TECATE Mexico Visit at your own risk

Heading towards Baja is always on the top of my mind. This time I was going to a birthday party for a relative. His children were celebrating his 70th. birthday. What made it more inviting was that the celebration was taking place in the small village of San Antonio de Las Minas in the route of the wine, El Valle de Guadalupe. This lovely valley produces 90% of the Mexican wines. Some of the wineries are renowned for their national and international awards. The blog entry of the party and wine tasting is for my next posting. Here I want to concentrate on our return to the USA.

On our return home I suggested to my wife that we return via Tecate, a town bordering east San Diego County. Many years before we had been to Tecate we fondly remember it's central park, warm people, book stores, it was clean and inviting. Our drive was wonderful, the natural surroundings gave us the opportunity to unplug ourselves from the grind of the urban centers. Slowly we left the open fields behind as we entered the town of Tecate. We followed the signs to the border crossing. As I made a right turn on the main street that takes us to the border crossing an uneasy feeling poured over me. The street was full of traffic police, perhaps ten or more, stationed every hundred yards or so. All lazily sitting on top of their motorcycles on both sides of the street. The scene was similar to driving in any large urban city and with out realizing, you end up in the middle of a gang's turf.

It wasn't long before one of Tecate's finest pulled me over. "Can I see your drivers license and registration.", he barked. As I handed him my California license and registration I asked, "What's the problem?" "This license is no good!", he responded. "Do you have a Mexican license?", "No". "How about an international license?" "I only have that license.", I responded. "Oh, this one isn't any good here amigo" this was followed by long, embarrassing pause and silence. That's the cue for you to pull out some cash and offer the infamous mordida. "What law did I allegedly break?", I insisted. "Well, you went through a stop sign." "What stop sign?", I replied. " Oh... and you don't have your seat belt on". "I unbuckled the belt to give you my license". "No, you didn't have it on" long pause, another cue for the mordida. I reiterated that I broke no traffic law. "Well... you need to follow me." "Where", I asked him. "To the delegacion to see the judge", he responded. It is well known that when an officer of the law restricts your movement, you are under arrest. He didn't seem pleased that instead of offering a mordida I requested his name and badge number. Officer Adolfo Solapaz, badge # 665585 took me to the delegacion.   That's when I noticed that the majority of cars being pulled over had one thing in common, American license plates.
This entrapment reminds me of the angler's term, trolling. The practice of fishing up and down a certain identified area where you know the big fish are. In the traveling world  we know it as targeting turistas.

Once in the delegacion, an unimpressive bunker style type of building, I took a seat and waited for Oficial Solopaz to fill out what looked like a traffic ticket. I asked if I could have a copy and he said I didn't need one. He escorted me to the cashiers window. I protested, "wait, where is the judge?"  "Oooh you want to see the judge ". He shouted at three individuals, two men and one woman, who were chatting and having coffee at the end of the hall. "Which one of you wants to hear this case?" "These are the Adjudicators?", I asked myself, because, they were dressed more like janitors that judges. The woman replied, "I have a few minutes I'll take it." She then asked me to follow her.
We entered a small office, the size of a broom closet with a metal desk, a sleeping cot and two torn chairs. "Is this the court room?", I asked. Also asking her, "Are you the judge who will hear my case?" She replied, "Sit down! what do you want?" I asked what were the charges against me and where was the accusing officer. She read the ticket and said, "You know what laws you violated, I see you didn't have your seat belt on." As I tried to explain she interrupted me and started laughing. "Do you know how much you would have to pay for this violation on the on the other side?". I tried to tell her that I always wear my set belt and I have never been stopped for this, therefore I wouldn't know. She continued laughing and called the guard at the doorway, "tell this man how much he would have to pay en el otro lado".( in the US)  "Oh, ha, ha como quinientos dolares.", (about $500. dollars) the guard responded. I quickly realized that this jurist had more make-up than brains. Therefore, the prudent thing for me to do was to get out of there ASAP.

I proceeded to the cashiers window to pay an $80.00 dollar fine. As I stood in line, I noticed that this Pantheon of justice was barren of their statues of  liberty and justice. The pictures of Mexican heroes, famous jurists, slogans of Mexican pride and pictures of government officials were all replace by a few colorful calendars from local markets, restaurants and bars. As I was paying the fine, oficial Solopaz with a smirk on his face asked me, "como le fue?". I responded, "This is why there is no tourism in Tecate. You are chasing all the people away and in the long run everyone suffers." "That is your opinion.", he replied. "Yes it is and I for one will never return to spend my dollars here", I told him.

My experience in Tecate reminds me of the legendary cryptid animal chupacabra, which is said to inhabit the northern parts of Mexico. It lives by sucking the blood of goats, according to legend it to comes out at night, but I have seen it in daytime, sucking the dollars out of tourists in Tecate.
My advice to all you who love to visit Baja as much as I do, stay way from Tecate. Take the wonderful toll road from Ensenada all the way to the border. Buen Viaje.