Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller explores the unique aspects of life in Latin America, focusing on cultural practices surrounding death and the challenges faced by chicken bus drivers. He discusses the use of black bows to signify a death at a business or home, and white bows for a child's death. Johnny shares his personal experience of living in Latin America for over 27 years, noting that he is not an expert but has learned a lot about the region.
He highlights the high mortality rate among chicken bus drivers due to extortion, accidents, and poor maintenance. He mentions the organization called the Widows of Chicken Bus Drivers, which aims to stop the senseless deaths of drivers. Johnny also discusses the lack of government action to address these issues and suggests potential solutions like a voucher system and the deployment of soldiers on buses, though he criticizes the inefficiency of standing armies in the region.
Johnny then shifts to discussing the absurdity of Latin countries maintaining standing armies when they are not actively engaged in military action. He highlights the dangers of traveling on chicken buses, where passengers may encounter armed individuals, and notes that while soldiers could provide some security, they are often poorly trained and from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
The segment concludes with Johnny mentioning an email from a listener about the Guatemalan government running out of passports, which he sees as a reflection of the broader systemic issues in Latin America. He discusses the passport issues faced by a Guatemalan citizen living in the US, who had her passport expire in October and is now facing a four-month delay in renewal. Johnny suggests that the only option is for the woman to fly to Guatemala to get a stamp that renews her passport, but this would be problematic at the US border due to the six-month rule.
Johnny also highlights the broader issue of disorganization and chaos in Latin American governments, citing other examples like the collapse of the Guatemalan government mail service and the reliance on private courier services like UPS and FedEx. He contrasts this with the more efficient systems in the US and other countries.
In the final segment, Johnny discusses the inefficiencies and corruption of Latin American governments, highlighting the lack of accountability and the tendency for government workers to be lazy. He contrasts this with the US, where there is more accountability and a different approach to governance. He also touches on the cultural reliance on cash in Latin America and the challenges expats face with bureaucratic processes like obtaining residency cards. The segment transitions into a discussion about Bolivia, focusing on President Evo Morales and his new museum, which has been criticized as a symbol of self-aggrandizement.
Johnny concludes by discussing the use of public funds by Latin American leaders, specifically Evo Morales of Bolivia, to create a personal legacy. He references an Associated Press report from February 3rd, noting that Morales has previously used public funds for projects like publishing books of poetry and distributing children's books featuring Morales as a child. He also mentions the construction of a seven-million-dollar building in a small town, which he finds almost unbelievable. He draws a parallel to Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, noting that even after Chávez's death, his image and likeness were still being sold in stores. Johnny concludes by discussing the importance of having a Plan B for expats, suggesting they either vote with their feet or prepare for potential conflicts with 'Big Brother.'
Topics
Cultural practices around death in Latin America, Challenges faced by chicken bus drivers, Government inefficiency and lack of action, Solutions to improve safety for chicken bus drivers, Military presence in Latin America, Safety and security on chicken buses, Infrastructure and corruption in Latin America, Government inefficiency and passport issues, Passport issues for Guatemalan citizens in the US, Disorganization and inefficiency in Latin American governments, Impact of government inefficiency on expats, Comparison of government systems between Latin America and the US
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:01:25 White Bow Significance and New Learning 00:01:53 Organization of Widows of Chicken Bus Drivers 00:03:53 Maintenance Issues and Government Inaction 00:05:42 The Absurdity of Standing Armies in Latin America 00:07:02 Why Latin Governments Don't Implement Soldier-Protected Buses 00:07:53 The Role of First-World Contractors in Poor Infrastructure 00:11:46 Passport Shortages as a Reflection of Government Inefficiency 00:12:08 Passport Renewal Delays in Guatemala 00:13:17 Guatemala's Passport Booklet Shortage 00:14:42 Chaos and Disorganization in Latin Governments 00:17:38 The Big Brother State and Its Consequences 00:18:04 Government Workers and Their Incentives 00:19:02 Cash Culture in Latin America 00:19:55 Government Workers and Their Habits 00:21:11 Bolivia and the Museum of Ego 00:23:21 Public Funds and Personal Legacy in Bolivia 00:24:19 Unrealistic Use of Public Funds and Chávez's Legacy 00:27:22 Expatriate Plan B and Avoiding Confrontation
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 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 You know a couple of shows back. I was talking about when people die down here, especially when they're on the job They put a black bow a big one usually about the size of a briefcase or bigger on the door facing the street of their place of business or on the
[00:45] Front door of the house and you see my cars and motorcycles and chicken buses, too If that's where the death occurred and you know, even though I've been down here 27 years now, maybe 28 I'm not mr. Know-it-all when it comes to Latin America, by the way in all that time I've been back to the US less than two whole weeks How about that? Do I miss it? Nope, not a single thing about it except the customer service how I remembered it to be anyway I'm sure anything's better than the customer service down here Anyway, like I said since I've been down here such a long time people think I'm mr. Know-it-all But I'm not in fact, I learned something new every day. In fact, here's what I learned Just yesterday if you see a white not a black bow on a house or chicken bus taxi
[01:30] Whatever that signifies that a child has died. Thankfully, you don't see many of those but that's how I caught on just the other day I saw a white one. I thought hmm. That's unusual. Here's something else. I just found out I just happened to be in someone's living room and they had the six o'clock news on By the way watching the news in Latin America is always a good laugh reminds me of amateur night at my old high school AV department Anyway, there was this kind of clueless reporter interviewing this lady who was president of an organization known as get this Latin Widows of chicken bus drivers. I know I know it sounds like a Saturday Night Live skit Yep, there really is such an organization. It's no joke. And when you think about it, why not? I mean chicken bus drivers have the highest mortality rate in Latin America
[02:15] So naturally there'll be a lot of grieving widows and why wouldn't they get together? There's an organization for everything else right and their goal Of course is to stop the senseless death of chicken bus drivers everywhere And you know why so many chicken bus drivers bite the dust it's because of the extortion rackets and chicken bus drivers Carry a lot of cash and the bad boys and the gangs know that so they're easy targets They run the same routes every day and there are areas in the boonies and in bad neighborhoods Where the bad guys jump on and do their intimidations? They don't outright rob the driver that would be like killing the host instead They just demand extortion payments from him once a week usually ranging from 25 to about a hundred bucks a week and when the chicken bus driver falls behind or he just Refuses to fork it over that'll happen
[03:03] That's when the bad boys will make an example out of one of these guys Of course, that's not the only way chicken bus drivers bite the dust oftentimes They just get into fatal accidents because they drink way too much Recently, it's been reported that in upwards of 70% of all the accidents involving chicken buses And that would mean chicken bus drivers involve the driver who is technically drunk or visibly inebriated Which is why so many of them will just pull a hit and run You know leave the scene of an accident or if it's a big accident their chicken bus is really disabled and won't move So primary cause of death extortionist secondly accidents involving inebriated drivers and thirdly accidents involving imprudent driving like for example passing on curves and driving way too fast for conditions and finally
[03:49] accidents due to chicken bus mechanical failure the most common being Break failure because remember the word maintenance is not in the Latin vocabulary So what to Latin governments do about it almost nothing Of course, there's a lot of talk about it Especially right after a fatal crash then after a few days the talk dies down and the whole thing fades away. Are there solutions? Yes, there are very easy and cheap solutions But remember the people that take the chicken bus are pretty much non entities with little or no political pull They're the minimum wage ground workers who can't afford to have a car or a motorcycle Basically, they're this sweaty masses the 70% of the population the government just doesn't give a damn about Except right around election time then the political puss bags make promises. They never keep
[04:36] Sound familiar? So anyway, there are enough widows of chicken bus drivers to have started a little organization and they get some press once in a while I hear and they do offer solutions. What are those solutions? Well number one how about a voucher system so that the bus driver doesn't have any cash on them as Is the setup with most transit systems in the first world you buy your ticket for mass transit in a little kiosk and hand the Ticket to the driver or stick it in the computer reader now combined with that another great and surefire Solution would be to have a military guy a soldier on every single chicken bus That kind of presence would be a great deterrent to any kind of crime now Let's take Nicaragua for example according to recent stats. There are around 7000 buses in Nicaragua and they've got about
[05:25] 14,000 soldiers and one of those soldiers do well They just sit on their dead asses do maneuvers and just suck up resources. They're just basically dead weight I mean really what are they training for an imminent invasion by Costa Rica police or El Salvador, please? I mean come on. It's absolutely ridiculous for Latin countries to have standing armies if they're just doing nothing now Well, that seems scary or comforting to you You know getting on a chicken bus and immediately running into a strapping five foot 110 pound warrior with an oozy and maybe two bullets Well, think of it from the day-to-day bus passengers point of view Nicaragua's got 14,000 soldiers every other one could get stationed on a bus and I doubt there's gonna be any more
[06:13] Extortion and as far as gringos, well, you know chicken buses are not supposed to be part of your mode of transportation So even though the buses will be definitely safer that it's not gonna stop the driver from getting faced on tequila But I can tell you this to the average woman that rides the bus a soldier would be a godsend Why because it's the women especially the young ones who get touched bothered and goosed have their cell phones stolen and their purses cut By bad guys and their grabby sticky little fingers and having a soldier on board would instantly provide some security against that Not that the soldiers aren't touchy-feely and rude, too I mean they're recruited from the lower less educated classes in all Latin countries In fact, the average private in a Latin military has about a sixth grade education still if trained up correctly
[07:02] They could provide a valuable service there. So then why don't Latin governments try those measures again? You can only speculate that it's just too logical Same thing about that supposed Trump wall who needs it when you've got a million-plus-man army Just burning through the cache and an endless number of surveillance drones again Just too logical for the likes of government any government by the way speaking of stupid ass governments I got this email from a visiting civil engineer. He says Johnny I can't believe how most Latin American highways are so incredibly and poorly designed Even the best of them have flaws in design that civil engineering students would spot in a second if I only know Spanish I could straighten all these guys out great shows Troy Well Troy, even if you knew your Spanish that ain't gonna happen, but I can enlighten you as to why such a system exists
[07:53] Well, it starts with loans or free first world money handed out by Japan, South Korea the US the World Bank IMF whatever it lands in third world government coffers and after the skim the preferred contracts get handed out to designated first world Contractors and the rest to friends relatives and cronies the first world contractors do their part leave and the Latin contractors Never quite finish their part and leave a lot of loose ends. That's the Latin way So you get a mix of excellent and horrible roads and you know Everything looks perfectly fine when it's brand new until you drive on it So even with brand new projects you find cracks and fissures and unmarked lanes Exits entrances and curves pitch the wrong way for the rainy season as well as ramps with
[08:42] impossibly steep grades that sometimes lead to nowhere Which is why when you're on the main artery in Latin America, that would be the pan-american highway You'd think that road with all the traffic it gets should be a prime example and always kept up Well, in fact all throughout Latin America all roads eventually lead to the pan-american highway But here's the reality for a while. You're driving down a beautiful eight lane concrete road There are plenty of very nice stretches like that as the pan-american highway Wines itself through and around the big Latin American cities And then you'll find as you head a few kilometers out of most big cities Suddenly the traffic is bottlenecked into two asphalt lanes And then when you're way out in the boonies the asphalt gives out or just deteriorates down to a gravel road
[09:32] In fact, if you're watching this show on YouTube now, you'll see a photo of a chicken bus Rolling down the ruta interamericana That's pan-american highway in Spanish and there's a big sign that the locals have put up in this stretch of the boonies that says Señores de putados de vuelven algo para reparar este trommo Which loosely translates to dear legislators. You must give back something to us repair this section of road and to me They're being way too kind. They should be saying but Latins are way too nice Fix this road you dickhead politicians or we'll toss you out on your can but that's not gonna happen There are signs like that here and there throughout Latin America. Nothing ever happens Unless the wife or mistress of one of those congressmen happens to hit a pothole then that road becomes a priority
[10:25] Repair job and the reason for all that surprise surprise is because the government owns and operates the roads now That's in stark contrast to internet service the electric power grid and cable TV Those services are privatized and nearly first-world dependable though admittedly customer service sucks throughout Latin America Which in a backhanded way is part of your gringo advantage, but you knew that already, right? So bottom line almost everything that really sucks in Latin America things that delay you make you wring your hands and get really pissed off Can be traced straight back to the corrupt large-ass carbuckle infested puss bags in government And I mean that in the nicest most upbeat Christian kind of way. That said continuing along in the same vein
[11:12] I just got an email from a longtime listener Richard who sent me a link to a blog where people are Talking about the fact that the Guatemalan government has run out of passports Say what yep, you got to hear this and of course I've been reading about it and seeing it on the news here in Latin America But Richard from where he's sitting up in the first world caught it on a blog recently and sent me the link You got to hear this. It tells exactly how screwed up Latin governments are especially Ones that are way off the gringo tourist trail like Guatemala and why no matter how screwed up it sounds at first It is very good news for us. Gringos and expats as usual. I'll comment as Necessary, it's always necessary, right? Here's a posting that came in just today
[11:57] This person's asking for passport help. I'm posting on behalf of my girlfriend Who's a Guatemalan citizen living in the US her passport expired back in October of this year without her knowledge? She went to renew it at the Guatemalan consulate in Chicago this past December and was told it should be ready in a month One month passed and the consulate told us now it might take two months two months passed We went back and they tell us Guatemala has run out of passports and it could now take up to four months You know, we have a trip planned to Japan coming up and I'm starting to feel hopeless Maybe we'll never get help with this the consulate gave us numbers to call But no one picks up the phone and their email boxes are always full any suggestions on what to do
[12:44] Is there a lawyer I could hire a person I could contact to figure out what's going on. Hey, man Welcome to Latin America Yeah, it's me. Johnny here again, man That guy's girlfriend has a problem Looks like his girlfriend is soon to be illegal in the US because her passports running out Even though she was one of the very few that came through and got a visa apparently Legally without sneaking across the border like 95% of all the other Guatemalans that are up in the states Okay. Now, let me read the reply. It says oops. Sorry, dude Guatemala really did run out of passport booklets some months ago Hiring a lawyer or talking to someone down in Guatemala or up there will not make a new booklet magically appear Nobody can help you. In fact in Guatemala City
[13:32] They're putting a stamp in Guatemalan passport that renews it for a year The only option for your girlfriend is to fly to Guatemala and get that stamp However, she's gonna have a lot of trouble at the US border when she's going out because her passports no longer valid And you know There's a rule that countries won't let you in unless you have at least six months valid on your passport The newspapers in Guatemala say they'll have the new booklets by April. Yep. It's me again, Johnny I say fat chance insert laugh track here Okay, then comes another reply. It says thank you so much But what infuriates me most about this situation is how clueless and unhelpful all the employees at the Chicago Guatemalan consulate have been I've been pulling my hair out just yesterday
[14:17] In fact, the employees told me they could give my girlfriend a stamp in her passport to travel back to Guatemala But I don't know if anyone there could even help us. All right me Johnny again You know what? She's in a catch-22. Even if she gets that stamp. There's no guarantee airlines are gonna honor that It's a highly unusual circumstance. I've never heard of it I've been to over a hundred and fifty countries now and I've never heard of a situation like that Don't think it's gonna fly. So anyway, that gives you an idea how disorganized and chaotic Latin governments are and you know with all the Inconveniences you still have to love it. I mean, come on Can you ever imagine a big brother like state taking hold in a country like that when the government of Guatemala somehow? Let the contract on the first world company who produces the passports laps. I'll bet you a Bitcoin. It was some
[15:09] Congressman's incompetent brother-in-law or crony who was the middleman who made some money on that deal who screwed it up Those things always play out that way. Oh and by the way, that's not just an oddball one-off situation Did you know that about six months ago the government of Guatemala somehow screwed up a contract let it lapse or bounce to check? Whatever with a big Canadian company that ran the Guatemalan government mail service and now it lapsed There is no government mail service in Guatemala That would be as if the US Postal Service suddenly closed up where you are So now if you want to get a package or a letter through either to or from the states It's all got to be done by UPS or FedEx and or one of the many private mailbox services now what that means Of course on your end in New Jersey, Milwaukee, Cleveland or Seattle
[15:57] You can't just drop a letter a package into US priority mail and expect it to get to Guatemala Now you could be for when the Canadian company ran it was pretty dependable I've used it on and off myself, but not for anything of value I wouldn't ship anything that was worth maybe more than 25 bucks though So it always did get through eventually and now I understand since most of the rest of the world doesn't know their mail services shut down There is a huge airplane hangar at the Guatemalan International Airport That's just filled with cards letters and boxes all of that stuck there Sent from people who used regular mail from their countries sent to Guatemala But the mail will get through if you use a courier service or one of those very dependable mail Forwarding services coming out of my jammy did a show on that a while back remember
[16:46] So is the regular Guatemala mail ever gonna come back online? Yes They're negotiating a new contract with the Canadian company and I'm sure it'll get passed in a month or so Maybe the point is to let you see for yourself how Latin governments operate So don't think that in your lifetime anyway There's ever gonna be a trace of the big brother state down here like you know it up in the states Of course there are those countries that are on the gringo tourist trail like Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia whose governments are expanding rapidly and growing like cancer Then there's off the tourist trail big government Latin countries like Argentina Chile and Uruguay too with huge Non-productive government sectors, but even so no matter what laws they pass and how many government workers they hire
[17:31] They still got that lazy ass Latin government mentality. That's absolutely Antithetical to a big brother state so there'll be more rules more taxes more government fat But at the same time more chaos disruptions screw-ups and disorder So whatever big brother measures they try to put in place because you know Latin governments always try to copy what the US does Tell you one thing they'll be underfunded poorly done Spotterly enforced and easily sidestepped by astute gringos now in all the years. I've been down here I've stood in maybe 40 or 50 government lines and it doesn't take long for you to pick up on the fact that everyone wants to work for government because one you can't get fired number Two you make about twice as much as same kind of job in the private sector of such a job even exists
[18:19] So isn't that attractive you get paid double no matter how slow you work and you can't get fired By the way almost everyone in Latin America gets paid twice a month on the 15th and the 30th They call it down here the Kin Senna, which means every 15 days. It's got the word can say in it Which means 15 by the way? There's a very easy way to figure out which day lands are getting paid It's the day you don't want to go to your bank because on that Kin Senna every 15 days There's a line going out the door sometimes 50 deep because you see people are trying to get some cash They're either depositing their checks to get some cash or they've had direct deposit and they need some cash because for common people Anyway, Latin America runs on cash Another point in their favor In fact, you can talk about cashless societies all day long in the first world
[19:07] But it ain't gonna happen down here not in your lifetime In fact, if you even bring the topic up at a party eyes start glazing over So then are all Latin American government workers lazy ass slugs? Well, they don't start out that way but soon enough while in government They learn those bad habits because you know in government there really is no accountability. You can't get fired Except maybe if you screw the boss or the boss's wife and then shoot them both in the head when you're finished Wait a minute. I guess up in the states. You probably could get off. It could be a caffeine and stress related event I'm sure there's a psychiatric term for it. A lawyer could probably get you off and with back pay, too But only in the states not in Latin America So for all of you listeners who might be worried about the encroaching big brother effect here in Latin America
[19:55] Just remember that almost all government workers would rather be dancing Taking a break or taking selfies on Facebook poking pinatas or drinking tequila doing anything But what they were hired for and if you doubt that just remember that Guatemala ran out of passports and the check-bounds to the Canadian Company that was in charge of the federal mail service Oh, and by the way for all you gringles and expats who've been waiting and waiting to get that little personal Identification card the one you're supposed to get when you're notified that your permanent residency has come through called the DPI You know the one with the RFID chip that doesn't work Well, Guatemala and many other Latin countries are months and months behind on issuing those So if you've been approved for your residency and haven't had that card issued
[20:41] you'll have to carry that paperwork with you if you're going in and out of the country because remember in Guatemala you have to Be in the country one day a year to maintain your residency And if you don't have that DPI card you'll have to haul around your paperwork with you in fact some expats I know have been waiting more than a year for that card, so is that an inconvenience well kinda But I wouldn't have it any other way While the US government is goose-stepping along picking up the pace every day the government workers down here are waiting for the next song Come on the radio so they can start dancing Okay, speaking of way off the wrinkle tourist trail. Let's talk about Bolivia for a minute. You know it is a rather nice country Really laid-back about 90% of the population being indigenous seems like no matter what happens with their scumbag Politicians life goes on slow and easy for most people
[21:29] But it's still quite hard since something like only one in 20 persons in the country has a motorcycle or a car as Opposed to the US where cars outnumber the people Bolivia is a very poor country Which is why I'm obliged to read you a few snippets from an article that came out just yesterday Listen to this starts out by saying Bolivia's president Evo Morales has a new museum and a nickname to go with it. The opposition has dubbed him ego Morales Following a seven point one million US dollar museum He just built to glorify his life story and legacy by the way the word ego and its meaning Are the same in both English and Spanish calling someone an egoist is an insult in English and
[22:17] Egoista is an insult in Spanish Anyway, the article goes on to say evil Morales led the inauguration of its own museum called the Museum of the Democratic and Cultural Revolution it's located in the remote village of Oreoka where he grew up It says the building was constructed with government funds and features life-size statues and portraits along with Morales's honorary degrees from several universities The museum also holds a large collection of clothing and t-shirts from his soccer collection and childhood memories Along with a trumpet he used to practice on the minister of culture Wilma Alain Koa Said it's now the largest museum in Bolivia Saying with tears in her eyes boo-hoo that the opening is an historic event for Bolivia
[23:07] She said this museum is the heritage of those who fought for the liberation of our people now The town of or Inca is located in a remote village area and has only nine hundred inhabitants 90% of them living in extreme poverty That's according to an Associated Press report of February 3rd now This is not the first time Morales has spent public funds on his own legacy It says in 2015 the Ministry of Communications published a book containing poems Written by Morales titled the process of change turned into verse now get this it says in 2014 the Bolivian government distributed another book this time for children called the adventures of little Evo I Can't believe that about the president's childhood which includes
[23:57] Illustrations like for example quote little Evo plays soccer and little Evo goes to school How about little Evo brushes his teeth? So there you have it. That's what these Latin American poophead leaders do To glorify themselves and improve the lot of the extreme poor Imagine that a seven million dollar building in a town of 600 You know this kind of stuff is almost too unreal to believe but well Castro did it in his country, right? Oh, by the way You might remember I reported a couple of shows ago that Evil Morales tried to have the Constitution changed so that he could run for president forever Fortunately, the people weren't having any of it and voted down the referendum
[24:44] By the way all this reminds me of when I was last in Caracas, Venezuela about two years ago now back Then I visited two of the biggest shopping malls each of them had a Hugo Chavez store Where you could buy t-shirts and statues and games? apparel uniforms hats Anything and everything to outfit your Hugo Chavez action figure collection. That's right There were action figures in that store one presidential one in the general's uniform and one in Camouflage for the bush. I'm not kidding you he's such an icon in that country He's got his own stores by the way two years ago when I last visited the place He'd been dead for a long time already still Hugo had his stores. I'm not talking about Hugo boss
[25:31] I'm talking Hugo ex boss. My one regret is I didn't buy a Hugo Chavez bobblehead doll You know, it would have looked cute alongside my bush Clinton Oh vomit and Pope Francis bobblehead wall of shame too bad All right We're getting towards the end of the show now and a lot of people have been sending me emails asking to get on the early bird list for my upcoming July 2017 expat insider seminar You too can get on that list Just send me an email the expat files at gmail.com and don't forget the best way to get your ducks lined up for your own Plan B is to go to expat plan B comm and check out my expat essentials course now expat Eddie who just came back from Europe says man Johnny. It's a disaster over there He says smart gringos have two choices one vote with their feet or get some knee pads soon because like the Europeans
[26:23] Americans are about to spend a lot of time on them So what's it gonna be for your plan B? Are you getting ready to vote with your feet or cave in and get ready to spend a lot of time on your knees? So you might be thinking are you throwing in the towel by deciding to have a plan B and voting with your feet? Well people with no imagination or initiative might say that so let him the fact is you're just picking battles You know, you can win as opposed to fighting the big battle up in Seattle or Cleveland The one you already lost if you plan on holding up in your basement with stacks of food and ammo Don't forget Big Brother has tanks F-16s drones and more go ahead do the macho thing till the bitter end Round up your neighborhood watch buddies put on the camo gear and charge up the hill
[27:10] however, for those of us who want to preserve our assets and avoid confrontation with Big Brother a battle You'll always lose if you like me prefer to watch the first world go to hell in a hand basket From a nice safe place in Latin America. Just go to expat plan B.com Check out my expat essentials course and get your ducks lined up now This is the expat files living in Latin America If you want me to help you out with your own plan B Just schedule a one-on-one consult send me an email the expat files at gmail.com And if you want to learn how to move forward with your own plan B from right up there in the states go to www.expat plan B.com and check out my three videos. See ya nos vemos