#1431 – Easter Sunday 2025: Expat Life, Slang, Stereotypes, and Smart Home Privacy

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:00] South of the border down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came up to play and now I wonder Hello there all you ex-pad wannabes. I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America The show that tells you just what it's like to live work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great and it's all right here. So let's get started Alright, let's start off with this Easter Sunday show. That's what it's first kicking off on Easter Sunday 2025 with a response letter from Dave number one Remember I read an email from Dave the other day talking about fires and earthquakes and building construction techniques

[00:50] since he's from California Naturally for Californians that's pretty much on their minds 24-7. Anyway, he says hi, Johnny Just got another earthquake here. Not long after you read my last letter on the expat files He says it was centered in the mountains in eastern San Diego County was supposedly a 5.2 But I think it was more intense than that shook the roof really well for about two to three seconds My cell phone went crazy with an emergency alert at the same time that I was feeling the shaking Actually, he says I prefer rolling earthquakes rather than those shake your booty ones Those rolling earthquakes means the earthquake was much farther away Sign Dave number one just checking in PS Johnny

[01:37] I'll be in Guatemala May 14th through May 19th. If you want to have a coffee clutch speaking of coffee clutches, he says The phrases you use like coffee clutch Cyclone fence and putting on the dog are phrases. I've only heard on the expat file Well, Dave number one thanks for that always good to hear from me. Yeah, you know in the Midwest especially around the Chicago We have our favorite phrases Particular to our region of the country. I'm sure you've got a few in California. I've never heard of either Here's another one. You probably never heard when you talk about a real Italian sausage sandwich or Polish sausage a lot of that going around in Chicago When the sausage is in a sandwich, it's called a bomber. Yeah, that's right like a dive bomber

[02:23] So I often hear my mom and dad say I'm going out for a bomber You want me to get you one too? Sure if it's an Italian bomber, I'd love those things But only from a real 100% Italian delicatessen where there's a fat old Italian lady making the sauce I'm talking about an Italian bomber that she never heard that phrase in California There are lots of Midwestern phrases you pick up as a kid and you think well everyone uses them Right, but they don't like for example. Have you ever heard of a Sammy bar? Yeah, that's right Sammy bar like the man's name Sammy and then bar tell you the truth Dave I learned something new from you today I learned that coffee clutch Cyclone fence and put on the dog are not general terms used throughout the US all this time I sort of thought they were in fact

[03:09] I remember the first time I heard the phrase putting on the dog which means you know Putting on airs trying to be something you're not also known in cruder Midwestern circles as polishing the turd Yep, putting on the dog. That's a phrase used commonly in the Midwest usually reserved for pretentious assholes I remember hearing that phrase for the first time when I went to a dog show My neighbor had a couple of bedlington terriers know what they are Crust between a greyhound at a poodle very odd looking very fast Anyway, there was a dog grooming truck in front of the house, man Never saw one of those before and the name of the company on the side of the truck putting on the dog Great name for a dog grooming service, huh, but I digress man that I digress anyway

[03:55] Speaking of putting on the dog I notice that the fast majority of gringles and expats living down here in Latin America do not do that They're beyond putting on the dog They may have done that back in business or when they were younger up in the states But as they got older and matured end up in Latin America making a big decision, you know getting the hell out of Dodge That is a seriously big decision once they get here and start that new life. They don't have to put on the dog They're not even thinking about they're not trying to impress anyone. There's no one to impress They've accomplished their goal. They've gotten out of Dodge and thankful for it That's why most expat gringos are so casual in their dress clothes nice and clean But oftentimes a little rumpled looking never quite sharp in the gringo and expat crowd almost no one's ever dressed up formally

[04:42] No one no one I know anyway dresses to the nines Whatever that means dressing to the nines have to look that one up except for maybe a wedding or something But even then like I said, no one to impress so you don't have to put on the dog though I do see with some older expat gringos sitting around at a coffee clutch There's that phrase again There is some and maybe a lot of gringo expat one upmanship going on But you know putting on the dog means putting on airs right and that usually means Name-dropping dressing up in the authentic brand name stuff not the Chinese clones Wearing real jewelry the good stuff and making it obvious flashing the latest iPhone Well, gringos are not putting on the dog in that respect But they do like to subtly get into the one-upmanship battles not with Latinos

[05:31] But with other gringos over the years I've witnessed a lot of that it can get pretty annoying Especially if a gringo expats living half the year or part-time in Latin America and it's got a house in let's say Voca Raton, Florida It's tempting for gringos living half-time down here to show off that stuff Yep, sadly, it reveals itself when that part-time expat whips out his phone and it shows you the new Range Rover or Audi Or the beautifully manicured golf course He's living right next to when he's up in the state that kind of gringo one-upmanship I've seen a lot of and believe me. I do not engage in that sort of shit at all You know, it's the same thing with expat gringos whip out their phone and try to show you pictures of their kids and grandkids I say man, please pack it in. I do not want to see your kids or your grandkids

[06:22] No one gives a shit about your genius kids or grandkids except you There's nothing more boring than seeing your kids or grandkids Romp around at Disney World or in your custom book a tan swimming pool Expat gringos are famous for pulling that shit, please Though I have got to admire expat Eddie He's got the number one surefire way of nipping those situations in the bud As soon as those delusional expats start passing around their iPhone with those stupid pictures Eddie with a deadpan straight-faced look he pulls out pictures of his dog funny enough. It turns out to be a very effective Conversation stopper seems the offending gringos get the point right away Another thing that's kind of funny when gringos get together at their favorite sidewalk cafe having a coffee clutch and such

[07:11] It's inevitable that one or more of them usually all of them have been through an SD divorce up in the states It's one of the reasons that pushed him down the Latin America I've noticed it's a very touchy thing when the word divorce comes up Because sometimes the subject of divorce will turn into a you don't know what I used to have but lost Pissing contest that's when some of these disgruntled gringos will drag out photos of the house They lost and other important big stuff like maybe a classic car. They lost in the divorce That's when the pissing contest begins because then all the other guys join in on that game Actually, it's a one-up Smithship game in reverse because they're talking about stuff they lost in the divorce why guys hang on to pictures of that stuff I'll never know. I guess it's a kind of a guy thing bragging about what you used to have

[08:00] Just like you hear so many pot-bellied gringos and expats bragging about what great athletes They used to be and that's somehow supposed to impress the people you're talking to, huh? Or maybe it's about trying to squeeze out a little sympathy That's a theme gringos and expats living down here in Latin America are really good at talking about what they lost in their last divorce Yeah, that's right their last divorce because some expats have been through more than one and no no one's done a study on it I bet that would be a great masters theses doing a big poll a survey amongst expat gringos and gringos Determining just how much of force their divorce was and deciding to get the hell out of dodge Now in keeping with that same theme love romance mating dating and divorce Comes this email from Claudia a Guatemalan Latina from the upper classes who listens to this show

[08:51] In fact, this isn't the first email I've gotten from her She says when she was in high school in Guatemala one of those bubble high-end expensive helicopter schools She said her English teacher made the whole class listen each and every morning to my radio show So the class could pick up on the idiosyncrasies of how people really speak English You know in casual conversations on the streets as such other than strictly learning English from the textbooks back Then it didn't take me long to find out quite a few helicopter schools in Guatemala and beyond We're listening to my English language radio program when it was on the air in Latin America from 2000 to 2008 who'd have thought Latino children are the rich junior high and high school students We're listening to my radio show as part of their English classroom assignments

[09:38] Anyway years passed and I still hear from some of those kids like Claudia. She says Johnny I was one of those students that used to listen to your drive-by show every morning in class in my high school in Guatemala City But today I'd like to tell you how your male perspective on why Latinas like older gringo guys is a bit skewed You're not a Latina woman. So you can't see things from our perspective She says I am an educated college graduate 28 year old Latina the kind you like to refer to as a child of the wealthy class a Nina Rica, I went to one of those bubble bilingual callejos as you say Yes, I admit I am from a privileged class and maybe even live in a bubble sometimes, but I'm grateful for it

[10:24] I don't take it for granted. She says Johnny I don't like or agree with everything you say on your show But I think it's interesting to get the gringo view of Latin America and opinions of your listeners especially when gringas right in She says I'm a native Guatemalan living in Guatemala and have been to the US a few times for vacations and shopping Don't laugh Johnny. I know how you make fun of us when we do that though. I see your point Let me first point out though that I'm not a choppy or choppy Adora Alright. Alright me Johnny here. Let me explain what a choppy or choppy Adora is if you don't know already It's one of those girls that hangs out on those internet dating sites to tinder into Cupid sites whose sole purpose is to hook up with a gringo for his money and then proceed to nick away at him for

[11:11] presents and cars and even apartments and houses eventually if the guy is Stupid or gullible enough to let it go that far It's kind of like only fans except the Latinos aren't performing for our money on the internet They're performing for money in person with a gringo who was gullible enough to fall for their sexy But fake come on anyway, you've heard me mention over and over again How those Latin American Cupid dating sites work at least half the girls on there probably more than half the girls on there are Chapis or choppy Adora's those are Spanish phrases for gold digger now It's interesting to see where that word came from choppy Adora or choppy for short Comes from the fact that when you go to buy jewelry gold jewelry here in Latin America. There's two kinds There's solid gold or nearly solid alloys 10 14 18 and 24 karat and there's gold-plated base metal

[12:03] Which looks like real gold just got a thin Electroplated coating of gold on it looks like gold but it's in heavy like gold and eventually it wears off and you see the base metal That's jewelry choppy Ava played it and you know how much that's worth not much So some years ago that name sort of stuck to girls who were known as gold digger girls that look really good on the outside But inside they're pretty worthless by the way It's a huge insult and you hear a latinas thrown around all the time about people they don't like or people they hate Like for example cardi B ask almost any latina what they think of cardi B They'll say Queen of the choppies the number one Choppy Adora when a latina down here uses it against another girl. That's a huge insult fighting words Like puta ho or slut. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. That's like every other word in a rap song, right?

[12:53] Anyway, Claudia goes on to say in her email Johnny. Let me first point out. I'm not a choppy or choppy Adora I don't need a rich man. I don't need a rich gringo through my family's businesses I will always live a nice life whether I get a rich husband or not. I Repeat Johnny. I don't need a rich gringo, but I do like worldly older guys specifically gringos and Europeans Gringos more though. I once had an Italian boyfriend for a while, but I don't recommend it They lie and cheat as much as Latino guys maybe worse But with a certain casual European flair that makes their flirting and cheating seem more acceptable more cosmopolitan But it's not acceptable not to me Personally, she says I like guys about 20 or so years older than me

[13:43] I repeat it's not at all for the money But for the other things they bring to the table when I started dating older gringo guys It was such a different vibe such a huge difference from dating Latino guys my age also not recommended even older Latino guys Supposedly cultured and refined Latino guys from my own social class You talk with them for a while and they're just not very interesting not curious not worldly not just full of information like the gringos I've met handsome, but empty vessels most of them So why do older gringos turn me on it takes a certain kind of person to leave their country and resettle in another World travelers I've found are certainly not boring of course that doesn't apply to everyone But you get the idea and Johnny the older established American guys

[14:28] I've dated are organized when they take a girl out they have a definite plan in mind They pick a nice restaurant not necessarily an expensive restaurant. They know what they're looking for make reservations Don't talk down to the waiters or parking attendants don't spend half the night on their phones They're polite and give you their undivided attention. They're not like so many Latino guys I've been out with eyeing up other women a Girl can tell if a guy's mind is elsewhere, and that's slightly annoying and older American guys Take things slow and easy which is also very refreshing not in a rush to go to the bedroom Then she says I also find older gringos actually listen to me hear what I'm saying and they don't overdo it on the cologne

[15:16] Don't have one eye Focused on the sports game on the club or restaurant TV it might seem like a small thing But when I'm talking an older more worldly gringo will listen and wait for his turn to talk of course It's a given that any gringo living in Latin America is ten times more worldly than any Latino guy a huge plus Even those Latino guys who have the wherewithal to go back and forth to the USA Pretenders who think they're worldly just because they visit the states even my own brothers and cousins, etc Think that because they've been to New York or Miami a few times. They've seen the world they're men of distinction Period punto finata. They think that's all it takes to be worldly

[16:01] She says most Latinos I know who go back and forth to the United States legally are so full of themselves They think they've graduated to another stratosphere So Johnny this email is in hopes of dispelling the myth that younger Latinas going out with older gringos are nothing but Chapiadoras gold digger, of course, there's some of that a lot of that But as in my case and with some of my girlfriends We really do like older American guys for various reasons And of course, it really helps if they know some Spanish though That's not a deal-breaker a disqualifier most of my friends and I went to bilingual school So we speak some English some of us speak very good English in my case. I have a TOEFL certificate So I'm considered fluent and Johnny as to the topic you bring up once in a while that gringos can't dance

[16:51] Well, that's true But most of you get an A for effort Gringos always get a pass when they're out on the dance floor Whether they really can pull it off or they're drunk and happy or stiff as a robot Just the act of trying to get out on the dance floor gives you an A for effort We all know what you're going through. You know about Latinos and Latinas and how we dance Oh, and here's a little tip. The truth is when you're on a dance floor Latinas aren't laughing at you behind your back Not at all. They're not making fun of you and laughing at your moves It's the Latino men who are making fun of you and talking behind your back Not because they're thinking they could dance circles around you. It's more than that It's an insecurity thing because they know how most all of us prefer gringos to our own Latino men

[17:40] So when there's an eligible gringo around they feel threatened They don't like to stiff competition Not one bit and their defense mechanism laughing and joking with their friends on how badly you dance on everything else So you've got a winning hand. Yes, Johnny. I know I'm speaking in generalities But basically everything I've said can be verified It's true signed a very longtime listener from zone 16 Guatemala City just a stone's throw she says from paseo, Kayala All right, Claudia. Thanks for those little tidbits of info I know now that you really live in that wealthy bubble when you mentioned your stone's throw from Kayala that says it all By the way, I always recommend if you're gonna visit Guatemala City to visit paseo, Kayala

[18:29] It's a model city or model town just about I'd say three or four kilometers away from the center of the city It was built maybe ten or so years ago on a very specific organized architectural scheme In some ways for Latin America. Anyway, it's quite a spectacular undertaking personally I wouldn't want to live there myself though It's got everything stores and parks and every restaurant you can imagine churches banks medical clinics complete underground parking the works You know, it sounds great and it looks great too, but it's just patterned way too much on one of those gringo model cities Nothing wrong with that since most upscale Latinos are gringo wannabes. So why wouldn't they build a gringo city? Right smack in the middle of Latin America

[19:17] I've been there many times and we even go there for dinner and to walk around and check out the joint During all of my expat insider seminars, and I'll tell you it really shocks the hell out of my seminar attendees It's just so hard to believe something like that even exists in Latin America Right outside of Guatemala City. No less a complete little town perfectly manicured perfectly safe And there's virtually no car traffic except through one major road Everything else is on foot cars buses and motorcycles not allowed and get this the cops. Yeah, they've got cops here and there They're riding around not in cars or motorcycles. They're riding around on segways. Yep. That's right. Cops on segways So I guess it's just way too gringo wise for me. It's just really something you wouldn't expect to see in Latin America

[20:06] Absolutely safe beautiful and high-end though. It is a sight to see do check it out Let's put it this way There are no poor or even middle-class Latinos who won't properties or apartments or townhouses there and there's got to be hundreds if not Thousands of individual apartment units all upscale apartments built to that certain theme scattered all over the place Last I heard the rock bottom low-end price for a condo It's around two hundred fifty thousand bucks for a small place, but they're all beautifully appointed. So believe me for Latin America That's very high-end By the way being a model city It was built under the premise that you never really have to leave everything's there all the amenities and it's true They've got everything there Which to me is a guy who likes to get out and around could get pretty sterile and confining like Island living

[20:56] Oh and get this there are no chicken buses fruit vendors or junk dealers allowed within a mile of the place and there's a very Conspicuous absence of driveway chickens and roosters crowing if you've been living in Latin America You'll find it almost eerie not to hear a rooster crow when you get up to piss at four in the morning Makes you forget you're in Latin America Now as far as the main body of Claudia's email if that happened to be an op-ed piece She could probably entitle it in Defense of young Latinas with older gringos in any event. She sure stirred up the pot there didn't she? I just know I'm gonna get a lot of emails on that one this week Alright moving on changing this subject completely, you know being that I was an engineer in a past life

[21:41] And of course have lots of nerd friends I still read some of the technical articles that come out in certain nerdy geeky magazines that the average public Probably never even heard of well, I just came across something that's not widely disseminated But certainly you should know about first a question. Do you use echo or Alexa in your house or car You know practically none of my geeky nerdy friends use them Although they know they're amazing technical devices. They won't use them for privacy reasons By the way, even here in Latin America upscale Latinos are using them I recently went on a house and apartment hunting trip with gringo expat lady helping her to find a place I told you about that in a past show maybe a couple months ago now in one of those places

[22:27] It was a penthouse in a residential tower the young affluent Latino couple who were selling the place Pure gringo wannabes. I might add had those little Alexa hockey puck things all over the house Of course that Latino couples English was perfect. The reason they were selling the place Beautiful penthouse. I might add is that the lady an executive at Colgate? Otherwise known as cold got day in espanol got a promotion and it was transferred to the head office in Mexico City Anyway, when me and the gringo lady I was with were walking through the place I noticed at least three of those little Alexa hockey pucks with their little soft blue LED lights Flashing and I thought man the public is just so unaware

[23:14] Especially Latinos who are upscale gringo wannabes and you know, I couldn't help myself I said to the couple, you know your Alexa thing over there. It's nothing but an information gathering device storing all your data I said, you know, I'm an engineer and I wouldn't have one of those things myself Now maybe I shouldn't have said that because they look kind of shocked for a second anyway Then they just felt right back into their matrix So then why am I bringing this up because in this geek magazine I was telling you about there's an article that starts with a question It says Alexa and echo should I trust Amazon with my voice recordings or real-time statements? Then the main title of the article says quote Everything you say to your echo and Alexa will be sent to Amazon and kept permanently in the cloud starting on March 28

[24:02] Which was a couple of weeks ago already now and in the small print It says Amazon is killing a privacy feature to bolster the new Alexa subscription assistant It goes on to say starting on March 28 three weeks ago recordings of every command or question ever spoken to Alexa or Echo speaker boxes and smart displays will automatically be sent to Amazon will be processed and forever reside in the cloud That goes for all smart TVs for which you have any kind of movie Subscription service Let me just read a couple of the key paragraphs here It says one of the most marketed features of the Alexa and the new Alexa Plus is It's more advanced ability to recognize who is speaking to it a feature known as Alexa voice ID to accommodate this new feature

[24:53] Amazon is eliminating privacy focused capabilities for all echo users Even those who aren't interested in this subscription based version of Alexa or who want to use Alexa Plus Whether you subscribe to voice recognition or not, then the article says however There are plenty of reasons people who wouldn't want Amazon or anyone else to store recordings or live messages Spoken to their personal devices For one the very idea of a conglomerate like Amazon or Google being able to listen to your personal requests made in your own home Is simply unnerving but nine out of ten people using the devices simply don't seem to care Not realizing that Amazon has previously thoroughly Mismanaged Alexa voice recordings in 2023 Amazon agreed to pay 25 million bucks in

[25:44] Civil penalties over the revelation that it stored permanently recordings of children's interactions with Alexa forever Then it says most adults using Alexa and echo did not realize that Amazon was keeping all Alexa recordings until they finally got a notice in 2019 whether they read it or not and acted on it remains doubtful It stated Alexa and echo keeps all recordings now That was five years after the first echo came out So if you had one of those foolish little things for the first five years, you didn't even know Amazon was keeping everything Now if that's not enough to deter you from sharing voice recordings with Amazon getting rid of those stupid devices Note that the company allowed employees to listen to Alexa voice recordings

[26:33] in fact way back in 2019 Bloomberg reported that Amazon employees listened to thousands of client recordings during their nine-hour shifts With Amazon saying in its defense that it allows employees to listen to Alexa voice recordings to train its speech Recognition and natural language understanding programs. Yeah, right other reasons You might want to throw those stupid little pucks in the trash Is that Amazon just can't be trusted with personal voice samples with Amazon paying millions and settlements in 2023 in relation to allegations that allowed Thousands of its employees and contractors to watch video recordings of customers private spaces taking from ring cameras Yeah, right. You remember that Amazon ring camera fiasco

[27:20] So remember this even though in the most recent version of Alexa and echo devices They have a setting that says don't save my recording if you believe that you deserve to be spied on You've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America If you need some help with your own plan B We can schedule a one-on-one phone or Skype consult just send me an email the expat files at gmail.com And if you want to get on the waiting list for my next week-long expat insider seminar in Central America Where you're guaranteed to get a two to five year head start on your plan B Send me an email the expat files at gmail.com. No spamos