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Previous2006-01-26 - Tijuana, Mexico - Coima
What the ef is a coima, you ask? Coima is the word used in Bolivia for a bribe -- something that is a common practice in Bolivia. However, I ask myself if bribes are more common in Bolivia or in Mexico where our story takes place...
Stacie took some time away from her busy work schedule to hang out with Joel and I for the day. The plan? Mexico! Because my sis lives in sunny San Diego, it's just an easy hop across the boarder and into Tijuana.
Joel was nice enough to get the necessary permission from the rental car company to go into Mexico...and we were off! We did some circles in Tijuana before finally getting on the right track and continuing south to Rosarito where we checked out the beaces, ate some lobster for lunch, and, after having enough food and drink, headed back to the States.
We were passing through the city of Tijuana on the way back when we noticed that a police car was tailing us with its lights on. But why? Did we do something wrong? Joel found a spot to pull the car over and the police officer came up to my side of the car.
After confirming that I could speak Spanish, he explained that we were speeding. He went on to say that he would have to take us into the station to talk to a judge and that it could take a while. Hmmm... Joel tried to explain that we were going just as fast as the other cars but the officer did not seem to care.
I asked if there was anything that we could do, that we were in a hurry to get back to San Diego because my sister had to get back to attend to her kids. He said that he could not accept any money to pay a fine because he would get into trouble if anyone saw him take it. Hmmm... After talking, he finally just blatantly asked how much money we had. I pulled out 40 bucks and said that was it. He handed back Joel's license, told me to fold the bills underneath and pass it back so that nobody would see.
I just wanted to get the ef out of there, so I was happy to get extorted and pay the bribe. However, Joel was a little peeved about the whole thing saying we should have gone to the police station or we should report it or whatever. So in the end, I paid the coima and we got out of the land of Mexican bribery.
We had some time to spare, so rather than going directly back to Stacie's house we went to the top of the hill and watched the sunset.
-Jason
