La policía

If you know me, you know that I have a great respect for our police force in American mainly based upon my love for the tv show "cops." However, I'm sure we have all heard the horror stories of the corrupt police force in Mexico that pulls people over and tells them they found drugs in the car just to get that extra 300 pesos or so. Before a few nights ago, these were just stories.

It all started when Silvia and I went for "churros" (giant cinnamon sticks) in the center of town, which has become our delicious ritual. After finishing, she told me she wanted to go to the church. Thinking she meant the church in the zócalo (which is where we were), I agreed quickly. But, she quickly corrected me and told me she wanted to go to the church on top of the piramid. This is the piramid with the largest base in Mexican and has a quaint, catholic/pagan church on the top. It was about 10 o´clock at night and I couldn't help but think how beautiful the view of the city from the top would be. I was in.

We arrived at the base of the piramid with no gates and no opposition. We began the journey up the stairs and passed a group of three people that didn´t say anything to us. About 10 minutes later we arrived at the church. There were gates showing that it was closed, but we decided to jump them and enter anyway. After about 15 minutes of us being moderately loud on the top, because we didn't think anybody was there, a man came out of the church. We were just standing and looking at the city, so he just told us we had to leave. We complied, although sad that we wouldn't receive the same view from farther down the piramid.

About 50 yards down from the church was a grassy hill that we decided would make a good city-gazing spot. We planted ourselves and just sat tranquilly staring and talking. About five minutes into our time there three police officers walked abruptly up to us. "I need to see your credentials please. This is a restricted area as it is an arcealogical zone. Where are you from? Where do you live? You can't be here because this is an arcealogical zone." All of this was said by the leader of the three in a matter of about 10 seconds. Silvia didn't have her i.d. from the university, but I did, so I gave it to them. The leader continued to badger us. He lead into his big speach for about the second time about how this was an "arcealogical zone" when I said, "look, we didn't know, we will go, all we needed was a warning." But, they wouldn't let us go. At this point, I thought about making a run-for-it and just leaving my i.d., but I noticed that they had guns at there hips and decided that wouldn't be the best move. Silvia, being the actress that she is, led into a big speal about how she was only 17 (she´s 18) and how they were just trying to badger us. The two followers engaged her arguement while the leader took me aside. "Look, you´re going to have to pay us", he said. "Well, how much?" I responded. He took a few seconds to calculate an amount he thought I would pay and that would satisfy his greed. He responded, "3", meaning 300 pesos (about 30 dollars). All I know is, I was not about to pay 30 dollars for sitting on a hill at night and being harrassed by 3 dirty cops!

At this point Silvia was on the brink of fake tears in her arguement with the other 2, so I left my conversation about the bribe and went to comfort her. At this point one of the followers threw out the comment, "Just leave them alone, it's not worth it." So, after about a 15 or 20 minute ordeal, they decided to let us go. But, when I went to get my i.d. from one of the follower cops, he told me I had to pay him. He named his price at 50 pesos (5 dollars). However, I told him I didn't have any money. Tired of the whole ordeal (which is the approach you have to take towards police who want to hassle you), they told us we could go.

So, I had my first run-in with the police here. I can't imagine what they would have done to me, an American, if Silvia had not been there to wear them out with her dramatic performance. All I know is that I am so thankful for the moderately just police force in American. I'll take moderately just over mostly corrupt any day!