Day 264: Vice Cops (19/10/2011)

I was looking for a police man.

Someone pointed me to the Ministry of the Interior - there were lots of policemen there.

I walked to the front door but the officer on duty was busy talking to his wife on his mobile phone. I had a peice of paper with the instructions for obtaining a police report written on it in Spanish. It was the only thing that the officers at the bus stop had given me.

I took it out of my wallet and tried to show it to him but he was deep in conversation. He waved me through, clearly on the basis of a misunderstanding, and I walked up the imposing steps and into the cool atrium of the Ministry.

Just as a large entourage was walking out.

Burly security officers were about to move me to one side when an old man in the middle of the crowd called out and instead of being manhandled to the fringes, I was absorbed into the melee.

Before I appreciated what was happening, old man grasped my hand, embraced me and uttered something unintelligible in machine-gun Spanish.

Then he was off and I was left standing in the wake of the receding ruck of people.

I never did get to talk to a police man.

That, however, is how you get to meet the Vice-President of Ecuador.