New York, NY -- A New York-based travel author recently rode a motorcycle from New York to South America and says his biggest hassle was the dirty cops.

Andres Carlstein says everywhere he went on his travels he had cops demanding money from him.

Some police, Carlstein says, were pretty creative, like the numerous border check officers that demanded money to buy votive candles for their Virgin Mary shrines. There were so many, in fact, that he brought a bag of candles to give to police, though there were no takers.

Carlstein -- who documents his misadventures in "Odyssey to Ushuaia: A Motorcycling Adventure From New York to Tierra Del Fuego" (Chicago Review Press) -- says the worst offenders were in Peru, where one shifty officer tried to use a fake radar gun to hoodwink him.

Carlstein advises travelers carry a "dummy wallet" with a fake ID, expired credit cards and a few dollars and hand that over when the fuzz decides to fudge on the law.

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