In many ways, we are known for being able to get into police chases on a regular basis with no real consequences.  We've got a saying around here "Don't stop for cops" and it's been our motto since living here.  Even since getting a motorcycle it's been our motto and we've never had issues. 

We helped to move our friend and for whatever reason with him we tend to get into a lot of police chases. This may have had something to do with the truck piled high and the singing Mexican hanging onto the back of it, but we were being perfectly safe, I promise.

See, they have Auto Zone in Mexico.  For anyone interested in driving here, there's at least one in every major city that we passed through on the way here.

Truck selfie with my new camera.

See, totally safe.

He sat on the end table on the back.  I'm not kidding.  

Federal police tried to stop us repeatedly. We also had the wife and child of our friend in the front of the truck.  It was interesting to watch the mother try to explain to her daughter what was going on.  It was clear we were being pulled over and it was clear we weren't stopping.  When the police tried to pass us, John accelerated making it our fastest police chase as well, all with our singing friend on the back.  I smiled at the little girl and laughed, saying "Don't stop for cops".

They eventually just gave up.  We weren't going to stop and after awhile they saw that.  We always do these things in a way to where it's easy for the cop to just shut off their lights and drive away.  Because Mexican cops drive with their lights on randomly without it appearing out of the ordinary, they can get away with just giving up.  We learned when we crossed into Tijuana that police car lights are not just for pulling people over, they're for: directing traffic, fun, intimidation, pulling people over and a few others that seem to be escaping me.  

I want to be clear when I say this is how every police chase we've ever been in goes.  We don't stop, and they give up.  Or they stop us and we do something ridiculous like throw it in reverse and drive away.  After awhile you earn a reputation and because people don't like to be embarrassed, we don't really get harassed at this point until we leave the part of town we frequent.  To this day we've only paid those two bribes, to the same cop less than 25 pesos each. 

We made it unscathed with our friend still attached.  When we arrived he thanked us for not stopping.  He said while he was on the back with the police yelling at us to stop he just kept thinking "PLEASE DONT STOP". The look on his wife's face said the same, although we wouldn't have stopped if they had told us to.  His daughter was SO confused but when she saw I wasn't scared, neither was she.  I hope she remembers that night we'll, it was a glimpse into anarchy.

Cool table made by our friend, old neighbor and now employee. He's been fired twice now, due to things like extremely slow working time (he's even admitted it was only 50 percent), overcomplication of work and other things.  Needless to say it's not easy employing people, especially when they're your friend.  These times you learn just how young people are when it comes to things.  

His new place is much improved from the old and is tucked away in this cool little riverside area at the bottom of a mountain.  

They're probably paying about a thousand pesos a month or 50 USD as low income essentially black mexicans.  Skin color matters for prices.  What they pay 700 pesos a month for we get quoted for 1.2 thousand pesos, and that is an exact comparison from a local property. 

Stay tuned for more adventures!

Thanks for following and supporting, until next time!

All photos were taken with my Nikon D5500 most likely in all the wrong modes.