Day 18—La Policia in Gorgona

The other day when Sean was coming back from the grocery store, he walked in the Villa and told us he had just almost gotten a ticket. 

“What did you do?” Both Emma and I asked.

“Well, I don’t know.  I was just driving down that road to Gorgona, you know the one where they had the police check point the other day? Well, I looked in my rearview mirror and there was someone on a motorcycle with flashing blue lights.  I was trying to figure out what the protocol here  is.  Does he just want to pass me, or is he pulling me over?  So, I decided to pull over to a grassy area off the side of the road, and then the motorcycle slows down, slowly passes me, and that's when I realized, it was a pizza delivery motorcycle!”

Only my husband could get pulled over by a pizza delivery guy. 

Well, I guess it could happen to any unsuspecting gringo, because this country sure knows the importance of not letting anything stand in the way of getting fresh, hot pizza to their clients!

Bucolic road on which Sean was busted by the pizza guy!

Today was a lazy, lay around the pool kind of day.  In the afternoon, Sean and I ran out to the store to try to figure out what we wanted to cook for dinner.  So we went to the El Machetazo grocery store, which is on the right side of the Pan American Highway.  When we were leaving, we pulled out into the left hand turn lane, and then amongst all sorts of pedestrians, bicyclists, buses, taxis, and cars, my husband decides he is going to make a U-turn, on the Pan American Highway, with a bicyclist to his left, who is making a left hand turn simultaneously.  I grab the seat, and squeeze my eyes shut, because I know someone is not coming out of this maneuver alive.  And then he does it! Successfully makes the U-turn without killing anyone, or being killed. Honestly, I don't know how that bicyclist made it out alive.  Perhaps we've been dragging him under our car for several days?

Immediately after my sigh of relief, we both look up to see a female police officer standing in our path pointing to the side of the highway. Oh great.  I immediately looked back to see if we missed a posted sign, but there was nothing.   The officer approaches the car and says something that we don’t understand. 

“Espanol es poco.” Sean explains. (Yes, dear, Spanish is small.)

In the meantime I am reaching in the glove box for the copies of our passports.  She looks at everything, then leans down with determination, points to where we just made the U-turn, makes a U-turn gesture, and says emphatically, “NO!”

“OK, NO!” Sean repeats back, while making the same gesture.

Then she got an evil Grinch-like smile on her face.

“Voy a escribir un BILLETE!” We both understood that one. Really? Did she have to say it with such glee?

While she was joyfully writing us a ticket, I called Juan, who rented us the car.

“Hey, we are getting a ticket for making a U-turn, even though there was no sign posted.  How much is this going to cost, and how should we take care of this?”

“Oh, don’t worry, here in Panama, you can pay the ticket to me, when you return the car.” Hmmm, can anyone say fishy?

Later we found out what you are supposed to do is hand them a $20, and say, “Do I pay here?” But, we didn’t know, and I would prefer not to line the pockets of overzealous/corrupt cops. 

The next day, while making yet another trip to the store (because basically the store is the place we can get to without 4-wheel drive or a GPS), Sean noticed that at the only place to make a left in to Coronado, was blocked off with cones.  So that meant a driver had two choices: A. Go about two miles up the road to the legal “RETORNO” lane, and then come two miles back, or  B. Make an illegal U-turn to get into the grocery store parking lot.  

And then he noticed the same cops, standing in the same spot, ready to bust motorist for making the illegal U-turn that they were forced to make because La Policia had  put up cones to block the street, so that no one could make a legal left.    

Hmm...Can anyone say icky, revenue-generating entrapment and corruption? 

This is a legal "Retorno."

Approaching the only left you can make into Coronado.

That red car is making a left onto the Pan American Highway.  This the the street they had blocked off with cones.