Somewhere along the way, every major trip we’ve ever taken entailed some problems. After 3 weeks in Baja, and no troubles whatsoever, we finally had our difficult day today. It began when Bob tried to get dressed for our morning run and discovered that his favorite running shorts (the only ones that fit him currently, as he’s lost a bit of weight) and running shirt were not in the pile of laundry we got back from the laundromat yesterday. We returned to the laundromat to inquire whether perhaps they’d been left behind in a dryer, dropped on the floor, etc, but no such luck. Oh well, can’t let a little thing like that bother you. Several hours later after our run and showers, Cathryn decided to drive somewhere alone for the first time in Baja, as we’ve become quite comfortable with getting around La Paz. She headed through town to go to the shop to finalize our arrangements for a boat trip to Isla Espiritu Santo about 10 days from now. A couple miles from “home” a policeman (Federale) pulled alongside and motioned her to pull over. She did, and subsequently was told, in Spanish, that she had not stopped sufficiently at a 4-way stop sign and would be ticketed. She’s quite sure this was not true as we’d been warned about such stories and were being extra careful about fully stopping at all signs, and she had just stopped at the last one two blocks back. Nonetheless the policeman, who was soon joined by a second policeman, insisted that she’d failed to stop properly, would be ticketed, and her driver’s license would be confiscated. She shrugged, indicating okay, and the officer seemed unhappy. Next he said that she’d have to go to the police station to pay a $100 ticket and retrieve her driver’s license . . . . or she could settle it up immediately with the officer by paying 400 pesos ($30) instead. Needless to say, she felt angry, helpless and intimidated, but decided to keep her feelings to herself and pay the $30 rather than deal with the police station and $100 ticket. After paying, the police officers waved her along. On arrival at the shop to finalize boat trip plans, she was still feeling upset by the incident, and told the Mexican woman who is a co-owner of the shop, Alejandra, the story of what had happened. Alejandra told Cathryn that the police officers here are very poorly paid, and that’s why they do this sort of thing to supplement their incomes, but made no excuses for their behavior. She said if Cathryn had gotten a ticket, it would not, in fact, have been $100, but much less. She said the better response on Cathryn’s part would have been to insist that they issue the ticket, then tell them to come with her to the police station right away so she could settle her account and get her license back. Alejandra insisted that had Cathryn done that, they likely would have waved her along without further problem, but if not, she still would have paid only a small fine and they would not have gotten any money out of it. So, okay, lesson learned the hard way, and not really expensive. Won’t let this ruin our day, right? Next we decided to make a trip out to Playa Tecolote about 20 miles from La Paz to check out what is reportedly one of the most beautiful beaches in the area. There is also camping there, so we thought we might stay there on our way back through La Paz in a week or 10 days after completing the southern loop. It was, in fact, a beautiful beach, but extremely windy at the time, so a bit chilly (not compared to what most of you are experiencing daily, of course, but still chilly). After a while, we returned to La Paz, planning to explore the “old” area of town, off the waterfront. After parking and getting out of the car, Bob started patting his pockets and wondered aloud where his wallet might be. We searched around the driver’s seat of the car thinking it might have fallen out of his pocket, then he recalled he’d had it sitting on the seat between his legs after stopping at the ATM machine on the way to Playa Tecolote. We searched his pockets and the car inside out, upside down, and every which way. No wallet. We drove back to Tecolote and searched the area up and down the beach where we’d parked our car, figuring it must have fallen out when he got out of the car. Still no wallet. Since we’re certain he had it at the bank, there was nowhere else it could be. We decided it must have fallen out of the car, then been picked up by someone before we returned to search for it. Sad and frustrating! He had “only” about $100 inside, but the big loss was his driver’s license and 4 credit cards. He called on our cell phone to cancel the credit cards, which meant 3 of Cathryn’s cards were also cancelled. We talked to a couple of local Mexican people about the incident because we were concerned that he no longer has a driver’s license. We were told that was a legitimate worry, as if he got stopped by the police while driving without a license, there’s “no telling what they might do”, suggesting he might end up in jail or having the car confiscated. Sheesh, heavy sigh and all that. We were advised to file a report with the local police, then seek a provisional Mexican driver’s license for the remainder of our visit. So Saturday night, Valentine’s night, we spent 2 hours at the local police station, mostly waiting to be waited on, then filing a report (all in Spanish as the officer spoke no English whatsoever) regarding the loss of the wallet. (Note: As we were in the waiting room, we got to watch a lot Mexican TV. While we couldn’t really understand most of the words, the political ads had a familiar tone through the pictures, and the program, like U.S. TV, had a heavy emphasis on bosoms). We were told that filing this police report was a necessary precedent to getting the provisional driver’s license. And since we have thousands of miles yet to drive, it’s not an option for Cathryn to do all the driving (she gets too sleepy in the afternoons while driving). Finally the report was done, only to learn that the place where we get the provisional license is not, of course, open on weekends, so we’d have to wait until Monday morning to take care of that. We plan to leave La Paz tomorrow (Sunday morning) so don’t want to wait around for another day to take care of it. The officer at the police station seemed to think we could probably take care of it as we drive through the Cabos in 4-5 days, or when we’re back in La Paz a week or 10 days from now. None of this would have been possible without Cathryn’s skill in speaking Spanish, which she feels is very inadequate, but in fact got us through a very non-conventional situation. So Cathryn will be doing all the driving for a while until we get that detail settled. (And Hobie, we might have Bob’s replacement Washington driver’s license sent to your house if Washington State Dept of Licensing will do that). So there’s the story of our Valentine’s Day. We hope all of you had a better one! Nonetheless, we remain cheerful, happy to be in Baja, and ready to get on with our next adventures. P.S. if you can read the picture of the police report, you will see that the word for “retired” in Spanish is “jubilado”, which we interpret to be “ jubilant” – isn’t that cool?
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