Episode Summary
In this episode, Johnny Mueller explores various aspects of life in Latin America, from cultural traditions to the mindset of expats. He begins by discussing the unique cultural aspects of living in the region, including the prevalence of bodyguards in affluent neighborhoods, the tradition of fireworks on New Year's Eve, and the common New Year's resolutions of both expats and locals. Johnny also shares the cultural tradition of eating grapes on New Year's Eve, where each grape represents a month of the year and is associated with a wish for the future.
He then recounts a New Year's Eve tradition he encountered in Latin America, where women and some gay men engage in various superstitions to bring luck and prosperity. These include making 12 wishes, hiding coins for the year, avoiding black clothing, and wearing yellow or red underwear turned inside out. Johnny acknowledges the absurdity of these beliefs but respects the cultural significance and the importance of not dismissing them, as they are deeply rooted in tradition and community.
In response to an email from a group of expats called the Hollowites, Johnny discusses the challenges of maintaining intellectual stimulation while living in Latin America. He acknowledges their concerns and emphasizes the importance of flexibility and having a meaningful life. He shares a personal anecdote about a Canadian couple who moved to Costa Rica after winning the lottery but ended up becoming addicted to sports and alcohol, highlighting the importance of having a purpose beyond just a change of scenery.
Johnny also discusses the importance of having a purpose and being flexible when retiring in Latin America, using the example of a man who became bored and unhappy due to his reliance on sports and beer. He emphasizes the importance of engaging with the local culture, learning Spanish, and avoiding a narrow-minded lifestyle. He also touches on the topic of haggling, explaining that it's a common practice in Latin countries and not necessarily a sign of being cheap, but rather a game that both buyer and seller can win.
Finally, Johnny discusses how expats in Latin America often feel younger than their actual age due to their mindset, lifestyle, and attitude. He highlights the contrast between how expats feel internally and how they look externally, emphasizing that their state of mind, habits, and immune system play a significant role. He concludes by suggesting that expats can enjoy a fulfilling life in Latin America by embracing the local culture and adapting to the environment, even if it means dealing with uninformed locals.
Topics
Cultural traditions in Latin America, Expatriate life in Latin America, Social and cultural norms, New Year's Eve celebrations, Superstitions and rituals, New Year's Eve traditions, Cultural superstitions, Latin American customs, Expatriate experiences, Intellectual stimulation in Latin America, Adaptation and flexibility for expats, The importance of a meaningful life
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:26 Overview of the Show's Content and the Cultural Experience in Latin America 00:01:13 Cultural Observations on Height and Self-Esteem in Latin America 00:02:09 New Year's Eve Traditions and Fireworks in Latin America 00:03:57 Common New Year's Resolutions and Cultural Similarities Between Expats and Locals 00:05:29 The Grape Tradition on New Year's Eve and Its Symbolism 00:05:53 The Tradition of Wishes and Coins 00:07:09 The Superstition of Hiding Coins 00:09:17 The Underwear Ritual for Luck and Prosperity 00:12:32 The Question of Intellectual Stimulation for Expats in Latin America 00:14:09 Johnny's Response to the Hollowites' Concerns 00:16:41 The Importance of a Meaningful Life for Expats 00:17:47 The Man Who Relied on Sports and Beer 00:18:43 The Need for Flexibility and Purpose 00:22:54 The Benefits of an Active Lifestyle 00:23:19 The Influence of Mindset on Age Perception 00:23:42 The Paradox of Feeling Younger Than One's Age 00:24:11 The Confidence of Expats Who Feel Younger 00:25:14 The Characteristics of Successful Expats 00:26:04 Finding Like-Minded People 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 as Luck would have it I spent this New Year's Eve in an upscale Latin neighborhood and one of those Guarded communities with the odd big black bulletproof SUVs scattered here and there with their attendant 8th grade educated
[00:45] Potbellied bodyguards leaning on nearby fences and trees trying to look cool in their knockoff ray bands and earbuds that Certainly aren't connected to anything. Oh and by the way, here's another thing I recently found out about these half-wit bodyguards nearly 100% of these guys wears Lifts in his shoes and or actually buys shoes that have about an inch or so lift built into them down here The shoe lift business is really flourishing though Not mentioned at all in polite conversation and why is that the average Latin guys around five foot four and a very very Sensitive about it. It's all about self-esteem and very touchy and you know that because every guy lies about his height short guys Especially short guy social climbers here wear lifts
[01:32] In fact, if you look in the classified ads in the big newspapers, you'll see that when they advertise for bodyguards They always have a height requirement Even so four foot nothing guys like Danny DeVito size still show up at these interviews with lifts But where was I now? Oh, yeah hanging out in a wealthy neighborhood on New Year's Eve So we have those telltale bulletproof SUVs scattered here and there and the Danny DeVito bodyguards And because this is the holiday season some houses are way over the top with the Christmas lights and decorations Now do note that on New Year's Eve in Latin America Strange things can happen what you'll find throughout Latin America even in these upscale neighborhood is that right at midnight New Year's Eve everyone in every household in the neighborhood steps out the front door and onto the street and gets ready for that midnight countdown and
[02:25] The kids and adults alike even ladies let off ungodly amounts of fireworks because you know They're all legal down here and I guess even if they weren't the tradition is so strong They'd do it anyway packed in some of the lower-end neighborhoods and in neighborhoods That's gringos fear to tread guys walk outside at midnight and start blowing their guns off in the air now They're not actually aiming at anything. It's just kind of like a bar fight in a John Wayne movie Everybody kind of shoots at the ceiling, but thankfully like I said, those are in the neighborhoods us gringos strive to avoid Let's be straight about this. No one's gonna shoot at you But the problem is what goes up must come down right in fact I remember a holiday season a while back when I was in Honduras or was it Nicaragua?
[03:11] I can't remember anyway There was a television commercial where a cop was warning people guys Of course not to fire their guns in the air in celebration And you know, it's ads like that that really shake you up when you first get down here And why wouldn't they right but back to my New Year's Eve story So after about 1215 in the am after the explosions have kind of quieted down and people sort of mosey back Into the house. That's when people kind of huddle around and go through their New Year's resolutions out loud And as for me, I just sat there and listened I ended up in the kitchen and I just happened to be within the earshot of a couple of ladies Talking about New Year's and their New Year's resolutions, etc And you know in some respects things aren't as different down here as they might seem for example
[03:57] Practically every single woman in that group was overweight a bit. That's one of the classic symptoms of recent affluence, right? So practically every single one of them said she was gonna exercise more eat, right and lose a little weight this year Hmm. Where have we heard that before? Nothing unusual about that But I will tell you this even after being down here a couple of decades now There's always something new to learn and here's what I learned that night now I'm sure you remember in past shows I told you the Latins are very very superstitious and you know Even though the poor and middle classes seem to be a lot more superstitious than the upper classes The fact is the upper classes still are quite superstitious though They keep it low-key and behind closed doors that said here's what I witnessed in the kitchen that night
[04:44] Right after midnight one of the ladies spread five bowls on the table one for each of the ladies present and she gave me one Too and then another one put 12 grapes. They're called Ubers down here you be a s Grapes in each bowl. That's 12 now as I watch that lady count out 12 and each bowl I started eating one and she said no, no don't eat any of them yet Not until I tell you so I stopped and waited for instructions And one by one these ladies picked up a single grape and ate it all in unison Then they stopped for a second and a few of them chuckled and laughed a bit Then they ate their second grape stopped and laughed for a second then a third, etc Until they were all gone Well, as it turns out each of those grapes represents one month of the upcoming year and every time you eat a grape
[05:35] You're supposed to make a wish Like for example, you're gonna have good health or you're gonna take a trip or you're gonna get a new car Or are you gonna come into some money or someone in the family's gonna have a baby or whatever So how it works out is that that first grape is January and that wish you make while you're eating it It's supposed to come to pass in January Then that second grape whatever wish you make is supposed to happen in February and on and on so that means way beforehand You're supposed to make a list of 12 wishes so that you can keep track of them during the year and see if they really Do come true now, of course, it's all BS to me, but I played along because well It's tradition and I'm sure I was the first gringo those ladies ever played that game with well The next thing these five ladies did is they dug in through their purses and they threw out all their change on the kitchen table
[06:25] Then they divided the coins up 12 coins each again one coin for each upcoming month of the year So after they counted out 12 coins each They passed around little ziplock bags to put their coins in then each bag took her bag and shoved it in her handbag I mean each lady took her bag and shoved it in her purse Then one lady explained the rest of it to me when you get home New Year's Eve You take your little plastic bag with 12 coins and you hide it somewhere in the house you don't tell anyone either you hide it somewhere where you think no one's gonna find it and the time-held belief is that no matter how hard up you get for money throughout the year, you're never supposed to Retrieve that bag break it open and use those coins the superstition beings if you leave those coins Untouched for the entire year good luck and prosperity will certainly follow
[07:14] But if you break into that little money bag for bus fare or whatever your luck will really change and go downhill from there now 99% of Latins who engage in this particular ritual never touched that money. Why would they it's only coins, right? But here's the catch if you haven't hit it well enough and somebody discovers it or it's moved Even if your cat finds it all bets are off and you're gonna have a terrible year financially That's the belief of course and down here you best not try to dissuade anyone out of their Superstitions because you'll put a real damper on a conversation like telling a kid There's no Santa Claus or telling in a legal alien. There's no American dream or an old-timer. There's no social security Oh, yeah, and another thing I learned from these ladies in the kitchen and remember
[08:01] These are upscale ladies not maids and cleaning ladies So-called muchachas who have their own even deeper more hilarious sets of superstitions Oh, and by the way when you're confronted with that kind of who do don't laugh. That's not nice Anyway, another thing I discovered from these ladies is that from 12 a.m New Year's Day to 12 midnight. You should never wear black not on any Individual article of clothing big or small or you're gonna have a pretty depressing year coming up That one's not so far out. You can buy that one without cracking up But here's one that really takes the cake if you don't crack up just thinking about this Well, you don't have much of a sense of humor and I don't want to party with you Okay, now just know that getting one of these older ladies to spit this one out wasn't easy
[08:46] In fact, she was embarrassed and turned a bit red while telling me this story She said when you go to sleep on New Year's Eve night If you take a pair of yellow underwear and turn them inside out and wear them all day and all night January 1st, you'll have a very lucky and prosperous year financially now here's the part I like if you take red underwear turn them inside out and Wear them all day and all night January 1st for the upcoming year. You'll have a Fantastic sex life now the thing is if you go through that little red or yellow underwear ritual You're not supposed to tell anyone what color you're using And if anyone notices it or sees it besides you the deals off in fact
[09:32] Not only is the deal off but things work in the opposite direction So what's my take on this? Well, I'm thinking two things one Why not wear both colors though? There is a problem when you're in Walmart or Costco buying red or yellow underwear Isn't the checkout person gonna know the purpose of that stuff? Which would mean of course the deals off right and worse and when I brought up that sticky point to one of the ladies She said well, that's easily remedied You either make or knit your own in secret or borrow a pair from someone else's underwear drawer Meaning I guess steal one or the other when the owner is not looking Maybe like expat Eddie says you can start making the rounds of the laundromats
[10:18] Scanky, I know but it would work. So all you green gringos and expats out there Just remember next January 1st if you're in Latin America and you catch any little flash of red or yellow waistband or butt-crack action whether you know it or not and you know it now you're gonna cancel out some hopeful guy or gal's financial or sex life for the upcoming year So then you might ask is there any basis in fact or truth to this superstition at all? Well, if you have to ask that question, you're an idiot Come on, of course not but you really do have to give those Latin's points for livening up the party now Don't you and by the way all this New Year's superstition stuff with the grapes and the money and the underwear and such I found out
[11:03] That it's practiced almost exclusively by Latin women and gay guys your average Latin straight guys Don't get involved now. It's not that they don't believe in it. They really do It's just that performing such antics themselves runs counter to their usual macho streak But then again who knows what goes on behind closed doors At least that's what I've been told by more than a few people down here. So no gay bashing emails Please remember, it's just the facts ma'am here the good the bad the ugly and the great Which maybe I should add the word ridiculous, too So again if gringos and expats down here keep their eyes open. There's never a dull moment So if you're face to face with that superstition stuff try to laugh with them not at them be nice
[11:48] That said let's change gears and move on to an email This time from some of my favorite emailers who call themselves the Hollowites and I'll paraphrase this a bit here Dear Johnny after listening to almost three years of your archive shows What we like to know is this how people with above average intelligence who move down to Latin America? can stay that way in a society of non readers and People who really don't know much about what's really going on in the world as you say people don't read books And they don't put much quality time into learning English It seems they're in Latin America people just don't sit around and chat about world events or talk about topics that are of great interest Like for example nutrition, so the question is what do you Johnny do to stay intellectually stimulated?
[12:39] This is one of the subjects We've read about a topic that other expats have had trouble with and it is something we are really concerned about for ourselves Should we make the big move south of the border? You see we too are big readers non TV watchers who went to college got degrees and were really Disenchanted with the corporate world even up here in the states We rarely find someone who knows what's going on wants to sit around with some coffee and discuss real-world things In fact, it's hard to find people here who don't have the need to watch TV all the time to pacify them Question are we gonna encounter the same kind of a robot zombies down your way, too Now we are confident that there are many self employment opportunities, and we're definitely interested in that though
[13:29] The question of intellectual stimulation is another area. We're really concerned with in fact We have prepared a spreadsheet of all the other categories that are important to us and the research We've done points to a positive in the areas of cost of living dining out weather quality of life and Nutrition level of food as well as chemtrails and local and long-range travel options That said would you care to reveal to us any input on the subject of your own mental and intellectual stimulation or are all your Social and enrichment needs met by your friend expat Eddie. Thanks ever so much the wannabes from Tennessee Okay, let's try to answer some of that stuff First of all about 50% of the people that come down to live down in Latin America from up in the first world
[14:17] Come down to retire at least that's what they report when people ask them and not all of them are 60 and over believe me that said let me say just a few things that I learned along the way as You know I've had many opportunities to watch gringos and expats Succeed and fail now do note that not everyone can succeed down here though a very high percentage of gringos and expats do And you know the funny thing is a lot of us long-term expats Have a knack of spotting whether a fresh green expats gonna succeed or fail I'm pretty good at it myself I can tell right off the bat after talking somebody maybe 20 minutes a half an hour Whether he or she is gonna have an easier hard time fitting in socially or otherwise and believe it or not
[15:04] certain people like expat Eddie and I We're pretty good judges of whether a person's gonna end up back in Cleveland in six months with their tail between their legs First of all I have to say that if you're not a flexible person, then don't come down now I've noticed that the occasional gringo or expat I meet down here that is inflexible many seem to have not made a good life for themselves up in the States or have had an unhappy life up there simply Because they are inflexible and do note that most people who are inflexible will tell you that they're not Which is part of the problem, right? So just coming down here to Latin America and having a change of scenery Isn't gonna make a person like that any more flexible or willing to adapt That's a big problem. And here are a few more things I have learned along the way
[15:54] Occasionally I see long-term expats down here looking old and pretty much deteriorated physically mentally and otherwise They seem to be their own worst enemy Well, that's because some people need to be entertained all the time They just don't have any goals or hobbies their chance takers or they wouldn't be down here But they're just not innately curious They just need someone else or something else to entertain them all the time and sometimes that something turns out to be booze and drugs So the people that don't seem to do well down here in Latin America are people who have a life Without meaning for lack of a better phrase and that means when they were up in the States They had a life without meaning too and they're just looking for that pot of gold or end of the rainbow
[16:41] Where there's a change of scenery and they might be better entertained. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about In fact, I have a few such family members up north in Illinois And most of them is sad to say our guys who are addicted to sports now I may have mentioned this story before so stop me if you've heard it I once had a beach house in Costa Rica on the Pacific side and My house was right next to a guy and a gal from Canada a very nice young couple in their late 30s And the guy just happened to have been a physical education Instructor up at some public school in Canada and now he was retired You might ask how can a lowly PE instructor from a public school up in Canada Retired a Costa Rica to a very nice beach house at the ripe old age of about 35
[17:27] Now as it turned out and I didn't find this out till much later that surprise surprise He'd won over a million bucks in the Canadian lottery now one day I was sitting on the porch reading and his wife came over and she Actually had a little bit of a tear in her eye and she said Johnny I don't know what to do my husband's drink in a case of beer a day All he does is sit around and watch his 50 channel satellite TV cable sports networks and drink beer now When she told me that I didn't know they'd won the lottery bottom line He wasn't a happy guy, but by all accounts he should have been now the fact is over the year or two I knew that guy I can honestly say he was no dummy, but he had very little initiative All he really cared about was sports and in fact he tried everything he could to get me over to his house and watch the games with him and
[18:18] Tried his hardest to get me to go to some of the local Costa Rican soccer matches And I actually went to one and was bored out of my wits and in the end since he could not Convert me into a sports lover He kind of gave me the brush off because I couldn't in wouldn't converse sports talk with him I just wasn't in that club and didn't want to be now I'm in no way bringing this up because I was personally offended that he gave me the brush off I really could care less But I'm bringing this up because you see if you come down here like him and just Completely depend on someone else or something else to entertain you like for him that with sports You're not gonna be a very fulfilled You're not gonna be a happy camper Especially if you're coming down to retire as a really young guy like he was oh and by the way that case a day
[19:04] Beer-drinking habit he had was made all the worse by the fact that the guy was about a hundred and thirty five pounds He was what you might call a welter weight with a very explosive temper And you know the cure for what ale this guy was simple. He just needed to be active He needed something to do But he wasn't a reader and he wasn't a tinkerer and he didn't play music and he just was well in a word Boring well you get the idea and the fact was back then there was really no great internet to speak Of in Costa Rica and even if there would have been he would have spent all his time searching sports junk You know hey teach is all but what I'm saying is if if you come down here You can't have tunnel vision like that and you have to be flexible Or you'll end up like him because beer is extremely cheap and another thing
[19:51] I learned from people coming down here to Latin America either retiring or coming down to Start a new life is that if you don't have some kind of a purpose if you haven't got some idea to move forward I mean really there are a lot of gringos who come down thinking hey I'll just go down for a while and bum around and see how it works out well That's okay if you're a 21 year old backpacker, but when you're 48 or 55 I don't know so many times with that kind of attitude you end up falling in with a bunch of Like-minded gringos who also have that attitude now That's not to say you can't come down here with a low-key Lacklustre attitude and not have a pretty good life you can but fact is most people like that after five or even ten years end up knowing just the very bare necessities of Spanish and
[20:39] Believe me if you don't eventually start mingling with the regular people down here You're missing a huge part of the Latin experience And you really only can do that after you've learned some Spanish plus if you don't know Spanish you almost always end up paying Too much for everything you're marked as a gringo and you pay gringo prices Oh and on that point sometimes I get emails from people saying I like your attitude Johnny But you sound like a real tightwad to that I say I know not everyone's trying to go down to Latin America and live like a First world person in a thousand or fifteen hundred a month some people I know get three four five even ten thousand a month in retirement benefits for however long that's gonna last right and They don't care about haggling when they buy a house or rent an apartment or go to the fruit market And you know I get emails especially from older people say they'd rather not haggle
[21:28] They feel funny doing that that's not the way things worked up in the first world and it puts them off their game And they really can't get used to it well just to set the record straight when I talk about haggling and trying to get The best bang for your buck. It's not because I'm particularly cheap I mean a toothpick has two ends right that means it's good for at least two different meals correct and Toilet paper squares are cut at the factory in single-use individual squares for a reason right But I digress doing deals down here and selling things is much different than it is up in the states people Expect you to bargain a little bit back and forth It's a kind of a game a game in the end that both buyer and seller can win because you're both happy That's pure caveman capitalism
[22:14] You've got a shiny green rock, and I've got a ripe avocado. Let's trade But back to the main point now you've probably seen some statistics saying that when people retire Down to Florida or whatever and sit on lawn chairs outside the pool when they've got nothing else going and they just sit on their Dead asses they only live four or five years after that Whereas people who retire at let's say 60 or 65 the ones that don't sit back and we've put together a long list of things They've yet to accomplish they live 20 years longer on average and in most cases They look and feel younger than the person who just sits around by the pool drinking in fact It's so very true that most long-term expats down here look much younger than their equivalent counterpart up in the states
[23:01] That is excluding expats who just love being out in the Sun I mean look at Robert Redford in his prime considered the most handsome man in Hollywood and now Because he spent way too much time in the Sun his face looks like a pepperoni pizza now Of course we grow older by the passing of time on a clock But our real age the way we feel inside and the way we look depends on our state of mind our attitude our happiness What we eat what we do and don't expose ourselves to what we think and our immune systems of course now When some long-term gringo expat turns 50 and someone asks him or her how they're feeling at that age Often you'll hear something like this I feel like I felt when I was 25 or 30, but when I look in the mirror hell, I'm old
[23:47] I don't get it something's just not right about that and sometimes I'll hear that person say Maybe it's time to start slowing down. You know I get up at 6 in the morning. Maybe I'll start sleep until 7 I know I'll exercise three times a week instead of five that said what I found out in the long run That's the wrong way to look at life, and it's the people who look in the mirror and say yeah I'm 70 going on 50 or 60 going on 40 I must be doing something right so I guess I'll just keep heading down the same road I'm gonna do what I've always been doing seems to be working for me And you know what take it from any long-term expat down here They seem to get the same compliment over and over from friends and family up north namely Why is it that you look so much better than all the other folks up north who are about your same age?
[24:36] And you know I get that all the time myself So ask yourself why do you think that happens so often to so many of us long-term gringos by sitting in a hammock with a case Of beer watching 50 sports channels a day don't think so now remember in that email I just read the folks from Tennessee said they were having a hard enough time finding like-minded people to have really solid discussions with Where they come from up in the states Well remember this nearly all the gringos and expats that come down to Latin America are curious and generally adventurous types and Quite flexible or they wouldn't have jumped into the deep end in the first place Fact is nearly all the first world people that become expats are above average I have to admit with some way off the charts and most have really done their homework
[25:24] And that's why when I have my expat wisdom seminars Attendees report all the time that they've never seen so many Like-minded people in one place which is also one of the biggest complaints They have about their hometown or where they're living back up in the states that they just can't find like-minded individuals to hang with So what I'm saying is the lack of like-minded people back home seems to be a universal mantra true It's easy to find like-minded people on the internet, but come on admit it That's not nearly as much fun as sitting down face-to-face with someone and slinging mud and dung at the Abomination over a couple of double expresso's but down here in Latin America Well, you don't have to look far to find like-minded people. That's for sure even well off the gringo tourist trail
[26:09] You're gonna find them But believe me like the email said forget about finding like-minded Latins who are Intelligent and well-read enough to shoot the shite with you. Oh, they're nice and happy and can be very intelligent All right, but since they don't live in a big brother alphabet agency corporate fascist state The things that really concern us first world folks are not on their radar Though they really should be because with that lag time effect, they'll eventually get here, right? That said even though down here you'll be surrounded by uninformed clueless Latins if you're flexible and somewhat adaptable You'll probably never get bored So if you come down here hoping that you're gonna do some of the things you weren't able to do up in the states for Lack of money time or whatever. No doubt. You'll have a great life down here
[26:57] And like I said, you'll never get bored Not only that if you're like a lot of us expats you'll never ever finish that to-do list because you're adding to it all the time and in my case the only dead boring and Uninteresting gringos that I seem to meet and you do meet them sometime our first worlders who set up their new life on The gringo tourist trail that includes of course gringos off the tourist trail who hang at expat bars and have exclusively gringo friends Now don't get me wrong You will find like-minded people there, but they're more than likely to be boring people with a permanent case of tunnel vision south of the border You've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America coming to you twice a week from somewhere south of the border
[27:42] email me the expat files at gmail.com and Don't forget to check out expat wisdom calm to sign up for your free reports on Latin America. See you next time nos vemos