Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller provides an in-depth look at the challenges and opportunities for expats doing business in Latin America. He discusses the common trend of expats starting businesses due to the availability of cheap labor and the potential for profit with minimal capital. Johnny highlights the legal and bureaucratic hurdles, especially for US citizens, and the importance of using foreign banks and legal structures to avoid issues with US authorities like the IRS. He explains the implications of FATCA and how expats can legally operate businesses off the books in many Latin American countries, noting that this is often a common and accepted practice.
Johnny also explores the informal cash-based economy in Latin America, which operates without government oversight, credit cards, or receipts. He contrasts this with the first world's push toward eliminating cash, which he believes would cause chaos in Latin America due to the region's reliance on cash transactions. He warns about the challenges expats may face if cash is outlawed in the U.S., such as being unable to withdraw U.S. dollars abroad or facing additional fees when using credit cards. Johnny further explains the limitations of PayPal in Latin America, noting that it requires a U.S. bank account and is costly for businesses, leading many to avoid it.
In another segment, Johnny discusses the risks of using PayPal for business in Latin America, highlighting how PayPal accounts can be frozen or closed without notice, potentially disrupting business operations. He also talks about the prevalence of Chinese restaurants in the region, noting their popularity despite poor hygiene and sanitation standards. He shares a personal experience of finding a clean, well-run Chinese restaurant that offered a better dining experience, suggesting there is potential for a middle-ground restaurant that balances quality and affordability.
Johnny recounts an anecdote about a restaurant owner in Latin America who serves fortune cookies in English, which he notes are imported from the US. The owner explains that he doesn't serve them to regular customers because they're in English, and he's waiting for more gringos to come in before he can get a Spanish version. Johnny reflects on the irony that it would be a gringo who would need to create a Spanish version of fortune cookies, suggesting it could be a profitable business. He also mentions the owner's background, noting that he's born in Latin America but has Chinese heritage. The segment transitions to a discussion about text messages received on prepaid phones in Latin America, highlighting the prevalence of spam, scams, and various marketing messages. Johnny shares a story about a gringo who received numerous messages, including ads, lotteries, and even sexting messages, and explains how these messages are a common issue for prepaid phone users. He concludes by suggesting that reading and filtering these messages can help improve Spanish language skills.
In the final segment, Johnny Mueller discusses the legal measures implemented in Latin America requiring individuals to provide national ID or passport information when purchasing a phone or SIM card. He explains that these laws are intended to combat phone extortion, which has become prevalent due to the ease with which personal data is shared online. However, Johnny criticizes these laws as ineffective, noting that criminals are unlikely to provide their ID to phone companies. He also highlights the existence of 'naked SIM cards'—SIM cards purchased without ID verification—which are becoming a common method for avoiding these regulations. Johnny advises listeners not to comply with threats from phone companies to cut off service unless they receive a specific cutoff date. Additionally, he mentions the proliferation of 'as seen on TV' stores in Latin America, where products like the 'trim belt' are sold, reflecting cultural and societal trends in the region.
Topics
Doing business in Latin America, Legal and bureaucratic challenges, FATCA and US tax compliance, Informal markets in Latin America, Expats and entrepreneurship, Cash economy in Latin America, Impact of cash elimination in the first world, Challenges for expats in a cashless society, PayPal limitations in Latin America, PayPal Risks in Latin America, Chinese Restaurants in Latin America, Hygiene and Sanitation Issues
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:30 Doing Business in Latin America with Limited Spanish Skills 00:01:26 Opportunities for Expats to Start Businesses in Latin America 00:01:51 Bureaucratic Challenges for IT and Brick-and-Mortar Businesses 00:05:56 The Informal Cash Economy in Latin America 00:06:19 The Consequences of Eliminating Cash in the First World 00:08:59 Credit Card Fees and Expats' Avoidance of Plastic 00:09:39 PayPal's U.S. Bank Account Requirement 00:11:19 PayPal Risks for Business in Latin America 00:12:37 Chinese Restaurants in Latin America 00:16:51 Fortune Cookies in a Sealed Wrapper 00:17:33 Why Not Hire Indigenous Ladies for Spanish Fortune Cookies? 00:18:29 Text Messages and Prepaid Phones in Latin America 00:22:20 Introduction to Legal Regulations on Phone Purchases in Latin America 00:23:40 Johnny's Criticism of the Ineffectiveness of Phone Company Regulations 00:26:41 Discussion of the Popularity of the 'Trim Belt' in Latin America
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 as I wander 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 people are always sending emails asking me about doing business in Latin America Especially doing business when your Spanish sucks and as it breaks down Seems like about half the people that come down have a nice nest egg or retirement savings or pension
[00:45] Whatever and don't need a job at all at least at first they say they don't but then after a year or so They see so many opportunities or they just get so bored and lazy because you know you have cleaning ladies and maintenance guys and very cheap Labor to do all that grunt work you hated doing up in the States Then you find out you have a lot of time on your hands And if you don't have a hobby that is all-consuming like for example Painting or making knickknacks doing stained glass windows gardening writing the great American novel That would be the great Latin American novel by the way, whatever then lacking enough hobbies to keep a gringo busy That's why a lot of us start businesses because it's true after you're down here six months or so You do see niches where you can make money on minuscule capital
[01:31] Investments compared to the first world I might add now the exception to that would be on the gringo tourist trail where your competition Will be gringos not good, and you'll be competing with gringos for rents, too So they'll be much higher I'd say about half the gringos who start businesses down here do IT internet businesses and the other half brick and mortar business And the question always seems to be what kind of bureaucracy do you run up against with either one of those types? Well with a pure IT business. There's no government interference at all. They don't even have to know about it Why would you even tell them suppose you're working out of your apartment in Minagua Nicaragua and your server? Let's say is in the UK Let's assume you take payments by credit card or PayPal don't have to have the government involved in that at all now
[02:17] Of course you'll have to have a bank account for your business and believe me You don't want to use a bank based in the US or a US bank that has branches in foreign countries like for example Citibank otherwise known by many long-term gringos down here as shitty bank again stay away from US banks and US branch banks in Latin America why because if someone up in the states gets a judgment against you or a lean against your assets for whatever reason They can lock up that bank account or put a hold on it without you even knowing But you'll find out all right when you can't get your dough out however If it's a foreign bank that has no branches in the US It's pretty much impossible for even a court order up in the states to do anything about that The only alternative would be to come down to the Latin country file petitions in the Latin courts
[03:03] That would be having everything translate into Spanish hiring Latin lawyers because gringo lawyers Can't try a case in Latin court and vice versa Just think of all the trips back and forth and logistics involved in that not for you But for the party that's going after your assets believe me a process like that could take years Which is why in my quarter century or more of being down here I've never seen a case like that go to court against a gringo and then the other question is how do you select a bank? That's why you need a good Latin lawyer ask him and he'll tell you which ones are solid and good In fact you can't do wrong by using the bank or banks. He's using himself personally and for his business now If your business is relatively uncomplicated, you might not need to incorporate with an SA corporation You could select a name for your company and use your own personal bank account. However with the fat colos
[03:52] Internationalized now all banks are gonna report you and your info back to the IRS and the Treasury Department up in the states That is if it's your personal bank account However, if you hire a Latin lawyer to start an SA corporation for you and you have that SA corporation open a bank account for You the bank will not report any of that back to the US But under FATCA rules if you're a US citizen and you're the owner you're responsible to report that back to the IRS yourself Because remember there is a law that says if you own more than 10% of a foreign corporation You have to report it back to the IRS Now since the name of this show is the expat files living in Latin America and we report on the good the bad the ugly And the great I can tell you that a good percentage of expats have their businesses Completely off the books and therefore report to no one and no government. So is that illegal? Well, it's illegal according to US law
[04:43] But according to laws in other countries, it just might not be illegal at all Now, you know, if you're a citizen of practically every other country in the world except the US You're only taxed on the income you make within your country And by the way, I understand now Brazil is joining the International Financial Big Brother Club, too In other words like the US they have laws to force their citizens to report all of their domestic and international income, too So they can tax it, of course Whereas practically everywhere else the governments don't care what you make if it's from a foreign source So in Latin America except for Brazil if you have a foreign source of income You don't have to report it and therefore you're not taxed on it. That's totally legal By the way between 20 and 40 percent of all business done in Latin America is done off the books now
[05:35] Governments hate these markets because they can't tax them. They call them gray and black markets They taint them with negatively descriptive words like that as if they were dirty and reprehensible however locals just refer to them as Informal markets because business there is done with a handshake and a smile and it's cash and carry no receipts All you have to do is take a walk into one of those Gigantic public produce markets and you'll see dozens if not hundreds of independent little sellers that report nothing to the government That means no credit cards or checks either which leads me to another bunch of emails I've been getting lately those stories about first-world Pusbrain politicians bankers economists and bureaucrats claiming They're gonna eliminate cash completely very soon You can be sure they're gonna try to do that up in the first world and when they do you're really screwed now
[06:25] The thing is if politicians were to announce that sort of thing down here in Latin America that gigantic 20 to 40 percent Cash economy would grind to a halt You could bet the protesters and lynch mobs would head straight for the downtown Central Square Where all the government buildings and bureaucrats are and guess who the little guys with the broken bottles and machetes are gonna take their wrath Out on bottom line. No politician in Latin America is stupid enough to do that So then you naturally might ask what's gonna happen when they do outlaw cash up in the first world They're starting to do it now, you know with subtle and not so subtle currency controls But you knew that already, right? And if you didn't just go down to your own bank and try to withdraw a thousand dollars in cash From your own account three days in a row. Go ahead try it and you'll see what kind of poop blizzard rains down on your head
[07:14] Okay time for a thought experiment pretend we're two years in the future now cash has been outlawed in the States as predicted Let's suppose you're gonna take a week vacation to Costa Rica or Cancun Of course, you'll book that up in the States on your credit card a package deal Maybe but then what happens when you get down to your vacation destination That means you'll have to shove your plastic into an ATM machine and pull out the local funny money because you won't be able To get dollars out. Remember US paper money's been outlawed or eliminated sure when you're out of the country You'll be able to use your credit card at big hotels and restaurants and shopping centers, etc But what about when you're on the street and you want to buy a little trinket? Or you want to hire a guide to go up a volcano or take your white water rafting
[07:59] What if you want to buy a bag of coffee or some local honey from a guy on the street and heaven forbid you have To use a public restroom because sometimes you got to pay for the toilet paper in every Latin city There are hundreds of little tien-das and kiosks all over the place ones that are too small to have a bank account connected to a credit card swipe machine or a smartphone that can scan a barcode and what about the parking lot attendant and the shoeshine guy and the guy at the park selling Cotton candy and peanuts and on and on okay So some of you are ahead of me now and you're thinking well So what when you land in a foreign country you use your plastic to buy some of their funny money and you're all set They'll still have their paper funny money even though up in the states. You won't have yours Okay, then what about those Latin countries that are on the US dollar Panama El Salvador Ecuador now
[08:48] What see the problem then there's this eventuality when you're down here making purchases with your credit card You'll often see a sign by the cash register that says there's a 5 to 8 percent Search charge on anything you put on plastic, which is why so many long-term expats don't use credit cards at all I know what you're thinking. That's illegal credit card companies won't go for that. They won't tolerate it. Oh, yeah Well, if you try to fight it, you won't win down here stores hotels and restaurants have been getting away with it for years And by the way, here's a few tips about PayPal here in Latin America A lot of people say Johnny if I start an internet business or a brick and mortar business in Latin America I can use PayPal, right? Yes, you can but there are two versions of PayPal one version
[09:33] If you have a US based business and another if you have a Latin American or overseas based business in that case You can't sign up without a US based bank account You can set up a PayPal account All right But you won't be able to transfer your money out unless it goes first to a US based bank account that you've set up For that purpose stupid. I know but that's the way it is and by the way an easy way for the US government to monitor foreign business cash flows through PayPal as those funds are Directed through US banks. Why not have foreign PayPal business accounts linked to foreign banks That makes all the sense in the world But for all that foreign dough to end up in US banks now I don't know but you have to wonder if Elon Musk was colluding with the IRS on that one by the way on a PayPal
[10:19] Account outside the US they charge 5.45% on every transaction that's practically double what they charge vendors in the states around 3% Which is one of the reasons why so many business people hate PayPal In fact, I know a lot of businessmen here in Latin America who'd like to give Elon Musk a good swift kick in the testicles So anyway, if you use PayPal, you have to have that US bank account Which is against the advice we give on this show all the time That is if at all possible dump your US bank accounts So bottom line if you use PayPal you have to have a US bank account But that doesn't mean you have to keep it flush with money In fact a lot of businessmen down here who use PayPal tell me that they never keep much at all in that American bank account They keep siphoning it off to one of their foreign accounts
[11:06] But remember every time you do a swift or a wire transfer it averages around 60 bucks Now it's been suggested by gringos who utilize that method to keep only around a thousand bucks in that US bank Utilizing it as pretty much just a pass-through bank. Now PayPal is a bit tricky too I also know gringos who've had trouble with their PayPal accounts In fact, I've had gringo businessmen down here who do internet stuff Tell me that it's advisable to keep the PayPal account drawn down to around a thousand bucks In other words keep siphoning it out to that US bank account and keep that balance siphoned down to why it seems that some gringo Businessmen I know have had their PayPal accounts lacked down or frozen Now one gringo friend said just read the PayPal terms of service Which almost no one ever reads and they can pretty much lock out your account for any reason
[11:56] For example, if they don't like what you're selling or too many people complain about you or your service Rightly or not or for what PayPal might call suspicious activity Whatever that means or perhaps you've made enemies out of your competitors and they sabotage or spam the PayPal business office to your detriment Anyway, let's just say they can lock up your account at any time. Now, that's not to say they're gonna keep your money They can't but under certain conditions, they can actually close down your PayPal account meaning block out that flow of clients that are trying to pay and that will really put a dent in your business if you've got clients on a PayPal payment plan and That's why many gringos down here who use PayPal in their businesses. Don't like to keep a high balance Speaking of doing business down here in Latin America Longtime listeners will recall that I mentioned in past shows that Chinese restaurants really stink down here
[12:47] Nevertheless, they're extremely popular and the locals just love them. Oh sure You'll see a lot of Chinese people running them So you think they're authentic and in a way they are but since there really are no health food and sanitation Inspectors down here. Oh there are when you first get your permit to open up, but that's about it They'll probably never come back again Unless someone dies or ends up in the hospital with food poisoning and makes a big stink about it In fact, they don't know that single gringo or expat who hasn't been sick a number of times He didn't at one of those crappy Chinese restaurants. So why do they keep going back? Well, there's no alternative if you like Chinese food You got either make it yourself or take a chance at that Chinese restaurant that looks the cleanest And let me tell you you don't want to look in the kitchen Nor take a look back around the parking lot dumpster or look too closely or even pay a visit to the restrooms
[13:34] And that's why I really believe they keep a 15 watt or less bulb burning in the restroom So you really can only see muted shadows I'd say the majority of Chinese restaurants don't even have paper towels in the restroom. Just a moldy old dish towel Yeah, which begs the question do the food handlers or preparers ever wash their hands at all now once when I was at one of these Dumps myself. I watched a waiter lay assorted plates in front of diners and every time he grabbed the edge of a plate His thumb ended up touching the sauce So most people at that restaurant were getting the essence of this guy's thumb and every plate. What a revolt and development, huh? Now, of course in the big Latin cities There's always a couple of very upscale Chinese restaurants always in very nice upscaled parts of town in high-end malls and at three or four
[14:22] Times the price of the unsanitary dumps the average Latin will never step foot in those joints Even us gringos will only go there on special occasions I mean, come on who's really addicted to expensive gourmet Chinese food, not me, but they are nice clean hygienic and sanitary So if you like Chinese, you've got that choice, but believe me, it's high budget So those are your two choices And I've always said there is a lot of room for a gringo to come in and open a Chinese restaurant That's in between those two markets the nice upscale joints and those low-class diarrhea dens That said throughout Latin America in the food courts of medium and upscale malls You'll see bad attempts at US style Chinese take away kiosks They're not necessarily unsanitary. The food just tastes like crap like cardboard
[15:11] Certainly because the food gets stale sitting in hot display cases under those lights Sometimes for hours at a time or maybe they have special cardboard seasoning in a bottle. Who knows? Anyway, the other day I was in a small upscale mall in a nice neighborhood and lo and behold a brand-new But small Chinese restaurant had moved in only five or six tables But the place was decked out nicely very clean and I walked in looked at the menu popped my head in the kitchen saw a big fat roly-poly Chinese guy cooking back there and Miracle of miracles. He was wearing gloves bathroom had plenty of TP paper towels and great lighting the menu small nicely done So I checked my emodium supply and decided to give it a shot man I tell you it was just like a nice New York or Chicago Chinese takeout restaurant
[15:57] In fact, I went back the next day. No after effects. No stomach rumblings No diarrhea derby and I thought hey finally someone's done it They found that in between niche and with the average plate of food being only around six or seven bucks Just slightly more expensive by a buck or two then the dim bulb diarrhea dens that are practically everywhere But still it was missing a couple of first world touches for one thing they had the sports channel on TV That's typical and they were playing Latin music not your typical Chinese playing plonk stuff I mean, come on, you want to set the mood, right? Didn't have those typical angular Chinese carryout boxes that we know so well either your usual blonde plastic plate with a bendable cover Okay, no problem there. But get this when I walked out
[16:44] Suddenly the fat cook who happened to be the owner was standing next to my car in the parking lot and he handed me You'll never guess to fortune cookies in the hermetically sealed cellophane wrapper Which I noted from the wrapper came imported from the US Anyway, the roly-poly guy said in Spanish with a Chinese accent. These are for you. You will understand the fortunes They are in English that was when I found out I was the first gringo to step foot in his restaurant It had been open about a month. He didn't give them to his regular customers because well, they're in English He told me he had a whole big box that he ordered from the states But unfortunately, they don't come in Spanish. So he said unless more gringos come in He'll probably have that supply for a hundred Chinese New Year's
[17:30] So then I'm thinking the same thoughts I had five ten years ago Why doesn't someone down here hire some indigenous ladies to whip up a big batch of fortune cookies in Spanish? Hell you could get the sayings right off the internet, but no it'll take a gringo to do that Wouldn't that be a nice business you make the fortune cookies and you farm them out to all the little diarrhea dens throughout Latin America Oh, and by the way, when I said to the roly-poly guy man, your Spanish is perfect Are you by any chance half Latin and half Chinese and he said no one hundred percent Chinese But he was born in Latin America He said his parents are in the Makila clothing business and he always wanted to have a restaurant So there are a lot of subtle and unsubtle messages in that story Oh, and I forgot to tell you the menus are nice, but there were some funny typos in them
[18:18] We'll try to include them in this episode's YouTube. Oh, and by the way, what about those little angular Chinese carryout boxes? We're also used to well, there is another niche. Okay changing gears a little bit You might remember in a past show. I talked about how when you buy a cell phone down here Especially if it's a pay-as-you-go phone where you recharge the minutes at any one of those little kiosks. They're everywhere I mentioned that there'll be times when you get absolutely Overwhelmed with text messages and you really don't know what to make of them I also mentioned that a lot of people turn their phones off at night or put them in another room Because when text messages come in they make an annoying tone Well, it seems the other day I ran into a gringo who came down to my last Latin insiders seminar That was around three months ago now. He's been down here ever since and he said Johnny, can you help me out for a second?
[19:05] I'm taking lessons, but my Spanish still really sucks Can you tell me if there's anything important in my phone? I got so many text messages. I don't know what to do I had a look and sure enough. He had at least 50 text messages and his memory was full So more messages continued to come but they weren't even registering So as I click through here were some of the messages I found first a promotional ad for Alka Seltzer Then one for Pizza Hut then three different lotteries to enter one for a car one for a smartphone and one for a computer Then there was a message that said click here and you can qualify for a US visa Yeah, right. Then there were separate raffles to wind trips to my jammy Disney World and a Fort Lauderdale cruise now to participate in any of these contests or lotteries whatever you have to send a text message back and then a
[19:56] Few bucks or minutes will be pulled automatically from your prepaid balance or minutes you have left in your phone so if you're a rub or a sucker and you enter those things regularly and Believe me a lot of uneducated poor latins are rubes and suckers in that case your prepaid phone minutes will be tapped out in a Hurry. Oh, but that's not at all My green gringo friend had many more text messages one was to get a professional horoscope reading Another was to receive a daily joke. Haha then there were the usual lame offers from credit card companies and Get this he had text messages from banks offering the best percentage on Remeses coming back from friends and family in the States such a deal, huh? But as it turns out my gringo friend didn't happen to have any illegal friends or family up in the States sending back
[20:43] Remeses, so those messages did him no good then surprise surprise There were messages from a company offering online English courses now Wouldn't that be useful and then funny enough there were a bunch of evangelical Christian messages With Bible quotations and stuff. No, they weren't asking my gringo friend for money They were just trying to save his soul Of course once they've got you hooked the tithing and asking for money part comes later then crazy enough came the sexting Messages a bunch of text messages targeting lonely hearts Promising to hook you up with the sexy guy or girl of your dreams and on and on and on so that's what you're up Against down here when you buy a cell phone that uses prepaid minutes Though not so much when you buy a regular plan for a year or an 18-month contract
[21:29] So why is that well if you're on a monthly fixed plan text message? Advertisers can't subtract money from your account because you don't have one You're not prepaying for anything or loading up a bank of minutes for them to draw on So much for those text messages though I did tell my gringo buddy going through them and weeding them out is a good way to bone up on your Spanish They're simple direct and in common use all the time down here in Latin America So I said why not write those messages down just to learn your Spanish it'll help kind of like trying to slog through the Classifies in a Spanish newspaper a great way to pick up Spanish vocabulary and common phrases And what else did we learn by going through his text messages that they're not important and all they're trying to do is suck money
[22:14] However, something very weird has been popping up in text messages lately all throughout Latin America Governments have been passing laws saying that when you buy a chip for your phone or you buy a new phone You need to show a copy of your DPI your national ID or your passport Kind of a light version of the know your customer law at banks So why have they enacted those laws they believe it's a way to stop Extortions over phones because you see Latins are so free to give away their personal data email home address What's up and telephone numbers every time a pop-up window asks for that stuff? Well as a result bad guys and gangbangers are taking advantage of that not to mention young Latins are noted for posting every Happy meal and every abnormal bowel movement on social media sites and bad guys get a hold of that stuff and start playing
[23:04] extortion games over the phone But do note I don't know if a single gringo this has ever happened to it's a Latin thing First of all when you're off the gringo tourist trail almost no one speaks English So extortionists are generally gonna go after a week vulnerable people who speak Spanish again People with low profiles are almost never targeted So anyway Latin Congresses have passed laws to force phone companies into one know your customer mode that way Supposedly if there's a phone extortion The phone company can track the owner of the chip by ID or passport and figure out who the extortionists are Good luck with that idiotic plan. Have you ever heard anything so stupid? You think a bad guy's gonna give up his ID to a phone company, duh That's like asking a gangbanger to register his guns yet more proof that Congress's worldwide have
[23:55] For brains so when you buy a chip or a phone you have to give them a copy of your passport or a national ID However, there are a little mom-and-pop kiosk all throughout Latin America where you can buy SIM cards They don't ask you for anything And so just recently a lot of Latin send gringos who bought SIM cards that way without an idea at all are starting to get Text messages from the phone company saying you must send your DPI That would be your national ID number or your passport number by text message to us Then they give a code or we will shut off your phone now Like I said, this is a very recent thing and guess what? I'm getting those text messages too because I have what I call naked SIM cards, too Yep for anonymity. It's the only way to go So here's the plan for now don't pay attention to those text messages threatening to cut off your phone
[24:45] If you don't give up your ID, so when should you worry? Don't worry unless they actually send you a text message saying they're gonna cut you off on a certain date You got that on a certain date because the reality is there are tens of thousands even millions of people who have naked SIM chips In fact, there's a huge percentage of people out in the boonies who can't read and write yet. They have cell phones So what's that mean? They can't read those messages So how are they gonna enforce that now if by chance they try and give you a cutoff date Send them a national ID number a passport number doesn't have to be yours Doesn't have to be anyone's just send a number. This is latin america. All they need is numbers on some paperwork So is it illegal? What's illegal about it? It's the phone company that's supposed to collect that data again
[25:33] If push comes to shove give the phone company a number. Come on now. You're down here Now you've escaped big brother up north. You got a small footprint a low profile. Let's keep it that way Oh, and I forgot to mention another text message on my gringle buddy's phone. It said visit the quote as seen on tv stores and then it gives the locations and Yes, the words as seen on tv are in english What now you long-time listeners might remember all those as seen on tv offers for useless dust gathering junk like Ginzu knives kitchen magician the clapper buns of steel ab masters pocket circumcizers, etc All those commercials and more are down here now and on heavy rotation Translated into spanish, of course
[26:21] And because the parcel post delivery system in latin america is not very dependable Someone had the smart idea of opening as seen on tv stores throughout latin america So now under educated rubes and dupes can buy that stuff in person They don't have to mail order it. Oh, and by the way, do you want to know what the most popular item is right now? The trim belt. Yep. It's english the trim belt. They run those ads 20 times a day on every tv channel It's actually a velcro corset that sucks your gut in so that you have an hourglass shape They're unisex too. Now that says a hell of a lot about the overweight and obesity problem here in latin america So i'm thinking if you wear one of those corsets and you hook up with someone what happens if things get intimate? I guess you do like the chinese and put 15 watt bulbs in your house. Oops getting to the end now
[27:11] Don't forget to go to www the new expat dot com and check out master blogger. John gulf I'm on there too And do check out my youtube site for the slides that go along with the show Finally to get on the early bird discount list for my upcoming july expat insider seminar Send me an email at the expat files at gmail.com You've been listening to the expat files living in latin america coming to you twice a week from somewhere south of the border Email me the expat files at gmail.com And if you want me to help you sort out your own latin american plans schedule a one-on-one consult with me Just send an email and let me know at the expat files at gmail.com