Tailgate a truck!
 

So I'd just done this checkpoint on 24th march 2011 at about 1500h. My original plan was to camp before it and do it at 6 am or so. As I'd just left BA I was bound to hit the checkpoint with many hours of riding left. I picked up a big truck a few k before it and stuck right behind it all the way there. The lads stand in the middle of the road and didn't see me until I was past them! No time or money wasted. All I heard when i passed was Aaaaaaaaa.

Down further I was stopped n told I had to have a reflective x thing and that I had to pay 20 pesos while it isn't much it's still 100km of fuel. I was let on my way after a bit if polite arguing. I do feel sorry for the lad tho as he was only askin 20pesos and prob gets paid in peanuts!

Listen to easyg. Thatwas my backup plan. Enjoy! In p Iguazu now!!!

2nd these....
Worked perfectly in many occasions..

I do not worry about corrupt cops anymore, never paid them anything.

A few days ago I've been asked to stop about 3 or 4 times going down that road, the cop just put 2 fingers on the side like a "please pull over", I just don't stop, I respond by a similar 2 fingers sign that say "hey hello dude" and keep going slowly without stopping, I look back in the mirror see what they do. They've never chased me!!

It's very funny to watch, the cop look at me then do the same sign to the car behind, the car pulls over...

I usually wave and honk, unless I'm bored, then I stop and have a few laughs with the guys while they try to get money from me. Dot worry about this kind of stuff, it not a big deal.

I can't believe after all these stories and reports that they're still there doing their thing... Surely someone local in the right position must hear of all this and put an end to it.. It's one thing hearing about a vague checkpoint that something happened, and a whole different story hearing about the same exact km and the same 3 guys ripping tourists off...

I hope they get what's coming to them soon...

Then where will be the adventure on this flat and boring road???
Well those things don’t work in that way down here…
“Someone local in the right position” are doing the same in a big scale. Or if are good people are worry about important stuffs.
Now at least you are warned, if you don’t get angry or impolite your experience will be just anecdotic.
If tourist are not silly and don't pay they will get tired and quit to stop them…
Just my 2 argie cents.
Saludos

La ruta
 

I was stopped in Entre Rios region earlier this year after crossing into argentina at frey bentos. When i say stopped.. my bike had a blocked vacume line from the tank. The police actually stopped organised me a utility vheicle to the nearest town, asked for my facebook and had a beer in town with me... all for nothing..

check out some of the images from iran motorcycle journey

Yeah right, that is horrible advice for this check point. This checkpoint is definitely different then all the other ones.

It is better to have a few lines of Spanish memorized where you can tell the corrupt cop that you have heard stories about the corruption at this checkpoint.

Another good idea, if you have a fancy camera, is to have it out and ready when you get to this checkpoint and start taking pictures of them when they stop you. Tell them that you are a journalist and are writing an article about the police in Argentina.

Will you, who can’t not distinguee a clutch cable from a throttle one, come to tell me in my own country that my advices are “horrible”?
Why you don’t remember all of us all the misadventures you had with the police just for been stupidity impolite and arrogant?
Nice advice yours recommending everybody to confront police saying they are corrupt and trying to take pictures showing fancy cameras.
I have living here all my life passing through all that check points one or two times every year and many others more, I never had to pay a coin always being nice, correct, having my papers in order and discussing with respect if they want to fine me....

Very funny now that after your big misjourney ride come here as the master of the ultimate motorbike overlander to teach all of us... why you don’t already wrote a book to illuminate the world???

Your Top 3 Chapters could be:
-How to get lost and get the CIA & FBI searching for you in the Darien Gap.
-How to be ripped off by a cute Gringo Hunter in Buenos Aires.
-How to be bad treated by a corrupt police in some shithole in South America.


Please Gatogato, come back to the real world and try to learn something!!!!

Javier, it is clear to me that you can not take a little bit of criticism without becoming a fanatic.

This checkpoint is a serious problem and you are doing the international motorcycle community a disservice by pretending otherwise and giving bad advice so you can protect Argentina's pride.

The police at this checkpoint are trying to take advantage of foreign motorcyclists who are not familiar with Argentinian law. When you passed through with your Argentinian plates that is probably why they did not try to extort you. It is a lot more intimidating to have a police officer take your passport away from you in a foreign country and be told that you will be going to jail if you do not pay $400 US. I promise you that I have never been rude to a police officer in my life, but with these crooks on km 341 you need to be witty and make sure you know exactly how to call them out right in Spanish.

You are right about how I will never know as much as you about motorcycles Javier. When I did my trip I was young and naive. The difference between me and you is that I have humility.

If the same thing had happened to you in a foreign country, none of us would ever receive a warning because you would be too Proud to post about it.

I'm not sure why some long distance moto travelers get so wrapped up about the police fishing for a little beer money? It happens, its part of the deal, relax, get over it.

I always had some interesting and even comical experiences with the cops that wanted money from me. Never paid them though. Getting stopped by cops trying to get a few bucks from me is just a nice break that punctuates the monotony of the day IMO.

I'll give the Mexican cops first place prize for creativity. Several years ago, one guy went as far as to handcuff me and put in in the back of his cruiser for an almost an hour with the windows rolled up in 90 degree heat, while he was supposedly trying to find a truck to come pick up my bike. I called his bluff, and I won. But, mentally I was fully prepared to go to jail. That was the only time I ever thought that I may have got myself into a little more than I expected. I was surprised he wasted so much time on me. I thought that I might have met my match with that guy.

In second place, not far behind, the Honduran cops were pretty slick. The cop gambit of CA1 through Honduras was quite entertaining. By the 6th time I was stopped on that 100 mile stretch of road, the cops laughed at me, and said, "oh, youre the guy with no passport, and no money. Move along gringo, cuidate" :cool4:

I wouldnt dare put the Argentinian cops at this Ruta 14 checkpoint in the same league with the Mexican and Honduran cops. In my travels, only twice in all of Argentina did a cop even hint that he wanted a mordida. My other experiences with cops in Argentina was positive. One guy even helped me change a front flat on the side of the road. Never heard of a cop in the US doing that.

The Peruvian cops whom people seem to have lots of issues with, only hit me up for cash 3 times in about 3000 miles of riding. Only took about 5 minutes of my time for them to eventually tell me to move along.

If youre strategy is to get aggressive by taking out a camera and start snapping pictures of the cops, telling them you are writing for a magazine, one day youre going to piss off the wrong cop and get yourself into much more than you bargained for IMO. You have to remember that you are still dealing with the cops and cops have the power to make your life very miserable. I will not pay them, but I also prefer not to piss them off. Once you do that, you just dug yourself a much deeper hole to get out of. But, do whatever you like.

gatogato, dealing with the cops is all part of the reality that you signed up for when you pointed that bike south, so I dont understand all the heartburn with this.

Javier is correct. Be polite, use your head, stand your ground. Everyone has a different capacity to deal with situations like this, and there is always a learning curve. Hopefully the $400 you paid in tuition did not go to waste.

Saludos.

Oh, another "know it all."

It is so fun to read the posts of the people who do not make any mistakes on this site!

I am sure there is a reason why this thread was stickied as opposed to one about a police checkpoint in another country. Please notice that I was not the thread starter.

If you did not travel through this checkpoint then why are you giving other rider's advice on it? How would you have any idea how the police at this checkpoint compare to anyone else?

I never paid a bribe to the police on my trip.

Thanks again for your patronizing advice! It was very informative.

The only reason I was posting in this thread was to warn other riders about the danger of this checkpoint. It is too bad that this thread is turning into a pissing match. Hopefully, potential riders can discern the relevant information for themselves.

Glad you enjoyed my post. I have no idea why this thread was stickied because its just another checkpoint among hundreds in Latin America where the cops will try to get a few bucks from you. I understand that you didnt start the thread, but you did flat out tell Javier that he had absolutely no clue as to what he was talking about. So who is the "know it all?"



I've traveled through the Ruta 14 Km 341 checkpoint, more than once. Its not a big deal, just one more checkpoint where cops try to get money from you.


Then why all the drama?



Your welcome. I'm happy I could help enlighten you. I dont see any pissing match here other than the one you started with Javier. The relevant information is that the cops may try and shake you down at this checkpoint, nothing else. A checkpoint like this is neither unique, nor rare in Latin America.

Youre getting all worked up about nothing. Relax.

Time to throw my 5 pesos worth into this one I think!
This particular checkpoint IS a nest of vipers. That's why this thread was stickied. I've been through numerous times as an overland truck driver in the last 10 years and can give plenty of first hand experience of pistols being waved about, even pointed at my codriver to make him sit down in the office, and every time a truck goes through it IS stopped.
Sorry if this embarasses our Argentine friends, but it's time to stop patronising us with this "they're just normal cops trying to make a bit of extra" bull... They're not. They are thoroughly nasty bast...s, and Crashmaster, after 10 years on the continent, I can tell you this checkpoint IS rare. If some have passed through it with little or no trouble then bully for them, but don't try to reduce other's experiences to mere overreaction.
There. Don't need to visit this thread again. Thanks for listening.

I've been traveling in Latin America enough years to know that I can expect to run into checkpoints like this in Mexico, Central America, and South America. I'm not saying its right nor that its OK. I'm saying it is not uncommon and any foreign moto traveler should expect to run into situations like this and deal with it accordingly. This checkpoint is not unique in the Americas and whining about it on the internet doesnt accomplish anything of value.