Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller explores the complex cultural and familial dynamics expats face when living in Latin America. Through the story of Eddie, an expat dealing with a complicated relationship and family pressures, Johnny discusses the challenges of navigating traditional expectations, religious hypocrisy, and financial expectations. The episode also touches on the broader implications of these cultural norms on expat experiences.
Johnny begins by introducing the podcast, emphasizing that it provides an honest view of expat life in Latin America, contrasting it with the idealized versions presented in travel magazines. He then delves into Eddie's story, including his girlfriend's brother's problematic behavior and the pressure Eddie faces to hire him despite his unsuitability for the job. Johnny explains the cultural expectation for expats to meet with the girlfriend's father before a relationship can be considered serious, a practice still common in many Latin American countries.
The topic of religion is addressed, with Johnny and Eddie discussing their near-atheistic beliefs and the challenges of expressing such views in a predominantly Christian region. Johnny notes that Latin American men are more hypocritical than women in religious matters, using the example of Eddie, who lied about his religious beliefs to impress his girlfriend's father. He explains that in many Latin American societies, men often have affairs while women are expected to remain faithful, and divorced women face significant economic challenges.
Johnny also touches on the lack of access to contraception and the low levels of education in Latin America, which contribute to high birth rates. He highlights the financial strain these events can place on families, even those with limited means, and the social pressure on gringos (foreigners) to attend these parties despite their personal dislike. He shares personal experiences and anecdotes about attending these parties, the awkwardness of dancing, and the potential for embarrassment, especially when being recorded.
In another segment, Johnny discusses the common issue expats face when dating or marrying a Latin American woman, where family members, regardless of the woman's socioeconomic background, often approach the expat for loans. He shares a personal anecdote about Eddie, who was approached by a family member of his girlfriend, a high-maintenance Latina, who needed a loan. Johnny explains that even wealthy Latin families may expect the expat to provide financial support, as the family members may not want to burden their parents. Johnny and Eddie have developed a strategy to handle such requests by sharing a list of people who owe them money to discourage potential borrowers.
The episode also touches on the broader theme of distrust towards Latin men, citing their tendency to lie, drink, and be hypocritical. Johnny contrasts this with the more sheltered lives of Latin women, describing their homes as 'intimate prisons.' The segment also includes a subplot about Eddie's girlfriend's skinhead brother, who disappears and is later found in the U.S. as an illegal alien.
Topics
Cultural expectations for expats in Latin America, Family dynamics and traditional practices in Latin American relationships, Religious beliefs and their impact on expat experiences, Religious hypocrisy in Latin America, Economic challenges for divorced women, Lack of access to contraception, Low education levels in Latin America, Religious hypocrisy, Cultural expectations, Cost of living, Dating challenges for expats, Quinceañero traditions
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:24 Exploring the Realities of Expat Life in Latin America 00:01:36 Unspoken Problems Faced by Expats with Latino Wives 00:02:58 Traditional Family Expectations in Latin American Relationships 00:04:02 Religious Beliefs and Their Impact on Expat Experiences 00:05:09 Religious Hypocrisy in Latin America 00:06:07 The Situation with Eddie and His Girlfriend's Dad 00:06:47 Affairs and Divorce in Latin America 00:08:57 Lack of Access to Contraception and Education 00:10:30 Eddie's Irony and Hypocrisy with His Girlfriend's Father 00:11:47 The Cost of Living and Cable TV in Latin America 00:12:20 Religious Expectations and Women's Roles in Latin Families 00:15:10 Introduction to Quinceaños and Their Significance in Latin Culture 00:16:06 Quinceaños as a Measure of Family Status and Financial Commitment 00:16:33 The Gringo Advantage and Its Cultural Implications 00:17:50 The Unbearable Nature of Quinceaños Parties and Their Social Dynamics 00:18:44 Personal Experiences and the Awkwardness of Dancing at Quinceaños 00:19:18 The Cultural Expectations and Prestige of Having a Gringo in the Family 00:19:49 Introduction to the Problem of Loan Requests from Family Members of Latina Partners 00:19:57 The Common Pattern of Family Members Seeking Financial Support 00:20:17 Eddie's Experience with a Wealthy Latina's Family Member Asking for a Loan 00:24:46 The Financial Disparity Between Expats and Latin Americans 00:26:15 The Distrust of Latin Men and the Role of Women 00:27:29 The Illegal Immigration Subplot and Its Implications
Transcript
Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.
[00:03] Hi everybody, I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America. The show that tells you what it's really like to live, work, play and or retire in Latin America. I tell it just like it is, not the version they give you in those glossy travel magazines or the picture they paint for you in those international traveler websites where they're only trying to sell you something. What's it really like for expats living in Latin America? Well, if you stick around a while you'll find out, so let's get started. Well last time I was cut off short for time, talking about expat Eddie's girlfriend's brother, the snakey looking skin head guy with the lip stud, who's been pestering Eddie for a job at one of his sushi restaurants.
[00:48] And Eddie had already made it clear to him that with his skin head and his face piercings, he would not be a good image for the restaurant at the front desk. He'd scare away all of Eddie's older lady customers for sure. Then you might remember that Eddie said he'd hire the guy as a driver, knowing the guy didn't have a driver's license. Then to Eddie's surprise, he came back a week later and shoved a driver's license in Eddie's face. Now Eddie was stuck, he had to hire the guy, because like Eddie's girlfriend says, her brother has a very mean temper and when he doesn't get his way, he can get violent. Now normally that's not the kind of guy you want to work for you, but Eddie was stuck because he promised. So Eddie, lost for an answer, called me. He thought, well, two heads are better than one. And like me and Eddie discussed over drinks, Eddie had barreled head first into one of
[01:36] the unspoken problems that often confronts expats with Latino wives and girlfriends. They always, and I mean always, have these big extended families who look at you like the rich gringo, Mr. Moneybags, especially if you got a business going. Obviously there is that stereotype and you can't get around it, because you still live like a first world person down here and they don't. They of course live like middle class Latins, which is our equivalent of the first world working poor. And that's why through experience, we've learned that it's not good to have any kind of get togethers or parties at our own houses, Christmas, birthday parties and such for example. Because when you find it necessary to invite your Latina wife or girlfriend's extended family and relatives, you're just reinforcing the fact that you're infinitely better off
[02:24] economically than they are. So if you do have them over, you're asking for trouble. And it's not that they're jealous or resent the fact at all. They're genuinely as nice as they can be. However, knowing that you've got so much more than they have, like Eddie says, being the godfather comes at a price. For example, Eddie's been very tight with his girlfriend for about a year and a half now. Eddie told me that after he'd been going out with her about a half a year, she said to him that her dad wanted to have a serious talk with him. Because you see, as it turns out, in Latin America, there's still that traditional age old concept that practically doesn't exist anymore in the states at all. Where the guy has to have a sit down powwow with his girlfriend's dad to make his good and honorable intentions known. Just like in those white bread Hollywood films of the 40s and 50s, you had to get daddy's
[03:14] approval to get serious with his daughter. And that's exactly what happened to Eddie, about a half a year into dating his present girlfriend. He had that solemn sit down meeting with her dad, because her dad expected it. Now, when Eddie had his sit down, his girlfriend's father asked him of course if his intentions were honorable. That is, did he plan on eventually marrying his daughter? And of course in that moment, a guy just has to say yes to the father, even if it's a bold faced lie. He's got no other choice really, or the meeting's over. Now Eddie knew this question was coming, because it's the common question every Latin American father asks during these sit downs. But it's not the only question. The next question was, what religion are you Eddie? You should know that Eddie and I have had long talks about this question, and what to
[04:02] say in Latin America when it does come up. Now me, I was brought up Catholic, went to Catholic school, and gave it up permanently after I got too big for my dad to whoop me and my parents to ground me. And Eddie was a non-practicing Lutheran, but nowadays both of us agree on one thing. If you take a sliding scale from zero to ten, and zero is absolute belief in God, and if you're a ten on that scale, you're an absolute atheist, well Eddie and I both agree that we're both about nines on that scale. Very very close to being complete non-believers, but not so arrogant to think that we know it all. Actually, being a nine on that scale puts us in pretty good company. Like for example, Carl Sagan, Einstein, Stephen Hawking, W.C. Fields, and both Marx's, Carl
[04:51] and Groucho. Anyway, that's nothing you could ever tell the father of your girlfriend down here in Latin America, or practically any Latin person for that matter. If you were to announce that you're an atheist or close to it, well it's not that you'd be persona non grata in the house, it's just that you've set the wheels in motion to undermine yourself behind the scenes, since these Latin families are so damn Christian, and the hypocrisy of it really does make us long term expats laugh, and we don't get why they don't see it themselves. In fact, they wrote the book on it, and by that I mean the men of course. The women are basically a different story altogether, not one tenth as hypocritical as the men are. Let me explain that a bit. Now when Eddie had that sit down meeting with his girlfriend's father, he asked Eddie what
[05:37] religion the kids were going to be brought up in, Catholic or Lutheran. Now of course Eddie did the right thing when he lied and told his girlfriend's dad that he was a Lutheran, even though Eddie hadn't been in church or even said a prayer since he was maybe eight years old. Anyway, in that conversation, Eddie remembers promising the guy that he was going to bring up the kids Catholic. He figured that would play the best because his girlfriend's whole family were practicing Catholics, at least the women folk were. Now here's the thing about Latin American religious hypocrisy. During this sit down with his girlfriend's dad, and all that talk about bringing your kids up Catholic, all the while Eddie was thinking about what his girlfriend had told him about her dad, that she had a couple of half sisters in another town that she only just found out about not long ago.
[06:23] It seems that her dad had fathered a couple of kids with two other different women while he was married to her mom. And this is the guy grilling Eddie about religion. And you know, when Eddie's girlfriend told him about the philanderings of her dad, he just couldn't believe that her mother would stay with the guy, until Eddie's girlfriend explained what it was like for married women with children in Latin America. It turns out almost all classes of Latin guys, except the upper classes, almost never divorced their wives. Instead, they just have affairs. And when the wife finds out, and it seems she always does, or at least has a good idea that's going on, she will almost never file divorce unless she has a man of her own waiting in the wings that'll marry her.
[07:09] Because she knows if she's not married and ends up as a single mom head of the household, she can almost never make ends meet on what women make down here in Latin America. That $250 to $350 a month. Because you see, if you're a single middle class woman with kids and you have to go to work every day, who's going to take care of those kids during the day, while you're out at work? Because you see, when you have a husband and he goes to work every day, the woman can generally manage to work a little bit herself and still take care of the kids. Whereas divorced Latin mothers always end up with the kids, and the husband almost never pays child support, because there's basically no mechanism to force him to do it. So a single woman and her children slip even lower economically. And that's why so few of them will divorce their husbands, even when they catch them
[07:58] red-handed cheating, even if other children from his philanderings show up. Strictly speaking, it's a very sad situation because it's so damn common. Sadest for the women married to these guys, of course. But as you can see, in this macho Latin society, men do have the upper hand in so many ways. They have their affairs and the women just keep taking them back. Nearly all the time it's an economic decision. The loss of faith and trust has nothing to do with it. Anyway, in the end, Eddie found out that there's three things you never want to tell the family of the girl that you're dating. One is that you're an atheist or the closest thing to it. Number two, that you never want to have kids. Even though it's probably the very reason that her own family just can't seem to get
[08:43] ahead. And never will, because there's just not enough money in too many mouths to feed. And why is that, you might ask? Well of course it's because of that Catholic thing, you know. The Pope's lunatic ban on contraceptives and all that. But there also is practically no such thing down here in Latin America as Planned Parenthood. Now we all know the statistics. The more educated a society is, the fewer children they have. It's always like that in every society. So even without the Pope sticking his big nose into everyone's bedroom business, it's the fact that Latin American society is quite undereducated compared to the first world, thus more kids. And you know, I do talk about a wealthy educated class down here in Latin America, but that's
[09:29] only about 2 or 3% of the population, which is the same percentage of adults who have college degrees, about 2 to 3%. Whereas about 30% of adult Americans have college degrees. It's just a massive difference. Latin America and the United States are worlds apart. And here's some statistics that are pretty shocking. In Latin America, the average level of education for adults who are working on the books and paying taxes, is an 8th grade education. And the average educational level for people working for cash, off the books, is 6th grade. And the average educational level for people working in the agricultural sector, is only 5th grade. And that my friends, is a huge reason why people have too many babies. Down here, the common people say having sex is one of the few pleasures in life that's
[10:19] free. Man, they couldn't be more wrong about that. Little do they realize what kind of life of suffering and sacrifice they've created for themselves when they have too many kids. Oh and by the way, speaking of ironies and hypocrisies, Eddie has one more thing to say about his girlfriend's father. Not to say that Eddie dislikes his, probably future father in law, it's just that he's a typical 100% macho latin guy. Now Eddie's been invited by this guy multiple times, to come on over to his house on any Monday night. It's a standing invitation that Eddie never accepts. Now every Monday night, Eddie's girlfriend's father opens up his living room, to all the neighborhood guys. They don't come over to get drunk and womanized, they save that for the other nights. Instead, they have a prayer meeting, a vigil.
[11:08] Where they light candles and sing and recite bible passages and all that. Now Eddie, as much as he wants to remain in good standing with that family, he'll never go that far. He'll lie about being a good Christian or even believing in God, and he'll lie when he tells the parents he actually wants kids. Which definitely means he's lying about bringing the kids up Catholic too, since there won't be any. The fact is, Eddie's not gonna sit in a room full of hypocrite holy rollers, when he could be watching Monday Night Football. And yes, speaking of Monday Night Football, down here in Latin America, you get all 300 to 500 cable TV stations, anywhere in any Latin American country, except maybe Cuba. And you know what I pay for my basic cable? 12 dollars a month. And I have a satellite dish because I'm way out in the boonies.
[11:54] And my satellite installation, a one time cost, was only 30 dollars. Now of course, I only have basic cable. But if you want all the bells, buzzers and whistles, the whole ball of wax in all the US stations, it might cost you 40 bucks a month. Just thought I'd give you another heads up on the ridiculously low cost of living down here. Oh and by the way, here's another thing you should know about middle class Latin American households. Eddie can verify this too, and I've seen it for myself. It turns out, no matter how rotten the dad is, the head of the family, whether he's a drunk or a wife beater, a womanizer are all three, and a lot of them are all three, believe me. Anyway, come Sunday, all the women in the family just have to go to church. It's a requirement if they live under his roof. Of course, he and the boys, the sons of the family, don't have to go.
[12:41] But sometimes they go too, especially the young ones. And the teenage boys will often go just to look at the girls. Because that's when the girls really dial themselves up. For teenage girls and young women, church is for dressing up. Now I'm not saying that dad is forcing these ladies to go. It seems they really do want to go. Not because they necessarily like it, but because of that drummed in Catholic upbringing, they feel really guilty if they don't. In fact, Eddie's girlfriend still goes to church sometimes on her own, though she knows better than to ask Eddie to go along. Oh and here's another thing I might mention. It's never a good thing if you're just starting to date a girl that you like. It's never good to tell her that you're an atheist, or even an 8 or a 9 on that sliding scale I was talking about.
[13:26] Because you see, that religion thing has been so instilled in the minds of Latin people, that it almost seems, in the beginning anyway when you're dating, that a woman would prefer to have a pious boyfriend who goes to church every Sunday, but has a weakness for drugs or booze or alcohol or cheating once in a while, than to have an atheist boyfriend like Eddie, who's a totally nice guy and honorable and faithful in almost every other way. And I know how irrational that sounds, but that's just the way things are down here. So again, wait till you've gone out with a girl quite a number of times and if you established a pretty solid relationship, before you lay on something that's shocking to their sensibilities like for example, you're an atheist or you've had a vasectomy. Both of which could be early relationship deal killers down here. Now here's the thing, and I've heard this from a number of gringo expats too.
[14:16] After they tell their girlfriend something a little bit softer like for example, they don't believe in organized religion so they're not going to go to church, Latin women always seem to accept that line pretty well. But don't be surprised if they don't try to drag you to church anyway. It's just so instilled in the culture that they're going to hit you with the church thing like the Chinese water torture. It almost never goes away, believe me. And even if you vow to her that you're never going to step foot in a church, I guarantee it you're going to have to break that promise. Because with all the communions and confirmations and weddings and quinceaños parties, they all start off as some kind of a deal in a church. And since these Latins and their extended families are quite big, you're going to get invited to these things all the time. Now I should explain to you about these big production quinceaños parties.
[15:05] And that's that big blowout party that happens when a girl turns 15. Super traditional down here. And it's only for girls, guys don't get that honor. These quinceaños parties kind of remind me of a kid's bar mitzvah. It's a really huge event and families spend a lot of money on them. Even money they don't have. And sometimes they're as big as a wedding. And the girls dress up in very formal, frilly, expensive dresses that look like wedding gowns And when the family doesn't have much money, which is the usual case, they still have this event at someone's house and they hire a DJ and the parents still take loans and go into debt over these things. Because you see it's kind of a measure of your family's status, just how big a quinceaños party you can throw.
[15:51] And even the wealthier families go into debt on these things. But of course they go all out and rent halls and bands and have expensive sit down dinners at Hilton's and Hyatt's. And a lot of times these quinceaños parties can be bigger and much more expensive than the actual wedding the girl has some years later when she finally ties the knot. Now I've been invited to a lot of these things myself and they're beyond boring, believe me. And there's a real fine line you have to tread if you're a gringo and you hate going to these things. If you back off from these events all together, it'll definitely put your wife or girlfriend in a bad mood. Because she's the one who's going to have to face the family and the hundred questions when they ask, why isn't your boyfriend or husband here? Because like I've said many times before, to have a gringo at one of these parties or
[16:37] events is a feather in the cap of the person putting it on. It's all part of that gringo advantage thing. Which means a lot more disappointment for those putting on that party when you don't show up. Especially if you make a practice out of being absent. In that case it's your wife or girlfriend who's going to take the hit for you. And she's going to be pretty sad about it. And remember this, if you do end up marrying a latina and having a kid, your kid's going to be involved in a lot of those kind of events too. And he's going to star in a few of them. And of course you'll be the one paying for it. Now personally I hate going to these things. Which has put me in a lot of hot water with my latin girlfriends over the years. And Eddie and a lot of our expat friends are in the same boat. And what usually happens is, in time you give in and you start going to these things. But you never really like it.
[17:24] In the end you're just doing it to keep the peace. But thankfully when you're off the tourist trail you've always got the gringo advantage going for you. So if you ever really end up pissing off some of the relatives by not showing up to a big event, they always end up forgiving you faster than they would anyone else. Simply because you're a gringo. And gringos as they know, have a whole different set of cultures and habits. Now weddings and funerals and Christmas parties and stuff are one thing. But those quince anos parties are basically unbearable. I mean three quarters of the people that are there are 15 and 16 year old kids running around giggling and dancing to a DJ, playing the hits that 15 and 16 year old girls love. And of course everybody's on the dance floor. And everyone wants to dance with the gringo.
[18:11] Even though the gringo can't dance. But that's alright with them because they're very forgiving. But it's not alright with you because you feel like a doofus. I mean let's face it, you're off the tourist trail so you're going to be the only gringo at that party. And you're going to get a little extra attention from everyone. So when you are on that dance floor, all eyes are going to be on you. You can be sure of that. And there's no worse feeling in the world when everybody's looking at you and every five year old kid in the room is dancing circles around you. In fact Eddie tells me that's exactly the reason he doesn't go to those parties. Because he dances even worse than the average gringo with two left feet. He's done that way too many times and doesn't want to go through that again.
[18:56] Especially since everyone's got cameras these days and they've caught Eddie on film dancing. Talk about America's funniest videos. I guess I should be smart and drop the whole thing right now in case Eddie's listening. Now let me get back to that man to man meeting Eddie had with his future so called father in law. Well like I said, Eddie did lie to him. He had to. And of course the guy bought it. Why wouldn't he? He wants a gringo in the family just like every other middle class latin family does. Gringos by virtue of the gringo advantage bring the kind of prestige to any latin family that money just can't buy. Well I take that back, maybe it can. Since as Eddie told me, right after he had that man to man talk, his girlfriend's father asked Eddie if he could borrow 600 bucks. And of course after all that man to man stuff and the embarrassment of it, Eddie just gave
[19:46] him the money and said don't worry pay me back when you can. And that's one of the other small problems every expat encounters after he starts dating or even marries a latin american girl. All the males in the family start coming out of the woodwork asking for jobs and loans. And it doesn't matter if your girlfriend or wife is from a poor, middle class or upper class family. People will still come out of the woodwork and try to hit you up for loans. In fact you'd think that the wealthier latin families wouldn't be doing that because they do have money. But some years back when Eddie was young and stupid, when he was going out with a high maintenance latin girl, whose father was a very well known architect, anyway the girl's brother who had a seemingly successful advertising business in a very nice expensive section
[20:32] of town with a beautiful office, well one day he called Eddie out of the blue and asked him out to lunch. But what it really was all about was the fact that the guy wanted to borrow 20,000 bucks from Eddie because he said he had a bunch of clients that weren't paying their bills on time and he was running really short. And then of course Eddie said logically, well you know your dad's rich why don't you hit him up for it? And the guy answered a little sheepishly that he didn't want his dad to know about it. He didn't want his dad to think he was a bad businessman or even a loser since Poppy was the one that set his son up in business. Now the kid didn't want to appear like a doofus so instead of hitting his dad up, he runs to Eddie. Now this is the typical case of the entitled rich kid and Eddie saw it first hand with
[21:17] his own eyes. This kid did not like to work and he didn't like to get up before 9 in the morning either. But he had a beautiful apartment with all the toys which his daddy paid for of course. And now he was like 24 years old and had to get a real job, his dad was putting pressure on him to succeed by himself. This kid's dad did everything for his only son, the golden boy of the family. He even supplied his son with his first string of clients too. Since his dad was an important architect with a lot of people beholden to him. His dad set him up in that advertising business since advertising and marketing was the degree he was supposed to get at Texas A&M. Of course he was never motivated enough to actually finish. He just liked to hang around and party with the gringos.
[22:03] So now he'd had this advertising company for a year or so and had totally screwed up the accounts and now he wanted Eddie to bail him out. And Eddie at the time got out of it simply because his romantic relationship with the brother's equally spoiled sister, the high maintenance girlfriend I told you about, it was about at an end. They were breaking up. So Eddie just kind of walked away from that one without giving the kid a definite answer. So the bottom line is that it doesn't matter if you marry or date a latina from whatever class, lower, middle, upper or very wealthy. You are in their eyes the rich gringo. And there are some family members that will come out of the woodwork and try to hitch you up for loans. I have to say that almost all of us long term expats have been hit up so many times down
[22:50] here that we have a pretty hard line when it comes to people asking us for loans these days. And Eddie, who's a lot softer touch than I am when it comes to loans, he has a great way of handling guys these days who try to hit him up. And I can't remember which one of us actually thought of it or if we heard it from some other expat. But here's what Eddie does. He has a little piece of paper in his wallet with five names on it, each one of those persons being a guy that he lent money to that never paid him back, mostly of course small amounts to us like anywhere from 200 to 800 bucks, nothing that will break the bank. But nevertheless these were loans that never got paid back. So nowadays when someone asks Eddie for a loan he pulls out that piece of paper and he says, okay here's what I'll do. Here's a list of five guys that owe me money and haven't paid me back.
[23:38] I'll let you have this list with their phone numbers and addresses. Go ahead and contact these guys. And if you can get the money out of them, you can have it free and clear. You don't even have to pay me back. And then he tells them that's his experience with lending people money. And of course as you probably well know, anyone that comes up to you and asks to borrow money will swear on his mother's grave that he's going to pay you back and on time. People always have the best intentions but as time passes things change, right? Anyway when Eddie hands a would-be borrower his list of those five creditors that haven't paid him, it's like throwing a bucket of cold water on a guy that's trying to borrow money. He gets the point right away and there's usually no more said about it. In fact it works like a charm.
[24:25] Oh and by the way, like in the case of Eddie's girlfriend's father who wanted to borrow that 600 bucks, that in fact is just not a normal borrower's request. Normally you get requests here and there for people wanting to borrow 25 or 50 bucks. But 600 bucks, that's way on the high end. In fact only once in 20 years has someone tried to borrow an amount that high from me. Now don't get me wrong, it's not a high amount to us. But to the Latin guy who's trying to hit you up for the loan, it's a super high amount. Because think of it, if the average guy is making $300 or $400 a month, that's two month salary for him, right? Now let's relate that back to if we were in the first world. Two month salary in the first world is probably more like $8,000 since the average household income in the states is just slightly under 50,000 bucks these days.
[25:14] So imagine someone coming up to you in the states trying to borrow 8,000 bucks from you. Well to most of us that would just be a totally unreasonable request, unless maybe it was a life and death situation. So anyway, down here if someone's gonna borrow 600 bucks from you, for them that's a pretty big deal. And you're probably wondering, did Eddie get that money back? Yep, he got the money back alright, but months and months after the guy promised to pay him. And in the meantime, Eddie found out that his girlfriend's dad's been hitting her up for loans, more like 100 bucks here and 50 bucks there. That kind of thing really pisses Eddie off, because he realizes her father is only hitting her up, because he knows when she's short on cash, Eddie always fills in the gaps.
[26:01] And Eddie does not like the idea that he gives his girlfriend money, and she lends it to her dad. Because really, in fact, it's like the guy's borrowing the money from Eddie indirectly. He's taking advantage of his own daughter and Eddie. Which only reinforces what all us expats begin to understand after some time. As a rule, you just can't trust these Latin guys. They lie, they're not at all good for their word. They're drinkers, they're womanizers, and they're hypocrites. Of course not 100% of them, though I'd have to say it's way up there. Whereas the women are a completely different story. Almost all of them, except the wealthy ones, are sheltered and protected at home all their lives, until they finally get married and get out of the house. Eddie calls the family home of the average middle class woman, the intimate prison.
[26:51] Because the father who's got all kinds of sins going for him, he tries to keep his wife and daughters locked up at home, so they're not out on the streets at the mercy of guys like him. It's a strange but common phenomena. Oh and by the way, about Eddie's girlfriend's skinhead brother. It was just Eddie's luck that before he actually had to break down and hire this guy, knowing nothing good was going to come of it, turns out the guy disappeared for about a week, and the next time the family heard from him, wasn't an email message. He was up in Los Angeles again, for the third time, as an illegal alien. Now he was Uncle Sam's problem. Not Eddie's. You've been listening to The Expat Files, living in Latin America, coming to you each
[27:42] week from somewhere south of the border. And don't forget you can email me, on anything at all about Latin America, The Expat Files at gmail.com. Once again, The Expat Files at gmail.com. See you next time, nos vemos!