Cripes. Twenty miles west of PC, my gringo-mobile rental car gets flagged over by a motorcycle cop for speeding. The only English he knew was "ticket" and how to write numbers and draw an airplane. Our conversation was all single words and pointing at the speedometer. I was doing 98 in an 80kph zone. After threatening to give me a ticket which he said would prevent my leaving Panama on the plane ("No leave airplane"), he wrote down $200 cash to take care of it right there. Having read previous posts on this, I requested a ticket to be paid in town. He kept asking for money, I kept holding out my hand and saying "I'll pay the ticket in town." Eventually he must have decided he didn't want his name on a piece of paper which I was going to give to a judge, so he warned me to keep it down to 80 and he walked away.
Two days later, a two cop team pulls over a truck and myself at the same time going eastbound east of Santiago. The truck must have been a local as it was dismissed immediately. He tried the same thing. I kept holding out my hand and saying "I'll pay the ticket in town." He eventually pushed me off and said "no ticket" so I left.
The third time was legit. I made an incorrect u-turn. When I told the cop I wanted to go back for the "Hielo hombre" he said something like "Rasputa?", laughed then let me go with the warning that u-turns were only legal at retornos.
Later I met gringo who said the going rate was $5/ person and that I could have dropped a ten spot out the window and driven off. The cop would pick it up when the coast was clear. Thoughts on this? Thx to the original poster, without whom I'd probably have paid $50.
Two days later, a two cop team pulls over a truck and myself at the same time going eastbound east of Santiago. The truck must have been a local as it was dismissed immediately. He tried the same thing. I kept holding out my hand and saying "I'll pay the ticket in town." He eventually pushed me off and said "no ticket" so I left.
The third time was legit. I made an incorrect u-turn. When I told the cop I wanted to go back for the "Hielo hombre" he said something like "Rasputa?", laughed then let me go with the warning that u-turns were only legal at retornos.
Later I met gringo who said the going rate was $5/ person and that I could have dropped a ten spot out the window and driven off. The cop would pick it up when the coast was clear. Thoughts on this? Thx to the original poster, without whom I'd probably have paid $50.
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