I have never thought of trying to pay of anyone in the US although I suppose it might work. When I traveled in Mexico, it was pretty much expected, even when we did nothing wrong, scary stuff in some spots..

Might work even now! But would totally depend on exactly who you run into...

Where I hang around there are very few from the West, and close to none on motorbikes, so even if there are patrols they probably prefer not using their English at all hehe, so its super relaxed 

rebel_nomad

I get it now. Some day maybe sats will serve these purposes as well.

DesertDave

alter_native

Nobody wants to be Peter Schiff, "right"?

I used to have a 4 ounce gold chain, these days I'm mainly driving on well known roads, unlikely to run into any real trouble.

Still got a couple of ounces or so in a safe in the house, though!

Cash works of course as well. The thing with a heavy gold chain is that you'd instantly be regarded as high on the social ladder, combine that with being polite but **not** a pushover at all and things will get resolved ;-)