#774 – Episode 774: Expat Life in Latin America – Food, Health, and Cultural Insights

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 expat 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, I'm back in the saddle again after a very successful expat insider seminar those things You know do tire me out tire everyone out I mean everyone's drinking from the fire hose and that's a promise and to set all those things in motion Beforehand and make the whole thing click I'm talking about having a click Latin style at least you know in Latin America

[00:52] Everything's subject to change the last moment Well, we do our best and everyone in fact on the very last night when we have dinner We call it the Last Supper They get to stand up and tell the good the bad the ugly and the great through their own eyes after our week-long experience The fact is you do get the fire hose treatment and there were a lot of people already dragging their butts on the second day No, big deal. That's normal. Well, anyway had a great group again this time Smart courageous curious and like-minded as always and that's one of the complaints I often get people say I can't seem to find like-minded people where I live They say I open my mouth about the deteriorating state of things and I get the deer in the headlights Look even captive audiences like your brothers sisters parents friends

[01:38] They think you're this side of nuts when you talk about a plan B getting your ass and assets to a third world country Where you can watch the first world collapse from a nice safe distance So as for like-minded people thinking that way, well, you generally don't find many in your own neighborhood Well, of course, thanks to the internet You can find a lot of like-minded people but they're virtual people that you'll never know upfront and personal however at the seminar you meet nothing but like-minded people creative and sort of chance takers to where they wouldn't be down here and You know many of the attendees commented that it was a very cool thing That I invited other expats to some of our dinners and events So they could mingle with everyone and tell some of their own expats stories and adventures I'm talking about expats who came to previous seminars and ended up living down here

[02:24] So our seminar attendees didn't have to listen to me ranting and babbling the whole time Attendees always want to know how newcomers who've moved down permanently are managing with their own plan B's What better way than to have someone around at all times to answer questions for you and it's true No one who comes down here permanently checks every box and hits every bullseye I certainly didn't when I first came down. I spun my wheels for quite a few years I'm here to tell you what not to do. That's the most important part of this seminar. By the way It's really good to know all the mistakes stupid and otherwise that newbie gringos make Mistakes that often cost tens of thousands of dollars in the first couple years because all of us try to reinvent the wheel So yes as you follow along in your own plan B

[03:09] You will make mistakes, but hopefully not very costly ones because you have been through my expat insider seminar boot camp So to speak so in the end we gather together Another very refined group of like-minded individuals, of course when I say like-minded Nobody's a cookie cutter of the next guy and that's a good thing I mean, come on who wants to be in a conversation with someone who agrees with everything you say And that certainly wasn't the case with these people, but on the general principles, man, will we like-minded? So that said let me get on with a couple of emails that are pertinent to the situation right now because things are changing fast I'm talking about up where you are where whether you realize it or not You're getting closer and closer to the edge the edge of what will mark my words. It won't be pretty All right, without further ado-doo, let's get to some emails

[03:58] By the way, it was Shakespeare who repeatedly used that phrase without further ado one do's not to anyway Here's an email from Chris on the subject of hygiene and trying to avoid Montezuma's revenge here in Latin America But first I should mention alas Montezuma's revenge eventually does strike ten out of ten backpackers often multiple times a month or even a week Because and I know the culprits they eat street food because it smells oh so good I mean what pieces of roasting charred flesh don't smell good on the churras quera Churras quera is Spanish for the Barbie down here And of course if there's one thing I see all the time is backpackers passing fruit and sandwiches and various pieces of food Back and forth with their dirty little fingers now you got to commend them They share things a lot and since they're on very low budgets

[04:47] They eat at the very cheapest places and joints like that don't have very good hygiene stands to reason I mean look paper towels clean water and disposables are not priorities with street food vendors and low-budget restaurants And as they're passing through the market and the vendors are slicing off pieces of melon mango oranges Practically everything they got for sale well That's when backpackers are in their glory What better way to get a free meal than to walk through the market and eat up the samples and here in Latin America? Vendors liberally cut off pieces of fruit and hand them out They want you to try it so you can see how good it is that means of course the vendors are equipped with a nice Sharp knife or machete that they also use for cleaning in their nails and their teeth Yuck, and when they're bored tossing it at a pole or a nearby wall to see if it sticks and in doing that of course

[05:38] It hits the ground multiple times you can't help that and inevitably it's used to scratch various Unmentionable parts of the body where the hand can't quite reach and then they use it to cut the sample and hand it to you And if you're a backpacker you always eat it, so when you hear people say I just love traveling and Latin America is one of my favorite places But you'll have to put up with those occasional bouts of Montezuma's revenge I say it's your own damn fault or they'll fall into that defensive Default position and say well you see my stomach flora from Cleveland is not adapted to the stomach flora in Panama City or Tagusi Galpa or la Saba Honduras whatever and they'll point out the fact that the locals almost never get sick And they're handing out tortillas that land in the dirt even after a straight dog

[06:23] Is taking a chunk out of it well I beg to differ and I don't beg much because I have not had a case of Montezuma's revenge for I can say five years It's more like ten why because I don't eat street food I don't drink anything with ice cubes in it when I'm in a restaurant I wipe down the silverware sometimes the plate I always drink from a bottle or a can not from a glass and when I'm invited to a Latin person's home I do the same wipe down the silverware and plate stealthily because that would really offend the host I think and I don't drink anything that's prepared in a pitcher and pour it into a glass unless I'm in a first-world Franchise four-star hotel or restaurant and even then I'm hesitant to do it now Here's the thing about eating breakfast lunch and dinner in Latin America almost every restaurant from street vendors to two dollars a lunch hole-in-the-wall

[07:10] Places all the way up to four-star restaurants and international franchise hotels. They have what they call Executive launches so you pay one amount and you get everything and by the way those things range from Let's say a buck and a half to maybe ten bucks in a four-star international restaurant You get the main course a salad dessert and a beverage and usually the beverage is something like lemonade or some orange Concoction tons of sugar in it or a natural local Latin American beverage called Rosa. Ha mica it's kind of a reddish purple drink and it's actually hibiscus tea made from the petals of the hibiscus flower and Admittedly, it's very good for you except in Latin America They pile on the sugar at least it's not artificial or a high fructose corn syrup. You can't even get that here

[07:57] Which is a blessing. Oh, I take that bet you can at Walmart. Remember caro syrup. That's high fructose corn syrup So yeah, you can get it at Walmart. Isn't that nice? Oh, man, the world is going down the drain, huh? So anyway, when you order an executive lunch from any restaurant The drink you get is almost always premixed in a pitcher and poured into a glass and I won't drink it I'll order a club soda in a can or a bottle So almost always I'll order sparkling water in a can or bottle not from the automatic dispenser behind a bar Nor will I have it in a glass and down here they call that agua mineral mineral water or agua con gas You know water with gas However, pretty much any time there's a fiesta or a house party or backyard party barbecue You'll see that hibiscus tea called Rosa de jamaica and they'll throw ice cubes in it

[08:46] So if you want to try it, it's good except forget the ice cubes And if you happen to be in the mood for an executive lunch, that would be el morso Executivo, they're recommended and they are a very good deal over the a la carte price on the menu Because you get everything salad dessert main plate some kind of drink poured from a pitcher into a glass of ice That's the part I avoid and I also avoid salads So instead I usually order steamed vegetables or something that's been heated but back to the drink That's bored from a pitcher into a glass. It could be overly sugared orange juice lemonade Hibiscus tea over sugared anything and sometimes they'll offer you a very strange drink called horchata horchata starts with an H It looks like slightly dingy milk with little things floating in it. Always a bad sign, huh?

[09:37] Again, it's always way too sweet for my taste I'll never drink it with ice cubes though It's plant-based and could have a lot of different things in it like for example rice spices like cocoa cinnamon Sesame steez nutmeg vanilla. I don't drink it because they pour it into a glass But latin's man, especially in Central America, they go nuts for the stuff In fact, I understand McDonald's and the Starbucks and some other franchises up in the states are actually offering it now I don't know in what form because I hear there are horchata donuts and obviously in the cities They have the most Latino population up in the states You're gonna find horchata creeping into restaurant menus just like here in Latin America when you go to a traditional franchise fast food place like Kentucky Fried or Taco Bell McDonald's whatever on the breakfast menu and sometimes in the lunch and dinner menu

[10:26] They'll have rice tortillas beans and get this Platinos, you know plantains by the way plantains Which are those very hard and big bananas that you really can't eat like a banana They have to be cooked somewhere or another man Those things are the greatest source of fiber and I'll tell you a dirty little secret and it's kind of dirty a high percentage of gringo Expats who've jumped off the treadmill up north come down with gastric and intestinal problems, you know Many times gringles have mentioned this turns out if they just have one plantain in the morning, you know for breakfast cooked whichever way The easiest way I've found is to cut them up in little slices and fry them in a hundred percent pure coconut oil Well, I've been told over and over again one plantain in the morning keeps the gastrointestinal problems away

[11:13] I mean, they're gone. In other words, they make you regular and I like regular people, don't you? What could be cheaper and easier than that one plantain in the morning and eventually there go your gastrointestinal Problems at least you'll notice a difference. Of course, those are only Testimonials, but what do you have to lose and you know a long time ago when I lived in Chicago? I never did see a plot to know they just weren't on the menu in lily white Chicago suburbs in those burbs You didn't see them in supermarkets, but you did seem on the menu soggy ones at Mexican restaurants In fact, I think I only tried the soggy ones once and they were kind of disgusting Because what Latins do is they pile on the sugar and the syrup They won't eat them any other way Now if you skip the sugar and fry them up in pure coconut oil without the sugar

[11:59] Latinos are hesitant and they'll wanna throw some sugar on them before they eat them However, when I insist that they try them without the sugar They can't believe how good they are because piling the sugar on is just tradition here You know how up in the States some people will salt everything without even trying it first. It's just let's salt it You know, that's exactly how Latinos are with sugar They throw it on everything and we all thought gringo's had a sweet tooth You know, according to stats, just look them up The average American eats well over a hundred pounds of sugar a year and Latinos man I tell you it's got to be double that and that's always how it's been especially since sugar cane grows practically everywhere in Latin America Along roadsides city lots garbage dumps You name it and what the kids do most of the poor kids is they'll crack off a piece and suck it all day

[12:45] What do kids know? It's sweet and it's free. Oh, and by the way about this epidemic of obesity here in Latin America You'll notice that there are a hell of a lot more obese people in the altiplano Then there are on the coast and in the lowlands. That's because in the altiplano people have access to the usual suspects McDonald's Kentucky Fried the fast food joints junk food and what they call chat data That would be like Doritos Cheetos coke and Pepsi The fact is in the lowlands and on the coast where the weather is extremely hot and humid people are sweating all the time And in the factories and the building trades those people are sweating their asses off So they're burning a lot more calories than the people in the altiplano who might have exactly the same diet Which is notably a perverted diet compared to when I first came down here 20 something years ago

[13:32] Where the only internationally franchised fast food joints around were McDonald's Domino's Pizza and Burger King Forever after known down here as burger without the King Burger, but now even I have Krispy Kreme dairy Queen and Carlos Jr. Have landed and 50 others so anyway if you're hanging out at the beaches in Latin America You'll see people that are let's skin here Then you will in the altiplano where it's real easy to just sit back and pork down and not even break a sweat So on that same subject of trying to avoid Montezuma's revenge at all costs we hear from Chris who says Johnny I thought you might like this tip regarding hygiene in Latin America Gary Nall by the way, he really is the Renaissance man international health guru. Oh and as for me Johnny

[14:19] I only listen to two or three podcasts regularly myself and his is one of them Anyway, Chris says in his email when Gary Nall is in a restaurant He'll squirt a little lemon on his napkin and then wipe down the silverware with that Being that the acid in the lemon kills the germs in the silverware man Is that a good idea or what I like that so even though what I'm doing really seems to work to me Doing that lemon thing is just a little extra insurance Oh, and did you know there's no distinction here in Latin America between lemons and limes? They've only got one type and they're not yellow They're green and they're called lemons and if you do see yellow lemons They're usually imported or lemons which are green down here gone bad though. There is a fruit That's green that looks just like a lime, but slightly smaller. It's called the Lima like Lima Peru

[15:05] Never saw those up in Chicago before now They're not nearly as common as Limones Limones are lemons though They look like limes only larger so they've got lemons But they're green and they've got lemons that are green too and smaller But no yellow lemons like you and I were used to up in the states unless again They've been imported or they're green limes that have gone bad Confused yet now about those lemons they look like limes that are a lighter shade of green kind of sweet No, not sweet like a tangerine or an orange, but it's just not bitter like a lemon by the way here in Latin America You'll find people are absolutely addicted to lemons You'll seem sucking on them sometimes in the street something you and I would never do up in the states I mean a lemon fact where I come from in Chicago. We're not much around the house at all

[15:52] They were a summer thing for the occasional lemonade or for salads and dentists here will tell you that's one of the big Problems they have with the population the people that suck on lemons and lemon peels all day A lot of the minimum wage types factory workers grunt workers car mechanics construction workers will suck on lemons Continuously or at least the peel and in time that strips the enamel off of your front teeth and man Is that a problem especially for people who can't afford to go to the dentist and only go when it hurts? I don't know how they do it suck on lemons all day back in Chicago If you told someone to suck on a lemon that was kind of a soft insult. Well, that'd be doing something normal in Latin America I mean really if you told them to go suck a lemon, they'd suck a lemon probably a couple of them and they'd like it

[16:37] Oh, man, I mentioned my hometown Chicago a couple times in this show and man I don't ever want to go back there Seems like every thing that comes out of the media these days alternative and otherwise is bad news about my hometown But now today there's an article that just might be the topper for me. All right, here goes it says 63 year old father of 43 children Found beaten to death in his Chicago home. I'll say no more draw your own conclusions But that'd be reason four thousand two hundred and thirty six why I never want to go back to Chicago Not even to visit the question is how many of those 43 children are you supporting and the corollary to that is how many do you Think get a Christmas or birthday present from dear old dad. Did I say dear old dad?

[17:26] Well, he is now which reminds me of an old street corner philosopher Slash drunk guy used to see around Chicago when I was a kid I remember he said once I don't understand why men give out cigars when kids are born and women are so Ecstatically happy when they're pregnant because he said having a kid is the easiest thing in the world Any moron or imbecile can do it even when they're drunk probably mostly when they're drunk Hey a lot of smart drunks out there. Look at the Irish poets But I digress Significantly, but back to the food and food safety thing. Here's another email gonna paraphrase this a bit because I can Hey, I try to make these shows a bit interesting because you know, you got a lot to choose from There's a million podcasts on the dial and other things to do little shock value little chaos is good for the soul, huh?

[18:14] Anyway, he says Johnny for the big produce markets all around Latin America Will you say that small medium or large numbers of farmers are using toxic? Monsanto or Monsanto like products such as Roundup ready and others or perhaps are using toxic products similar to those Maybe clones that are much cheaper Same thing goes for Latin American dairy farmers and those that make the commonly sold local cheeses cheddar clones mozzarella's white banana leaf wrapped cheeses and such and Johnny What about bovine growth hormone then he talks about eggs? He says would you say that most eggs are from local non caged healthy chickens? That is if they are those tiny factory farm cages Do they get out and about not of the stunted leg variety they have up in the states that?

[19:03] Can't even walk because they're living in a sort of one by one foot constricted area their entire lives. Thanks, Johnny Like your opinion on that one. Mr. AD. All right, let's take these things one at a time first off you'll be surprised how many organic farms there are here in Latin America now because Good healthy eating seems to be catching on at least with the more educated and intelligent members of society No matter where they are. In fact in my expat insider seminars We make a point of eating at at least one restaurant that is directly attached and part of an organic farm So whatever is on your plate except if you're eating meat It's coming directly from what you see in your own field of vision Of course, the meats are all organic too though in that particular case. They don't raise livestock

[19:48] Anyway, since there are so many organic farms throughout Latin America You'll always be able to find one or two near by just check the internet or go to one of the big markets and ask around Of course, if you're off the gringo tourist trail, you'll have to know some Spanish However, if you're on or near the gringo tourist trail People will speak English and you'll find an even larger cluster of organic farms Why because gringos and expats are more in tune to that style of life And so those niches have been found and filled by guess who well, not Latinos mostly gringos and Europeans So to answer a D's first question about Monsanto Saturating the crops at markets here in Latin America All you have to do is go to one of those organic farms Like I said, they're all over the place and ask one of the people working there Preferably one of the owners or partners which locally grown foods at the market have been hit with Monsanto or other noxious

[20:39] Pesticides and in organics. They'll know all right. They're up on that stuff more than anyone. That's why they're in business They're filling that organic niche being that it's almost always knowledgeable first world people who start these farms They know their competition. Well, so go up there open your mouth and ask them now as for Latin American dairy farmers You can ask the same question to those organic growers, but I can tell you this I see cows all the time Roaming the streets out in the boonies. Yep. Just last night. I almost clocked one They do have the right-of-way, you know Or let's just say you're not gonna win in a game of chicken with a cow and you know You find out the hard way laying on the horn Yelling or waving your arms has absolutely no effect on a cow's speed or direction and even when they're moving and they move awful slow

[21:25] More than likely they'll just stop right there in the middle of the road size things up and take a dump You think they look dumb But they know how to piss us off because guess who's gonna drive through that stuff and track it up the driveway and into the garage Oh, by the way, how many times a month do you get your car washed? And what does it cost up there in Cleveland? Bring it up because you see if you have a maintenance guy or gardener here You'll find out when you hire him if you don't tell him otherwise He'll wash your car every single day even in the rainy season. Now. I'd say that's a little excessive, but they do It's something that's ingrained into him. I don't know how it got there Maybe from previous Latin bosses who forced it on him. I don't know just note that when you first hire one He'll wash it every day unless you tell him otherwise I believe me after about six months. There just might not be much paint left on the car

[22:15] But where were we? Oh, yeah cows Well, I see him all over the place and I almost never see him with a tag in their ear Like you see up in the States, you know Where every cows got multiple little staples in his ears signifying some kind of chemical hormone or injection You just don't see that down here They don't have gigantic cattle farms though if you're out in the boonies You'll see them free ranging all over the place and it's those big cattle farms You've seen in documentaries and pictures that are almost exclusively delegated to first world countries though I understand in Argentina Since beef is one of their top five exports to the world They are starting to copy the first world and pinning in their cattle tighter and closer And i'm also hearing that since first world people prefer

[23:04] marbled steak corn fed beef that is Well, that's unnatural we know but it's all about the market and what us consumers demand and that's not what the locals want Nor are they used to? All right now for the incredible edible egg question You know if you go to a regular supermarket super marcado or walmart, whatever You're gonna have your pick of factory farm eggs though. Once in a while you'll find some much smaller eggs there that are labeled Organic, but finding them is more than spotty So that's why I always recommend you buy at one of the local little tienas You know those hole-in-the-wall little places that are all disorganized kind of scruffy lights burned out They sell everything from bread to rat poison to fireworks And of course all the off-brand junk food too. That's half the price of the first world stuff

[23:53] Oh, and they always have a tiny little produce section too Hey, and don't look down your nose at it either because they always get the freshest stuff because you'll see early in the morning Uh, the lab-a-date it'll pick up pull-in so dented twisted and rotted out. You wonder how the thing manages to turn over every day But it's loaded with all kinds of produce and it's fresh direct from very local farms So you can't go wrong at all buying produce there as long as it's not sitting right next to the rat poison Hey, you never know. Anyway, those little tienas always have fresh farm eggs Yep, you'll often see a dilapidated pickup pull up just chopped full of eggs too And generally those are not big factory farm egg operations. In fact, not so long ago I asked one of those egg truck drivers how many chickens he had he said About 200 and I said do they get to run around? He said yeah, and they're hard to catch too

[24:39] But like he said they each put out one nice egg a day and that's all that's necessary to keep the family business going And he said they not only have eggs but melons papayas avocados and watermelon too So then are those eggs really organic? Well kind of sort of Sure, they get to run around the yard eating insects like mosquitoes knits and ticks. Yep. They got ticks down here If you have dogs, you'll find that out especially if you're out in the county But not so much as to affect the human population At least i've never had a tick and i've been down here past 27 years now And i've never heard of anyone with Lyme disease either Scientists are saying ticks that are Lyme disease vectors don't get this far south then again Maybe they don't like me or my blood who knows not like a lot of other people I know especially backpackers who you'll often see walking around in shorts bad idea

[25:27] Especially in the lowlands and around water, you know and at dusk why well mosquitoes, of course though believe it or not, the ulti plano is pretty much devoid of mosquitoes except again If you're close to a river or body of water or it's nighttime But in the latin american coastal areas look out they got mosquitoes But then again, there are lots of concoctions that are kind of organic to repel them some are good But they're never quite as good as that good old poisonous neurotoxin Deet the main active ingredient in things like off All right So it is recommended you buy your eggs at one of those little tienes and make sure that they've got little poop and feathers Huh, then, you know, they're not coming from a factory farm You know factory farms spray the eggs with a chemical sanitizer Which also makes them a little more brilliant uniform and shiny under the glare of walmart lighting

[26:16] Hey, you know, it's all about display and placement in the supermarket, right? Aha But if you really want organic eggs and not pay organic prices you go to one of the really big produce markets You'll see they're selling medium and large sized white eggs brown speckled eggs, too And you'll see maybe five or ten percent of the eggs being sold there not brown or white ones But sort of beige colored they're never more than medium sized if you can find them Those are the ones you should buy because generally those are the eggs brought in by the ladies who sell driveway chickens Naturally those driveway chickens lay eggs They're usually sold in trays of 30 and when I see them I'll buy 60 at a time and they cost around 10 cents apiece Yes, i've quizzed those ladies about their driveway chickens Those chickens do a lot of their own forging

[27:01] Although I have to say they always supplement it with chicken feed by the hundred pound sack The problem is the ladies are convinced by whom I don't know that the chicken feed Provides all the extra nutrients vitamins and minerals that their chickens aren't getting from forging on their own So even though for a hundred million years chickens simply forged without a man-made mixture of feed in sight This is latin american people believe authority figures what they see advertised on tv and what they read Even if they can't read at all 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

[27:49] 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