My first brush with the law

Monday night, after a house party, I am in a car with my cousin and 2 others, one of whom was driving and we had all been drinking. In a suburb on the other side of town, we´re stopped by cops for not having headlights on (I know, very amateur) and for some reason we also have a crate of 24 empty beer bottles in the back seat. Cop sees 4 "Paisanos" (the generic term for Indians from India), the beer bottles (which should be in the boot) and automatically thinks he´s in line for a backhander.

Asks me for ID. I give him a copy of my Passport (not a good idea to carry around your real passport). Problem is the photocopy happens not to include the page with my current visa on it. Policeman thinks he has struck gold (illegal immigrant? false papers? terrorist?...serious backhander material!) gets on the radio and calls in reinforcements, 4 more policeman in 2 more squad cars turn up.

Meanwhile (despite being told by my compatriots to say nothing) I have explained in pretty clear Spanish that my papers are in order, the photocopy of my passport is only for my identification, if he wants to see my real passport and visa stamp, it´s in my cousin´s house. Policeman´s face drops as he detects that my Spanish, while not being fluent, is extremely clear and free of the slang and half-spoken words that litter "Panamanian Spanish" . My cousin immediately sees this and tells me in Gujarati to repeat what I just said in English, I do so and the cop now looks like he´s trying to solve a quadratic equation in his head, while battling a migraine!

One of the other cops then tells 3 of us to get back in the car, the driver is then spoken to privately, a $5 "fine" is paid and we are on our merry way. Law and Order...Panama style !