Well officer, right now only my word, but tomorrow I can prove it!!

This morning I had my first encounter with the police here in Panama. It's always been like that, why would it be different here in Panama? Amazing, I always have to have an "encounter" with the local police in my early days in a country... amazing... how boring and predictable and even knowing it, I wasn't prepared for it, can you believe it?

So, after the service this morning I decided to go to a mall near the church to change the strap of my watch. I always leave church very inspired. We have been attending this great church here in Panama. It's a truly bilingual church! Sermons and announcements are in English and hymns and songs switch back and forth between English and Spanish and the beautiful thing is that everybody triumphantly sings in both languages without leaving a single second in the air for adaptation. The pastor is American, but has been in Panama forever, so he too, is completely accent-less, fluent in both languages. The result is that both Joel and I are really enjoying going there and it leaves us very inspired for the rest of the week.

So, loaded up with all the above, I left church and off went to the immensity that Albrook Mall is, parked the car, quickly found the shop I needed, had the straps changed, went back to the car and left the parking lot only to find a police check point. There were some 4 or 5 cars in front of me and as I approached the policeman, I noticed that as drivers approached him, they showed their driver's license. I then immediately remembered what my friend SR had told me...
- "when you come to a police check point, show your driver's license as they stop you."

So, I tried to get mine before it was my turn at THE man, but didn't managed, so as I got face to face with him, he asked for my license, to which I replied:
- "yes sir, in a second" and turned around to get it in my purse. The license that I was reaching for is my Hong Kong license, which does NOT bring a picture in it. But I quickly thought: "let's play blond and don't initiate anything on my own. Rather wait for his request". Of course, as expected, as I handed him a foreign driver's license, he asked for my passport to which I, VERY naughtily, gave him a copy of the only thing I had with me that could perhaps resemble it. A copy of 2 pages of my passport. One had my picture, my parents name, my date of birth, the passport's date of issue and date of expiration. The other showed my Angolan visa on it. At the back, was the document's authentication stamp, done in Angola, therefore in Portuguese.

The policeman then told me that driving in Panama with a foreign driver's license is only allowed for the first three months that you are here. After that, you need to have a local license. So, he continued to say, "I need to see your original passport to see when you came into the Country."

Well, although I knew ALL of the above, I was very lazy this week, and did not care to go to our lawyer's office to get my passport back from him, after he filed our visa papers with Panamanian immigration. So, as soon as the policeman confirmed it to me, I knew I was in deep trouble.

So, doing my very best to remember all that I've been learning at school, trying to use all the freaking pronouns Cervantes thought to be necessary when one speaks Spanish, I told the policeman that my passport was at immigration, therefore I wasn't able to prove him that I was legal and have not been driving here with a foreign driver's license for more than 3 months.

He then kind of rolled his eyes, like all policemen in my previous encounters have done and told me to go and wait on the road shoulders. I don't know what is up with policemen, but when they stop me and I don't have the documents they want me to produce or don't speak the local language, they all roll their eyes up, LOL!!

Anyway, he checked a couple of cars behind me and came to see me again. I knew my situation was a problematic one, I was wrong but not 100% illegal, so that tiny little bit of not being illegal, plus the time at church I had just had, gave me the confidence to talk to him. I knew that I had not been stopped because I was a foreigner. All cars in front and behind me were being stopped and also because here, Joel and I mingle well with the crowds. We don't look foreigners until we open our big fat mouths and a huge accent comes out of it. Until then, we could well be Panamanians, which is great for a change.

Just to give you a picture of what my scenario was like:
- I was driving in Panama with my Hong Kong driver's license that had no pictures in it, showing him a copy of part of my passport that did not give my nationality nor a number and with a visa and a stamp from Angola.... hum... not great to say the least.

He approached me and repeated the story that he needed my passport to make sure I've been here under 3 months and ends by saying that in these cases, the car has to be toll trucked until all is clear. I immediately respond to him something like:
- "oh no sir, please don't. I know that right now, it's only my word that you have, but please, trust me, I have been here for less than 3 months. Right now now, you only have my word, but tomorrow, I can have my passport with the stamp and prove it to you. Alternatively, you can call my lawyer and speak to him"
and I handed him my phone. To this, he replied:

- "You're Brazilian, right? Don't they have similar rules there?"
With a smile on my face, I replied:
- "yes I am, but quite honestly sir, I have no idea what the rules are for foreigners driving in Brazil". To that, he replies:
- "Ok, I'll let you go, but please go back home now and have your passport with you as of tomorrow, ok?"

Phew, that was a close one, have no idea what was the terrestrial turning factor, (as opposed to the divine intervention, clearly from God)... if it were me being straight to the point with the fact that no, I didn't have a passport right there and then to prove it, but yes, I've been here less than 3 months, the smile, being Brazilian or the confusion of the case of a Brazilian national, who had only a partial copy of her passport with an Angolan visa, driving with a Hong Kong license in Panama or... all the above, but baby, be sure, I came back straight home and won't leave it until tomorrow morning when I'll go straight to the lawyer's office!!