another 50 miles later, we were stopped at yet another police checkpoint. they asked the routine questions (fire extinguisher, spare tire, triangle, etc.)…and then told me that i needed two triangles! so, i was escorted to the higher up. with my spanglish, i tried to tell him that i had a flare in the car. i didn’t make an effort to translate ‘flare’ into spanish, since i wasn’t 100% sure that i had it. we stood there for a few minutes while he waited for his higher up. somehow, while talking to each other, the chief got the impression that something was wrong with my brakes. i didn’t really understand what he was talking about, so i kept saying ‘que?’…in the end my stupidity worked out and he let us go.

this was very reminiscent of that 100km stretch in honduras where they asked for triangles, extinguishers, etc. or maybe the other stretch in nicaragua where patrik and i did eventually pay some money (he had to catch an airplane, so we were a bit rushed). apparently the embassy trick works, though…so it’s good to know.

it’s also interesting how these corrupt checkpoints congregate. are those regions poorer and once a month try to raise some funds? do the different checkpoints compete with each other? is it just the certain regions are more corrupt than others?