Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller dives into the challenges of living in Latin America, covering power outages, motion sensor lights, and banking issues. He begins by discussing the frequency and nature of power outages, explaining how a recent storm caused a tree to fall on a power pole, resulting in a power outage at his friend Eddie's house. Johnny uses this incident to explore the broader issue of power reliability in the region, comparing it to the United States. He recalls his experiences in Latin America 20 years ago, where power outages were a regular occurrence, often coinciding with evenings and weekends. He notes that while some countries have improved their power distribution, others like Venezuela and Cuba still struggle with frequent outages. Johnny also mentions that modern power outages are often brief and almost imperceptible, but they can still cause issues with motion-sensor lights, which he suggests can be bypassed with a simple switch trick.
Johnny then discusses the issues with motion sensor lights in Latin America, particularly the problems caused by momentary power outages. He explains how these outages can cause the lights to stay on indefinitely, leading to unnecessary energy use and potential damage. He also touches on the broader context of power reliability in the region, noting that while most power outages are due to uncontrollable factors like lightning or trees, the response time from private electric companies has improved significantly. Finally, he emphasizes the importance of using an Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) to protect sensitive electronics like computers from power fluctuations and surges.
In the next segment, Johnny discusses the challenges of maintaining computers in Latin America, emphasizing the importance of a reliable power supply, managing heat, and regular maintenance. He highlights the impact of environmental factors like heat, humidity, and poor building design on electronic equipment. He also shares personal experiences with his own computer and mentions upcoming events and financial tips for expats.
The episode then shifts to the challenges of opening a bank account in Latin America, emphasizing the need for a local lawyer and the associated costs. He highlights that personal accounts require a minimum balance and that opening a foreign bank account in one's own name is generally not recommended unless for specific government benefits. He also explains that business accounts require a local corporation and that maintaining such accounts involves fees and potential complications. Johnny warns about the difficulty of resolving banking issues and the risk of account inactivity leading to permanent lockouts, suggesting regular account activity through ATM withdrawals to avoid this.
Finally, Johnny discusses the phenomenon of expats and tourists opening small bank accounts in foreign countries, often with minimal funds, and how these accounts can be forgotten or abandoned over time. He highlights the risk of these accounts being seized due to inactivity and the lack of awareness about such policies. He also touches on the implications of new regulations requiring foreign banks to report U.S. citizens' accounts to the IRS, suggesting that many expats may face unexpected consequences. Additionally, he shares anecdotes about expats living comfortably on modest incomes and contrasts their lifestyles with those of people back in the U.S. Finally, he briefly mentions a government agent in Latin America who earns a low salary but has a high standard of living, highlighting the disparity in living costs and income in the region.
Topics
Power outages in Latin America, Comparison of power reliability between Latin America and the United States, Impact of power outages on expats and their daily lives, Use of backup generators and motion-sensor lights, Motion sensor lights, Power outages in Latin America, Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS), Electronics and power fluctuations, Computer maintenance in Latin America, Environmental challenges for electronics, Personal experiences with technology, Financial tips for expats
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:33 Introduction to the Power Outage at Eddie's House 00:00:54 Why Johnny is Using a Backup Generator 00:01:14 The Nature of Power Outages in Latin America 00:02:12 Johnny's Personal Experience with Power Outages 00:04:33 Modern Power Outages and Their Impact 00:05:37 Motion Sensor Light Issues in Latin America 00:08:26 Improved Response Times from Private Electric Companies 00:10:07 Importance of UPS for Computer Protection 00:11:12 The Importance of a Reliable Power Supply and Heat Management for Computers in Latin America 00:12:15 Why Large Companies Keep Servers in Low-Temperature Environments 00:13:49 Personal Experience with a Computer in Latin America 00:16:15 U.S. Dollar Accounts in Latin American Banks 00:16:55 Minimum Balance Requirements for Personal Accounts 00:17:33 Legal Requirements for Opening Bank Accounts 00:18:09 Business Accounts and Legal Structures 00:19:03 Requirements for Foreign Business Accounts 00:20:50 Futility of Resolving Banking Issues 00:21:39 Account Inactivity and Financial Risks 00:22:16 Opening a Passbook Savings Account for a Small Amount of Money 00:23:10 The Risk of Abandoned Accounts Being Seized 00:24:39 The Impact of New IRS Reporting Requirements on Abandoned Accounts 00:25:12 A Retired Expat Living Comfortably on a Social Security Check 00:27:13 A Government Agent with a Low Salary but High Standard of Living
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 wonder Hello there all you expat wannabes I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America the show that tells you just what it's like to live Work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great and it's all right here. So let's get started I'd like to start out by telling you today. I'm doing this show on emergency power at expat Eddie's house I'm powered up today by a little five horsepower gas generator Maybe you can hear it buzzing in the background in his garage, so don't let it bother you anyway
[00:46] I'm hoping Eddie's gas generator doesn't poop out before the end of this show And I hope he's got an extra can of gas because my days of siphoning are over actually I don't think I've done that since high school. So how come I'm on a backup generator today? Well, it's like this a huge storm rolled in about four hours ago And it knocked down a huge tree right in front of Eddie's house, which is bad enough But it fell on a power pole and hit the transformer and snapped the wires leading to Eddie's place now people always wonder how much the power really does go out in Latin America since everybody knows this is the third world which of course makes you think of blackouts and Water shortages and washed-out highways not to mention hurricanes earthquakes tsunamis floods and volcanoes because up north That's the kind of news you get coming out of Latin America
[01:31] I mean come on everyone loves a disaster as long as it's not in your hometown, right? Which begs the question how long is this power outage gonna last? How long is a typical power outage and more importantly how many power outages like this one can one expect yearly or monthly? Or weekly I mean, you know up north every once in a while you get a power outage But I remember back in Chicago even during a heavy snowstorm if you did have an outage It only lasted maybe a half an hour barring of course huge unusual events like Hurricane Sandy now I know I mentioned this on a show a long time ago But when I first came down to Latin America 20 years ago when I was hanging around Costa Rica Panama City Panama and Cartagena Columbia a lot I was actually almost able to set my watch by the power outages usually on a Friday about 5 o'clock at night for about two or three hours because that's when everyone was getting home from work and
[02:22] Going out to party on a Friday night Then there generally be another short power outage of two or three hours on Saturday or Sunday or both Always it seemed when folks were off for work and partying on the weekend and I kind of suspect that's when people clicked on their room air conditioners So the bedroom at least could be nice and cool for the weekend for a comfortable sleep because like I may have mentioned down here Electricity is very expensive So even people with real money rarely put central air conditioning in their houses But instead put a wall or a window unit just in the master bedroom Except of course if you live in the altiplano like I do then you don't need it at all But some people like beach living and you're gonna need air conditioning if you do though I'm warning you if you like air conditioning get ready for a huge electric bill So anyway way back when when all the Latin American governments owned and operated the electric power companies in their region
[03:14] You could count on your power going out twice a week at least for an hour or two Maybe more but now that all the Latin American countries have sold off all or part of their electric utilities To some first world power distribution company that actually knows what it's doing There are no brownouts or rolling blackouts Except in those countries that maintain a strong grip on their electric companies like Venezuela and Cuba Yeah, Venezuela again that always makes me laugh since there's something like the fifth biggest oil producer in the world and actually have enough Geothermal power in their country That is if they'd actually develop it and use it to power four more countries their size not to mention They've got enough oil for personal use to last about 200 years But they'd rather sell it all on the world market for dollars even though they claim to hate the dollar
[04:02] But that's another story But you see in the rest of Latin America just about the only time you have a power outage is when there's some kind of storm natural disaster or some idiot chicken bus driver slams into a utility pole and how often does that happen well I'd say pretty much throughout Latin America You could count on a power outage about five or six times a week in the rainy season and maybe once or twice a week In the dry season say what Johnny one to six times a week a power outage you kidding me Well, don't freak out about that till you hear this now those multiple weekly power outages last about one second Or less almost always nearly imperceptible or just a flicker in fact so fast that most times you wouldn't even know it
[04:49] Except for the fact that most of us gringos and expats have lights hooked up to motion sensors around our houses And I do suggest you have a few of those around the house because they're cheap and effective deterrence Anyway, as good as those things are at picking up moving objects There's still a bit of a pain to have in Latin America because those things just weren't designed to be in places where momentary power outages like that exists And here's why if you want to override the motion sensor function in other words Just have it work as a regular old light on a light switch Then you have to override the sensor mode, and it's easy to do that the instructions Say you flick your light switch on and off really fast one time then the light will remain on and it won't be in the sensor mode which is a nice feature if you want to leave your light on all night as
[05:37] Opposed to the normal sensor mode that has your light on a timer You know how it works once some kind of motion is detected Then your light flicks on from 1 to 15 minutes, and there's a little dial on the unit where you can vary that You know what I mean But you can override all of that by just flicking the switch on and off really fast Provided of course you've got it hooked up to a regular light switch which most are now Can you see the problem when there's a momentary power outage of about a second or less? Which happens more than a few times a week no matter where you are down here in Latin America When that happens the circuitry in that light thinks you're overriding the sensor So your light will stay on forever until it burns out or you turn it off And I know there's a simple electronic fix to that in fact I know how to do it
[06:22] But I hung up my engineering chops a long time ago just suffice it to say no one's put the latin american model on the market Yet you see the thing is all those cheap motion sensor light units everyone everywhere has been using for the last 30 or so years Well, they were originally designed for consumers up in the states where the power is generally rock steady Yep, they were designed in the states made in china by slave labor and shipped worldwide Including down here in latin america where they don't quite work. So well, and that's why all of us who have those things We'll wake up in the morning occasionally and find our outside lights permanently on for who knows how long That means sometime during the night. We had some very fleeting nearly Imperceptible power outage which completely fooled our stupid motion sensors
[07:10] So yes, we have multiple power outages here But unless you have motion sensors, you'll almost never notice and of course during the rainy season You'll occasionally have a power outage of an hour or two Maybe once or twice a month and that's not because of poor infrastructure or some kind of negligence on the part of the company it's almost always because of something uncontrollable like a lightning strike or a tree that's clipped some power lines or a Drunk chicken bus driver who's kissed a power pole and when that happens some folks call it darwinism And you should know this if you live out in the boonies or in the coffee fields like I do Occasionally it'll just be your house or your property that gets the power outage Meaning the fallen tree the lightning strike or the drunken chicken bus driver Just happened to hit the nearest utility pole or transformer on your corner
[07:57] So then what do you do and how fast do they respond? Well, i'll tell you because the electric companies are now privately owned when you call to complain They'll respond about 10 times faster than any complaint to the cops That's if the cops even show up and in fact I've had some transformer and line damage a couple of times over the years and For me the electric companies response time spent about two hours and that's even though I know damn Well after a heavy storm, there's a lot of damage and a lot of trees down, but still they're on it That's what it's like these days now that electric companies are private and they have to actually satisfy their customers Now five or so years ago I remember waiting two whole days to get a simple repair like that done A repair that took two guys in a ladder like five minutes to fix back when corrupt inefficient
[08:45] Lired-ass thieving governments owned the utility companies and thank buddha. Those days are long gone Now just one last thing about those tiny momentary power out is just 98 percent of which you never notice Now when that happens your electronics and appliances never even skip a beat You can be using your computer or watching your tv and doing a load of dirty underwear Never fear those electrical appliances of yours will just happily chug along But know this and it's more than a suggestion Do go out and get yourself a ups for your computer even down here a decent one will only cost about 40 or 50 bucks Oh and for the uninitiated ups stands for uninterrupted power supply Not to be confused with united parcel service the guys in the brown trucks that deliver junk to your house
[09:33] That is unless you have your ups delivered by ups, which is quite possible And yes, they have both of those kind of ups down here in latin america. All right. All right Anyhow, do get yourself one of those uninterrupted power supplies at least for your computer or computers Whereas all your other appliances like flat screen tv's and refrigerators and such Are really pretty rugged and can handle Those occasional little fleeting power outages that end up causing a lot of damaging little electrical ripples and spikes in computers They're much more delicate Your computer can really only take so much of that on and off stuff And I know for a fact since I was an engineer in a past life So don't send me emails trying to correct me on this one. I know i'm right Now here's a fact you may never have heard 90 percent of all electronic failures including computers
[10:25] In fact that statistic came from testing computers. Anyway, 90 percent of all electronic failures occur When switching on the device and that's why so many thousands of businesses these days Never turn their computers off at all That means they're left on all night and weekends too because believe it or not if you never turn your computer off You can predict that it'll last twice to three times as long before there's a catastrophic failure That versus a computer that you'd turn on and off every time you want to use it And sure computers and all electronics have protection against certain power line fluctuations and surges like that But the fact is there's nothing that conditions a power line and makes it nice and level and smooth consistent and dependable
[11:12] Then a nice cheap uninterrupted power supply a ups. It might be the best 50 bucks you ever spent And by the way, the thing that comes in second as a computer killer or electronic killer in general Is heat which is something else most people don't think about and that means when you run a computer in latin america Unless you're in the altiplano or in an air conditioned space your computer by nature is going to be running awful hot And that I guarantee will shorten its life. That's why I suggest at least once weekly you blow out the fan hole God that didn't sound right Well, you know what? I mean that is go to the back of your tower or the back side of your laptop notebook or whatever and blow a little air Into the fan port then get ready to sneeze because there's going to be a cloud of dust not to mention a few insect carcasses
[12:00] Dead if you're lucky. So try not to inhale those And that dust coating throughout the inside of your machine is what causes so many computers to overheat and then prematurely fail And if you don't believe me about that overheating bit you have to ask yourself Why all the big companies that have server and network hardware keep those things tucked away in very low temperature rooms Not to mention the colder an integrated circuit is the faster the operating speed but you knew that right? That's why scientists are so obsessed with absolute zero. You knew that too. I know Anyway, i'm giving you this information Just so you know that the general climate down here in latin america is pretty harsh on things especially electronic equipment like computers The exception being when you're in the altiplano then pretty much the only thing you have to worry about
[12:49] Is that six month rainy season? That's when there could be a lot of excess humidity in your house or office because latins Have this odd tendency to build houses and buildings that are dark and dank and promote humidity and mildew In other words architects and builders down here are not big on natural lighting, which is stupid But I won't go into that by changing the subject again I promise now i'm not saying if you bring a computer down or you buy one here It's going to automatically fail in a year or two or have half the life it would up in the states Though it might only last that long if all you do is pound away at it all day sitting on a deck chair on the beach Nice life for you But crappy for your computer the salt the heat and the beer might be your idea of a good time But for one thing computers don't like beer
[13:35] And i'm not suggesting you buy the extended warranty either since those nearly always end up being a losing proposition Though there are exceptions to everything for example if I needed a pacemaker now Anyway, just to give you an example I bought a computer down here about five years ago one of the cheaper models a compact laptop that ran around 400 And believe me in that five years i've put some mega hours on this thing and it's never crashed and burned Not yet. Oh, it's had its share of viruses and hiccups and stuff, but not a single hardware repair at all in fact, believe it or not i've done every single one of my 299 radio shows with my audio software on this very computer And i've written a couple of books and tons of articles with this machine, too
[14:22] It's certainly nothing special, but it's a workhorse and who knows how long it's going to last But one thing I do know if I was living at the beach It would have died a long time ago And by the way, just so you know, I practice what I preach when i'm not traveling Sometimes I leave this old thing on for days weeks and even a month or two at a time Nope, I rarely turn it off And yes at least once a week. I blow out the fan hole god. That sounds terrible, huh? Okay, enough said about that Last show I promised i'd finish a story that I never got around to finishing so I will but first Let me take just a couple seconds to mention that my upcoming january 2014 expat wisdom latin american seminar is all now arranged booked and scheduled and a long blurb with the details
[15:09] Should be up on the expat wisdom.com main page by monday or tuesday So if you want to know what it's all about where we're going who we're going to meet and the pricing and the discounts Just go to expat wisdom.com on the main page and there should be a big reference to it Or a link on the top that says seminar and by the way, like I mentioned a while back There'll be some flexible payment options this time. So check it out and see what you're missing if you don't sign on Now if you remember last time I was talking about the cost of living and how to relate living like a first world person Down here in latin america to people living up in the states in various sections of the country Since depending on what you read or who you talk to the comparisons can be all over the place So what should you believe or should you just take it all with a grain of salt?
[15:58] And remember I closed off the last show by mentioning an old retired friend of mine living down here off the tourist trail Of course who lives solely off his fifteen hundred dollar a month social security check Which is direct deposited to a dollar account in a latin bank down here And on that subject You should know that practically every single latin american bank now offers us dollar savings checking and passbook accounts Also tied to debit and credit cards if you like And the nice thing is unlike years ago when I first got down here and us dollar accounts were rather rare Unlike back then there are absolutely no extra charges or fees attached if you do have a us dollar account That is there are no more extra charges and fees compared to having a local currency account
[16:44] For example pesos reals bolivars limpetas or colones, whatever latin funny money you choose Like the us dollar isn't funny money Haha The only thing is if you have a us dollar account You'll have to keep a minimum balance in there or they will start hitting you with charges But with most latin banks, it's almost always between a hundred or five hundred bucks. Not bad Now that's for a personal account in your name and as you probably know by now I never recommend opening up a foreign bank account in your own name Unless of course you're setting up a direct deposit account for your social security or us government disability check Because as far as I can tell the account has to be in the check holders name Oh, and by the way, i've been warning you guys and finally it's come true
[17:33] It's now impossible for any gringo to come down to latin america and open up a bank account whether in the local currency or in dollars Without the aid of a local lawyer In fact it used to be you could walk into any bank especially in the commercial and tourist zones Just whip out your passport deposit 100 bucks and get an instant passbook savings account Well not instant by our standards. Maybe it would take an hour or an hour and a half But for latin america, that's considered instant practically superhuman Now, of course if you were to open a business account and down here as you know They're called sa corporations s standing for sociadod and a standing for an anima english translation An anonymous society account
[18:20] Anyway to open a business account like that in a bank down here You'd have to have a lawyer for sure because he's the guy that would set up your sa corporation Which would be used to open that account Now just to clarify things about business accounts because people have been asking me about this If for example, you already have a business up in the states and a business account at a bank there You cannot just come down here to a bank in latin america and open a bank account here Even if you hauled down all your company's legal paperwork And had it translated in spanish and then handed it over to the bank representative here That won't work down here. It's not allowed You can only get a business bank account in a latin american bank If that business is incorporated in the country where the bank is you get it, right?
[19:08] That means if you have a business that was incorporated in chicago That business can open bank accounts anywhere in the states, but not down here in latin america You have to create a brand new corporation down here to do that And of course many times the same business name is available down here So for example, you could have the x y z corporation up in the states and down here the x y z sa corporation And that's what a lot of people who are in the import export business do and by the way if you come down to my seminar I'll be introducing you to my favorite latin lawyer And while here you'll learn about all that stuff in great detail right from the horse's mouth Oh, and by the way, if you get one of those sa corporations down here and open a business bank account Your initial deposit to open that account will be in the range of 500 to a thousand bucks
[19:55] And you'll have to maintain that or get hit with extra monthly charges That's why I hate banks. What else is new? Oh and one more thing banks down here Do nickel and dime you to death on your statement But not near as much as banks up in the first world And those crazy extra charges you see on your statements are just as hard to decipher As your statements from the first national bank of cleveland That means for example if you have a bank account down here Let's say you have a peso and a dollar account and it's connected to a debit card and a master card and a checking account You can bet just like up in the first world funky little charges are going to show up on your bank statement That you're never going to go down and fight the bank over because the time wasted Driving over there phoning up or sitting down at the customer service desk is not going to be worth the three dollars and forty six
[20:42] Cents miscellaneous charge that suddenly appeared on your statement And by the way, I don't know what it's like up in the first world, but down here in latin america It's absolutely futile Even if your spanish is perfect to try to resolve any kind of banking problem over the phone for that matter down here It's futile to try to solve any kind of billing problem over the phone Whether it's your water company your electric bill or your phone company Whatever and this you should know if you open a bank account in the local currency or dollars If for example, you're out of the country for five years or so and there's been no activity on that account They can lock you out permanently. So for all you international travelers out there That's why it's a good idea to have your foreign account or accounts Linked to a debit card that way if you're gone from the country for a long long time
[21:30] At least you can go to an atm machine anywhere in the world And withdraw 10 or 20 bucks and that's of course considered account activity And you only have to do that every five years or so now what i've heard from bankers down here is that These institutions make a lot of money on gringos and foreigners with inactive accounts that after some years They can legally confiscate as foreigners do trickle in a good percentage of them do open up passbook savings accounts At least when it was easy to do so And in a country like costa rica where hundreds of thousands of gringo tourists land every year Those small time nickel and dime passbook accounts really add up In fact, i've known a lot of gringos and expats who go to tourist areas like costa rica and think it quite the cool thing
[22:16] To open a passbook savings account even one with just 50 bucks in it thinking. Hey, man, this is cool I'm international now. I've got a foreign bank account Of course now all that's ended in the last year or so with big brother and all that fat guy crap But back then even backpackers open tiny little passbook savings accounts If not, just have a place to transfer mommy and daddy's money down when they ran short So guess what happens to all these first world tourists and their tens of thousands of nickel and dime foreign bank passbook accounts Well as they go back to the states in europe and get on with their lives and forget about costa rica jamaica kancun Or wherever they had that beach bum backpacker vacation of a lifetime Well as time rolls on after a while that little passbook with 200 bucks in it
[23:03] Gets stuck in a drawer or in a closet or in a safety deposit box and is out of sight and out of mind And who would think that an account like that can be seized if there's no activity after five or so years Who reads the fine print when you open a bank account even when it's in english, but when it's in spanish, come on And after some years even if you discovered that little passbook again Who'd go back down just to recover 200 bucks? And in fact way back when I had quite a few college and high school buddies That did the backpacking through latin america and europe thing and a lot of them Open passbook bank accounts for 50 or 100 bucks for those very same reasons the coolness factor and the slim Possibility that it could actually be useful. I mean when you're a college kid on spring break or summer vacation
[23:52] Becoming a real live expat is the farthest thing from your mind. Hell when I was 20 years old I didn't even know what an expat was Anyway, you can just imagine how many gringo college kids and backpackers open little nickel and dime accounts like that and simply abandon them Especially before the age of smartphones and checking your account online And you know what those jerks that work at the banks. They know that they count on it the stupid foreigner syndrome again, huh? And you know, I was one of those stupid gringos too. I lost a few small time european bank accounts that way Oh, well, you live and learn maybe So the real question for us is with the new fat colas where all foreign banks must report to the irs The names of all u.s citizens who have bank accounts
[24:39] Well, what about all those hundreds of thousands of abandoned nickel and dime accounts that were opened so many years ago? And just abandoned the question is who is on that list and how far does it go back? Someday are you going to get a threatening letter or phone call from the irs? Or stopped at a border and quizzed about some mexican bank account you opened in a pod haze back in the 70s You know these days Nothing would surprise me to me. It's just another straw in the camel's back and another reason to get the hell out of dodge Anyway, like I said, i'm the last show I was talking about one of my retired friends who was living solely on a social security check of about 1500 bucks a month Supporting a family of five and of course he's living way off the gringo tourist trails
[25:26] So he appears not to have much trouble doing that on his little social security check Now when I ask him how he compares his lifestyle to his brother and his sister who still live up in new york He tells me johnny, you know what? I just can't compare my lifestyle on my social security check with my sister and brother up north Who barely live a first world life on a private pension and a social security check? And by the way, this guy lives in the immediate suburbs of a big latin city And like I said before he has a nice little weekend beach house very rustic and simple But still he has a beach house and it's bought and paid for Do you? Now I know I might have mentioned this before but I know a 50-ish latin guy living down here in the altiplano
[26:12] Who happens to be in a government secret service their version of the fbi? I know big deal whoopie, right? But that's not what we're talking about We're talking about cost of living now and this friend of mine who's a government agent working as a presidential guard And he's occasionally assigned as a personal bodyguard for pompous lard ass visiting dignitaries, too Like u.s congressman down here spending your money and good for nothing shit for brains like hillary clinton and carrie and other pompous U.S government ass wipes as well as u.n officials and such also traveling and living the high life on your dime Anyway, this latin guy I know down here Handholds first world and third world diplomatic jerks that need to be protected and chauffeured around
[26:58] Protected from what I don't know now if you ask me These jerks should have zero protection and be forced to ride the chicken bus, but no one asked me Oh, and by the way, they should all be enrolled in obama care, too But that's another story now Basically, this guy's been a presidential guard for the last 20 years and he makes a grand total of a thousand u.s Dollars a month a little over three times the minimum wage here. Oh Looks like i'm hitting the wall on time again So next time i'll pick this right up where I left off you're gonna like how this one turns out 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 Email me the expat files at gmail.com
[27:47] And don't forget to check out expat wisdom.com to sign up for your free reports on latin america See you next time. Nos vemos