Decided to stay in Medellin today and explore the city. Pretty neat place, the City is clean, burgeoning, with 2nd world status. The City has made an amazing comeback from the drug cartel days. No longer the most dangerous city in the world. The streets are mostly safe, modern business is happening, and upscale housing and shops are moving in. Basically, this is a city on the mend.
I did get pulled over again today at a police check point. No shake down this time, but I was warned that I was in violation of State rules as I did not have my license plate number on the back of my helmet. Officially, I am also supposed to have it on a yellow vest that I am also required to wear, but this portion of the law does not seem to be enforced. I did a little investigation as to the reason for this rule and apparently it is aimed to stem motorcycle hits. Not motorcyclists getting hit in traffic, but targeted murders being carried out by motorcyclists, hit man style. At one point, over half of all murders in Medellin were carried out on motorcycles, it is down to 15 percent now. I am sure that the decrease has more to do with the increasing health of the City and the elimination of the drug cartel, but the law still persists today, and they are pretty anal about enforcing it. So I stopped by the motorcycle store, bought letters and numbers for my helmet, and stuck them on. Apparently they will be on there for a while as Argentina and Bolivia also have similar laws on the books.
Trip Summary
Today's Leg: 30 miles
Total Distance Traveled: 5,479 miles
Total Borders Crossed: 8
Total Countries Visited: 9
Total Times Stopped by the Police/Tickets Issued: 6/0
Shaken Down by the Police/Their Success Rate: 2/0
No comments:
Post a Comment