Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller explores the growing challenges expats face in Latin America, from political and economic instability to bureaucratic hurdles in Western countries. He also delves into the socioeconomic structure of banks, health insurance options, and the social implications of body art. Johnny shares personal anecdotes and cautionary tales about security risks and theft, offering practical advice for expats considering life in the region.
Johnny begins by discussing the challenges of expat life in Latin America, particularly focusing on the growing trend of people leaving due to political and economic instability. He highlights the increasing barriers imposed by Western governments, such as the Canadian government's cumbersome passport application process, as a warning to potential expats. He also touches on the topic of medical tourism, offering insights into insurance options available in Latin America.
Next, Johnny discusses the socioeconomic structure of banks in Latin America, highlighting how they cater to different classes. He contrasts the offerings of banks like Banco Agro Mercantile, which serves lower-middle-class and working-class clients, with more upscale banks that cater to wealthier individuals. He notes that the health insurance policies offered at these banks vary significantly in coverage and cost, with the more expensive plans providing better coverage. Johnny also mentions that expats and gringos should be cautious when choosing health insurance, as the policies can be complex and difficult to understand without expert guidance.
In a separate segment, Johnny discusses the potential negative impact of tattoos and body art on future earnings, using a conversation with Eddie, a professional who believes that even a 'nice' tattoo can cost a person a significant amount of future income. He also touches on the topic of book ownership among wealthy French and Latino individuals, suggesting that many of these books are not actually read but are instead displayed as a form of social status. The segment also includes a brief anecdote about a medical appointment in Guatemala, where a doctor from El Salvador explains her work in the hospital and the reasons for her move.
Johnny then shares his experience working as a doctor in El Salvador, where he was offered a high-paying job with a local doctor who was married to a much older man. He highlights the lack of stigma around older men having younger wives in Latin America, particularly when the older man is wealthy and has a family. Johnny contrasts the healthcare system in Latin America with that in the United States, noting that doctors are more approachable and that co-pays are significantly lower. He then shifts to discussing security concerns in Latin America, noting that government and public parking lots are the most insecure, while private ones are safer. He concludes with a story about expats being targeted for theft, emphasizing the need for caution and preparation.
Finally, Johnny recounts a story about an expat couple who experienced a theft in a Latin American city. The couple had exchanged a small amount of money into local currency and placed it in their backpack instead of using the hotel's room safe. They were followed by two women who later stole the money from their backpack in a mall. The couple was left with only a small amount of money, leading to a miserable nine days in the city. They had to rely on borrowed money and experienced the local crime issues firsthand. Johnny also shares other expat stories about theft and crime in Latin America, emphasizing the importance of being cautious and using safe practices to avoid such incidents.
Topics
Expat Life in Latin America, Political and Economic Instability, Barriers Imposed by Western Governments, Medical Tourism, Passport Application Process, Socioeconomic structure of banks in Latin America, Health insurance policies and their cost differences, Body art and its social implications, Career paths and dating prospects, Tattoos and body art's impact on earnings, Book ownership and social status, Medical experiences in Guatemala
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:14 Introduction to the Expat Files Podcast 00:00:30 Upcoming Expat Insider Seminar 00:01:06 Concerns About Brain Drain and Expats Leaving 00:01:47 Example of Passport Application Hurdles 00:04:46 Transition to Medical Tourism Story 00:05:53 Socioeconomic Structure of Banks in Latin America 00:07:56 Cost and Coverage Differences in Health Insurance Policies 00:10:05 Body Art and Dating Prospects in Latin America 00:11:23 Tattoos and Body Art's Impact on Earnings 00:11:50 The Cost of a Tattoo 00:12:10 The Negative Effect of Body Art on Earnings 00:12:21 A Potential Master's Thesis 00:12:39 Books and Writing 00:13:06 The Chicago Great Books Club 00:13:56 French Book Ownership and Display 00:14:11 Pretentious Upper Middle Class and Wealthy Latinos 00:16:57 Job Offer in El Salvador 00:18:01 Cultural Attitudes Toward Older Men and Younger Wives 00:19:54 Security and Theft Risks for Expats 00:22:56 The Decision to Store Money in the Backpack 00:23:24 The City and the Risk of Pickpocketing 00:23:47 The Follow and the Theft 00:24:16 The Realization of the Theft 00:24:46 The Miserable Nine Days 00:25:22 Lessons Learned from the Theft
Transcript
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 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 as you probably know my next expat insider seminar kicks off in just a couple of days now And most your listeners know that just coming down to the seminar means you've got a plan B on your mind That there really is a good possibility that you're gonna pack up and get the hell out of dodge
[00:46] Eventually anyway meaning of course, you know that if you don't go you've got a nice comfy first-class cabin on the Titanic And of course those first world big brother states know that quite well And until the feces really hits the ventilator and chaos ensues You're just a cow attached to the automatic milking machine, but don't think big brother's not a little bit worried They know a lot of people are thinking about leaving and a lot of them are gone already and an unusual percentage of high rollers Too and that worries big brother even more, you know It's not popcorn vendors and hamburger flippers that are getting out of dodge along with their assets, you know So don't think big brother doesn't know there's an extreme brain drain going on too because only the smartest and most astute And most creative people are thinking along those lines
[01:31] The rest are sheep and lemmings and it's just the way big brother wants it But when you've got the best and most creative minds leaving the brain drain thing along with high rollers with a lot of assets It's easy to understand why big brother is setting up more and more barriers to discourage people from leaving Like for example exactly what happened to an expat wannabe from canada who signed up for my seminar But as we're coming down to the wire now He never was 100 sure he'd be able to pull it off because of all the crazy little Contingencies the canadian government tried to pull on him regarding getting his passport and this is from when he says johnny Just a quick note to let you know with just 10 days until my flight down to your seminar The canadian government has graciously provided me with a passport
[02:18] If you recall the national office in quebec denied my initial application made in late april By the way because of missing decorative scroll work on the right lower edge of my original bird certificate So I ended up having to obtain a new birth certificate then drive 16 plus hours And then returned to edmonton canada last monday actually bleeding over to tuesday Then I took a number and lined up in three different lines With all the other cattle in their processing plant and then I waited overnight In a hotel and of course a lot of expenses there now if that wasn't enough Their office actually called to interrogate my two references. I put on the form
[03:08] Along with the one person the so-called guarantor listed on my application. Can you imagine that? What if they couldn't get a hold of those guys, so they just didn't pick up I'd be sol or still standing in one of those lines Then after all that they finally printed and issued my document But first I had to drive back downtown Get in another line and finally pick up that passport and drive back to prince george b.c What an absurd Inefficient expensive and intrusive process just getting a passport in canada a so-called first world country then he says alas Can we expect any less from western governments these days? So as the fates would have it I will be seeing you on saturday regards canadian wane
[03:58] Hey, and I thought standing in three or four lines in latin american immigration offices was bad Now I want you to maybe rewind a bit and listen to that again I really think you should you have to let it sink in because applying for and getting a passport was never like this before So let that be a lesson to all you expect going to bees and wannabes up there who are Procrastinating and waiting for your pensions or your kids to graduate or grandma to die and leave you her dining room set Whatever believe me the time will come where there'll be so many barriers Put in front of you and trying to get the paperwork to get the hell out that many of you will just throw in the towel and say hell I ain't going just too much work a pain in the ass and you know, it ain't so bad yet I mean that first-class cabin on the titanic with 24 7 room service is still quite comfy, huh?
[04:46] All right. Meanwhile back here with boots on the ground We've got part two of that little what you might call medical tourism story I started out with a few weeks ago You remember when I offered to help that gringo lady whose spanish Sucked on her first visit to hospitals doctors and clinics trying out her new medical insurance here in Guatemala as it turns out now for a short recap you might recall She's paying a little under a hundred bucks a month for an insurance plan Offered by one of the big banks here in latin america And when you come down you can have one just like that or similar to it too As long as you have an account at one of the banks that offers such insurance policies and many many of them do Which in a way is the confusing part especially since all this stuff's in spanish So then you have to wonder who's got the best policies the best coverage, you know
[05:31] For example, if five banks are offering such policies, they're not all alike The differences could be dramatic. Let's take for example a bank called banco agro mercantil english translation merchant farmers bank Now if you were to walk into that bank and look at the people standing in line Waiting to go to the teller and customer service and all that you'd see they're solid middle class Working latinos and of course middle class here in latin america is what you'd call lower middle class or even Trailer trash poor up in the states And in that bank's parking lot, you'll rarely see a nice car a range rover a bmw even a light new toyota There'll be cars there. All right, but most of them, you know have seen better days Now that's a snapshot of their main clientele meaning the health insurance policies
[06:18] They're going to offer are not going to be equivalent to the policies offered at let's say another big bank called banco hete continental now if you took a peek in the parking lot of one of those banks you'd see the cars are slightly nicer and Inside the lobby the people a little bit better dressed some guys in suits ladies nicely attired and I hate to say this But they'll be a little taller wider and well Just obviously a bit more upscale than the people in the other bank So in effect many banks here in latin america are structured along class and socioeconomic lines In other words when these things first started up many years ago Some of them were directed at employees of sugar and tobacco plantations, etc Some for factory workers and others for the wealthier upscale people and businessmen
[07:04] Hey, you know just telling it like it is so it's true in the case of the second bank If you're in the lobby and you pick up one of the little pamphlets at the counter where they spell out The health insurance policies they offer you'll find at the higher end banks They have policies that offer better coverage at a higher price. Of course That is as compared to the first bank that was mentioned banco agro mercantile Now when I say a little more expensive get this I checked out the family plan health insurance policy in the pamphlet at banco agro mercantile and guess what coverage for an entire family around 25 bucks a month that would be the basic plan and 35 bucks a month For the deluxe plan and at the other bank I just mentioned where they have a slightly higher class of clientele Their basic plan is around 50 bucks a month and the deluxe family plan about 75
[07:56] Yeah, you're talking twice as much but you get twice or three times the coverage, too By the way that banco agro mercantile plan, I would never recommend for gringles and expats But how are you gonna know that so you just don't put all the bank names on a cork board and throw a dart There's some fine points and details you have to know and you have to be able to suss through these policies Which I have and we spend a lot of time at the insider's seminar talking about just that and we go through various policies Line by line too. Hey, that's one of the things you'll never be able to do by yourself sitting up on your sofa Reading international living or invest overseas checking out expat blogs and youtubes And even if you're spanish is pretty good. Do you ever try to read through your own health care plan and that's in english Not only is it much less interesting than watching paint dry
[08:42] They've got their own brand of double talk going there too, but you knew that already Anyway, when last we left our young gringo with the spider veins, you know, that was her problem She didn't have any kind of disease or life-threatening condition She just knew there were methods using lasers injections, whatever to get rid of those unsightly spider veins In fact, I overheard her saying to the doctor She was a little embarrassed by him kind of cramping her mating and dating aspirations down here After all, she was young kind of young and single So why not and I think whatever it takes to maintain a youthful look is good Hey better to go for the spider veins than nose rings tongue studs or earlobe expanders Hey, what a turn on but that's just me by the way when we were sitting in the waiting room There was a girl there with one of those asymmetrical haircuts where part of her head was bald
[09:31] And part of her hair was blue green and red Yep, that kind of stuff's trickling down here too But mostly with some of the public and private university types now, I know you won't believe this But that girl also had a couple of tattoos and the grinkle lady who was checking out the body art said johnny I think i'm gonna get a nice cute and dainty tattoo and maybe an eyebrow piercing I said if that's what you want go for it But just remember the more body art you have the more it kind of limits your mating and dating opportunities In other words the more body art the more you're likely to draw suitors from the minimum wage club Hey, don't laugh. That's kind of the way it turns out sometimes Just take a walk through a liberal arts college campus or student union one day and then take a walk through the medical science and Engineering campuses. I wonder who's got more body art which reminds me of a little discussion
[10:21] I had the other day with a latin college kid His parents were rich and he was going to a bilingual helicopter college We were discussing how you never see a graduate engineer or medical doctor working behind a starbucks counter or flippin burgers But funny enough you can find any number of liberal arts graduates even people with master's degrees And of course mba's putting on a happy face and taking your order Yep That's another way to join the minimum wage club these days All you have to do is pick a career that gives you a lot of free time at the student lounge Yeah, just go into a college student lounge and check out the people who are on facebook Instagram what's up and the people watching friends or seinfeld reruns and ask them what their major is I wonder oh and expat eddie, you know, he's hired lots of people at minimum wage for his restaurants
[11:10] He tells me when he interviews a guy who's got a big tattoo on his arm or one that's creeping up his neck If he seems like a good decent hardworking guy that won't stop him from hiring him but he'll tell him to wear long sleeves or Button up his collar while on the job. Then he said some people kind of balk at that just a little bit They'll say but it's not a gang tattoo. It's a nice tattoo. It's a work of art. It's no homemade job I paid 150 bucks for it and eddie who though you might not think so by looking at him is really good in math Just great with numbers some guys are and with this particular guy eddie said so you paid 150 bucks for that work of art, huh? Do you ever think of the lifetime monetary consequences of that? He said, you know that 150 art investment of yours probably cost you about
[12:00] 150 000 in lost future income we're talking lifetime earnings, bro In other words eddie who's hired hundreds of employees over the years as pretty much the same mindset I do having in your face and right out in the open tattoos piercings and body art have a definite negative effect on your future earnings Unless of course you own the company and you're the boss Hey now, wouldn't that be a great master's thesis? Probably could turn it into a best seller find out just how much ink and body art reduces your potential lifetime earnings profile or not Hey, I can see some big grant money flown to the guy who first writes that thesis proposal Probably get a book deal out of it before he even finishes the study Speaking of books and I know i'm wandering here. What else is new remember last week? I read an email from a guy who was talking about writing the great american or unamerican novel in lake attiland, guadamala
[12:50] That was his future plan b destination. Well after that I got a nice little grouping of emails from people apparently because probably everyone who listens to this show is above average Except me there are a lot of you out there who aren't thinking about writing a book because they say everyone's got at least One in them, right? Anyway, I remember reading that the french happened to be the people who write the most books per capita in the world And they're the ones that almost never get read either And as it turns out so few french books are translated into english or spanish Anyway, when I was a kid, I think I mentioned this in the past show My mother enrolled me at 12 years old or something in the chicago great books club where we get to read the classics dickens Hemingway victor hugo and superman batman and marvel comics on the side, of course Now lately, I just found out that if you go into a fairly wealthy frenchman's home in europe
[13:40] Nearly all of them will have on their bookshelves in full view. In fact, they want you to see it A book called or a group of books called Which is an expensive collection of all the great books in french, of course, but what I found out is No one reads them. They just have them on display. So anyone visiting might see so it's about kind of showing off a certain snobbish class You know like having a maserati parked out in front of your driveway that you never drive or being a member at an exclusive golf course But you don't golf Anyway, that french book story reminded me so much of pretentious upper middle class and wealthy latinos You know i've been in dozens of houses like that In fact some of those rich jerks had dozens of houses And they all seem to have a den with bookshelves lined with all kinds of volumes in spanish and english some of them
[14:30] Leather bound, you know really expensive stuff yet 99.9 of those books have never been read I've pulled a few out cracked them open. I think I was the very first to do so in almost all cases Like I said, it's all about the show just like in upscale latin health clubs It's all about wearing expensive veditas and rebach workout clothes, etc And of course after that workout, there's that mandatory trip across the street to starbucks for an 800 calorie cafe mocha to java Nope, they just don't get it. But then again Just like that up in chicago But where were we? Oh, yeah back at the hospital I took our gringa friend for her second round of tests and the appointment was at 10 in the morning I think it was a wednesday where over the next hour She received a doppler an ultrasound and something else
[15:16] I forget the purpose of which was to check out the blood flow in the arteries and veins in her legs And the lady whom I thought was a technician who prepped the gringo lady and worked the machines Turns out the first thing she did was to break into pretty good english By the way, you know how long we sat around in the waiting room all of three minutes They ushered her right in again All the people we passed from the parking lot guards to the information desk to the cafeteria ladies Every one of them spoke spanish not a lick of english However, as soon as we got to the waiting area of the lab and where they do the tests Technician came over and broke into english and that's when she introduced herself as doctor Not technician or tech mendez or whatever and I noticed she had a slightly different accent from the guadamolins I've heard speak english. So I said, hmm your accent's a little different. Where are you from? She said
[16:06] El Salvador I said, ah So what are you doing here in guadamala? She said well, I got my md in el Salvador and I was taught my class So I got to study in spain. So i'm an md surgeon and internist and I said, oh so You're doing surgeries here at this hospital and she said no i'm in charge of the lab and equipment and I read all the diagnostic results I said, oh, isn't that a little out of your field? Then she said and this is a hell of a story I worked for three or four years as an internist in a private hospital in san salvador, but the salary was too low They were only paying me 500 bucks a month you get that 500 bucks a month for an internist slash surgeon She says here at the guadamala hospital because guadamala is much bigger more industry a lot more wealthy people a lot more construction
[16:54] More educated people she says at this particular hospital They had an opening for the head of this department I applied got the job the prerequisites being you had to be an md and i'm that and more And here I make and she was very proud to say this 2000 us dollars a month four times what she was making in el solvador by the way el solvador is the name of the country San solvador is the name of the capital city. Oh, and here's another thing i'd say she's around 35 years old And married the gringa lady who was getting tested started asking her the usual women slash family questions, you know married husband kids The kind of topics us guys rarely delve into unless we're looking for some kind of mating dating hookup thing ourselves And what I picked up was that there's this 30 something doctor married to a guadamalan doctor a very much older guy
[17:43] Around 70 years old second time around for him and all his kids are grown and believe me When she said she was married to this guy In other words still more proof that there's all kinds of spring september mating dating and marriage stuff going on down here that There's just not much of a stigma attached to it Of course here in latin america it's almost always the wealthier latin guy who's old and has had a family already couple kids grown and gone and he many times ends up with a younger wife usually after he's had a few affairs or This might be ongoing when he's married to the new one, too But i'd say in the case of this female doctor and her older husband doctor They're in a much different social strata than the average beer bellied latin 50 year old entrepreneur with a young trophy wife We're talking about a guy who'll jump out of his car and take a whiz just about anywhere worse yet
[18:32] If he saw a box of dental floss in someone's bathroom, he'd think it was misplaced fishing line But I digress as usual. Where were we? Oh, yeah in the waiting room talking to the doctor for at least an hour And when we got back in the car, my gringo lady friend said they're never gonna believe this back home She said in my whole life up in the states seeing doctors for this and that as we do especially women We see doctors so much more than men She said I bet if I added all the facetime I had with doctors up in the states It didn't equal these last two visits I had here Then she said these days up in the states you can't even get past the nurse practitioner to say hi to your doctor Now when I left some 27 years ago, there were no nurse practitioners. I never met one Yeah, but these days you hear nurse practitioner this nurse practitioner that I understand they're kind of the bullheaded gatekeepers
[19:21] Well, you know, I never met one and I hope lag time doesn't bring them down here because as it stands right now Doctors are more than happy to sit down and talk to you even to tell you about their excruciatingly boring trips to My jammy and disney world. All right, so we were in there for an hour She had a couple of tests done with some very elaborate first world modern and new equipment and her cost Well, we went to the building department. She has insurance, of course a total of you ready for this 30 bucks That was her co-pay. I'll say it again 30 bucks. All right Let's shift gears a bit and talk about security robberies and assaults getting this news out of panama's biggest newspaper today It says the number one place for your car or motorcycle To get stolen or broken into and robbed and they're talking about supposedly secure parking lots with guards and all that
[20:11] It turns out the most insecure guarded parking lots in latin america happen to be Let's have a drum roll, please government and municipal parking lots and public university parking lots Figures, huh and the safest parking lots? Well regular mall and shopping center parking lots and why would that be that's because the guards work at those private malls and Supermarkets residential towers and such have to actually do their jobs and guard those places However, if you work for the government in any capacity You just sit on your fat lard ass all day or find a place to hide because you know Just like up in the states you really can't get fired from a government job Unless maybe you screwed the boss's wife then killed her and then you'd probably have to do a jeffrey dalmer on her Before you did any jail time and still for sure you'd get back pay
[20:58] Oh and speaking of gringos and expats getting robbed or assaulted here in latin america I'm gonna read a couple of emails to you now and you try to guess which latin country these incidents took place in here We go dear johnny. I've been robbed three times twice on the bus and once on the corner of mcdonald's Two smartphones passports and some money Expats are so conspicuous and vulnerable anywhere on the street or in public places here and taking the bus or other modes of transportation You stick out like a sore thumb prevention is the key don't carry valuables on your person and separate your items So if they take one thing or another they won't have all your valuables It's not that you can't enjoy your stay in latin america. You just have to take certain precautions However, I no longer have a smartphone and I feel freer than ever
[21:46] Mostly because I had two of them stolen already All right, remember you're trying to guess which latin country this happened in all right, then how about this one johnny? There are some lessons us expats learn the hard way And it seems as you say the more gringos hanging around The more the local bad guys css targets and the more they get away with it the more empowered they become Well as it happens We were returning to our latin america digs from a trip to the us and we had only 40 bucks in our bank account And we're bringing 2500 cash with us Part of it was to be spent in an adjacent latin country on a two-week trip The rest to be spending money here in our latin country for christmas and the new year this last year
[22:32] Our hotel stayed was prepaid breakfast was included in the deal So we just needed to exchange some money every day a small amount to pay for food and incidentals So on our second day we stopped to exchange a hundred bucks into the local money Now in hindsight having the money in our room safe would have been the thing to do Most decent hotels these days have room safes and we've never had a problem with them However, this time my brilliant husband who has an iq well over room temperature as you say johnny At least that's what he claims decided instead of the room safe to put the money in his backpack Well, we all know the dangers of being robbed in this latin city through hearing other expat stories and We've lived in latin america a year now, so we should know better
[23:19] So there we were money in our backpack in a city considered to be the second biggest Pickpocket capital in the world the first being the vatican or so they say and it was a busy time a year christmas So we thought we better be very careful So we went to a fancy mall to change our money not on the street and not in one of those little hole-in-the-wall places That's just what we did Then we got on an escalator from the third floor to the fourth where the food court was and unbeknownst to us There were two women following us from a moment. We left the casa de cambio. They were watching us do the exchange So how do we know that? Surprisingly enough. It was shown very well by the mall security cameras later Now one of the woman shielded the other with her body and the second woman opened the backpack and made off with
[24:08] 2300 bucks and change but we knew none of that till we sat down to eat in the food court So we ordered nine bucks worth of salad and water for each of us Hmm that should give you an idea This is an expensive latin country then she says when we saw it to our surprise the backpack's zipper was open The compartment with the pouch of money was gone and man You know what that sinking feeling is like And we still had nine days left to stay in that city And all we had left on us was around a hundred dollars from the exchange which my husband had in his front pocket By the way, that's a very good place to have your money We were lucky we had 25 bucks in the local currency to pay for the food. We just ordered Needless to say we had a miserable nine days in that city. We had to eat the cheapest street food We had to scrounge money to get a ride to the airport
[24:55] We came back home to our own latin town with zero money had to borrow 30 bucks for a taxi ride From someone at the airport that we happen to know and actually everywhere we went it became the topic of discussion and that Loosened other people's lips and then they started pouring the theft and robbery stories on us too For example, my brother-in-law doctor had his wallet pickpocketed in Rome with 700 bucks in it and the police forget about it They don't act on those crimes It's just the way of life here and you know once it happens to you it can be a good lesson Especially if it's a small amount like 20 or 30 bucks after something like that You'd be amazed how fast you get with the program So yes in the majority of cases you will recover and you'll learn a good lesson from it But i've also heard comments from people saying at least we were not physically hurt in the process
[25:44] Which happens a lot in this city? In fact i've heard many times from people this has happened to if you're in a bad or an iffy neighborhood Especially at night or even if you look confused and kind of lost someone might put a gun to your head Just to steal your phone and 10 bucks And what most people don't know especially new visitors is that most of this stuff happens in bad neighborhoods and on buses Why people take buses i'll never know but you always find out that stuff too late Don't you and when you think about it? A strangle has come down to latin america or anyplace in the third world with resources The average person just doesn't have down here So why in the world would any one of us who have the kind of resources we do? Ride the freaking bus. Anyway, it's low income for heaven's sakes subsidized for poor locals
[26:31] So you think all the males you're going to meet on that bus are well educated honest and nicely turned out young men What are gringos thinking if you must take some photos to show the folks back home those quaint little buses Take them from outside on the street. Don't get in because there's a good chance your camera will go missing Just remember latin governments have no incentive to stop crime on buses Why would they however private taxis and ubers are not subsidized and they absolutely depend on repeat business? So if you have a bad time or for example get into an uber and the driver is drunk You're just getting the hell out, right? Meanwhile some statistics show that fully one quarter of all latin bus drivers drink on the job In fact, it's true in the majority of bus accidents
[27:18] The driver or peloto pilot as they call them down here has been drinking But it's also true. We all come down as clueless gringos. Where do you think that term originated? When the city that happened in Bogota, columbia 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 academy