I used to pay bribes I never paid more than 100 cordobas. The claimed idiots that allegedly paid $100's are either lying or just plain stupid.

My point was that when faced with paying a 100 cordoba bribe or wasting an hour or two and paying 40 cordobas, I think it's more expedient to pay the bribe and be on your way.