The Mexican Shakedown

Well it was bound to happen to us. We had read about bad apples in the mexican police targeting rental cars, pulling them over, and demanding payment. The house manager here warned us that it was getting bad. And yes, after 3 trips down here, we got the shakedown. Got pulled over. The policia demanded 1600 pesos (about $160); then he went down the 1000 pesos. Jim eventually paid him 500 pesos. It was really our fault. We forgot to tell Meg (who was sitting up front next to Jim) that when we're getting pulled over, you're supposed to take all the cash out of Jim's wallet EXCEPT for about 200 pesos....so when when you're getting the shakedown, you pull open your wallet and say "hey, here's everything I've got in my wallet." Live and learn.