In the 12 years that I have been here, I have only been stopped 4 times by "The little men in green". On 2 of these occasions I feigned lack of Spanish but laughed incessantly, joked in English & was soon put on my way as being too much of a problem to entice any money out of. Once I spoke in Soanish, got the story of he needed something to help him out & so I offered him a tourist magazine (in English) for him to show his friends - I was on my way in seconds after that!!! The other time I cheated a bit, I let the guy go on for a while telling me how hard life was at the moment (I had time to kill anyway) & how he was trying to support his family on the meagre pay he was getting & then I produced the "Consulado Britanico" (British Consulate) sign I used to carry in the car. This produced wonders - A BIG smile, a quick standing to attention & a salute to send me on my way. I regularly see that guy in town & he ALWAYS smiles & salutes even now & he knows darn well I no longer work in the Consulate offices!!!
Rumour has it that if, when you are flagged down, you give a couple of flashes on your lights to the man waving you down, that this informs him that you are police in plain clothes & that you are coming through. He may or may not believe you, but if you are travelling at 40 MPH, he isn't going to stand there & prevent your passage through just to check if you were telling the truth or not!! Not a system I have checked out for myself yet though!! - Grahame.