Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller dives into the practical and personal challenges expats face in Latin America. He begins by discussing the affordability and availability of domestic help, highlighting the low cost of hiring a live-in maid or nurse, typically ranging from $200 to $300 per month. He suggests that expats can find qualified workers through classified ads, bilingual translators, and maid referral services. He also emphasizes the importance of training maids to meet first-world standards and mentions the potential for expats to run seminars or businesses related to domestic help in the region.
Next, Johnny addresses the challenges expats face when searching for housing in Latin America. He notes that many new expats are often directed to overpriced properties through real estate agencies like Century 21 and Remax, leading to financial strain. He contrasts this with the experience of regular expats who are not working for the US Embassy or on first-world contracts, highlighting the disparity in housing allowances and salaries. Johnny criticizes the behavior of embassy workers, calling them 'pathetic losers' and 'overpaid useless civil servants.' He then shifts focus to practical advice for expats, emphasizing the importance of hiring maids and using referral systems for domestic help. However, he warns about the risk of theft by maids, citing his own experiences of losing small items like scissors, towels, and even food. To mitigate this, he recommends installing a 'lock-up room' or 'panic room,' which he describes as a small, steel-enclosed space for valuables. He explains the availability and cost of such rooms, noting that they are common in Latin America and can be customized to fit different aesthetics. Finally, he offers practical tips for hiding valuables, such as using a dog's crate or other unexpected places, and stresses the importance of imagination and discretion in securing one's belongings.
In the third segment, Johnny discusses the creative and practical methods expats use to secure their belongings and manage household help. He describes a scenario where an expat hides valuable items under a dog's crate, using a dog house as a cover. He also talks about the use of cleaning ladies and maid services, highlighting the differences between expat and local practices. Johnny mentions a maid referral service that offers pre-screened maids, emphasizing the benefits of such services over finding help independently. He also suggests a potential business opportunity for expats to partner with these referral services, offering a tailored service for gringo clients.
In the fourth segment, Johnny discusses the challenges faced by disabled individuals in Latin America, particularly those who beg on the streets. He highlights the lack of safety nets for disabled people, the prevalence of scams, and the exploitation of gringos (expats from the U.S.). He also contrasts the situation on the gringo tourist trail with areas off the tourist trail, noting that beggars are more common in tourist areas due to the abundance of sympathetic gringos. Johnny emphasizes the importance of discernment when giving money to beggars, suggesting that those who sell something or have a visible disability are more likely to be genuine.
Finally, Johnny questions why there are more beggars now than in the past, despite economic growth. He outlines his personal criteria for giving money to beggars, such as supporting those who are selling something or are clearly impaired. He then lists three types of beggars that expats should avoid giving money to: (1) fit-looking adults with one bad limb, (2) adults pushing a child in a wheelchair, and (3) teenage indigenous women with children and often pregnant, who are likely part of a cycle of poverty. Johnny explains that giving money to these individuals can perpetuate the cycle of poverty and suggests that providing real jobs and education is a better approach to helping these children than giving money directly. He ends by promoting his expat wisdom seminar and invites listeners to visit expatwisdom.com for more information.
Topics
Affordability of domestic help in Latin America, Availability of qualified domestic workers, Training and vetting of domestic workers, Maid referral services for expats, Housing challenges for expats, Real estate agencies and overpriced properties, Expatriate experiences with domestic help, Security measures for expats, Hiding valuables in unexpected places, Security and hiding valuables, Household help and cleaning services, Maid referral services for expats and business opportunities for expats
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:32 Discussion on the availability and affordability of domestic help for expats with disabilities 00:01:25 Promotion of expat wisdom seminars and the importance of first-world healthcare standards 00:02:07 Discussion on the salary range for domestic help and the importance of offering competitive wages 00:03:08 Discussion on the potential for expats to run seminars to train domestic workers 00:04:27 Introduction to maid referral services and their importance for expats 00:05:46 Housing Challenges for Expats in Latin America 00:06:28 Criticism of Embassy Workers and Government Employees 00:07:11 Theft by Domestic Help and the Need for Security 00:09:08 Installation and Cost of a Lock-Up Room 00:11:10 Creative Hiding Places for Valuables 00:11:29 The Hidden Treasure Under the Dog Crate 00:13:15 Maid Referral Services and Their Benefits 00:17:02 Introduction to the topic of disabled individuals in Latin America and street begging 00:17:54 Discussion of the challenges faced by disabled individuals and the prevalence of begging 00:21:56 Analysis of the difference in begging prevalence between tourist and non-tourist areas 00:23:10 Three Types of Street Beggars Expats Should Avoid Giving Money To
Transcript
Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.
[00:14] 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 I do get the occasional email from people up in the states that need some kind of living assistance because they're aged or in a wheelchair or disabled in some way and it seems that lately there's a lot of buzz about coming down to Latin America because like I've said so many times over the years, you could have yourself a living maid or living nurse for about two to three hundred bucks a month and it seems you know that people don't believe this somehow.
[01:00] If I was up in the states right now I wouldn't, you'd have to show me. So if you actually want to come down here and see for yourself that it's true just sign up for one of my expat wisdom seminars and we'll take you around because you know we do go to first world style hospitals and clinics and you could talk directly to the nurses and the nurse's aides etc and get it from the horse's mouth and even if you don't speak Spanish we have a number of great bilingual translators on our team. So anyway if you're interested in my next seminar which is in July just go to expatwisdom.com click on the Latin seminar link and read all about it. So anyway for non-believers who don't think you can get a living cleaning lady maid or even a nurse, LPN anyway, for two to three hundred fifty bucks a month. If you think it's impossible or I'm just exaggerating when you come down I'll prove
[01:49] it to you. Oh and by the way you'll have to include room and board on that they won't sleep in a cot out in the garage. It's good to treat them like part of the family and you should. Anyway practically any day of the week I can show you ads in the big newspapers in Latin America off the tourist trail of course where healthcare service companies and hospitals and clinics and doctors are offering the very same salary range so that's what you should offer too if you're in the market for such a person. So whether you need a full-time live-in nurse or full-time live-in maid it's totally reasonable to hire a person like that and still have enough left over to live like a first-world person on a social security check but the question is how do you find somebody that's qualified or pre-vetted especially if you don't speak
[02:35] Spanish because let's face it if you're handicapped and you come down here or you're in a wheelchair where's a good place to start? Well of course you could start with the classified ads or the nursing schools and hospitals but if you're totally new to the Latin American place or location you plan on settling in it can be a pretty daunting experience especially when you're off the tourist trail and almost no one else speaks English. Now on the same track if you remember in a couple of past shows I mentioned that a great business for gringos and expats coming down would be to give short day-long or half-day-long seminars to cleaning ladies and maids down here a seminar to specifically train them to be maids first world style. In other words bring them up to first world specs because I'm telling you right now about
[03:23] 95% of them are just not. Oh they're perfectly capable and able to do it but remember almost all of the maids down here live in tin shacks when some of them have dirt floors and if you don't train them up right they'll bring those bad habits that they use at home right into your household and by the way practically every single maid I've ever seen or housekeeper also will do some of your cooking and believe me all of them are very short in the hygiene department. Get the point? Now I tell you if some gringo was to put an ad in the paper offering that kind of seminar every middle upper middle and wealthy Latin American woman would sign her maid or cleaning lady up right away. Well maybe not every boss lady would sign her maid up but I bet you'd have standing room
[04:09] only. Remember boss ladies like that are gringo wannabes so as long as you market it as such the gringo advantage will bring them in. Okay that said I just found out that in some of the bigger cities in Latin America some young Latin entrepreneurs have actually started little businesses where they'll vet the maids out for you. In other words maid referral services are now starting to pop up down here. It's about time and it's a very good idea. And what's that all about? Well you have to realize that most maids are either inherited that is you buy or rent a house and you keep the same maid on that the last occupant had or it's word-of-mouth or you too put an ad in the paper. Now there are businesses in every medium to large Latin town made
[04:56] service businesses or cleaning businesses where you pay them and they send the maid over just like they do in the States. But doing it that way you'll always pay double or triple over what you paid a maid or cleaning lady or even a nurse an LPN in the case of assisted care that you've contracted out yourself. Now I know a lot of gringos that come down to Latin America come here specifically on contracts from first world businesses like for example Ace Hardware, Sears, Baer Aspirin, Harley or even Hooters. They're getting paid first world money and sometimes they even get paid for housing and for a maid's allowance so it's no skin off their backs to pay three times as much as they have to. Which by the way is also why many clueless gringos on contract come down and pay
[05:42] three times as much for housing than they really have to too. And why is that? Well it's because they usually find their housing via the internet up in the States using Century 21, Remax and other gringle brokerage houses they're familiar with and get directed to high-end overpriced properties because well they just don't know any better. That's why so many new expats get hit with gringo prices. But as for us regular gringos the 99% of us who aren't down here on first world contracts or down here working for the US Embassy pushing paper and sucking from the government trough. You know they get first world salaries and a housing allowance etc. too. Some say it's nice work if you can get it but you should meet these embassy types down here.
[06:28] Actually you don't want to. Most of them pathetic losers. The overpaid useless civil servant who lives for the weekend. The fact is there's millions of these jokers and it's all on your dime too. Sickening I know but that's the way it is. Anyway us normal people who aren't government parasites we just hire our own maids and cleaning ladies. And by the way almost always buy referral. Usually like I said from the previous maid or the next door neighbors maid or whatever. But the problem is still you're taking a chance. Now with my 20 plus years down here at least three of my maids I've caught stealing from me. Nothing big mind you. A scissors here, screwdriver, towels, plates, even food like potatoes and tomatoes. And that's why I always recommend gringos have a lock-up room.
[07:15] Something you might call a panic room but that sounds kind of drastic it's really not. I'm just talking about a small room or closet with a steel door on it. Then you can lock up the obvious stuff like wallets and jewelry and money when you're out of the house or when you go away for a while. Or if you just hired a new cleaning lady and you're still putting her to the test. Now I understand that up in the States when you hear the word steel door you think overkill. Or you think about one of those metal clad storm doors that you have up in places like Cleveland at Chicago. Well that's not what I'm talking about. You see down here any building or residence worth its salt is made out of concrete and steel. So there's a lot of metal and steel work and gates and doors. Not to mention in the cities anyway. Many residences and businesses have
[08:02] bars on the windows. So with all that metal work going on seems like every neighborhood has one or two of these guys called heteros. That's H-E-R-R-E-R-O hetero. In English that means metal worker. And he's the guy who makes steel bars and gates and garage doors and those metal doors that I'm talking about that you'll be using if you want to save for so-called panic room. So note that metal doors, strong metal doors are everywhere throughout Latin America. And 90% of them are pretty ugly. Basically just use for utility. Then again you can have beautiful nicely detailed ones done too. But of course you'll pay a little extra for that. Now don't think that a metal door is solid steel. It's not. Normally it's got a framework of medium gauge tube steel with some steel
[08:52] support bars etc. But the main body of the door is just a flat piece of steel welded to that tube frame and painted up nice. So you can have ugly utility or beautiful. Just tell the guy what you want and ask to see some samples. And for about a hundred to a hundred fifty bucks he'll come on over install a steel frame, hang it, paint it up nice and install a Yale lock on it or any other kind of lock you want. And don't cheap out on a lock. I suggest a nice expensive American Yale lock or equivalent. Then you're all set. Now if the inside of your house or your bedroom is kind of a showplace and you don't want that steel door look because either you think it's ugly or it doesn't fit your decor, you could have that guy who made it. The Herrera. Install it in your closet about
[09:40] six inches behind your beautiful hardwood teak wooden door. So in effect you'll have two doors. A door for show and the steel door for protection. That way no one but you will know it's there. In fact I know a lot of picky gringos who do it that way. And that's where you put most of your valuables. And you should get in the habit of having that door closed and locked when there's someone else in the house. And naturally only you have the key. Like I said in a show a long time ago. That's where you want to put your big valuables when you go on a long vacation. You know your computer, your flat screen TV, and ladies your fake Gucci bags and guns of course. But note that's not the place you want to put your cash or your gold or your cool jewelry. Your real wealth it
[10:26] should be stashed somewhere else. Because you know someday if your house gets broken into and the bad guys discovered that lockup, that's the door they're gonna work on to try to get open right? So instead find another place for your real valuables. Your gold, your cash, etc. Now I'm not gonna tell you what my favorite places are but believe me in any house there's plenty of very cool places to hide stuff like that. Only don't hide it in a place where your cleaning lady or maid is likely to clean. In other words use your imagination and put that stuff in a place that no one would think to look. And don't put it in your icebox in your freezer. Every crook knows about that place. They've seen all the Hollywood heist movies too. Though I will give you a good hiding place hint to get you started. An expat friend of mine has a very big dog and
[11:16] he's got one of those big dog house slash crates that doubles as a dog house and an airplane carrier. You've seen those. Anyway one day he brought me into the laundry room where the dog sleeps in that cage. He shoot the dog out and lifted up that carrier and underneath he had a little box with about ten thousand bucks in cash and 20 or 30 ounces of gold. And of course that took up some space. So in order to pull it off he had the dog house resting slightly above the ground on a couple of two by fours. Now I ask you who would ever think in a million years to look under the crate where that big dog sleeps? In fact who'd be nuts enough to try it? Meanwhile that expat friend of mine has a nice steel door lock-up too. A place for the big stuff, also a
[12:03] diversion for the real valuable stuff. So what he's got when he goes away on long trips is peace of mind of course. And by the way when his cleaning lady comes over like three times a week he puts his dog in the cage because she's deathly afraid of the thing. You think she's ever gonna get near that cage to clean around it? Not in this lifetime. Oh and by the way I should mention here that almost all the gringles I know do have cleaning ladies but almost none of them are live-ins. It's always those pretentious Latin folks that have live-in maids. For them it's a badge of distinction especially when they haul them to the Walmart dressed in their little maids outfits and all and the boss lady orders them to pull things off the shelf. Really you have to see it to believe it. Whereas what a cleaning lady or maid means to us is simply that
[12:52] we don't have to pick up the dog crap or do our own windows and toilets. But I'm getting off the track here as usual. The point I was trying to make before about this cleaning lady and maid stuff is that just recently I've noticed some smart internet savvy young Latin guys have started to offer maid and cleaning lady referral services online. And in fact one of my gringle buddies just picked up a maid that way. What's nice about using a referral service like this is that you're not paying more for your maid. The company does not have a contract to hire the maid out to you. You just pay a one-time service charge for them to find you one. Actually what they do is they pre-qualify a lot of different maids and you go through the portfolio and pick out the ones you'd like to interview yourself. Like expat Eddie says it's like a maid casting
[13:41] call. So anyway this gringle buddy of mine who's Spanish is about at a four or five. He hooked up with this maid referral service online and after a one-time cost of about 75 bucks he found a lady he figured was perfect for the job. So what's this maid referral service do that you can't do on your own? Well for one thing they interview the maids, get past references and check on them, check all their paperwork and ID documents, get copies of all that, get their home address for you or the prospective employer so you can have a drive-by and see what kind of neighborhood and conditions they're living in. They get a local police report on them to see if they've ever been in trouble before and you get a list of the family members living at home with her too
[14:27] along with a little paragraph of information about her own personal family life. And if you like you can arrange to interview the candidates at the referral office by Skype. All that for 75 bucks. Now I'm certain a service like that up in the States would cost you at least five times that and even then you probably couldn't get half that stuff because there would be privacy issues. Now I can tell you this for sure if you go out and find your own cleaning lady you're made or LPN or home care nurse for that matter it'll be very difficult for you to come up with all that information on a prospective candidate that's for sure. And according to the young guy who runs the referral agency I checked with he said he disqualifies at least 50% of the applicants which is why you'd want to hire a service like that in the first
[15:14] place. So he can weed out the bad or the iffy ones. Now one of the obvious problems with a service like that especially when you're off the gringo tourist trail is that the owner of the referral service and of course the cleaning ladies do not speak English. Of course if you're on the gringo tourist trail in a place like Costa Rica for example sure they'll speak English but you'll also pay three to four times as much for the service. That's the very definition of gringo prices don't you know. Not to mention on the tourist trail you'll pay three to four times as much for a monthly salary too. But you knew that already right. So anyway when I discovered these made referral services and like I said you can find them in pretty much any medium to large size Latin City. Just try web search but there's a very high probability it'll be
[16:01] in Spanish. Anyway I instantly thought it would be a great idea for a gringo business opportunity. Now I'm not suggesting you copy a made referral service at all. What I'm thinking is that you contact one or more of these referral services and you make a deal. You partner up with the guy and here's what you bring to the party. You use the gringo advantage. You advertise it as a gringo operation. You deal with gringo clients in English and you train those maids give them lessons on exactly how to be a first world maid. So what you'll be offering for gringo clients anyway are screened and pre-qualified maids that have been taught specifically what gringos and gringas expect out of their help. And on top of that you still offer day-long and half day-long seminars to
[16:50] the maids and cleaning ladies that are already working for upscale Latin bosses. You know appeal to that big gringo wannabe segment of society. And don't forget if you do that you'll have to hand out a very nice looking diploma at the end of the course because you know Latin's they just love that kind of stuff because it's all about the show. And by the way with an operation like this you really would be providing a great service. For one just think about the poor hygiene habits so many maids and cleaning ladies have. You get the picture. Now I started out today's show talking about how I occasionally get emails from disabled people and older folks who need assisted care. Well let me just state right now that if you're a disabled Latin American it's a very difficult place to be in a very hard life unless of course you or your
[17:39] parents have money. And I say that because every day I see disabled Latin folks down here. All you have to do is drive around any medium or large city and you'll see them on crutches and in wheelchairs etc begging for money on the streets. And for those poor folks life is very tough because there are no safety nets down here. Though naturally a certain percentage of those guys and gals are scammers. In fact I've seen for myself how a certain percentage of people with disabilities highly exaggerate their problem and milk it for all its worth especially when there's gringos around. Those are the kind of folks expat Eddie calls exhibit your symptom types. Because you see in any large Latin city there are certain choice street corners and traffic areas
[18:26] where there's enough of a bottleneck that these disabled folks can come up to your car and tap on your window and show you their defect. In other words as Eddie said exhibit their symptoms. Usually it's a malformed or missing arm or two or a stunted or missing leg or two. And there's also that down on your luck folks that don't seem to have any visible disability at all yet they're out there begging. Now I don't know what the street life or begging culture is like up in Cleveland or Boston but I've estimated that down here a good percentage of these folks are trying to pull one over on you and fresh gringos fall for it all the time. But once we're down here long enough we wise up a bit. Now I'm not saying these people don't deserve your help however like I said
[19:12] many of them are pulling one over on you. And how do you tell? Well here's how I picked up on it. Most of these disabled folks get to the job and I guess it is a job for them like around 7 in the morning when the traffic really starts hitting. But if you get there let's say 6 or 6 30 well I've personally seen some of the very same guys who drag their sorry twisted legs from car to car painfully during rush hour while at 6 30 in the morning a few blocks from their designated corner you can see him walking briskly by sometimes even kicking a football around in a street match. In fact I've actually snapped a few pictures of that. So do go ahead and give money to anyone you feel like it. However many a long-term gringo that I've spoken to have the right
[19:59] idea. They only give money to street people or disabled persons on street corners who are actually selling something. Even if it's something of absolutely no value at least they're doing something. And they've got enough self-respect to actually want to make a fair trade with you. And it doesn't matter if they're selling pencils or pens chewing gum tootsie rolls or matches. Nah strike that they don't have tootsie rolls here. And you know what a few times I've actually said that to people who pester me. I say look at all the other people around you selling little things. Candies, erasers, whatever. If you did that I'd give you some money but I'm not gonna until you do. Because you see in these big cities especially off the gringo tourist trail you see some of the same beggars over and over again. And as you know they come
[20:46] in all temperaments. Some are nice, calm, polite and others can be pretty aggressive. Now do note that it's much different off the gringo tourist trail. I don't want to give you the impression that there are hordes of beggars jumping all over you every time you get to a street corner. It's pretty orderly actually. And in fact one thing you will notice when you're on the gringo tourist trail like in Costa Rica or Panama in public areas like parks where gringos gather there seems to be 10 times as many beggars as there are off the gringo tourist trail. How'd that happen? Well that's a no-brainer. It's because gringos on vacation are happy to give up their change to the less fortunate. And in those countries it's pretty easy to make a living on the street when there are so many gringos floating through. So let me pose this
[21:36] question to you. Why is it for example when you walk out of the Costa Rican Airport, want Santa Maria, and you hit the closest park or common area, you run into five or ten times as many beggars as you do when you fly into San Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, or Honduras. Now what does that tell you? It means it's easier to get money from clueless sympathetic gringos than it is to go out and get a job. Now you might think I'm being heartless and cruel about this, but remember I've lived down here for over 20 years and I've seen it all both on and off the gringo tourist trail. Oh and another thing with all these non-governmental organizations you know these do-gooder groups that come down to Latin America. In fact I can tell you right now there's over 300 such agencies registered in Nicaragua alone. Well if that's true and
[22:25] it is, all you have to do is go down to any airport in Latin America, pick Central America for example, and you'll see hordes of do-gooders coming in on planes from the states. Well if that's been going on for decades and it's on the increase too, how come there are more, not fewer, street people begging for money than there were 20-something years ago? Hmm good question huh? Say next time you meet one of these kumbaya types why don't you ask them that question? So anyway when it comes to street beggars I only give money to people selling something no matter how insignificant or even useless and I do give money to people who obviously are terribly impaired. However there are three kinds of street beggars that nearly all of us long-term expats refuse to give money to. Can you guess? I bet you can't. Well number one is the
[23:16] fit-looking adult beggar with only one bad arm or one bad leg. So why do those guys get a pass? Because all over Latin America you see people with impaired arms and worse working their butts off and making a living. In fact as much as I hate first world franchises like McDonald's and Wendy's etc I have to compliment them. They do hire quite a few people with disabilities like that. I've seen it. My hat's off to them in that respect. In fact just recently I've seen a few young kids with down syndromes working at a McDonald's and they were working their asses off. Very nice to see that you know. But unfortunately it only seems that first world franchises will stick their necks out like that. There is going to be a long lag time with Latin employers. Remember down here there's no such thing as the Latin Americans with
[24:05] Disabilities Act. And by the way you know it's cruel and in fact totally politically incorrect to call someone a mongoloid. Now I know when I was a kid up in Chicago that was in common usage but it's still used all the time down here to refer to people with trisonomy or you know down syndrome. In Spanish it's mongolo. And again because down here there's such lag time with things like that. The correct that term is simply not on the radar. The same thing goes for little people. The correct term for midgets and dwarfs right? Down here they still say inano or inana which means midget. Now I can't imagine anyone in mixed company up in Chicago or Cleveland getting away with that. Then again up in the States Disney still hasn't been forced to change the
[24:51] name of their movie to Snow White and the seven little people have they? It'll come I guess. So like I said in many ways Latin America is stocked back in the 60s and 70s. Which for us gringos and expats is a very good thing in almost all respects but there are some exceptions. Now where were we? Oh yeah beggars gringos should think twice before giving their money too. Number two be very very cautious when you give money to an adult that's pushing a kid in a wheelchair. Because if you study that adult or you see him on the sidelines when you're driving by it's obvious he's living off the disabilities of that kid. The kids his meal ticket and the kids no better off at all for it. And finally number three and this one always gets me. When you
[25:39] see a teenage or barely teenage indigenous woman begging for money with a kid strapped to her back and maybe another kid or two in tow and often as a triple whammy she's pregnant to boot. Now no matter how heartless this sounds most long-term expats just have to turn away from something like that and I'm sure you can figure out why. Because more often than not next year you'll see on that same street corner that same lady with yet another kid. And those street kids by the way never ever go to school. What happens to them I don't know but their lives have to be terribly miserable. In fact I talked to one gringa do-gooder down here from a Protestant charity and she told me that about a quarter of those kids end up being abandoned and the lucky ones end up in
[26:25] orphanages. Another half end up being street kids themselves or shoeshine boys and such and another quarter end up in the human trafficking business or merely dead. And like she said who knows which is worse. There you have it. When you're a fresh gringo and you first get down here you feel sorry for everybody and you spread your dough around but you can't keep doing that unless of course your money bags then you can do anything you want. And if you are money bags don't just spread money around on the street like that it'll come to no good. Give a kid or two or ten of them on the street a real job working for you. That's the best way to get these kids out of the cycle of poverty. And while you're giving that 10 or 12 year old kid a job make going to school part of the deal. In fact the worst thing I think you could do is give money to people on the street who are just sitting around begging and not
[27:13] selling something. That just encourages more of the same crap. But what do I know? Oops getting to the end of the show now. Just like to remind you if you're interested in my expat wisdom seminar in July just go to expat wisdom.com click on the seminar link at the top of the page for complete information. 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 don't forget to check out expat wisdom.com to sign up for your