What happens if you are overtaking some trucks in the night? Correctly, if you are fast enough and get back to your lane before some other car is coming too close, nothing happens at all.

And with the Land-Cruiser and its turbo-engine we were fast enough.

Even too fast, the officer from the Policia de Transito told us. And that over-taking was strictly forbidden since we were in an industry zone with diesel and oil tanks (he was actually right about this: a glace around showed nothing than huge tanks).

He then held his radar gun under my nose which digitally indicated 99km/h. However, there was no time and date to be seen. And even though the Land-Cruiser is quite strong, the hill was far too steep to drive that fast.  I laughed and told him in my best English (we had decided before that it would be wise not to speak any Spanish when chatting with the police) that this was simply impossible.

He agreed and said “well, you still have been overtaking where it is forbidden to!” And there I did not have a smart reply – I was still in shock that he spoke English and that our strategy of buying time with our “no speak Espanol, nada!” had failed.

He asked for our papers and then told me that I would lose my driving license for 6 months – and that I only could get it back if I showed up in front of court in San Jose, Costa Rica. Well, I thought, probably that’s not true and it could be worse since anyway nobody outside Switzerland understands the difference between a driving license and our Swiss identity card.

David then started to talk Spanish with the officer and friendly explained that we did not have time to go toSan Jose since we needed to arrive in Panama very soon in order to catch our vessel bound to Colombia. After explaining that we would accept a fine payable right here, and that we would never again overtake any trucks in zones like this one, the police officer said that this, unfortunately, would not be possible, since it would not be correct to pay money directly to a police officer in Costa Rica.

However, somehow it was evident that there was room to negotiate, since he repeatedly said “yo te escucho…”

Unfortunately I could not say anything since officially I did not understand any Spanish that day.

So David went on explaining how much we liked Costa Rica, how much we appreciated the work of the incorrupt police force and that, in fact, Costa Rica was “The Switzerland of Latin America” for us. The officers smile brightend up a bit and he stopped scribbling on his note-book. He suggested walking over to our car. There he told us again that it would not be possible for him as a police officer to take any money as a direct payment for the fine. However, he also told us that as a friend he might help us and that it was only natural to him that friends help each other.

Well, here we go.

We agreed being friends, and from now on David and him exchanged an “amigo” at the end of every sentence.

He then gave me back my papers and told us that – only if we insisted – he would also accept our help – but only from friend to friend.

While David asked him what this “help” could be I went to the back of the car to take out the bottle of Johnny Walker’s  Black Label. I offered it to the police man with the words “fiesta!” and “bueno”. So much Spanish, I decided, even a not-Spanish-speaking-Swiss could risk.

His eyes went big – and from then on we really were friends. We could not leave for another 20 minutes while he told us about his country, some good restaurants, etc. He even exchanged some anecdotes about some Italian drivers he had caught the other day driving half naked and that the girls, once he threaded to take away their licenses, showed him not only their legs. This, however, he added, was going too far in his yes. Favours among friends, yes, but bribing a police officer with naked bodies? Never!

Well, it was another interesting experience – and somehow a win-win situation: In Switzerland I would have paid a fortune for my offence, and here the police officer got a bottle of Whisky which is worth about 3 times the normal “regalo”. Viva Costa Rica!