HOY NO CIRCULA. PERO HAY MORDIDA

Mexico City has a lot of pollution, especially during certain times of the year. To try to combat this they have put some restrictions on driving. “Hoy No Circula” means “No Circulating (Driving) Today”. I was told that until further notice we cannot drive our car on Wednesday or the second Saturday of the month and at times they announce a Doble Hoy No Circula which means we can’t drive on Monday or the third Saturday either. The problem is that no one told me how I was to know if we were in “Doble”.  So on Saturday I took Helen and two other ladies to shop for clothes.  I dropped them off and returned to the hotel, but to get there I had to go through a busy intersection where there are always police.  They never seem to bother anyone.  I see drivers often go through red lights and go the wrong way through this intersection, but I’m pulled over and informed that I was breaking the HOY NO CIRCULA law. It was a DOBLE!  The head police officer walks over to the car and lets me know that he is calling for a tow truck to impound the car and that I can pick it up on Monday and there would be a $3500 (pesos) fine to pay. That would be about US$210!  He then casually informs me that I could pay the fine right there and save all the trouble.  I tell him I only have $500 with me.  He says that isn’t enough, so I tell him to go ahead and call the tow truck.  I had been warned about police taking bribes and not to do it.  I explain about being a gringo and not knowing all the rules and not knowing it was DOBLE.  That didn’t seem to help. He hints at going to the hotel (which was close by) and getting more money, but I hold out for calling the tow truck and obeying the law.  There is a bit of a stand off and he finally passes me my registration paper back to me folded with the understanding I put the $500 in the folded paper and hand it back. I’m loath to do it, but I put in the money (U$30) and he lets me go.  The Spanish word for bribe is “mordida” which comes from the root word “morder”- to bite.  I have found a website that lets me know which days are HOY NO CIRCULA!