To those travellers heading north along the Panamerican from Lima - a not of caution...

I got pulled up 4 times in 400 Km's, having to part with 200 Soles between two of the stops...

Each time I was travelling the same speed as the other traffic, but my Gringo status seems to have given them the right to make a donation to thier corrupt little pockets...

I resisted a third after a heated argument where I explained a truck actually passed me because I was going slower then the 45 km limit for one small town. I was absolutely livid...

Can't believe those tossers....

At one corner they tried to tell me that the speed limit for corners marked with an arrow is 60km/h, and they apparently they don't need Radars to judge your speed..

I hate them...

After Casma and inland things returned to normal, as they were just stopping me to say hello....

You were warned...

Jeremy

hi
on my travels through latin america in general and peru in particular i found the police to be friendly and helpful.

once (north of lima) i did have to pay one $12 bribe to not get a $150 ticket though. something to do with riding at 95kmh in a 35 kmh limit... i was going so fast, i narrowly avoided running over the policeman who was trying to flag me down!

i found that if an official wanted to give me a ticket/extract a bribe you should try the following:

a. don't understand what he is saying (in turkey the policeman wrote '99kmh', '121km' and 'radar' on a piece of paper, and you know what, i really could not understand what he was saying! we agreed that 'english police bad', 'turkish police very good' and departed with a handshake!!

b. demand to see his boss

c. tell him you know his boss/the govenor of the province/the president

d. don't stop (from my experience, in tanzania and egypt, traffic police don't have guns, radios or cars, so how are they going to impose their 'authority'? just give them a cheerful wave and drive on.

e. without being rude (never get insulting) indignantly and forcefully insist he is being a corrupt official and that he should be ashamed/embarrassed etc etc

f. tell him you have no cash and only have a credit card....

g. ask him directions/tell him his national football team is wonderful etc etc i.e. distract him

h. always show respect: glasses off, helmet off, shake his hand, blow so much sugar up his a*** that he can't remember why he stopped you.

i. all the above. if none of these work and he has a gun, bargain hard and pay up

j. if you were speeding, bargain hard and pay up.

remember people only wear uniforms because cetain parts of their anatomy are underdeveloped.

good luck,
cb




[This message has been edited by chris (edited 23 May 2002).]

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I got done too! 50 soles baksheesh. Waving the bill in the air as high as I could so every passing motorist could see. Ws telling me I had to go back about 100k to pay the fine. A la gran puta.

Now I'm driving down the dirt roads and every cop stops to shake my hand and oggle at the bike.

I guess you can add Police East of Lima too .

I was stopped day before yesterday and told that Motos are "prohibited" on the nice asphalt highway East of Lima . I asked why and was told that the "Climate is unstable ".

I almost laughed in his face , and that must have been the right thing to do because he nicely let me off with a "warning" . What a nice guy !!!! :-P

Agreed tho , normally the Police are great . Today I saw them break up a stone throwing road blockade with tear gas ! Great photo there I´m sure !

This is going on for years north of Lima. Last year i travelled from Bolivia to Ecuador, and was stopped only twice, free of charge. North of Lima I was lucky, it was the end of a long weekend, and all those shiny police cars were parked in the opposite direction, trying to keep the heavy southbound traffic moving. Furthermore, I stayed behind a truck most of the time, to avoid getting hit by mad drivers, who often passed slower oncoming cars ignoring the motorcycle.

Going on sunday afternoon seems to be a way to avoid the corrupt police north of Lima.

Werner