#1373 – The Expat Files: Littering, Pollution, and the Cost of Living in Latin America

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 as 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 You know gringles who land here in Latin America always seem to get around to the subject of water air and just litter pollution We've touched on that a few times on this program, too Yes, and I'll repeat it. Once again Latin Americans are the worst litter bugs. I've ever seen I

[00:49] Don't get it since Latino is always pontificate about the beauty and natural wonders of their country Though it doesn't help when the public trash receptacles are so full You can't get another piece of garbage in them great idea, huh? I have public trash receptacles everywhere, but empty them only when they're so overfilled the garbage is spewing out on the ground Makes you wonder why every Latin American country has a cabinet position for tourism more specifically You wonder what they're doing in that beautiful Well-appointed tourism building with all those late model SUVs in the parking lot Are they sitting in their offices with their thumbs up their asses? Nope? Nope, that can't be because every monkey needs his thumbs to swipe through tiktok You'd think they'd get it together on the litter thing since some countries like Costa Rica depend almost entirely on tourism

[01:37] I don't know if it's just stupidity irony or hypocrisy But I've watched Latinos praise their country to the high heavens out of one side of their mouth and not of the other side spit out of what a gum or toss a rapper out the car window Here's the other thing if you go to a beach resort You know an all-inclusive where they've got their own beachfront Which is by the way here in Latin America public property So anybody can use the beach not just the one staying at the resort located right in front of it The miracle is it's a miracle of stupidity really on the beaches in front of the big high-end resorts You see almost no trash often Sparklingly clean the question is is that because there's always a guy making the rounds picking up stuff Paid by the hotel or the local tourist board or is it because the hotel guests are a higher class of people and no better

[02:29] Or is it just plain and simply a tragedy of the Commons? The fact is almost all public beaches that is beaches that are not in front of a big resort area are pretty ratty Plastic bottles straws food wrappers everywhere and the adjacent water the surface full of junk too I know most all people listening to this show know what the tragedy of the Commons is It's pretty much a definition of socialism That is when no one owns anything or everyone owns it lies in socialism or like public beach People don't have enough agency to clean up after themselves because they don't own it. It's not theirs In fact, one of my nerd buddies an old professor from Yugoslavia the former Yugoslavia that is it's not a country anymore The name was Novi see a logic. He told me a story. He said as communism was falling all over Eastern Europe

[03:17] circa 1990 he said he could always tell if someone had the means to buy their own apartment at that time He said big government blocks of apartments were being turned over to the private sector and all the tenants formerly Government tenants under socialism were told if they had the means they could buy the apartment They were living in they could become owners a brand new concept in Yugoslavia Which did not have capitalism until the fall of the wall He said around about that time something strange happened. He noticed something odd He said when you visited one of those apartment blocks and you walked into the lobby and it didn't have a faint odor of Piss and poop. No one had to tell you But you just knew that most of the people in that building had converted to owners not renters

[04:04] Not only that he said people started painting their walls Before that he said for example in the kitchen No one ever painted and the grime just built up and built up and if you had white walls after about 10 or 15 years they'd be kind of drab hospital gray from all the cooking smoke Grease and dust build up and he said little by little even though people didn't have much money at all They started putting higher watt light bulbs in their lamps and wall fixtures Which meant a little bit higher monthly electric utility bills, but also nicer living conditions We all know that's the human condition when you own something you're much more likely to take care of it Take rent a cars for example How many times have you put the pedal to the metal or taking a turn just a little too fast to hear the tire squeal?

[04:50] Well, maybe that doesn't apply to you ladies lesbians maybe But guys, you know what I'm talking about, right? Have you stress-tested a rental car lately or an Airbnb need I say more? But I digress as usual. Where were you? Oh, yeah talking about pollution in Latin America Well, guess what? There's good news on that front wish there was more but certainly definitely some good news now I hate to keep repeating the fact that I've been down here more than 30 years now almost continuously Except for visiting the states for two weeks back in 1999 and a few trips to Europe, too I've been down here more than 30 years and I've seen lots of changes and on the whole most of the changes are on The plus side one of those big positive changes is in the area of pollution when I first got down here

[05:39] One of my biggest complaints and negatives were all those terribly polluting cars trucks and buses belching out Eyewatering black clouds of smoke Sometimes big enough to engulf your car if you happen to be one of the unlucky ones to be right behind them Especially when they took off from a dead stop and man public transportation and chicken buses were notorious polluters But these days not much anymore not visibly that you can see anyway In fact that could be driving along for hours and not see a single cloud of smoke coming from a car or a bus or anyone It's just such a contrast from when I first got down here though. I gotta tell you it's not what you think It's not because Latino vehicle owners are more into maintenance that word still does not exist down here

[06:24] So what happened? Why are buses and cars looking so clean these days? Well, one of the big reasons is car and truck and bus dealers in Latin America We're not required by law to have catalytic converters not till just about ten years ago And now all vehicles come equipped with them as you know in Europe, Canada, America all through the first world Car manufacturers had to follow strict pollution guidelines including catalytic converters since about 1975 Those rules did not apply to Latin America till around the millennium So millions of Chevy's Honda's Toyota's etc. Were sold new here in Latin America up till around 2005 without catalytic converters or pollution controls of any kind was perfectly legal too, but not anymore

[07:12] Even though a car without a catalytic converter will not generally blow smoke Nevertheless, the exhaust will contain a lot more pollutants, but the kind you can't see basically, the real reason why a car or truck engine will smoke so bad is simply due to old age and the parts wearing out like the rings the piston rings which gets sloppy allowing the oil the lubricant oil to mix in with the gas or diesel and That causes the smoke now the simple fix of course is to get a ring or top-end overhaul Which will completely eliminate the smoke problem? Latino mechanics will tell you though people don't do it because it's just money wasted money in the toilet a car or bus Blowing smoke will still run just fine except for the annoying smoke

[07:58] Of course bottom line Latino is just don't overhaul their cars or buses They'll put up with the smoke cuz they don't have the dough As for any internal combustion engine be it diesel or gas after about two or three hundred thousand miles All of the internal moving parts in the engine fall a little bit out of tolerance Especially the piston rings and valves result you get oil mixing with the gas or diesel Compression and the combustion chamber dwindles then you get incomplete combustion and smoke That's the natural progression of things. So then how is Latin America solved that problem or at least 90% of that problem It's not that driving population has gotten any smarter or more educated. Well, it's partially the mandatory catalytic converter thing

[08:43] Even more important is the fact that every Latin American country now limits the age of a used car You could bring into the country which occasionally becomes a kind of conundrum that gringles and expats fall into Oftentimes gringos want to bring their car to their favorite Latin country, especially when they get their residency They're allowed to import a car from the US without paying import taxes Some try to do that and find out they can't the cars too old that pisses off a lot of gringo expats because some of Them take such good care of their cars that a 10 or 15 year old car could be like new Personally, I was guilty that up in the states I had cars that were 10 or 15 years old in perfect shape I was not the kind of guy waiting for the new model years to come out. I kept my cars a long time

[09:30] Sure, I like a new car as much as the next guy, but to me they're just transportation I never was you are what you drive kind of guy though. There is something to that like dogs and their owners So as for cars, I always thought if it's old and in great shape, why trade up? So anyway, a lot of gringo expats have found out they can't import that 2010 Ford f-150 they've been pampering like a baby You're not allowed to import a vehicle if it's more than eight or ten years old and those laws in themselves have eliminated 90% of those tailpipe smoke blowers By the way when you're down here in Latin America on the road tailgate in a car Have a look at the bumper the trunk or the license plates frame There's always the dealer's name somewhere on that car if you're paying attention

[10:18] You'll notice that way more than half of all the cars you see have dealer stickers and logos from the states In other words, they were not bought new through a Latin American dealership, but somehow bought up in the states and shipped down Every one of those cars buses and trucks with a u.s logo dealer sticker on it was brought down as a used vehicle and none of them at least since the year 2000 anyway We're allowed to come down if they were more than eight or ten years old That's the big reason why you rarely see a car or truck or bus these days. That's blowing smoke now That's not to say you won't see terrible racks and junky pieces of shit still on the road you will But there certainly are many fewer than there were some years ago. So things are looking up in that respect Now if we could only somehow train Latinos not to trash their country with litter

[11:09] One huge positive step would be to outlaw plastic bottles I mean look at one time every country in the world used glass Exclusively because there were no plastic bottles. There used to be a thing called glass bottle recycling man I was into that as a kid was three or five cents a bottle man It kept us kids occupied on weekends and kept the environment clean. It's not as if it's never been tried before One other big problem here in Latin America is the use of plastic bags at corner stores and mini market True. Most markets have bags you can buy made out of some very thick woven plastic virtually indestructible multiple use for about two or three bucks But almost no one uses though. I Know up by you some cities and states have outlawed plastic bags all together at your supermarkets

[11:55] People haven't switched into paper bags. So how's that working out? Well, let's say okay for you guys and gals up north and it's pretty good virtue signaling, too But I assure you that will never work here in Latin America. Even if they gave away free paper bags Being paper, they will never hold up in the rainy season. So half the year paper bags are impractical Besides that during the rainy season every motorcyclist puts a plastic bag over his feet and his head Oftentimes I myself have been completely drenched on my way from the store to my car Only thing that can stand that is a plastic bag Just saying though on the subject of pollution you must have heard about the terrible air quality in places like Mexico City The big cities in Brazil Guatemala City any big city in Latin America. The question is does anybody care is

[12:45] The government doing anything about it? Mmm insert laugh track here. Good question since governments fuck up everything they touch not generally fuck up everything They touch they do it every time. I dare anyone to give me a case where the opposite is true Anyway, we all know about carbon monoxide pollution and poisoning in closed spaces, right? Carbon monoxide gas stoves car exhaust You've got reason to be concerned about that up in the states where houses are sealed Extremely tight because of the cold weather the high cost of heating and air conditioning, etc You want to have your house and your rooms sealed But if there's a co2 leak could be fatal. Anyway, that's just not the case down here in Latin America Sure, people are cooking with gas There's plenty of co2 emissions from cars and lots of people do something even worse 30% of Latin America cooks with firewood

[13:37] Wow, so in general and not just in general It's pretty much a hundred percent the case Latin American homes leaked like sieves on purpose The reason is so they can get a lot of airflow because they know Just cooking a meal in a Latin American kitchen produces tons of smoke and pollution Oh, and by the way, I'd say a 90% of upscale Latin American homes You know where they've got a nice first world style kitchen with a range hood that's supposed to exhaust foul air I bet that 90% of people with such range hoods are not connected to an outside wall with a vent They're supposed to do that But they don't and though they look good nice and modern stainless steel and a motor whirls around when you hit the switch I'd say 90% 9 out of 10 of them are just recycling old bad air

[14:22] But not to worry even upscale Latin American houses leak like sieves no window weather stripping no weather stripping under the doors Not good for insects and critter invasions, but a lifesaver for all that pollution generated in the kitchen Anyway over the years. I've been hearing more and more talk about respiratory problems due to heavy concentrations of Particulate matter in the air, especially in Latin American big cities For example, I keep hearing over and over again about Mexico City if you live there People in the know scientists are saying it's like smoking two packs of cigarettes a day There are statistics like that on every big city in Latin America if you live in for example, Sao Paulo Brazil It's like smoking one and a half packs a day It's all kind of confusing because some days when you're outside of a big Latin American city driving in there's no pollution

[15:14] All you look up in the sky. It's clear as day other times You're driving into the city looks like a hazy lazy mushroom cloud. You're thinking something's not right I've got to drive into that thing and breathe that all day once in a while, maybe but every day that can't be good So then what to do what to do the last thing I'd want to do is wear a mask Lest I be confused for a multi-vaxxed shit for brains fool So what's really going on? I wanted to find out and being a guy who likes gadgets I'm gonna figure out this thing once and for all set my mind straight. So I bought a nice expensive air quality meter It detects co2 detects two different sizes of particulate matter and formaldehyde So why formaldehyde that's the latest greatest danger

[16:01] You know outgassing from all that plastic and pressboard furniture IKEA is so famous for Scotchgard rugs and carpets mattresses pillows fireproofing of kids toys and blankets, etc When that stuff out gases one of the main components is formaldehyde, you know the stuff they involve people with So being as I was an engineering nerd in a past life I researched this shit out of all the available air quality meters ended up spending a hundred eighty bucks on a temp top That's T E M T O P M 2000 second-generation model and man, I tell you that thing really opened my eyes I can walk into any room or even go outdoors in a parking lot For example, take a reading in less than 10 seconds one thing I did find out you better have an air purifier in the bedroom

[16:49] You sleep now you longtime literacy may have heard me talk about the air purifier I bought some six or seven years ago now. Yep. I pretty much got it running constantly in my bedroom It's a HEPA filter with a pleated paper activated carbon cartridge when that's running my air quality monitor registers very healthy with co2 as Well as with a particulate matter and the formaldehyde number very healthy very low going outside However in the big city I'm talking about now Co2 in the good range not unhealthy formaldehyde almost non-existent. I mean who's got carpeting and IKEA furniture outside No surprise there, but man outside off and on there's a big problem with particulate matter That's the stuff that blocks a bit of the Sun and gives that cloudy haze just a little explanation here

[17:39] What is particulate matter and how does it get in the air? Well particulate matter Designated p.m. Capital letters on your meter It's just a term for the mixture of any kind of solid particles and liquid droplets found in your air Including but not limited to dust dirt soot fine sand and ash smoke and pollen etc And scientists talk about two different kinds of particle pollution and those two types have different scales on the meter Once called a p.m. 10. It's a particle. That's 10 micrometers or smaller Those are the inhalable particles that your lungs and nasal passages can filter and expel pretty efficiently Like for example if you've been out on a dusty road all day and blow your nose It's that black junk in your handkerchief the junk that's generally around 10 micrometers or smaller p.m. 10

[18:30] By the way, a micrometer is also known as a micron 1 millionth of a meter Then there's the much more dangerous p.m. 2.5 particles also a scale on your meter They're very fine inhalable particles with diameters. There are less than 2.5 micrometers How small is 2.5 micrometers? Well, the diameter of a human hair is about 30 times larger than a particle of 2.5 microns And that's the stuff when inhaled gets deep down inside of your lungs and your body can't easily get rid of it That's why a smoker's lung looks dark on Autopsy even if he quit 10 or 20 years earlier your body just cannot easily get rid of those p.m. 2.5 Particles worse yet some of those 2.5 micron particles get into your bloodstream

[19:17] So then what would be a good reading and what would be a bad one? Well as for the p.m. 2.5 the particles that are very bad for your health now If you have a meter it reads how many particles you have per cubic meter of air So what's a good reading 12 or less per cubic meter? What's a moderate reading 12 to 35? What's a bad or unhealthy reading? 55 particles per cubic meter or more But you're never gonna know your own readings around the house unless you have a meter for example I'm looking at el micurio the newspaper in Cuenca Ecuador. They publish air quality readings every day It says last Sunday night the air quality meter at the University of Azué recorded

[20:06] 156 p.m. 2.5 particles now. What did I just tell you if it's over? 55 it's considered very unhealthy so Sunday night's reading was extremely unhealthy Remember I mentioned a good reading was 12 or less per cubic meter and on Sunday night. It was a 156 that's more than 10 times more than the maximal allowable good reading Oh, but the good news is on Monday the next day the reading dropped to 132 How nice but still more than 10 times the maximum allowable good or acceptable reading So bottom line I suggest you get one of these meaners even you tightwads out there Why not you might find out some interesting things like I did

[20:52] I went around my house and discovered that my bedroom was completely healthy in all air quality measurements Of course, I'm running my little air filter my HEPA filter. Remember me speaking about that. It's Levo it levoit air purifier very quiet and perfect for your bedroom Cost about 80 bucks on Amazon. Of course, you don't have to take any precautions You don't have to do any of that stuff out of sight out of mind, right? But if you're like me and want to know what other extraneous things are affecting you why not? Anyway around the rest of the house where I don't have an air filter Most often the readings are in the good range not the unhealthy or healthy range But the good or acceptable range in the middle oddly enough They only pop into the danger zone after someone's been cooking

[21:37] But when they're done cooking it drops back into the good range in about half an hour Because again houses in Latin America leak like a sieve no matter what you do You got air exchange somewhere and some people like that. I like it, too I have window louvers and always keep them cracked open a bit except in the bedroom which no matter how hard I try I can't seal it perfectly Anyway, not like most of you guys up in the states have your house is sealed I get it when there's snow and ice and winter you have to seal your house Oh and by the way in the place I'm living now There's an underground parking garage and let me tell you the air quality sucks. Why wouldn't it? It's underground The exhaust gases kind of linger Anyway, do yourself a favor and get an air quality meter and if 180 bucks is too stiff Well chip in with two or three of your like-minded neighbors

[22:25] I mean hell how many times you really gonna use that thing? I used it quite a bit in the first week just playing around, you know But it's been sitting in the drawer for a couple of weeks now I'll bring it out when necessary, but that might not be for a long long time So why not share it with your friends and neighbors split the cost? Oh And about that formaldehyde reading I have pretty much no formaldehyde reading at all. Why because I've got no carpet and No, pressboard furniture from IKEA my furniture as well as my kitchen cabinets are all solid Kaoba that's the Latin American version of oak, you know one step better than pine, which is one step better than IKEA Though koba is sort of the Latin American version of oak It's tougher harder more dense and looks nicer all around

[23:12] Alright, how about this email from Jake in California Jake? He says Johnny this is why I need a plan B and will rot away if I don't get moving on it My brother-in-law is ex-military and after 20 years of overseas duty in Panama He retired and decided not to come home and live a normal US life. Instead. He decided to live permanently in Panama He came home for about six months to get things in order and None of his friends or relatives could really understand why he wanted to move to Panama permanently. We all thought he was nuts At first he said it was much a financial decision Because it was so much cheaper and safer to live outside the US He gave us no explanation about the safer part. He just commented

[23:59] It was so much cheaper and safer to live outside the US. We didn't get it then we get it now That was a few years ago. We all said sure Raymond sure Ray and thought maybe the military had scrambled his brains Then at a family sit-down and he went into some more detail He told us his rent in Panama was only six hundred fifty dollars a month with an ocean view A hundred bucks a month for health care insurance and his car insurance payment was almost negligible Everything he mentioned seemed so much cheaper than what I pay here in California I must admit I was jealous to the point of not wanting to believe him Especially after he showed me a photo of his way too hot beauty queen quality girlfriend

[24:44] The more he explained the more jealous I would get I was getting mad inside Hearing from him what I knew all along that California was really and truly Jake says I know that not everyone living in California feels this way But here's my experience every decent apartment in my area is at least twenty two hundred dollars a month for a studio You know what a studio is right? No bedroom. Everything's in one room. I make 87 K a year gross 60 K net well there goes 50 percent of my income on rent alone. I Drive a piece of shit car not a Tesla I wish but I own it outright no payments and still my insurance is 2,000 bucks a year

[25:31] My food bill about 8,000 a year 150 a week if I don't want to eat poisonous food Throw in utilities gas electricity trash and internet That's about another three and a half K a year if I did absolutely nothing except stay home and go to work Then I'd have about ten thousand bucks a year in savings now Johnny, and I'm not married I do someday want to have a wife and a family But Google says it's about twenty five thousand a year to take care of just one child With a lot of that being eaten up by daycare that leaves me falling at least 15 K short a year That means I'd really have to marry a woman with a kick-ass job So let's do that. Let's add a wife to contribute to the income. Well now we need a bigger place than a studio She's not gonna handle that how about a two-bedroom so we can have a baby room, too

[26:17] That would be about 3,000 a month along with the cost of everything else going up yet I see illegal aliens around me every day all looking for that American dream They ought to have my life sounds like the American dream all right, and now I realize talking to my own sisters There's something wrong with that baby thing, too They tell me babies need to sleep on their back in a bassinet with a certain kind of music and ambience in the room They need baby monitors 24 7 parents need a phone to watch over every murmur drool and giggle She says to have a healthy baby. You need to do tummy time with them making sure they're meeting all their milestones I said milestones and she showed me a list a mile long all kinds of baby things My parents never had to worry about tummy time and a huge list of milestones. That must be met what that F

[27:04] Johnny you know my brother-in-law. I'm beginning to think he's a genius All right, Jake. Thanks for that hmm, baby milestones. You say how you know when I was a kid I had my milestones to meet too You know get up in the morning go to school come home play outside till sunset do my homework go to bed wash rinse and repeat I guess I was truly neglected on the edge of child abuse wait a minute That's it a revelation the root of all my problems. I was starved of tummy time You've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America If you need some help with your own plan be we can schedule a one-on-one phone or Skype consult Just send me an email the expat files head gmail dot-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

[27:54] Send me an email the expat files at gmail.com