Chetumal, Take 2 - 12/9/06

Yesterday we went on a Christmas touring and shopping extravaganza! New friends, Paul and Susie picked us up at 6:30 a.m., we crammed into their van along with another couple, Darryl and Corrina and our friend Hilda and headed to Mexico to do some light Christmas shopping. A quick stop to drop off Paul and Susie’s two daughters and we were just a group of crazy youthful adults full of Christmas cheer!

An hour and a half and 45 bumpy, dusty miles later we stopped in Orange Walk and had a breakfast of tacos from a street vendor. THEY WERE SOOO HOT! I should have known better, I have lived in Belize long enough. But, when they ask, “¿Quiere chile?” I should be careful, these tacos were loaded with habenero! They were still sooo good though and some fresh squeezed orange juice washed the heat away. Who knew? I was always told to drink milk after eating spicy foods, but the OJ was just what I needed.

Another hour and a half and we were at the Mexico-Belize border. Nothing exciting to report there, everyone added one more stamp to their passports and we were on our way downtown to do some shopping in the markets. We looked at lot of stuff but didn’t find anything to buy. We were on a mission, we had signed up to sponsor two children from a local orphanage and were desperately trying to figure what 10 and 15- year old Belizean boys would want to see all wrapped up on Christmas morning.

We all met back up a few hours later and were headed to the mall when we saw police lights behind us. Paul pulled the vehicle over and a very angry and hostile police officer came to the window demanding to see Paul’s license, which he immediately handed over as requested. FYI: Do not ever, under any circumstances, hand over your driver’s license to a police officer in Mexico. You can hold it up for them to read, but do not let go of your license. The officer asked if anyone spoke Spanish and we all played dumb. We have learned that language barriers and confusion often lead to a quicker solution in sticky situations. This was not one of those times. The officer began animatedly yelling at Paul, pointing at him and made a gesture that clearly meant he intended to keep Paul’s license. At that point, Nathan folded and began talking with the officer. He accused Paul of a silly traffic infraction which basically translated into, “Hi, you’re foreign and you’re in Mexico. I have your license, if you want it back you will have to pay my bribe.” At that point he said he would write a ticket that would cost Paul 200 pesos. Nathan asked for the license back and explained, very respectfully, that it was his understanding that the officer had no authority to take Paul’s license away. It was at that point that the officer must have noticed the leather interior in the van because suddenly he remembered Paul had committed a second infraction and it would now cost 400 pesos to solve the situation. At this point, Nathan, Paul and the officer all stepped out of the vehicle and continued this charade on the side of the busy Mexican road. In the end, Paul left without his license and the officer left without a bribe. Not much incentive to travel to Mexico and try to boost their economy with foreign dollars, huh?

Still in relatively good spirits, we continued to the mall. Paul was very calm and seemed unconcerned with losing his license and I was very impressed with this cool head in that very unjust situation. We all had lunch together, more tacos, and then decided to check out the movie theater, in hopes of seeing a nice Christmas movie. Most of the group wanted to see The Nativity Story, but it was only playing in Spanish. Our choices for English movies were A Good Year, Casino Royale, DejaVu, or Children of Men. I voted for A Good Year, but the group decided on DejaVu, because the timing was right to maximize our shopping time. I was surprised by the cast; Denzel, Val, Jim “I’ve played Jesus” Cavaziel, and Nathan’s favorite “Hebrew Hammer” (nod to Dad and Nathaniel) Adam Goldberg. There was a brief joke about Canada during the movie and since we were surrounded by all our new Canadian friends, I made sure to laugh extra loudly. The movie was a little annoyingly far-fetched, but it was still pretty good. Or maybe it was just the excitement of being in a real movie theater again.

After the movie we stopped by a little café for some faspa and then finally got to some Christmas shopping! The mall was decked out; in Mexico you’re actually allowed to celebrate Christmas, no one wished us a “Happy Holiday.” After much anxiety, we selected a Razor scooter for our 10-year old (those are just now catching on down here) and a soccer ball and new t-shirt for our 15-year old. I really wanted to get a basketball, but Nathan reminded me we are in Central America, and futbol is the big sport here. Things are much cheaper in Mexico, than in Belize. We took care to make sure our selections were good quality and we only spent about $30 US! Next weekend we are going to the orphanage with a group of people from Blue Creek to deliver the gifts to the orphans, I hope the 15 year-old likes soccer!

After a quick cruise through Burger King—yes, I finally folded for that flame broiled taste, we headed back to the border! Going through customs was a bit more tricky. Hilda went through before us with a wave and smile from the friendly officer. I don’t know what happened to him between the time Hilda walked away and I pushed my things forward. Maybe he just saw my U.S. passport, which I wasn’t able to slip back into my purse quickly enough. He sized up all my purchases and decided I needed to pay $10 in duty. I explained I had a volunteer Visa and that the gifts were for orphans, then he went into a long lecture about how everything has a price, blah, blah, blah. I asked if he would write a receipt for the duty and he said he would. That calmed me down because I realized he wasn’t asking for a bribe, that the duty would go to the Belizean government, which is appropriate. Then I explained we had changed all of our money for pesos and assumed it would be fine if we paid that way. He stated they would not accept pesos and said we would have to pay in BZ. Nathan calmly explained we really, truly only had pesos but the officer was unconcerned and said we’d “have to figure something out.” That’s when I lost my cool completely, thinking about what had happened with the Police officer earlier that day and realizing we were the only ones in the customs area being asked to pay duty. Nathan of course, stayed calm. I said some things I shouldn’t have said, which basically boiled down to, “It’s really unfair how we are constantly targeted by crooked officials just because we are Americans.” Of course, I typed it here much more politely than I said it. I had to end up borrowing money from Darryl and Corrina, who skated through customs without even a side glance from their customs officer. My officer, however, explained I could be charged with assault for the way I gave him the money. I’m really lucky I have a husband who can remain calm and not make a scene in public government places. Especially when, really, I threw a fit over $5 U.S. and Paul had remained completely calm when an officer had unjustly taken his license from him on the side of a busy Mexican road.

After a few more hours on a long, bumpy road, we made it home! We have gifts for our sponsor kids, we have a new bottle of wine and we bought 4 glasses, so we don’t have to drink everything out of the 1000’s of mugs that came with our apartment. All in all, it was a good day with a few minor bumps. We spent some time with new friends, got to see some pretty impressive Christmas lights, and I’m not currently in a Belizean jail!

God bless us, everyone!