Just 2 quick anecdotes

I just realized that I did not write about two of my favourite anecdotes from my time in Mexico.

Mexican Immigration Security
Traveling by night in Mexico means that frequently some kind of police or military (there are so many different types in Mexico, I still cannot distinguish all of them) will enter the bus. Sometimes you have to leave and they do a fully-fledged security inspection of you and the bus. Sometimes they only want to check your documents.

Well, too bad if you are traveling without documents. Recently, when I brought Y. to the airport in Mexico City, I only had the copy of my passport's first page with me. My temporary resident card and my passport were still in my apartment, safely stored in the place where I had put them during my recent trip to Texas. So... the security guards got a little bit upset. Y. who some hours later had a flight to catch of course had her passport with her.

The police men then explained me that I was considered an illegal immigrant and that they would take me with them to the police station in order to check my status and identity. I argued that I just had returned from Texas, that I had forgotten my documents, if they could not check my identity on site. But of course, no. Uuuh, so I was pushed out of the bus at 3.30 in the morning, in the middle of a Mexican highway, by three grumpy looking police men. Not fun. I said goodbye to Y. and still could not believe that this would be the way I had to leave her.

And well, it was not. Suddenly, one of the guys who had taken my passport copy turned around. Pushed the document into my hand, fiercly whispering:

"This was the last time. And only because you are a student." 

So, I unbelievingly stumbled back to my seat. The bus drove on. Police was gone and Y. and me were still together. We broke out in laughter and could not believe our luck... Mexico!

Just as a side note: Of course, it was my fault not to carry any document for identification. However, sometimes these guys do not understand that my temporary resident card indeed is a legal and valid document, so even then it sometimes is a lot of discussion to convince them that everything is in order.


Mexican Security Guards
Many Mexican apartments have a small guard house at the entrance with a "security guard" inside (read: mostly retired, overweight, underpaid grandpas who would probably not even hear if a car exploded next to them, much less notice a thief. But at least they normally are super nice). We also have one. Sometimes he's there, sometimes not.

Well, I never really cared what he was doing when he was away, but recently I got quite a good insight... I returned home. He approached me.

"Buenos días".

From the way he was looking at me I immediately knew that this would not be the end of the "conversation".

In fact, he came closer. And what he then bascially explained to me was that he had entered another apartment somewhere near. That he accidentally had thrown down something in that foreign apartment. That he had been about to leave when he noticed a surveillance camera. And that he now would like me to come with him, to enter the apartment again, to log in to the computer the camera apparently was connected to and to spot and delete the corresponding surveillance video...

Wow.

This totally increased my already ... hmm ... "strong" confidence in our security guard. Guess what, I was not so much into the idea. I explained that I would love to help him in any way... as long as it was legal. With a rather interesting argumentation he tried to convince me that of course it would be totally legal to enter another person's apartment (because as a security guard he had the key), to log in to the computer (because it was turned on), to delete the video (because I would only show him how to do)...

Despite these well-thought and convincing arguments, I surprisingly decided to stay at home. So, our secruity guard came up with another brilliant idea. Shortly after, he returned - with the "surveillance camera". It turned out to be a normal photo camera and I suppose it was just connected to the laptop in order to be charged. Yet, he made me looking at the photo memory in order to check if there was any proof of his ..."legal activities".

I did not even touch the camera and the only thing I saw was private photos which definitely were not intended to be seen by anyone else. I calmed down our security guard and convinced him that he did not have to worry, but that in fact I would prefer if he confessed what he had done. Because if he really had broken something, it would be obvious that somebody was in the apartment. He agreed that this would be a good idea (haha) and left... Mexico!