Little Adventures: The Mexican International Incident — How I Almost Got Arrested By La Policía…Twice.

So, let me tell you a story about how I almost got arrested in Mexico. I’d never been in charge of the gworls before and after this night, I may never be in charge of the gworls again.

Kawaun Harvey
7 min readFeb 6, 2022
Photo by DAVID NIETO on Unsplash

The boys and I were celebrating a friends birthday in Cancun aka red flag number 1. The liquor was flowing, the vibes were vibin’ and I was looking like a bad b*tch (I have the instagram photos to prove it so follow me on instagram). All we wanted was to end the night, on a lite note back at the AirBNB with this man I met on Jack’d aka red flag number 2. The man was a sweet guy, but no man in the making of this international incident, was cute enough to go to prison for.

My friend and I and are kiki’ng with Jack’d, his friend and these two random Mexican men. To me, honey, the two Mexicano were just bodies. I danced with one of them in the evening because occasionally I like to pretend to be a top, but I just wasn’t feeling it this night. The other one spoke only Spanish so no one in the party even knew what he was saying aka red flag number 3.

Red flag number four came when Jack’d’s friend had to get in the trunk of the car because there wasn’t enough space for all us to fit comfortably. Having drank an entire bottle within a matter of hours beforehand, it never occurred to anyone that we were in a foreign country with complete strangers and we should have just taken our drunk behind’s home in a cab. However, there were three birthdays on the line so we threw caution to the wind and said let’s get weird.

We all pack ourselves in the car like the racist anecdote that might be too rude to say aloud and we start driving. Maybe one minute away from Jack’d’s home we get stopped by La Policía and from there it goes south.

The term ‘be cool’ does not apply to someone with severe anxiety. I’m holding this Mexicano’s hand because I just need to stay grounded. My friend is asleep in the front seat and we are using google translate to try to communicate with the police while the Mexicano are trying to scam their way out of this situation. Now I don’t understand Spanish all that well, but I understand it enough for us to know when I’m being thrown under the bus.

The situation — La Policía searched the vehicle and found Marijuana poppers. I don’t know about the other gworls, but this one takes fiber pills that keep me clean and regular. I don’t use poppers, I don’t need em. Jack’d and his friends said it wasn’t theirs and the two Mexicano said it didn’t belong to them either but it doesn’t matter because at this point La Policía is over all of us. They offer us a deal. Go to prison or pay them $600.00 — American dollars not pesos.

We don’t have that kind of money. Jack’d is yelling at us and telling us to come up with $100.00 each because he doesn’t want to go to prison. I’m doing my deep breathing exercises/trying to avoid having a full on panic attack and La Policía is waiting for their coin because they no damn well that we weren’t going to prison. Big props to my friend who was just calm the entire way through. In retrospect, I don’t think that anyone was ever going to prison, I truly believe that La Policía just wanted the money.

This is where I go from panicked to annoyed. For some unknown reason Jack’d tells the police to let the two Mexicano go and they start walking away, without giving up their cut of the $600.00. If it were up to me and my friend, we would have beat their a**ess all the way to the ATM because they were going to come up some pesos. By the time we could do anything about it they were already walking away. So now there’s four black men and two Mexican police officers still under the threat of going to prison for marijuana poppers.

We end up getting back in the car and La Policía follows us to an ATM which is in Spanish and all of us are too drunk to use. After a couple of attempts my friend and I get frustrated and walk out to see La Policía. It was every man for himself and at this point they realize that we’re just too much of a mess to deal with and tell us to not get in the car with strangers — something my mother told me when I was a child that still applies to this day. My friend and I walk back to the AirBNB (about a half hour) and we just go to our rooms to sleep off the trauma. Shoutout to my friend who really held us down during this difficult time.

I check in with Jack’d the next morning because I had his passport. As they were checking our ID’s they must have given me his and I didn’t notice. They robbed Jack’d blind. They took his watch, jewelry, his gold teeth, money — baby it was a shakedown.

The second time I almost went to Mexican prison was definitely my fault. Apparently it’s not just frowned upon to pee in the streets of Playa Del Carmen, it’s an actual crime. I swear I looked to my left and looked to my right before I handled my business by a trash can but as I’m walking I get stopped by this officer who appears out of nowhere. Eventually I get away, 20 pesos poorer.

This all could have gone wrong in so many ways and if it weren’t for my grandmother praying for me every day, I probably would have wound up $100.00 poorer or in a Mexican prison. With all the worry about COVID we tend to forget that the world is still fleshed with little trauma’s around every corner. Breathe deeply, learn from your mistakes and keep on keeping on friend.

Here are the lessons I learned from that experience:

Lesson 1: Therapy works! Had I not been in therapy at the time I would not have had the knowledge of using deep breathing exercises to ground myself and I may have called La Policía a ‘punk bitch’ like I did the last time I got caught by the police (this was in America and I was very young). It’s important to know how to stay calm in any interaction with a police officer, especially in a foreign country. I may be a bit flippant about my experience, but rest assured I was very afraid the entire time.

As a person of color, it’s no surprise that I’d be an easy target for the police. In a foreign country, you could argue it gets worse when you’re an American. Be safe, play safe. You can always have a good time but be very aware of who you associate yourself with and stay away from marijuana poppers.

Lesson 2: I’ve become very aware that as an international traveler, I have no rights. Not because I’m not entitled to them but because I don’t know them. Was this an illegal search and seizure? Was there enough evidence there for us to go to prison in the first place? I’m not even entirely sure the poppers had any real THC in them. There seems to be some legality when it comes to CBD, but I was never really sure.

It’s difficult enough, dealing with police in America but when you’re traveling the rules change. People know they can take advantage of you and they will. This isn’t a new lesson, but it gets deeper when you’re about to be sent to the Mexican jail.

Lesson 3: Delete you Jack’d. Delete your Grindr. In the sweet words of D. S. D. and Khia — Don’t trust no n*gga, no, no. You can’t trust no n*gga no, no.

Here’s what I did about it:

Before you travel, teach yourself some conversational words. I recommend using Duolingo. You don’t have to know the whole language, most people do speak english even in foreign countries but it’s always good to understand phrases like, “You’re being arrested” or “Put your hands up” or “Give me money or I will take you to prison.” You know, the light stuff.

Even more important than the language are the laws. There are certain laws in every country that are the same. Don’t get caught doing drugs. Don’t get caught peeing in the streets. Don’t get caught running naked into the water after the beach has closed. We can all agree that there are common laws we should follow, or at least we shouldn’t get caught. However, each country has certain nuances in its laws that make the difference between a fine and a felony. You do not want to be a felon in a foreign country.

If you want to brush up on international laws, the justice department does offer information on laws in other countries via this website. It’s a very long and very boring read, but at least skim through it. You never know what could be useful.

I can sometimes be a risk taker. At the very least I’m always down for a good ol’ ghetto time, especially if I’m feeling myself. So I make sure that I never travel alone. Make sure you have a friend who will notice that you are missing. Check in with each other regularly. Share your location at all times with your group. If someone goes missing, at least you’ll be able to track their whereabouts.

This tip I didn’t do, but when my friend told me about it I though it was a good idea. My friend had mentioned he once sent a small sum of money to a trusted person. That could be a parent, a dear friend or maybe a roommate. Someone you can trust who could send you some backup funds for any emergency. Anything can happen so it’s better to be safe than exchange sexual favors to some random papi for protection in a Mexican prison.

Travel safe, be smart and please don’t make the same dumb mistakes I did. I know I certainly will never do that again!

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Kawaun Harvey

My name’s Kawaun, I’m a writer, and most of the time I have something to say.