Cops Are Different in Buenos Aires

OK. Actually, this is the last post about the trip to Buenos Aires.

And, for your reading enjoyment, we have a guest writer... Mo!

I was foggy about this story since I was tired and emo when it happened. After visiting P's parents' fabulous house, P's mother was quite considerate and called a car service to pick us up.

This is what happened:

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"Cops Are Different in Buenos Aires"

an Essay by Mo

We had to go through a set of tolls in order to get on the highway,
and there was a broken-down car in line and another car was sort of
swerving around. Our driver made a "tsk" sound as he maneuvered around
the broken-down car and the swerver, but we made it onto the highway
without incident.

On the highway, we found ourselves following a cop car. Sure, the cop
car was driving kind of slowly for a highway, but that did not seem a
good reason for our cab driver to start tailgating and flashing his
lights. Let me repeat: The cab driver started tailgating and flashing
his lights at a cop. A very painful hush fell over the cab as we
Americans began to pray that we were not about to be tossed into a
South American jail.

The cop pulled over,we pulled behind him, and the cab driver got out
of the car. That's when the panicked whispering began. "What the hell
is he doing?" we said to each other. "Did he just pull over a cop?"
Meanwhile, the cab driver and cop held a very calm conversation that,
to our surprise, did not in any way involve the cop throwing the
cabbie up against the car and cuffing him. So that was a good sign
right there.

After a few minutes, the cop returned to his car and drove merrily
away. The cabbie returned to our car and started up the engine. After
a bit of a stunned silence, D, our heroic Spanish speaker, asked the
driver what just happened. There was some explaining in Spanish, and
then D turned around to us and said, "Oh! He just wanted to get the
cop's attention so that he could report that driver back at the
tollbooth who was swerving. He looked like a drunk driver. I guess
that here, it's OK to get a cop's attention by flashing your lights at
him."

"D," I said, "Tell him that in America, flashing your lights at the
cops evokes a very different response."