Once in a great while, when our medicine cabinet is low on supply, my husband and I go for a long drive to Mexico. I happened to have long weekend this week at work so that gave us time to do some sightseeing on the side, as well. A drive to Mexico usually takes 6 hours including bathroom, rest, and lunch stops.

I was hesitant on taking the car across the border for fear that it might take us forever to get back as experienced in the past. Parking spaces in the US side were nowhere to be found, last Friday afternoon. But, before we knew it, we were suddenly on the Mexico side in our car. “Bahala na” (come what may), I mumbled. We didn’t need to ask for direction because we had been there before. I didn’t even have to speak Spanish because the salespersons had no trouble understanding English and sign language. Transaction went swift.

Then I proceeded to the next store that was totally new to me, to buy cosmetic stuff for my friends. I had no choice but to ask for direction this time from some random guy on the street. I spoke to him in spanish and he replied in English. (Whoah, I could have saved those few spanish words for later…hehe.) I remember what my spanish teacher told us in our spanish class that Mexican are not the best people to ask for direction. I couldn’t make sense with his direction. Instead, we drove around in circles, read every name on the building, and finally spotted the place.

The nearest parking spot to the building required us to make a U turn on an L-shape road with a yellow solid line, and so we did just that. While my husband was backing up on a corner for a U-turn, we saw a police car approaching from opposite direction. For some reason, I always get bad vibes every time I see a police car. I didn’t like it at all. If I were the driver, I would have just dismissed the the idea of a U-turn, continue driving and make a turn somewhere that is safe. But, it was my husband driving, so…

While my husband was doing the parallel parking, the police car stopped parallel to the car behind us. Then the lights from the police vehicle started flashing. I knew from that moment that we did something wrong. As I got out of the car, two policemen with hands near their guns approached my husband. He spoke in straight Spanish as if my husband knew what he was saying. He then asked us if we spoke the language. We chorused, NO! From my little Spanish knowledge, he was saying that we were not supposed to make a U-turn on a curve (especially with a police car nearby) but there was no sign that said we couldn’t. My husband backed into a curve to avail of the nearest parking space right across the road oblivious of his surroundings. He wanted to get the job done and get out of there as fast as possible.

Due to the language barrier, however, the police officers weren’t getting anywhere with us. What, huh, were the few words we uttered back. After a while, out of frustration, I supposed, he had to let us go. Whoah, that was a close call.

Sometimes, it is best not to say a word when in some foreign country.

Beautiful cloud like this makes a good subject for photography, don’t you think?

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