Morditas
When I was for Christmas and talking to people about living in Mexico, one of the most popular questions that I got was ´Do you feel safe?´. To be honest, I do feel perfectly safe where I live. I can walk down the street in the middle of the night and I don´t need to be with a group of people in order to feel safe. The only time that I feel less safe is when I am pulled over by the police.
The first few times I was pulled over by the police, I tried to talk to them and be friendly, thinking that this would let me off. However, I was soon told by my Mexican friends that I should pretend that I don´t speak Spanish, as the police officers here are intimidated by English-speakers and most don´t speak English themselves, so they are unable to communicate with you.
Here, the police don´t need a reason to pull you over. When they pull you over, they´re just digging to find any possible infraction. First, you´re taken out of the car while the officers shine a flashlight into the car, go under the seats and search the trunk. They´re looking for anything, ranging from drugs to alcohol. If all is well there, they check your driver´s license for possible problems. If you´re still good, they´ll check the papers for the car.
If there is any infraction, or if they don´t like your attitude, they´ll threaten to put you in jail or give you a very expensive ticket. Then they tell you that for a little bit of money, they can make this problem go away. This is referred to as a 'mordita', translated into English as ´a little bite´, commonly known in English as a bribe.
The mordidt is a welcome option because it is so much cheaper than the price of the ticket. Having a burned out light on your cost might cost you 50 pesos (around 5$ Canadian). An expired license will probably cost you around 200 pesos (around 20$ Canadian). If they find alcohol in your car, you´re expected to share.
posted by Jenna @ 2:36 p.m.
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