#853 – The Expat Files: Authenticity, Sustainability, and Survival 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 out to play and now as I wonder Hello there all you ex-pat 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 Occasionally people ask me about other expat Podcasters out there because there are hundreds if not thousands of people out there given their so-called expert opinions now And it's funny when I first started doing this myself around almost nine years ago. Now. I was the very first

[00:47] expat podcaster slash radio guy We had a regularly scheduled program show you can listen to without fail every week in my case twice a week But even back then there were other hosts doing expat broadcast shows Hmm. Did I say broadcast Friday and slip there? Some of them would start out great guns. They'd run three or four even ten shows and fade away But now these days there are so many of them people are saying Johnny who can I trust besides you to them? My answer is so you're trusting me, huh? Well, that's a big responsibility. Remember you get what you pay for Well, somebody must trust me because I've got a lot of followers, especially since I don't have an active anti social media platform In fact, I don't involve myself in that stuff at all. I've got no fake book twaddle

[01:33] Instagram none of this stuff people seem to be so obsessed with these days I try to be a low-profile small footprint off the radar kind of guys So that's why I'm not on those sites. I practice what I preach least I try to But still people find my show I've got some millions of downloads now and obviously since these are half-hour shows It takes a lot of effort to download a show and actually listen to it Considering attention spans are going shorter and shorter by the minute So the point is I get emails here and there for people saying Johnny Who else can I listen to in the expat podcast arena? Which guys and guys are the real thing and who's just out there trying to sell you stuff like International Living? Well, you know, there are so many podcasters and bloggers out there now I can't give you any guidance except to say make sure whoever you're listening to actually lives in the country

[02:19] countries or culture that he's supposed to be giving you advice about and make sure and I don't know all you're gonna make sure of Any of this because it could be BS and you know that the guy or gal has been living there at least five years and can Speak Spanish if you're talking about living in Latin America, because you know what as for me I wouldn't take any advice from someone who doesn't speak Spanish because then all they're really doing is blathering about the gringo side of things Gringos living like gringos on the fringes of another culture Then again, that might be all some people are looking for but for my money if you're gonna listen to anyone listen to someone who's been living In Latin America a particular country or whatever He's supposed to be the expert on for at least five years and he better be able to speak Spanish and therefore He's mingling with the real people and that's the only way you're gonna get a balanced viewpoint on everything and anything that's going down

[03:06] It would be like someone from Dayton, Ohio telling you what it's like to live in Cleveland And he's really never lived there before just popped in and out on weekends to hit the strip clubs Though it may seem like he's got the creds because he does live in, Ohio Really, what the hell does he know about Cleveland if he's never really lived there before? Alright, maybe that's a bad example, but you get the point Oh and here's an email just got with an example of how this guy found me says Johnny by the way I discovered your show when you were interviewed on some other expat podcast by these two guys in Mexico I don't remember their names or the name of the podcast But I'm sure you know what I'm talking about It was the first such podcast I listened to when I got the idea in my mind that I would need to get the hell Out of the US get the hell out of Dutch I was really impressed with the quality of that program

[03:51] It seemed very professional the host voice the format everything and when you were on that show as a guest Which was some years ago now you told such interesting stories I had to subscribe to your podcast to sometime later after I listened to all of your archives that I could find I went back to that original podcast But I learned that the host or announcer had left the show and the quality of the production had really taken a dive and declined In my opinion so for me that podcast only served to introduce me to your show and boy am I glad it did All right, that's just a small excerpt of an email. I got from mr. Phil I get lots of emails like that people telling me the odd and strange ways They ended up listening to my show now before you think I'm trying to blow my own horn here And my hats getting too small for my head don't fret on the next show or the one after I'll read you some emails

[04:41] Where people tried to rip me a new anus that too happens once in a while. That's why they invented preparation H Hmm preparation H never tried this stuff. I heard it taste foul I also heard you could use that stuff for people who talk out of their asses too in that case We ought to have a truckload of it delivered to Congress Alright, let's not go down that rabbit hole or any other kind of hole But before we get into part five of how gringos and ice pads get off the electric grid here in Latin America and how I've done It myself a few times now We'll be talking about how you could do it for less than half the price or less of what it cost you up in Chicago Cleveland or Houston and you don't have to be the Technical sword or even a do-it-yourselfer because I'm talking about systems now that have absolutely no maintenance For years on end except maybe to go on your roof every three to six months and hose down those solar panels

[05:32] Clean them up a bit because they do get dust dirt and bird poop on them Of course, if you're like the average gringo or expat living in Latin America and you've got your own house or homestead It won't be you but your maintenance guy or gardener up on the roof doing that kind of stuff I mean, that's why you pay him the big bucks. I pay mine around 15 bucks a day Chuckle chuckle don't laugh. It's not because I'm a tight water skin flint though Some people might say so the thing is if you're off to the gringo tourist trail like me and you're hiring a maintenance man Or a gardener or made for that matter Eventually in the interview when you get around to the pay the best thing you could do is ask them what they want to receive As a salary and in the case of my last maintenance guy who I hired I think now two years ago He wanted 12 bucks a day and I gave him 15 plus lunch in the occasional giveaways that gringos are good for like clothes

[06:19] shoes over production of fruit and vegetables on your homestead Believe me in that respect when it rains it pours not to mention you'll have mechanical and electronic stuff That's getting older not at date still good Just older models and you're moving on up and you don't want to throw that stuff away. You give it to your health You'll find most of the time you're a May gardener maintenance guy have nothing but the basics in their house and very few luxuries And what they have in the way of refrigerator stove TV, etc is way past its due date So if you want to get on your workers good side forever and ever even the old stuff That's still good. Actually works things you replace with newer items Anyway, we'll get to the solar stuff in just a minute, but let me read this email first. All right This is from a former expat insider seminar attendee Dave. He says dear Johnny

[07:05] Here's another interesting experience I had on my last trip to Guatemala I want to McDonald's to get the traditional Guatemalan breakfast. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Let's stop for a second All right Meet Johnny here when you're in Latin America and you go to McDonald's Wendy's or any first world franchise fast food place Besides all the other GMO infused artery clogging stuff. They'll have a local traditional breakfast on the menu That's something you never see at a fast food joint in the States Imagine you were at a McDonald's in Detroit and you saw the traditional Michigan breakfast on the menu now that would be weird But down here in Latin America from country to country That's oh so common and good marketing to look think of all the hay seeds in the boonies come into town Who've never been to a McDonald's or a Kentucky five before when they walk in? Nothing would seem familiar to him except that traditional

[07:52] Country breakfast a great way for the PR guys to get that foot in the door, right? Anyway, Dave says my number was called in that McDonald's and I walked up to the counter where the friendly smiling employee Was holding a tray with my food Imagine that a genuinely friendly smiling McDonald's employee No forced smile not a put-on something that does not exist at McDonald's in the US Especially where I come from except on McDonald's TV commercials He says so she handed me the tray. I saw that my drink did not have a cover on it Sensing my confusion. She said would you like a cover? I said sure Well, of course, I thought why wouldn't I want to cover on my drink might spill? And if it's hot coffee when I go to my car it might spill on my privates And then I'll have to sue them for a million or so, right?

[08:38] Haha, anyway, then I saw a sign on the counter announcing that McDonald's new policy says it will no longer provide caps or straws Unless you ask for them. Hmm. I wonder if they'll ban plastic action figure giveaways and that Burger King those funky little kitty crowns, too Now I'm from California Johnny and even though California had just banned restaurants from giving plastics drawers to customers It never entered my mind that such nonsense could happen in Latin America, but no caps on the drinks even in crazy, California I can't imagine it wouldn't do that I thought maybe this was just a PR stunt to show the occasional gringos who pop into McDonald's that Latin America really cares about carbon footprints and being green and hugging trees and all that then I thought it's probably temporary and will Soon go away like so many rules and regs and Latin America do they start out great guns like the latest fire

[09:28] That's got to be put out and then a couple months later. No one remembers that even existed What handicap parking rule what rule about no giving out straws anymore? It's all part of living in Latin America. You know, anyway, he says Johnny Do you think this is just a fad at a gringo chain restaurant? Or are you seeing this in other Latin countries to next will Latin America ban thin plastic shopping bags, too? Well, in addition to the straw ban He says California has been thin plastic shopping bags And now we have to pay 15 cents for a reusable bag at every grocery store Of course, he says as usual some crony Corporations are making fortunes off these bags by bribing, California politicians and making us think they really care about saving the environment as They pile on more and more laws and fines funny thing though Johnny right after the thin plastic bag ban in

[10:18] California there was a hepatitis outbreak in downtown San Diego because the homeless people who use those bags for defecation purposes No longer had anything to use so they just look for a vacant available cubby hole and some poor people 100% American poor people died from hepatitis as a result Alright me Johnny just a little combat here. Yep Let's take care of the caravans first instead of our own poor and needy defecators looking for a spare plastic bag Why do you think that is priorities priorities political priorities because you know street people don't vote But illegal is due and which party do you think they vote for? All right, then mr. Dave says even many so-called Environmentally friendly news organizations now admit that the original thin plastic shopping bags have the least environmental impact in the long run

[11:09] Even less than using cloth Shopping bags as far as I and anyone with a half a brain can tell the whole thing is just more profits for crony Corporations who are in bed with the California politicians and always have been all this nonsense It's just government and corporate America trying to profit off fools who are feeling guilty for hurting mother nature Not unlike how the church in the Middle Ages in Europe sold Indulgences for people to feel less guilty about their sins Alright me Johnny here now the reason why German monk Martin Luther split from the Catholic Church You know and became the Lutheran religion is because he said the church and the Pope and Vatican were too commercial corrupted by money and were selling Indulgences, you know what they are, right? That means if you had money and you racked up a lot of sins You could pay off the priests in Rome and they'd reduce the severity of your punishment or penance once you die and went to heaven

[11:59] How they convinced people of that BS who knows but they surely raked in tons of dough All right, then Dave says, you know Johnny as rock prophet Pete Townsend once wrote meet the new boss same as the old boss Alright Dave meet Johnny here again. Glad you mentioned Pete Townsend You know, he wrote almost all the words and all the lyrics to the classic who songs funny How that lyric you quoted meet the new boss same as the old boss is stuck in our English language vernacular forever you know Pete Townsend had more than a few lyrics that Transcended the song and became cliches in the English language Like for example, hope I die before I get old from my generation and the phrase won't get fooled again Now when you think of the Beatles being the number one classic rock group of all time by almost all standards

[12:45] Turns out it was Pete Townsend in his phrase Eology that ended up as permanent fixtures in our language people say John Lennon. He was a poet But where are his lasting phrases? You could say all you need is love but many said that way before Lenin and you know Even that turned out to be wrong because hell you can't eat love but I digress as usual man Did I digress though? I am a sucker for dinosaur rock. So sometimes I'll veer off in that direction Anyway, Dave says that's one nice thing about the governments of small Latin American countries Unlike the land of the free and Russia China and Mexico, which is gigantic The smaller Latin countries like in Central America have so much less room to accumulate politicians and bureau rats Then Dave says whereas in the US we have bureau rats at so many levels

[13:35] It's hard even to sit down and write them out You've got the federal state county city municipality school districts college districts water districts state police federal police city police Airport police that doesn't even include the 50 or so Alphabet agencies with titles so long and functions so obscure None of us really knows what the hell they do at all except of course spend money and grow like cancer But Johnny I digress like you would you say there's some kind of movement in Latin America to ban plastic bags and straws? Etc. Or is it truly a gringle wannabe thing and I'm passing fat. All right, mr. D Here's your answer and you're not gonna like it turns out just in the last few years Nearly all Latin American countries have been debating eliminating plastic bags and plastic products disposable stuff

[14:22] And in fact in some of these countries the laws have gone into effect already Of course here in Latin America when they pass a law unlike up in the states in Europe They don't create a matching bureaucracy or enforcement branch to police those laws So there are no plastic bag or straw police waiting to pounce on you in a McDonald's parking lot Even though in some Latin countries there are hefty fines For example in October 2018 El Salvador proposed a plastic bag ban He gave all plastic bag suppliers in El Salvador one year to convert to another kind of bag like for example paper There goes the rainforest, huh? Anyway, having been in and out of Salvador many times in the last year or two myself I've noticed no one knows about it and no one's geared up for it Well, maybe in first world franchises like Kentucky Fried Wendy's and Mickey D's but not it seems in any of the local

[15:13] Establishments because when you bring it up, they don't know what the hell you're talking about. Hmm. That's about par for the course Then I've got this article also in Spanish, which I'll translate it says Panama bans the use of plastic bags It's from January 2018. It says as of January 19 2018 Supermarkets pharmacies and retailers will have 18 months to stop using plastic bags and disposables and warehouses and wholesalers will have a period of 24 months to eliminate said products from their inventory It says last Friday the sanction of law one of January 19 2018 was published in the official Gazette making it law it prohibits the use of polyethylene bags in supermarkets self-service shops warehouses or shops in general and prohibits those kinds of bags to be used in general transportation of products or merchandise and there's this article I've also saved to Spanish

[16:04] I'll translate it's from November 2015 The title Costa Rica bans the use of plastics. It says this bill which was passed in November 2015 bans the practice of handing out non-biodegradable and disposable plastic bags to final consumers in supermarkets and stores The bill already approved by Special Standing Committee of Environmental purposes as an article to the law stipulating Violators will be punished with fines of up to 200 base Salaries and that law went down in Costa Rica in November 2015 and guess what if you go there You'll find a lot of places especially out in the boonies giving out those plastic bags and straws some two and a half years later Which makes you wonder how many people and businesses have been fined up to the stated? 200 base salaries a base salary is a monthly minimum wage

[16:54] Well the grand total of fines in two and a half years now is the nice round number of now get this zero Once again because you see in Latin America They pass laws and they don't have an enforcement branch to match which to me is another thing You just have to love about Latin America Unlike the states when they pass the law they fail to create a gigantic bureaucracy to go along with it Now since Dave was specifically talking about his experience in Guatemala Let's talk about the laws they passed in Guatemala their law which goes back to October 30th 2017 states that there will be a period of five years that will be granted so that companies dedicated to manufacturing Plastic disposable products would have enough time to make the transition to biodegradable materials after that five-year period which ends in

[17:42] 2022 both producers and distributors who disrespect the rule could Be fined and criminally denounced by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources which would be in charge of the corresponding Supervision of the law. All right me Johnny here And of course, you know in Latin America when they say a fine could be imposed or a fine up to whatever The operative word here could which means almost never now all of this of course begs the question What will you replace those plastic bags drawers and cup covers with well in grocery stores in such cloth bags? Which become unsanitary because fresh fruit and items do leak and penetrate That means the average Latin person who surely wouldn't wash that thing much at all It's just asking for a house full of kookaraches and other pests. Hmm

[18:30] Wait a minute. The average Latin house is already full of kookaraches. So maybe no one will notice By the way, speaking of kookaraches stories you longtime listeners have heard me tell stories about how kookaraches live in microwave ovens I don't know how that's possible But surely is the reason why people say if there's ever an all-out nuclear war kookaraches scorpions and politicians will be the survivors and they deserve each other Anyway, the other day I was in a Latin lawyers office I got there early as usual for gringos and he was doing a car deal Making sure everything was legal doing the paperwork between the seller and the buyer and while I was waiting there The lawyers said that a prospective buyer. Have you inspected the car? The buyer said yes I had a mechanic check it out. He said it's an exceptionally good condition for the model year 2012 And the lawyer being a car guy himself said oh really let's have a look at it

[19:18] So I tagged along it wasn't pretty good condition All right, except for one thing we were checking out the headlights to see if the lamps work You know and I saw one of those big old nasty disgusting cockroaches You know the really big kind running around in the side of the plastic front headlight enclosure My first thought was how in the hell did it get in there that enclosure is supposed to be watertight But apparently not kooka ratchet type that was strange enough But the really weird thing was it was so obvious this thing was running around living in there But I was the only one who made a combat It was like the lawyer the buyer the seller they saw it But it didn't even register on their radar for me It was the elephant in the room though. I knew better not to bring it up I mean come on a family of kooker ratchets living in your cars headlights When it's got such a nice trick paint job and a throbbing brain numbing stereo

[20:07] So there was excitement in the air like with any car deal, and I didn't want to kill the moment So I kept them out shut the truth is in Latin American homes Anyway, sometimes it's a matter of the kooker ratchets letting you live in their house I guess that's why most Latinos don't even notice when kooker ratchets are living in the microwave That'd be reason 207 why you want to do a thorough inspection before you ever use anyone else's microwave All right, let's tumble into a rough segue here and talk about my upcoming 2019 Expedited Cider seminar We'll be held in Guatemala and El Salvador It'll be a week long starts early morning, July 6th And if you plan on killing two birds with one stone that is getting your Guatemalan temporary or permanent residency at the same time You have to schedule another five days to a week after the seminar You'll see all that info by going to www.thenewexpand.com and clicking on Johnny's seminar link

[20:58] There's still time to get in on the early bird discounts that way you can save $500 off the regular price Of course, once again, you seminar repeat offenders get a thousand dollar discount and all new attendees will get an hour-long Skype or phone conversation with me Well before the seminar gets underway so we can talk about anything you need to talk about Well, it's important to tell you if you come down to the seminar and give us advance notice If you want to see a professional like a dermatologist dentist cosmetic surgeon or any kind of medical specialist at all We'll hook you up with professionals. We know and trust first world treatment and third world prices, of course That way when you come down to the seminar appointments will have already been scheduled for you Again, I don't get any kind of rebate or kickback for giving those medical referrals It's just that I want to make sure when you're down here

[21:44] Everyone gets directed to the right person and into the proper hands Believe me after being down here 28 years now I know exactly what it's like to be in a strange country hoping to find a very good doctor if you need one Well, let's just say you'll be benefiting from my work and my good luck Oh and people ask me all the time. What's the cost for a medical specialist office call if you don't have insurance Well, it's between 25 and 35 bucks. That's it Enough said about that Let's get back to the continuing saga of going completely off the grid or at least mostly off the grid here in latin america So let's go into some detail now on solar panels You heard me talk about on a previous show how solar panels are getting more powerful and so much cheaper than they were Just a couple of years ago I remember around five years ago when I first started investigating doing a solar setup and looking at what solar

[22:33] Installation specialists around the world were doing and what kind of panels they were using and of course prices back then the most powerful Economic solar panels you could get were around 220 watts apiece and the best prices from a company in the states canada or china Around 300 bucks each now panels are rated for the maximum wattage They put out when the sun's directly on them And you heard me say on the last show that I recommend if you're going to go off the grid or nearly off the grid Have around 5000 watts of solar panels on your roof Believe me for a family foreign latin america that number is pretty much optimal You could have more if you want, but you should never have less than 5000 watts Not if you want to go completely off the grid Oh and don't mix and match panel brands and what sizes always get the same panels

[23:18] Not that you can't do it You can but you have to be kind of a do-it-yourselfer to figure things out And like I said, the purpose of me going into this at all is to do things as simply easily and inexpensive as possible with Zero maintenance and you'll see why soon now five years ago to get 5000 watts of panels when panels are only around 200 to 220 watts apiece that have meant you had to have something like 25 panels on your roof about six grand Just for the panels just way too steep for most people because then your batteries and the controllers and chargers and everything else Another six or eight thousand bucks is getting pretty expensive for the average person in a small house or homesteader But now just five years later get this you can get a 330 to 400 watt panel for around

[24:03] 150 bucks or less that's less than 50 cents a watt So figure it out suppose you go with a 360 watt panel 5000 watts is more or less 15 panels for one thing that's about half of the roof space It would have taken if you had done the same system five years ago That means a lot less work a lot less money a lot smaller surface area And a hell of a lot less for shipping if you're getting them from the states can or china Because you've got many fewer panels and they weigh a lot less So now we're talking about 15 panels Let's make it 16 because you want them in even numbers of course like cell phones and computer power They're coming out with new models every year, but unlike cell phones. They're getting more powerful and cheaper Instead of more expensive, but then you'll get gringles a nice pads We'll say but johnny if I wait another two three or five years They'll be half again is cheap and half again is small. Yeah. Well, that's a game you can play forever, right?

[24:53] But the point is some very very brilliant people in the know are saying we really haven't got two to five years before There's a great big grid down episode that could affect whole countries whether it's a emp attack natural emp from a solar mass injection a bunch of hackers bringing down the net and thus screwing with the grid and power plants and Power transmission lines, etc Including sewage and water treatment plants remember or just a war gigantic financial collapse so many tipping points So my suggestion and the suggestion of people who are a lot smarter than I am is to get ready and start planning for Some major power outages worldwide because grids are interconnected Although power grids in latin america are less connected to international grids Remember they get some nasty hurricanes and storms down here and when they pass through they do some extreme

[25:41] Electrical power damage like in porta rico which had their hurricane year and a half or two years ago And there's still not even up to half speed yet But of course to put together systems to get off the grid like i'm recommending now you have to first Grow a pair of waveaus and that includes you ladies too and get the hell out of dodge You got to get off the fence and quit kicking the tires That's another reason I put on these seminars to get people on the fast track to that plan b After all a lot of people especially ones who don't speak spanish need to have their hands held along the way And that's the service all of us at the seminar provide along with a really great network Anyway now with these tremendous new cheap panels and the newer generation of lithium ion batteries Right now is definitely the time to go solar now Here's something that needs to be explained in a little more detail Suppose you do have 5000 watts of solar panels on the house here in latin america

[26:28] You've got a solar radiant efficiency factor of around five That means each day your panels will put out around 25 000 watts. That's 25 kilowatts All right. Let's make the numbers easy and design the rest of the system Let's buy us a 10 kilowatt lithium ion battery backup power supply and controller all in one unit That'd be something like a tesla powerwall 2 or tesla powerwall clone That means if at night you drain the battery all the way down which you won't you might never draw even half down Let's say you do though down to 10 percent of full anyway, because that's the maximum you want to bring a battery down But that's all internally controlled within circuitry. You don't have to worry about that Remember we're talking zero maintenance here. Anyway, your panels will be putting out 25 kilowatts per day 10 of that worst case will be charging the battery every day

[27:14] So after the battery is charged you have 15 kilowatts left over to use during the day So during the day your solar panels will be powering everything in your house and at night you'll be running on your battery With a system like that you'll have power to spare for an ac unit even an electric car Oops, we're at the end to be continued next week You've been listening to the expat files living in latin america If you need some help with your own plan b you can schedule a one-on-one phone call with me But first download my free plan b questionnaire at www.thenewexpat.com Better yet, if you want to get your plan b going from right up there in the states Just sign up for my nine hour expat essentials course Get the perfect plan b blueprint by going to the expat files.com slash academy most famous