#831 – Expat Life in Latin America: Doppelgangers, Career Choices, and Black Experiences

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 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 All right. So what should we talk about today? I've got this big stack of three by five cards letters and notes in front of me here And when people tell me crazy Latin American stories I jot down notes and ideas that mostly never get anywhere and I also jot down things when I'm just walking around

[00:49] Checking things out. So I'm looking at this big stack That's been growing and growing and I keep thinking man someday. I'll get to it How about we take a crack at it today, you know for starters? I get a lot of emails They set off Johnny. What would you do with for Johnny? What do you think of so-and-so or this person or that city or this government or that country for a plan B move? Well, the thing is for specific stuff dealing with your own case your own proposed plan B You're better off doing a phone consult or Skype or general pro consult with me But as for all the general Latin American stuff, you'll hear it here on the show Sometime or another anyway, but before we get to any of that I have to mention something strange that happens to me not often But it does happen to me at least a couple of times a year

[01:35] I'm talking about doppelgangers now someone will come up to me in a cafe in a store Whatever country I'm in fact, it's happened to me a lot of times in the airport Someone will just walk up to me a gringo or gringo and they'll start talking to me like we know each other And I've never seen that person before in my life And it's not that they recognize my face because I'm really not out on social media and they don't hear my voice Which is recognizable to you guys and show listeners, but that's a small percentage of the world So anyway, people will start talking to me like they know me I'll usually play along a minute or two until they realize they don't know me at all They're talking to someone that looks like someone they know or met oddly enough expat Eddie has seen that happen to me A lot of times he says I have a lucky face not handsome lucky

[02:22] They say everyone's got a doppelganger somewhere But as for me, it seems like I've got one in every country and every city Maybe has that ever happened to you Someone walk up and start talking to you like they know you and you have never seen him before in your life It could make you think you're losing it like Alzheimer's is creeping up as for me. It's because I have a lucky face For a long time when I used to live back in Chicago people would mistake me for this be great actor I forgot his name now. And of course, I'd play along for a minute or so I've signed a few fake autographs It's always fun and there was a time back in the 80s where people would confuse me with some famous Indy 500 or NASCAR race I don't even know his name. In fact once I did go to an Indy 500 and signed a few hats No boobs just hats which brings me to expat Eddie

[03:10] He's been there when people think they know me from somewhere and you know, I'm one of those under the radar guys I'm not all over the Internet. My face is not out there everywhere. So when people think they know me, they're not recognizing me for me They're always confusing me for someone else. Anyway expat Eddie's been there a few times and man does he prime the pump? I think everyone should have an amusing friend like expat Eddie. He's great fun until about his sixth drink And even after that, he's still a lot of fun. He's not one of those harsh or rough drunks He's happy drunk, but that can get you into trouble too because with Eddie anything can happen and after six drinks Sometimes he just disappears with people. He just met and in Latin America that could be dangerous When speaking of actors and acting, you know way back when when I was in University

[04:00] I actually starred in a couple of B grade indie films made by Chicago film school students Of course, they were so low budget and bad. They never even made it to DVD In fact, they never made it to VHS. That was the media back then even though I was an engineering school I never hung with film school students. They asked me to be in a couple of bad movies So in one of them, which was a supernatural murder mystery ended up being a serial killer and in the second movie I was the hero and I kind of a Godzilla style movie with Ray Harry house and stop action effects It was kind of funny, but really too brutal for me to watch and they both had premieres and all that Obviously didn't go anywhere and neither did I nor did I expect him to though? It just goes to show I'm not just a lucky face Alright. Alright by now you must be thinking Johnny's office rocker. What's he talking about acting for?

[04:50] Well, that's because the world has truly gone off its rocker. It seems like every kid you meet I don't care if it's the US or Latin America if you ask him what he wants to be when he grows up He says either a sports figure movie or TV star no talent music video star or something that actually requires Negative talent and the brains of a pissant. That would be reality TV star like the retired Ascians which begs the question. What is a pissant? Hmm. Oh and about acting it's dead easy. If you lie you can act if you're a very convincing liar That means she can act under pressure. And if you're a world-class liar every two to four years There's a congressional election But really it is Distressing to hear what young people say these days when you ask them what they want to be when they grow up and believe me

[05:38] And the odd chance that you hear a six or seven year old kids say he wants to grow up to be a doctor Architect engineer astronaut someone with a real job. I have to commend the parents because they're certainly doing something, right? Unless of course the kid says something like he wants to be a doctor with his own reality show Then I'm afraid all bets are off Now to rub even more salt into the bad career choice discussion. Here's an article that just came out February 7 It comes from Latin America's largest business publication. This is the headline and I'll translate Latin American University student career choices are a market mismatch and here's how it starts It says Latin American University students have a vastly greater interest in preference in studying the social sciences instead of electing

[06:24] University studies or training in technical or scientific areas because of their overwhelming preference for attaining employment in Government rather than aspiring to have jobs in the private sector Doesn't that sound familiar and here are the stats it says between 2006 and 2016 University careers in the area of social sciences that would be psychology sociology political science Journalism public relations human resources, etc Wow, talk about flushing mommy and daddy's money down the crapper Now those are the type of careers that'll get you to the top of the resume pile when Starbucks Pizza Hut and governments are hiring anyway, the article says between 2006 and

[07:11] 2016 a 10-year period the growth in Latin American universities according to the proportion of graduates in The social sciences has increased 45% and it says in the same period the proportion of graduates in the hard sciences like biology chemistry engineering math and computer related sciences has been steadily declining and as of 2016 only 7% of total graduates have their degree in the hard sciences In other words around 93% of graduates from Latin American universities are coming out with degrees that are ill-suited For the private sector, but definitely perfect for government work bartending and waitressing and it says social psychologists and career counselors

[07:58] Hmm government slugs again They point out that polls and registration data indicate students vastly prefer to work for government rather than in the private sector And why is that? Well, you probably know some of the reasons number one in Latin America and pretty much the rest of the world, too Governments pay up to twice as much for a job. That's similar in the private sector perfect example private and public school teachers number two when you work for government real productivity is not much an issue unless you call Shifting a stack of papers from one drawer to another and getting paid for it a job Number three government workers are heavily unionized In fact in the US in the past it used to be the American auto workers and the teamsters had the biggest most powerful unions

[08:46] Not so today It's the public schools and municipal city workers that have the biggest strongest unions And of course you've heard the stories once in the Union It's very difficult to get fired and when someone does get fired There's usually a nice big severance package and if it's up in the states, maybe even a book deal Oprah and Larry King Number five government workers get up to twice as many sick days paid holidays and vacations Than people working in the private sector number seven government workers have better pension and health care benefits than people in similar positions In the private sector, so there you have it some of the main reasons the vast majority of Latin American university students up to 93% Will opt for degrees in the social sciences in the belief. They'll be on a fast track to a government job

[09:33] How pathetic is that? Meanwhile speaking of Latin American universities the other day I was talking to a university professor who teaches in Sao Paulo Brazil He's a black guy a real dark black guy who surprised He says when he runs into black Americans who are visiting Brazil for whatever reason and they refer to him as black He said, you know, Johnny. I'm not black. I'm a dark Latino. I said well to Americans you're black He said no, I'm not I disagree. I'm more no Oscar. Oh, that would be dark tan Then he pulled out his sedula, you know his national ID and sure enough. It said right on their race or color More no Oscar. Oh, then he told me a little story about the history of slavery in Brazil Brazil abolished slavery in

[10:22] 1888 it was the last country in the Western Hemisphere to do so He said by then the Portuguese had shipped over more than 4 million slaves from Africa And at that time the white government in 1888 actually thought the population of Brazil was too black And it needed to be lightened up. So they started a policy a legal policy called Blanco mento in English the word Blanco and Blanco mento means white It was actually called the whitening up of Brazil. Can you believe that? Turns out the Brazilian government was so serious about it They paid for 4 million white immigrants to come from Europe to balance out the 4 million African slaves the Portuguese had brought over by then and that's why he says if you look at Brazil

[11:07] It's got the rainbow of colors from the whitest of white to the darkest of black And you know after he told me that I didn't know what to believe so I looked it up and he was right In fact, it says in one particular article the policy of Blanco meant it was created in the late 19th century and Brazil's directoria. Hana ralda s did I stick as that'd be the government accounting office Conducted periodic demographic surveys to check on the progress of the whitening experiments They reported that in time it had become a great success Which begs the question? What about the unspoken part did the Brazilian government just post a decree saying let the pork begin I wonder Meanwhile back in Panama about three weeks ago

[11:54] I was sitting in a coffee shop with a black American next military guy living in Panama now He told me I just don't get how the people here are in denial about being black same with Colombia Venezuela Brazil Dominican Republic the people are nice enough. All right, they're friendly and I'll talk to anyone but don't call them black They'll never admit it and they don't like it even the ones that are blacker than me He said when I used the word black just casually like for example How the cops treat brothers and black guys in this town? He said you say that to a black Latin guy someone blacker than I am man. He just might say search me I don't know any black people and then he said when I try to argue the point which I don't bother doing anymore He said I learned my lesson They'll pull out their settler ID card where it says race or color. It won't say black

[12:44] It'll say some other color now, you see this guy's retired military He's been in Latin America living for a couple of years now pretty young guy to reason it's mid 40s Now, you know a lot of those military guys if they stick it out 20 years They got it made because they get a pension you've heard about it 20 and out. That's what this guy did Think about it. You go into the military at 18 your 20 years. You're 38 Now you got a pension nothing. You could live on up in the States But here in Latin America a thousand or fifteen hundred a month you could do it with ease and at 38 Wow, you got another life career. Maybe a couple of careers ahead of you plus you'll always be getting that pension Whatever it is. I think he said he gets around 1,100 a month So how'd he end up in Panama? Well, he was in the Navy and like he said stopped at 50 or more countries in his 20 year stint

[13:33] And he said just like I've been saying all these years. He loved Latin America the best By far and then being the nosy guy am I had to ask him that probing question What about racism bigotry and prejudice then he left and said man? Why do you think I'm down here and not up in Atlanta now? I can't tell you how surprised I was when he said Johnny I can't take those gold chain crack-ass ghetto brothers and he threw a few n-words in too They just better not come down here all that bling their dumbasses will just get robbed. It's a different game He said they don't speak Spanish. It's not their game. It's not their hood Then he said surprisingly enough the best thing I ever did was join the Navy It got me out of the hood. I got to see the world I found Latin America and now I'm down here without a worry or a care live in the good life

[14:22] That is he said compared to living in Atlanta. So there you have it another gringo success story This time a black gringo success story, you know what for once. I'll try not to digress I'll try to stay on topic So by popular demand, let's talk some more about the black experience here in Latin America You know, I think it was four or five months ago I spoke about meeting a couple other black guys from the states who told me their stories and Versions of their own plan B's here in Latin America. If you recall there was a US military connection there, too That's how they ended up getting to know Latin America in the first place now. It is true You don't see many black tourists and visitors at all even on the gringo tourist trail You only spot them once in a while and sometimes with do-gooder groups

[15:08] And the one thing I've noticed when I see black kids in church groups is there's not a trace of ghetto speak They're almost always upscale black kids going to expensive nearly all white private schools coming down hoping to do some good And really as far as the do-gooder groups that come down everyone's nice polite and respectful They're easy to spot. They're almost always in matching Kumbaya t-shirts But if you heard my previous show on the black American experience here in Latin America You'll find out almost all the adult black people I meet that are actually living here in Latin America Most of the men that is our ex army or Navy who'd been to Latin America previously on some kind of military tour I found it so cool so extremely to their liking that they Decided to come down here and retire permanently as did this 40 something year old retired military guy

[15:57] Derek and I repeat it's mostly a black male American experience here in Latin America So you don't see too many females not on their own However, I've had more than a few black American females down to my expat insider seminar and some of them I'm moving down here permanently, too Anyway, the black guy I met in Panama Derek tells me that Every single black person that is local Latino or Latina black person, of course in their minds They're not black that he's ever met absolutely love ex president Obama Of course, he says they don't have any idea that he's only half black and they have no idea of anything He's actually ever done for anyone including black people, but he looks like one of them So that makes him cool By the way, as far as Obama doesn't matter which retired US military person you talk to down here black or white

[16:49] They pretty much have nothing good to say about him, but that's another subject and I promise not to digress Anyway, this guy Derek reinforced a fact to me that all the black people he meets are so-called people of color down here Whatever you want to call them. They just think Obama's a freakin saint Meanwhile, if you want my opinion, I can't stand looking at the guy and his wife Always sucking up to celebrities like Beyonce and that fat ass Oprah. She's a piece of work, too Well, as far as Latinos practically all of them loving Obama We can't really hold that against them because the company idiots in the States worship him, too Even idiots with degrees who should know better. Hey now, don't get me wrong. I'm not a Republican I'm anti-government in all respects when it comes to politics I'm an equal opportunity hater and like I've said a million times

[17:36] I don't vote not since Ross Perot predicted the big second sound of all those great blue-collar Manufacturing jobs in the States leaving the country and after that NAFTA treaty got signed everyone found out he was a hundred percent Correct. Oh and just for the record when people say Johnny, you mean you don't vote Well, then you got nothing to complain about my answer and my only answer is this by voting You're assuming the system works that by getting the right guy or the right party and things will get fixed Sorry, but the system is completely dysfunctional and irreparably broken and by voting that you're showing you believe the fantasy that the system actually works But then again, some people believe Chris Helmsworth is really Thor Robert Downey jr. Is actually Iron Man the government is your friend

[18:24] The justice system is fair and Hillary Clinton has two ex-chromos homes But hey, I did promise not to digress right anyway You know my friend Derek the black guy told me the place with the biggest black population in the world after Africa is Brazil oh and I also found out and you can look this up that Brazil imported ten times as many slaves as did the USA And they didn't come on Spanish British or Dutch ships like they did in the states They all came on Portuguese ships makes sense being it was a Portuguese colony. Oh, and here's a weird stat It's hard to believe but in the USA 750,000 slaves were brought over on Spanish and Portuguese ships Meanwhile more slaves were brought to Haiti than all of the US that would be

[19:12] 780,000 and guess who brought all those slaves to Haiti drumroll on a caravan here the French Yep, they had a lock on Haiti. It was a French colony Which is why the language of Haiti is French and that's why when you walk through the streets of the Dominican Republic Where the language is Spanish and ninety nine point nine percent of the people in the DR speak Spanish even so you'll often hear people very dark black people babbling away in French and they do that almost exclusively to keep the regular Dominicans out of the conversation because you will find that almost all Haitians can speak Spanish, but almost no Dominicans can speak French How'd that happen sound familiar? Oh and you'll find almost no

[19:58] Dominicans want to go to Haiti for any reason at all Even though it's their next-door neighbor and they share a border though almost all Haitians want to immigrate to the DR But let's get back to my gringo buddy in Panama I said Derek tell me about the black experience here in Latin America You've been living here a couple of years now He said for one thing the brothers down here won't shoot you sure some of them have guns And if you're in a bad neighborhood ghetto style someone might rob you take your iPhone your wallet, whatever But they're not gonna shoot you so you're stupid to show bling like that you have to keep on the down low He says however. He said in the States in Atlanta where he comes from Everybody has someone in the family who's been shot or killed then he laughed and said same thing with the brothers down here, too

[20:44] Except it's not guns, but motorcycles that kill people Everyone has a relative who's been killed on a moto then he said if you look around you'll see a lot of places Look like the ghetto and he said when you first get down here that scares you like you're moving right back into the hood But you can live there really cheap, and they're in no way like the hoods up in the States He said an apartment you get in Atlanta for thousands of fifteen hundred bucks You can get down here for around three to four hundred even in Panama He said but the neighborhoods are kind of scruffy if you want to live nice in Panama City He said you're gonna pay eight hundred to a thousand bucks a month But he said there are hundreds of places out in the boonies around small towns all through Latin America where you could get a really nice place in a complex gated and guarded with a pool not fancy

[21:32] But safe secure a big generator on the premises too So if the power goes out clicks right in for around fifty to sixty thousand dollars That's a brand new apartment two-bedroom, but you're not gonna get that in a nice neighborhood in Panama City Then you're looking at a hundred fifty grand or more Then he gave me a little warning. He said you know I have a daughter back up in the States from a bad relationship And he says like a good dad I send money back every month for her Don't know if she's getting it cuz it's going to her mom, but I do it He says I'm morally obligated, but I don't have to but I do it then he said but Johnny You have to look out for the ladies here in Latin America up in the States He says if you live with a girl for three four five six years It's considered a common law marriage, and if you break up you got to split everything

[22:20] But normally guys like me if I was living up in Atlanta I probably couldn't afford to own a house I'd rent maybe you have a car not a lot to split if a relationship goes sour However if you're living with a girl here in a Latin America the rules are all over the place Depending on which country in some Latin countries It's considered a common law marriage if a girl's living with you under the same roof for just three to six months So my advice he says never live with a girl unless you're married to her however if you do end up living with her Rent or if you own the place don't have it in your name have it in one of those SA corporations Or if you're in Belize and LLC Because if you don't and you split up even after three to six months

[23:05] She by law can be half owner of everything you've got even if you're not married and don't have a kid with her that is Everything you've got in your name So for example you could own a nice apartment in the Dominican Republic or Ecuador Panama or Paraguay And have your girlfriend move in and then break up with her a year later Uh-oh as long as that place is in your name even if you're just paying down a mortgage You'll never be able to kick her out She can stay there forever as long as someone's paying the rent and or the mortgage is kept up to date It's even worse if you own it outright in your name if she gets a lawyer soon enough. She'll own half Then old Derek proceeded to tell me about a good friend of his who was in just that very spot He too a black guy ex-us Navy with a live-in girlfriend now when they broke up

[23:54] He was the one that left because when he made a little trip back to the states to do some business when he came Back, she'd moved her mother and her kid from other relationship into the place And he said he knew one day he'd probably get violent with her and he'd end up in jail So in effect this guy lost his entire investment something like a hundred and twenty five thousand bucks Oh, and he gave me another little bit of advice about Latin women from the black perspective He said doesn't matter how good looking sweet pretty and sexy the girl is Never get yourself into a permanent relationship with a Latin girl unless she's got a job Doesn't matter if she's working at Sears Costco as a bank teller or at a Levi's factory if she's working that shows she's got initiative and some responsibility as Opposed to a girl who is a perpetual student and living with mommy and daddy because you know here in Latin America

[24:46] Like Derek said and he's right. There's plenty of girls 30 35 years old who are still living with mommy and daddy That's the way of the world here. Oh and speaking about mating and dating He says I still don't understand He said Johnny when I see white American guys come down to Latin America Single guys coming down to the countries that I like ones with nice beaches Atlantic and Caribbean coast borders He said it seems like American white guys don't stir the sugar much not like us black guys Whatever that means well someone please explain that to me I can think of a lot of things that might refer to but I don't think it has anything to do with the fact That white guys can't dance. Oh, and then he said something right on the blue, but pretty interesting

[25:31] He said, you know that nation Wakanda from the Black Panther movie He said, you know, they got all that advanced technology and stuff You see he brought that up when we started talking about Immigration and migration of Mexicans since the states illegally and all that he said I bet you a million pesos if there was an actual Wakanda they definitely would not let other Africans Sneak into their country illegally. They would just He said Johnny they'd put up a frickin electronic wall with lasers tasers and mazers on it and he said I wouldn't blame him I've been to Africa and I think every black American needs to take a trip to Africa Not just a few days in the big city Oprah style and a Hilton either He says you hear every brother and sister in the states talking about Africa, but almost no one's been there

[26:19] He said they need to shut their mouths until they step foot themselves. Then I said, wait a minute Let's get back to this Black Panther Wakanda thing You know what you're saying is Wakanda wouldn't let people in from poor African adjacent nations You know SJW types would call that racist He said you think what Conda is gonna let a bunch of people with bad habits no skills and troubles flood their country That's not racist. That's not even selfish. That's what you call self preservationist societal preservation, man I said, yeah, I'm with you. But up in the States, they'd be picketing in front of your house. If you said that He said yeah, Johnny That's why you and I are sitting down here in Latin America loving every minute of it while the social justice warriors and the LGBT WTFs wine like babies Oh Derek said another thing

[27:07] He said, you know us black Americans when we get down here We tend to hang with other black folks, even though they don't think they're black, but I'll tell you this little fact I've been down here three years living full-time and I've not gotten into one single altercation With any brothers cops or anyone here at all But when I go back to Atlanta for a visit or whatever, I'm always watching my back So 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 9-hour expat essentials course

[27:52] Get the perfect plan B blueprint by going to the expat files.com slash Academy. Los bemos