Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller shares his experiences living and traveling in Latin America, offering practical advice and cultural insights. He discusses the importance of obtaining fresh coconut water safely by slicing coconuts himself to avoid health risks. Johnny also recommends carrying a small Swiss army knife on a key chain for practical use, while warning about the risks of losing such items in third-world airports. He suggests securing stowaway luggage by wrapping it in plastic or using packing tape, noting the availability of packing tape in local grocery stores.
Johnny explores the customs in Latin America, where luggage wrapped in a specific way is often overlooked by customs officials. He shares a story about buying coconuts at a local market in the Dominican Republic (DR), highlighting the price difference between local markets and upscale resorts. He notes that coconuts cut in a certain way can last up to a week, and advises against purchasing items at the resort's shopping center due to high prices. Johnny also compares the cost of internet access in a hole-in-the-wall cafe to the all-inclusive resort, where internet costs $10 per hour compared to $1 per hour in nearby towns.
He discusses the contrast between the low-cost internet access in a hole-in-the-wall cafe and the all-inclusive resort experience, highlighting the resort's free amenities like mini bars and top shelf liquors. Johnny expresses skepticism about the resort's claim of being 'all inclusive,' noting that certain services like massages and beauty treatments are not included. He shares his experience of exploring outside the resort, where he encountered a lack of shuttle services and warnings from the resort staff about the dangers of exploring nearby towns. He decides to take a cab to a nearby town, where he shops at local markets and interacts with locals, noting that his Spanish accent and slang confuse the locals, who are used to gringos with more formal Spanish.
Johnny discusses how he is perceived as a 'gringo' (foreigner) in Latin America, despite not sounding like one. He explains that people often assume he has Latin American roots due to his appearance, and he uses the Spanish word 'Adivina' (guess) as a conversation starter. He shares observations about how Latin Americans often display their affection for the U.S. through items like 'I love New York' t-shirts and tattoos. He recounts an interaction with a coconut seller who, despite speaking broken English, assumed he was from Argentina or Chile due to his appearance.
In this segment, Johnny recounts a story about a coconut seller who is excited to visit Guatemala and meet a man named Cash Luna, a controversial figure in Latin America. The coconut seller is unaware of the negative perception of Cash Luna among locals, who view him as a con man who copied the tactics of first-world evangelical con artists. Johnny explains that Cash Luna is a super star con man who has built a massive church, a TV studio, and a network of religious stations, all while promoting the idea of tithing. The segment highlights the cultural and economic dynamics of Latin America, including the lag time phenomenon where trends from the first world take years to reach Latin America, and how they are often copied and adapted.
Johnny discusses the cultural and economic dynamics in Latin America, particularly in the Dominican Republic, highlighting the impact of Evangelical Christian influence and the prevalence of scams. He critiques the first-world cynicism towards these issues, noting that poverty in Latin America is more severe than in the U.S., with many living on less than two dollars a day. He shares a personal anecdote about a coconut vendor who, despite being deported multiple times, still believes in the power of a man named Cash who claims to have a special connection with Jesus. The vendor's belief in this fantasy over real-world evidence underscores the broader theme of how people in poverty may cling to hope and faith over tangible reality.
Johnny discusses the historical methods Dominicans used to enter the United States before 9/11, including using Puerto Rico as a gateway and bribing immigration officials in the Dominican Republic. He explains how the system was lax, allowing many Dominicans to overstay their visas and manipulate their passports to re-enter the U.S. He also notes that these methods no longer work, and today Dominicans must obtain a visa and pay for an airline ticket to enter the U.S. The segment highlights the ease of entry for Dominicans in the past and the current challenges they face.
This segment contains the closing remarks of a podcast episode, where Johnny Mueller provides contact information and invites listeners to visit the website for additional resources. The segment also includes a brief mention of a previous conversation about a victim and someone who knows Spanish, which may be part of a larger story or discussion that was cut off.
Topics
Living in Latin America, Practical travel tips, Safety and security in third-world airports, Cultural practices in the Dominican Republic, Customs in Latin America, Coconut prices in the Dominican Republic, Shopping and pricing in all-inclusive resorts, Cost comparison between cafes and resorts, All-inclusive resort amenities and exclusions, Safety concerns and restrictions for guests, Cultural and linguistic differences between expats and locals, Language acquisition through immersion vs. formal education
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:58 Coconut Water and Health Risks in Latin America 00:02:03 Securing Luggage in Third-World Airports 00:04:31 Customs in Latin America and Luggage Wrapping 00:05:16 Buying Coconuts at a Local Market in Punta Cana 00:06:52 All-Inclusive Resorts in the Dominican Republic 00:09:01 Cost Comparison Between Cafes and Resorts 00:09:13 All-Inclusive Resort Exclusions 00:09:56 Resort Staff Warnings About Exploration 00:10:45 Shopping and Interactions in a Nearby Town 00:10:55 Johnny's Spanish Accent and Slang Confusion 00:11:59 Language Acquisition Through Immersion 00:12:17 Introduction to the Gringo Identity Discussion 00:12:27 Explaining the Word 'Adivina' 00:13:01 The Role of 'Adivina' as an Icebreaker 00:13:43 Observations on Latin American Affection for the U.S. 00:14:58 Interaction with the Coconut Seller and Assumptions About Origin 00:15:26 The Coconut Seller's Excitement for Guatemala 00:15:55 The Coconut Seller's Pilgrimage to Cash Luna 00:17:09 Cash Luna's Influence and Lifestyle 00:20:05 The Absence of Understanding 'Cash' in Latin America 00:20:31 The Severity of Poverty in Latin America 00:21:20 The Coconut Seller's Dream and Belief in Cash 00:24:01 Historical Methods of Dominican Immigration to the U.S. 00:24:26 Visa Numbers and the Lax System Before 9/11 00:25:40 Changes in Dominican Immigration After 9/11 00:25:50 The Puerto Rico Route and Illegal Dominican Immigration 00:27:39 Podcast Introduction and Contact Information 00:27:43 Email Instructions 00:27:44 Email Address and Website Promotion 00:27:47 Website Promotion and Farewell 00:27:50 Subscription to Free Reports 00:27:53 Farewell and Closing Remarks 00:27:54 Spanish Farewell 00:27:55 Mention of a Previous Story
Transcript
Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.
[00:00] South of the border, down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came out to play And now 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 Now continuing on the topic of last week's show Just yesterday I was in a big farmers market in the DR In the Dominican Republic where I'm broadcasting from right now And I decided to buy some coconuts for the coconut water
[00:46] You all know about the benefits of coconut water now don't you? And I'm not talking about that pasteurized processed stuff out of the bottle That you get in the grocery store either, I'm talking about right out of the coconut fresh Now as you might know down here south of the border They'll take the coconut and slice it with a machete right in front of you And you can stick a straw in it then and suck out the water However my advice is never to let the local guy slice the coconut all the way through the meat And have him or her hand you a straw or stick it in themselves If you do that you're asking for intestinal trouble Just let them cut a small amount of the bottom of the coconut off So it's a flat surface then you can set it down like a cup And have them cut the top just so you can barely see the white of the meat Then if you're thirsty you can easily punch a hole through that white meat
[01:34] With your tiny little Swiss army knife which I recommend you carry on your key chain Then you stick your own straw in there Never let the guy or gal who's slicing your coconut touch the straw or stick it in Unless you feel like spending a night with the porcelain goddess If you know what I mean Oh and by the way about those small Swiss army knives They're very tiny ones that you can stick on your key chain You know they won't let you through the airport with that But just slip it into a pocket in your stowaway luggage And you'll be alright and you can collect it later However down here in Latin America Going through these often kind of strange third world airports If you don't secure your stowaway luggage nicely Sometimes things will go missing And forget about those stupid little locks that you put on the zippers They can get in and you won't even know it
[02:20] And I'm not talking about big things but small things like Perfumes and makeup and jewelry and small Swiss army knives like that It's happened to me So how can you secure that stowaway stuff? Well I'll tell you what it's like down here I don't know if you can even get away with this up north But when you walk into an airport down here in Latin America Before you even go up to the ticket counter and check your luggage in You'll walk past a porter who's got a wrapping machine And they'll wrap your suitcases in plastic wrap For about 5 to 10 bucks a wrap Then you go up to the ticket counter and hand that bag over And they'll slip a little tag on it as usual And take it as a stowed piece So should you do that? Should you have it wrap? I highly recommend it However there is an easier and cheaper way
[03:06] Just bring a roll of packing tape with you You know the clear plastic stuff You can buy a roll in any grocery store for about a buck A buck and a half You just wrap each piece with about 5 or 10 revolutions And after seeing that None of the luggage handlers will bother to mess with it Just too much work for them There are much easier and better pickings From those odd pieces of designer luggage down the line So don't be an idiot and buy that stuff That's no way to be low profile You're asking for trouble Now the funny thing is you do that luggage wrapping thing Before it's ever x-rayed or goes through any kind of metal detector or anything And I find that kind of weird I know in the first world they pick everything apart like it was a crime scene investigation I know I've heard the stories though I haven't been there myself And I don't plan on it either
[03:52] So to repeat You walk into the airport You have your luggage wrapped for 5 or 10 bucks Or you wrap it yourself with packing tape Which I recommend And you hand it over as usual up at the ticket window And don't forget to have a spare roll of packing tape In that stowed luggage too For the return trip Because you know you can't carry on packing tape Because you know it's a lethal weapon right? It's one of those prohibited items Just in case I guess you want to do some damage in the plane with it Like maybe tape all the vomit bags shut Now wouldn't that bring the airlines to a halt? So anyway after you've wrapped your luggage and handed it in at the ticket counter You won't see it again till you pick it up on the roundabout at your final destination So it seems like you can put anything you want into a suitcase like that
[04:39] At least down here in Latin America Because you know I travel a great deal And on the way out of an airport checking through customs In whatever Latin country I've landed in Luckily on the way out I've never been asked To open up one of my pieces of luggage that's been wrapped that way Somehow the customs people seem to just give it a pass if it's wrapped Maybe again it's just too much trouble And they don't want you to go cutting it open and tearing it apart But who knows? Now of course most of the time it goes through an x-ray scanner But sometimes they just let you walk right through You gotta love it Only in Latin America huh? Okay back to the story Anyway I went to one of the local markets in Punta Cana in the DR And I bought a couple coconuts and had the guy cut them up like that Like I mentioned earlier
[05:25] They were gonna be for later And of course I brought my own straws And by the way coconuts cut like that could last up to a week Because the machete hasn't penetrated past the meat They're still hermetically sealed Anyway I bought these nice big coconuts for around a buck each And by the way back at my all inclusive hotel resort They were selling them for five bucks a piece How do you like that? And by the way at that very upscale resort There were tons and tons of well manicured coconut trees everywhere as you might imagine And a crew actually going around picking them up And bringing them to a stand with a wheelbarrow Where you could buy them nicely cut and prepared for like I said five bucks each Such a deal huh? Fact is if I had a machete I could have picked them up off the ground They were all over the place
[06:11] And I could have downed coconut water till a week from next Thursday For free too However I am a klutzy gringo and do want to keep all my appendages intact Believe me that's one thing you don't want to play with a machete I know it looks easy but so does a back flip And you don't want to try that at home either And believe me every poor Latin kid has his machete teething scars to prove it And some of them ain't pretty believe me Anyway I bought a couple of coconuts for a buck a piece at The regular market that the normal people go to In the nearest small town which is about ten kilometers away And I got to tell you a few unusual things happen along the way Don't they always? Anyway like I said in a past show The Dominican Republic with all this beautiful white beaches is just filled with high end all inclusive resorts
[06:59] I mean you never have to really leave these places at all In fact the one I'm at which I highly recommend And it's very cheap for what you get Is a fantastic deal really And the fact is I've been to a dozen or more all inclusive resorts all through the world And this one in the DR is the best one by far for a lot of reasons Not just the price I'll go into that at a later show I promise Of course one of the reasons I got it so cheap Is because I booked it direct online in Spanish So I know I got a huge discount over gringo prices That you might be paying if you booked it from up in the states in English Anyway like I said in this giant upscale First world four star all inclusive resort It's like a small deluxe city that you really never have to leave
[07:46] It's so big and covers so many acres of course It has an 18 hole golf course too That it's got its own shopping center And I mean a fully equipped shopping center With 30 or 40 stores Many being high end first world brand name stores That we're all familiar with And why not since the crowd staying there are obviously not penny pinchers You can tell by the way they dress How skinny they are The jewelry they have And the luggage they're hauling around with them Now everything you buy at these stores is very expensive Even though some of them have signs that say duty free But that's just a come on I'm sure you frequent international travelers Know all about that so called duty free BS scam You know you can always get what those duty free stores sell out on the street
[08:33] In a little tienda much cheaper But you knew that right So anyway I repeat in the DR They have these big luxury all inclusive resorts That have large shopping complexes within them My advice don't buy anything there They're way too expensive For example they've got a cafe internet there too And you'll pay get this 10 US bucks an hour to use the internet Whereas in the nearest town like 10 kilometers away You can book an hour in a hole in a wall cafe internet for a dollar So it's 10 times that in the all inclusive resort So then you might ask What's all inclusive about that resort Well it is all inclusive Unless you want something special like an aroma therapy massage Or if ladies want their nails or hair done
[09:19] At one of the beauty salons That kind of thing And oh by the way This is such an all inclusive resort That even the mini bar in your room is free And they stock everything Even some of the top shelf liquors like Cheves Riegel Are included etc etc But I digress As usual Anyway Me being a curious guy I wanted to find out what life was like Outside those all inclusive resorts Of course And I certainly wasn't going to pay the price At one of those rip off shopping centers in the all inclusive So I went to the reception area And asked the lady if there was a shuttle to the nearest town Like I said It's about 10 kilometers away And she said Oh no We don't have a shuttle And we don't really recommend that our guests Take off on their own And explore or go to the nearby towns Because it could be dangerous
[10:05] And then came the old Well you know we can't be responsible What happens to our guests Once they leave the all inclusive resort area And just the way that it's stated Is kind of scary to anyone Who doesn't speak spanish That's for sure And that's when my red flags go up I've heard that spiel a thousand times before In almost every latin country Fact is you know They don't want you to be mingling with the locals And finding out what the prices really are So naturally I didn't take her advice And I grabbed a cab And made it to that little town About 10 clicks away And the trip with two of us in the car Ten bucks And of course I asked the driver To take us Where the locals shop And that's where I picked up those coconuts And here's the thing Now of course I look like a gringo
[10:50] But I've been in latin america so long That when I speak I guess At least I've been told this That my accent kind of confuses the locals They don't exactly know How I picked up on all the spanish slang words Which is kind of difficult Unless you're down here a long long time So in some ways My spanish is not that great But I do have a handle on the regional slang So I can generally tell What countries many latin people come from Like you could tell for example Someone from New Jersey Or Texas Or California The thing is That most gringos who do learn their spanish Learn proper spanish And it's easy for the local spanish speaking population To know that you came from cleveland Or wherever And learned your spanish step by step By taking courses Where as a lot of us long term expats
[11:37] We picked it up by hook and crook On the streets As well as a bit from the books And the locals can tell We're a little bit more tuned in Than the average spanish speaking gringo Who may have taken some high school And college courses And maybe rosetta stone Or other internet courses There's so many of them out there these days It's hard to keep track The fact is You don't get to pick up on the local jargon And the slang words Unless you're actually living down here quite a while At least that's what I found out And not hanging around with gringos by the way That said Nearly everywhere I go Once I start speaking to the locals in spanish Soon enough I hear someone say De donde eres Which means Where are you from Cause they're kinda confused They know I'm a gringo But I don't sound like one They think maybe my gringo parents
[12:22] Lived in a latin country And I was born there And I always say Adivina Which means Take a guess And by the way You should really learn that word Adivina Which looks When you write it down Like the word divine With the prefix a in front of it Adivina And it makes sense That it means Guess Just think of Using one of those Old fashioned divining rods To find water Or whatever And it'll stick in your head And remember If you ever want to get a lively conversation going With a spanish person At a party or whatever Just throw that word Adivina around And you'll get a lot of smiles And a lot of talk It's one of the best ice breakers there is In spanish So remember it It's Adivina So anyway When a spanish speaking person says to me
[13:09] De donde eres Asking me Where I'm from Lately They almost never guess that I'm from the states Believe it or not So does that mean I've lost my gringo advantage? Nope Because I still look like a gringo So anyway Getting back to the guy who sold me the coconuts Have to mention that He had a I love New York t-shirt on You know, those things are ubiquitous Down here in Latin America Everybody has a I love New York something A hat T-shirt Bracelet Necklace I've even seen a few tattoos like that Yep Real impressive And if that doesn't tell you Latins absolutely love the US I don't know what does So anyway This coconut dealer had an I love New York t-shirt And speaking of t-shirts I saw another latin down here with a t-shirt that said
[13:56] He who dies with the most tattoos wins Now he didn't know what that meant He just knew that it was in English So in Latin America that means it's cool But I couldn't help staring at it Thinking about the thought behind it And what it implied All the while I was thinking What kind of signal is that sending out really? Because look I come from a generation Whose parents in my day told me That the number of tattoos a guy has Is inversely proportional To his desirability in the job market At least the corporate white collar job market In other words If you want to be a success in life And you have a lot of tattoos You better plan on being your own boss Because you're not likely to ascend the corporate ladder With a born to be wild tattoo on your neck Unless of course you work for Harley
[14:41] Anyway after a few seconds This middle aged guy selling coconuts to me Started speaking in English Very broken English by the way And he said Where are you from man? To which I said in Spanish Adevina And he looked at me and he said Argentina? Chile maybe? And I said no What made you think that? He said Well you're so white man And you're conché Which means you have light colored hair in Spanish And I said no Guess again And by then Two more lanterns came up to the coconut stand And I guess they were impatient Because one of them said Puchica Aporate Which loosely translates to Oh man hurry up Now when the coconut guy heard that He stopped talking to me And he turned to the guy
[15:27] And he said You're from Guatemala right? And the guy said How'd you know? And he said You said Puchica Only Guatemalans say Puchica Again he was referring to some Guatemalan local slang Now Puchica Which is used a lot in Guatemala and Salvador Is a kind of an exclamation filler word Not a bad word Just a stupid filler word Like dude or awesome But what happened next kind of startled me The coconut guy threw up his hands in the air Smiled and said Before I die I just have to visit Guatemala That's the promised land But you know that Because you're from Guatemala Now the Guatemalan guy was very happy to hear that Of course You know pride in your country and all that That is until the coconut guy said
[16:14] He had to make that pilgrimage Because he wanted to get the personal blessing Of a man named Cash Luna And he said it again Cash Luna This time with stars in his eyes No kidding Then he even got more excited And said to the Guatemalan guy Did you ever see him? Did you ever meet him in person? And the Guatemalan guy said Yeah in fact we only live about a mile away from his mansion In fact we always know When his helicopter comes over We better stay at home all day or take off out of town Because when the Cash Luna circus starts There's bound to be a 2 or 3 hour traffic jam The guy rolled his eyes and did not say it in a nice way either But you see The coconut guy didn't seem to pick up on Any of that Guatemalan's negativity about this guy Cash Luna
[17:00] He was just so excited to meet someone That actually had some kind of personal contact with him That he was just beaming Now to explain this a bit This Cash Luna guy is a super star in Latin America A super star con man that is And of course being that he is Latin American He didn't invent his little or I should say very big con game He just copied first world people as usual So this guy Cash Luna Just took advantage of the lag time phenomena In the evangelical Christian arena And if it wasn't him it would have been someone else Remember that lag time thing There's a huge lag time generally for Anything that becomes a big success Or fad or big money maker up in the first world So it always takes some years at least
[17:45] For anything that's popular up in the first world To get down here to Latin America That's why when it's done down here No one has to reinvent the wheel They just copy, paste and translate as needed So as far as this Cash Luna fraud He's an exact copy of The Jimmy Baker and Jerry Farwell School of Evangelical Con Artists I mean it had to happen down here too right? Now get this This guy Cash Luna's claim to fame is that He's met Jesus personally three times And of course that's why he needs three bullet proof limousines A ten million dollar main house Three or four vacation homes A Learjet and a helicopter Out Rolex collection And a team of Israeli bodyguards Yep just as humble and meek as the Lord intended
[18:30] Now remember this is a guy that I told you in a past show Recently completed a thirty million dollar church That seats thirty thousand people a week Or is it fifty thousand I can't remember But I do remember that God let three concrete workers fall to their deaths While they were building the thing I guess even the man upstairs has to break a few eggs to make an omelet right? And right next to that church Good old Cash Luna has got a huge state of the art TV studio And Latin America's largest chain of religious television stations Broadcasting 24-7 In fact if you turn on the TV anywhere in Latin America You'll find not one but at least three or four 24-7 Evangelical stations with their well-dressed preachers and prophets
[19:17] Wimpering and wailing and shedding crocodile tears Curing acne and other fatal conditions right on the tube But nothing is for nothing so you don't get miracles like that if you don't pony up It's all about that monthly tithe now isn't it? Just like it says in the good book or does it I can't remember And it's ten percent I believe even if you're making a hundred or two hundred bucks a month So it's because of those international TV programs in Spanish That our humble coconut vendor and the other Evangelical Christians on the island Inevitably got hooked on this guy And the craziest thing of course is the guy's name is Cash C A S H And yet somehow Latins with all their love of everything gringo Haven't figured out what that word cash means yet
[20:05] And if they did would it mean game over for the guy? I kind of doubt it because after all he has had three sit downs with Jesus Probably I'm thinking at Starbucks Anyway you get the picture And you know it's so much easier for us first world gringos and expats down here in Latin America To be terribly cynical about all this because Down here poor is not like poor up in the states Down here half the population lives on under two bucks a day So scamming them is really more than a crime Knowing that it's not easy to have sympathy for uneducated dummies up in the first world Who've been scammed by Evangelical con artists like that Because you see dummies in the states who fall for it
[20:50] Still have food on the table every day Hot and cold running water and a big screen TV So anyway here I am Standing in a low end market in the Dominican Republic Watching an upscale Guatemalan on vacation Demolishing this little coconut seller's fantasy Or so I thought And as this upscale Guatemalan guy Proceeded to rip old cash a new anal orifice The poor coconut seller's face only dimmed for a second Turns out this guy's one dream in life Was for he and his family to make a pilgrimage to Guatemala To see the world's largest Evangelical church And hear the words of the prophet live and in person And it was obvious to me and the Guatemalan guy Who finally gave up on the subject
[21:35] That this guy making a hundred to two hundred bucks a month at most Rather preferred to believe the fantasy that a guy named Cash With three personal sit downs with Jesus to his credit Has the inside track on the afterlife He'd rather believe that for sure Than accept eye witness testimony From a very educated guy living right down the street Who has first hand knowledge of the cons and scams Oh and by the way One more thing about that coconut seller Now like I said He did speak some broken English And when you're in the DR Off the Beach Resort Tourist Trail You'll find almost no one speaks English So I asked him Where'd you learn your English? And he said Los Angeles He'd live there get this for twenty years Remember now this is the guy with the tattered
[22:22] I love New York t-shirt Then I asked him the loaded question I often ask Latins Who are working menial unskilled jobs Yet they respond to me in broken English Because you can just bet every time That they're deported illegal aliens And that question I always ask is Well how come you're not still up there then? And you know more than half the time They'll avoid the question by saying Well I'm only here temporarily I'm going back Meaning they're gonna sneak back in again But in this case the guy said Well you know I guess you could say I was a bad boy And then he laughed about it And got real honest and said In fact I was a bad boy Four different times So according to him
[23:08] He got deported four different times And shipped by air Back down to the Dominican Republic On your dime of course And you might wonder How does a poor guy from the Dominican Republic Even make it up to the states I mean the DR is on an island right? So that means that almost all the Dominicans Living up in the states now Had to get there by air They had to get a plane ticket And get this Down here the Dominican papers say There were at least three million Dominicans living up in the states Even though certain sources in the US Say it's only a million and a half Believe me the locals here know otherwise Anyway Nearly all of those three million in the states Would have had to have gone by plane right? Well what I found out from this very
[23:54] Talkative coconut guy And some of his friends hanging around the stand Turns out back in the day Before 9-11 that is There were two easy ways to get in the states One through Puerto Rico And the other By paying a little bribe To the immigration guy in the DR That stamped your entry visa On your passport And here's how that scam went Before 9-11 US immigration allowed 200,000 Dominicans Into the country On business visas And 200,000 on other visas So that's 400,000 visas a year And from what I've heard from old timers Down here in the DR If you could prove you had any kind of relative At all up in the states You could generally get a tourist visa But that was then Now it turns out those tourist visas Were for 10 years
[24:39] But you couldn't be in the US For more than 6 months at a time Now back then the system was very lax And many people overstayed their visa Sometimes years at a time And nothing happened to them As long as they weren't on the books As committing a crime in the states So when they did go back to the DR For a visit It was really no problem getting back In the states either Even though their visa stipulated They could only stay in the states 6 months or less at a time They knew they could manipulate the dates On their passports Once they got back to the DR It was easy to get an immigration official At the Dominican airport With a $100 bribe To stamp or back date An entry visa So the next time you flew back to the states
[25:25] It looked like you fell within the 6 month range And of course like this Coconut guy and others have said That doesn't work anymore So the vast majority of Dominicans That are up in the states now And who of course are illegal Came in before 9-11 Because since then those scams don't work anymore Now as far as the Puerto Rico route It's mostly unknown to almost everyone Except Dominicans and Puerto Ricans The DR is only 100 miles from Puerto Rico And there's ferries and boats Illegal and registered Going back and forth all the time In fact you can leave the DR at night And in the morning you'll be in Puerto Rico Now get this According to some sources There are anywhere from a third to a half a million Illegal Dominicans in Puerto Rico right now
[26:11] And you know since Puerto Rico is a US territory Puerto Ricans do not need a visa To get into the US All they need is their passport And a plane ticket and they get right in And from what I've heard from old timers Here in the DR There was back then anyway Pretty popular and cheap Illegal trade in Puerto Rican passports And documents Legal ones that were supposedly stolen Or missing That ended up in the hands of Dominicans Who later used them To fly into the US perfectly legally without a visa In other words before 9-11 And fingerprinting and facial recognition and stuff And of course Passport magnetic strip swiping You could buy real Puerto Rican documents Supposedly lost, missing or stolen
[26:57] And by making yourself up to look a bit like the photo There wasn't much of a risk to get in Things were very loose and sloppy back then And many Puerto Ricans just freely sold their documents And reported them lost or missing and got new ones So needless to say Most all those Dominicans up in the States now Got in before 9-11 As far as Dominicans who want to slip into the US illegally now They don't have it easy like Mexicans and Central Americans Who have a wide open border to slip in These days Dominicans actually have to get a visa And then have the money to get an airline ticket to the States South of the border Down Mexico way You've been listening to The Expat Files Living in Latin America Coming to you twice a week from somewhere south of the border
[27:43] Email me The Expat Files at gmail.com And don't forget to check out expatwisdom.com To sign up for your free reports on Latin America See you next time Nos vemos Ah she was a victim He knows Spanish