Nicaragua's top cop, who once wanted to be a nun, fends off drug gangs source.
I first wrote about Nicaragua's police when we first arrived in Managua. I forgot to mention in that post that he had had at least eight driver licenses in his grubby paws that we could see, from various US states.
We learned a lot more about them in the following days of our trip.
Firstly they are known affectionately as Courtesy Police. They only make about a $100 a month so our "bribe" of $80 was a windfall for them.
Some tips we were later given by expats:
Have a photocopy of your driver's license with you. You can get a copy in most hotels for about 25cents. That way you can just had him that.
Drive in the far lane if there are two lanes. No cop is going to step out into a lane to pull you over.
Drive with your visor down so they can't see that you are a tourist.
Keep you money in separate places so you can show him you have only so much money in your wallet.
Ask for their badge numbers, they won't give it to you but ask anyway.
Ask for a ticket if they tell you that you have performed an infraction, again he won't give it to you but ask.
Here's a post about driving in Nicaragua.
My goodness. This sounds a little scarey to me. I saw 15 year olds (ok they may have been older but doesn't everyone look like a teenager at this age?) with camo shirts and bluejeans on carring an assault rifle in Cozemel and that was the police. I quickly decided this is not a place I need to be.
ReplyDeleteYou are a braver woman than I am by far.