#1282 – The Expat Files: Crime, Health Care, and Cultural Shifts in Ecuador

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:00] South of the border down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came out to play and now as I wonder Hello there all you ex-pad 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 Alright, let's talk about some bad news first Starting with this email coming from Chris. He says Johnny. I'm forwarding an interesting story for your perusal glad We chose not to peruse Ecuador Then he sends me a link to this story out of the Wall Street Journal just came out

[00:49] The title quote Ecuador was a retirement paradise for Americans. Then the drug gangs arrived I don't know if any of you listeners out there saw this article. There's lots of articles like it turns out crime in Ecuador is up 100% year-over-year Not good at all for expats living there. And you know, it's funny over the years I've been getting a lot of heat from listeners saying Johnny. How come you don't recommend it Ecuador? What do you got against it? It's cheap. It's nice. And if you're in the highlands, it's like the Alti Plano in Guatemala Perfect spring like weather all year round. Well, you know over the years on this show I've mentioned lots of reasons why I don't like Ecuador not that I hate the place It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there You know about ten years ago when international living first started saying and then it happened every year after that

[01:37] That it was one of the top two or three expat retirement destinations in the world That was one of the reasons I thought no. No, I don't want to live there Every time international living has done that to any Latin country. It's spend the kiss of death Look what happened to Costa Rica or beliefs Panama too many gringos spoils the punch man There's a cultural and economic shift that basically well contaminates the place since then since international living gave it the huge thumbs up I didn't necessarily give it the thumbs down, but I never really recommended the place never The thing is it just happens to be perfectly situated between Peru and Colombia making it the perfect international drug Transportation corridor so lately more than ever I'm hearing all kinds of tragic stories from my expat buddies and acquaintances living down there

[02:26] Used to be just a few years ago nice and peaceful now crimes off the charts By the way, and you probably know this one of the reasons why Ecuador has been on the top ten list for retirees that is according to a ARP and rags like international living is Because of their highly rated national health care system, which is basically free for expats with residency Well, you do have to kick in a small monthly payment, but it's way under a hundred bucks So basically it's a gift now Here's the thing and I don't know if you agree with me on this or not But my take is that any gringo expat want to be or gonna be who decides to move to a Latin American country Because he can get on the national health care system and it's a good national health care system compared to others What that tells me is any expat gonna be or want to be who's thinking in those terms must be really short of cash on

[03:16] A really low budget probably has not much of a nest egg at all and maybe just living on Social Security Nothing wrong with that but to base your decision to move to another country a third-world country Because you can get on the national health care system Well in my mind, that's not very smart for a lot of reasons Even if you're only just living on the average Social Security check, which is fifteen hundred dollars a month or so You could still live like a first-world person in most all Latin American countries when you're off the gringo tourist trail anyway Without even giving a thought to whether the national health care system will accept you or not It shouldn't be a concern because private insurance even going wrong without insurance is so damn cheap I know it's hard to believe but private insurance is about a fifth or a sixth up to a tenth

[04:05] Of the cost of an equivalent to private medical plan up in the states with deductibles so low you won't believe it So what if when you come down you're only making fifteen hundred a month and you have to pay a hundred or two hundred Dollars a month for a really good first-world insurance plan to me It's not at all worth it to gamble on a country based on getting on their national health care plan Just to save a few bucks, you know, keep your medical expenses under a hundred bucks a month That should never be your first consideration for having a plan B Oh and another thing don't believe the ratings you hear about concerning those national health care systems Because as you heard me mentioned many times before any national health care plan like for example in Ecuador It could be rated really stellar for three years running and then go completely bankrupt and then you're shit out of luck

[04:56] It all depends on the political party and president that happens to be in office how many lies he told to get elected and what he promised and How much corruption and thievery are going on the truth is all national health care systems in Latin America are bankrupt All Latin American governments are totally bankrupt to sound familiar though oftentimes right before Presidential election time will be a big cash injection into the system and those national health care hospitals and clinics will look really good And nicely staffed right around election time and the idiot short-term memory voters will act accordingly Then a year or so after the elections There will be severe shortages and problems in the national health care system Once again people and suppliers won't get paid there'll be strikes walkouts and restricted care power outages lack of maintenance, etc

[05:48] Now I'm using Ecuador as an example because so many expats and gringos I know who've gone down there They cite their national health care system as being highly rated or at least that's what they'd heard from the publicity and international Living and AARP and the other retirement rags. Well, once again, let me repeat You should never believe the publicity or what you read about how good the national health care systems are in Latin America or anywhere They all suck and then they don't and then they do and then they don't You want to put your health in the hands of a system like that? I read the promotions that are gringo retirement rags They always say that Costa Rica Colombia and Ecuador have the best Latin American national health care systems And when you hear that it seems like a very good reason for older gringos who are on a strict budget or don't have much cash

[06:36] At all to come on down sure beets living under a bridge eating cat food and counting on Medicaid up in the States, right? Well, not so fast if you're disinclined to believe what I'm saying Let me read you some excerpts from my el mikurio article dated September 23rd 2023 by the way el mikurio is one of the largest Spanish language news services The article starts out by saying that Ecuador's national health care system has stopped Receiving new cancer patients. It says as of a month ago, July 2023 It's simply not possible anymore because of the debts owed by the Ecuadorian social security system No more cancer patients allowed it goes out to say Raul Alvarado the director of the national health care system says the government owes 13 million five hundred thousand dollars

[07:24] Which represents 50% of the national health care cancer center budget the government is months behind in paying So they made a decision which came about last month to not take any more referred cancer patients It says currently the national health care cancer center is treating 2978 cancer patients and can receive no more it says mr. Alvarado explained that the cancer center needs resources to maintain equipment and owes 3 million to suppliers It's monthly expenses include salary for 400 employees cleaning electricity water, etc, etc It says that though mr. Alvarado has been told by the federal government that it's the national health care's obligation to treat all referred cancer patients

[08:09] He says they will do as soon as the delinquent funds are transferred or the policy must be changed So that new cancer patients have to pay in advance and get reimbursed later by the social security system Though mr. Alvarado admits Patients hoping to be reimbursed that way would most certainly encounter a long and difficult process Oh and speaking of another pretty good reason why I haven't recommended Ecuador nice place to visit one want to live there Did you know and I'm sure you didn't that the largest teachers union in the country is a self-proclaimed socialist? Organization, it's called the National Union of Educators UNE and it's the country's largest teachers union. They proudly say in their platform. They expose socialist doctrines and principles

[08:56] Wow, imagine the minds they're graduating from Ecuador's schools and universities Something to think about when you're deciding on that country for your plan B now You could say I'm particularly sensitive to this because I've got lots of teachers in my family My mother has been a teacher all their life Teacher and professor in both public and private schools in and around Chicago Not to mention more than 30 years ago when I was living back in the states I had a long-term girlfriend who was an art teacher for the public schools and Man, when I'd go to teachers parties and get togethers had to get boiling mad flaming red hot They were all and I mean all died in the wool socialists So anti-business so anti-capitalist Don't think the woke and socialist brainwashing of American students has just begun or just in the last few years

[09:43] Nothing current or new about it. I saw it in action up front and close 30 even 40 years ago But I'd give him a pass cuz you know You don't want to start anything at parties or get togethers though you'd think my mother who's a very smart person would listen to reason She still walks into the voting booth and pulls the Democrat lever I found out a long time ago. No matter how much logic you use It's impossible to change the mind of a teacher with a socialist mindset Though I still give my mom a pass because well, she's my mom and being that she's 92 years old She calls herself a Kennedy Democrat. No, not the Robert Kennedy junior type the John F Kennedy type from the 60s Yeah, so when I'm with her, we just don't talk politics or for that matter the covid it fraud It's feudal now speaking of Latin American politics like Ecuador Guatemala Panama Costa Rica

[10:34] Whatever there's something very interesting that goes on in the voting booth that gringles and expats are not aware of at all But should be but really how would a Scringo expats even know what goes on in the voting booth because we don't vote in their elections Anyway in most Latin American countries they have on the presidential ballot a box you can check called Lolo and You LO which means nobody so you could walk into the voting booth and vote for nobody in other words You don't like any of the candidates They all suck and you can vote no low as a protest vote now believe it or not because you can check new low There have been quite a few elections where nobody won the election Doesn't that send a signal so then what happens when new low wins nobody wins. Well, they set up a runoff election some weeks later

[11:25] But hey, you gotta love it Don't you wish they had the new low box or the nobody box on the ballot up in the states That would certainly get the pissed off and disgruntled public off their asses and down to the voting booth, huh? Hey, we can dream can't we enough said about that. All right switching gears to mating dating love and romance Always a very hot and popular topic on the show. Let's start with this email from Warren He says Johnny your emailer of a few shows ago was so right a girl Who's only interested in her cell phone tick-tock social media and fashion that says a lot about her and the guy she's with But if he's not into all that crap and she is something's got to give for one You can imagine if he has a brain and she doesn't or if he's educated and she's not it'll eventually wear on him

[12:16] It can even turn into a low-grade kind of torture and vice versa He says I've been through that scene myself and some of my friends have been too We've all been with hot uneducated girls addicted to social media The sex might be great and you get that ego boost from arm candy But that limited vocabulary and lack of knowledge thing when trying to have a good conversation will wear on you Worse yet, and I've been through this too when she doesn't speak English and you're stuck using Google Translate that gets old And certainly interrupts the flow of any conversation However, he says the dirty little secret about guys is that men will always hang on too long to a beautiful empty-headed woman It's hard to dump a beautiful woman when the rest of the world is always Complimenting you and telling you how lucky you are to have her that's been my situation when dating latinas

[13:07] He says when you're a five or six and she's a nine or ten. You've always got that thought in the back of your mind He says I repeat it seems men will hang on way too long to a beautiful empty-headed woman That also applies to smart women who hook up with thick-headed Superficial good-looking hunky men to personally I don't know how smart women put up with those kind of guys But they seem to tolerate a good-looking hunk of a guy with a small brain for way too long Could it have something to do with the fact that their girlfriends exhibit some jealousy that she's caught such a hunk The social pressure to stay with a good looker with terrible faults can be a big factor and Johnny Here's what most girls don't get about us guys The most fun we can have as a guy is ripping on other guys our friends

[13:54] Especially when our buddies are slightly down to the factors outside of their control It gets even better when the guy you're ripping on can take it and has good comebacks But there's one thing guys can stand is when their buddies whine and complain Most girls though, they don't say it out loud expect us men to work until we die We do that to provide for them and our kids Some of us also die and get maimed in combat to defend them and our families We accept that and don't complain in certain ways our lives are much tougher than theirs But don't ever say that in front of her or you'll be sleeping on the couch The fact is a girl especially she's beautiful or good-looking can always lean on a guy While the guy is responsible for his own success or failure and has to master himself and his emotions

[14:43] Unless he's born with a silver spoon to have any chance at success What girls don't get about guys is that every other guy in the world is in competition with us and wants to take a dump on Us if he can while every girl born beautiful has the world by the ass every guy Starts out on the bottom rung of the ladder every rung you climb you get battered and bruised. You know Johnny I read an article from a psychologist who wrote a book about happiness He said if there's one trait a guy should try to master that will really help him out in life is to master Rejection. He said the average guy will face rejection hundreds of times more than any average girl ever will Just look at the mating and dating game and those cupid sites You better have a really thick skin if you're not mr. Rock hard abs be prepared to get rejected hundreds of times

[15:32] That's my rant Johnny signed Warren Warren sounds like you're doing a little whining there Which reminds me I've got a little treat for you expat Eddie who by the way is single now Yeah, he broke up with Claudia long story But turned out she was a closet drinker and she took it way too far sad story I'll tell it to you one of these days Anyway, now that expat Eddie is on the loose again. He promised to check in more or less regularly Now you'd noodle listeners might not know who expat Eddie is but He's a guy that came down to Latin America about 20 years ago end up sleeping on my couch for a month or two He came down with five grand and a backpack and in five years turned a little sushi joint and they'll Salvador

[16:17] And I'm from a strip mall to a multi-million dollar franchise business. So anyway expat Eddie's on the loose again. He checked in Just a couple days ago with this email. He said Johnny You've been talking a bit lately on your show about those cupid sites and hooking up with Latin ladies and vice versa He says I've put together a list of pointers for gringo ladies and latina ladies And I'd like you to tell me if you agree with this list or not Or maybe I'm just old-fashioned and this list shows my age. Anyway, here it goes. I Repeat Johnny. Tell me if you agree with this list or not First let's talk about turn offs for guys He says ladies most guys who are mature and worth their salt Find it a turn off when you color your hair purple green or some other

[17:06] Unnatural color there's nothing wrong with trying different things But when you go to the extreme with hair or makeup or anything related to your appearance or piercings or tattoos Don't expect a sincere you look great response from yours or any other guy unless he has green hair And face piercings too, especially when you show up with your hair braided on one side of your head and the other sides straight short and green Wait a minute. Wait a minute me John here I don't know if you listeners up in the States are seeing this but I'm even seeing 80 year old ladies doing it now You know coloring their head purple red and green. Have you seen that though here in Latin America? I've never seen a 70 or 80 year old Latina pulling off that green or purple hair thing I've seen old gringa expat ladies, you know on vacation and such

[17:54] Sporting that look and don't know what to make of it I'm thinking what if my 92 year old mom showed up with green or purple hair? I don't know. I'd be thinking midlife crisis But wait a minute. She had that already when she was 40 or so What do you call doing something crazy at 80 or 90 late life crisis? I don't know All right back to expat at ease email. He says American gringo ladies Here's some pointers for you when you start talking about people or your friends or yourself using woke pronouns and we idiot men Get confused and get that glazed look It's not that you lost us in the conversation though You have because we suddenly have no idea who said or did what and when they did it The truth of the matter is we have that glazed look in our eyes because we're trying to figure out a way to ditch you

[18:42] dump you or get the hell out diplomatically without causing an embarrassing scene and Though everyone standing around won't admit you've already embarrassed yourself bringing up that pronoun crap in the first place Just imagine having a girlfriend like that Everywhere you go everyone you meet having to deal with her pronoun lunacy on a daily basis Funny how in 20 years I've never met a Latin American lady who's been a pronoun obsessed woke idiot Could it be because the Spanish language is a hundred percent gender based? Thank God for that There's only one woke word in the Spanish language. That's Latin X and It seems that mind virus has only affected Latino college kids who live in the United States Then Eddie says one more thing. We've all heard those terrible stories jokes and cliches about mothers in laws

[19:34] Well, once you move down to Latin America and start mating and dating you can toss that concept out the window because Latina mothers-in-laws known as swag revs are Noted for treating their gringo and expat sons-in-law like gold Which I guess is another part of the gringo advantage you talk about Johnny However, if you've lived down in Latin America long enough, you'll notice that Latino son-in-laws are Not getting the same treatment at all and deservedly so That stateside mother-in-law cliche is the same here in Latin America for their daughters who marry Latinos But somehow us gringos and expats get a pass more than a pat

[20:19] You'll find out that even if you break up with a Latina Your former Latina mother-in-law will still treat you like gold It's part of that gringo advantage that most people just don't know about All right, there you have it expat at ease chiming in on that mating and dating game Thanks for that Eddie. Keep those cards and letters coming on That same topic Benny writes in Johnny says I'm a six that makes me a complete failure on the cupid dating sites. I Notice if you're not tall handsome an eight or a nine You get no action on those cupid sites except from gold diggers He says I've been a failure in dating both American and Latina women. I've found on those Cupid sites That's what you get when you were six. In fact, I've sort of developed a one-sentence description for the woman

[21:11] I have met on those dating apps He says for American women if they are honest, here's what their Cupid personal Self-description should really be If they were honest, it would go like this. Hello guys My name is fill in the blank. I'm a strong caring intelligent Independent American woman and I really don't need a man for anything Except I need you to buy this $500 purse for me Hmm and Johnny for Latin women if they are honest, here's what their Cupid personal self-description should be Hello guys. I'm Caring intelligent independent Latina woman. I really don't need a man for anything

[22:01] Except I need you to buy this $50 purse for me Hmm Johnny do you see the difference? Wow, Benny don't be like that Don't judge the entire Latina dating pool by what you see on those Cupid sites They're loaded with minefields and gold diggers. What you need to do is get some boots on the ground Take a walk through any Central Park or big shopping center down here in Latin America Give it a little time. Let that gringo advantage kick in I'm with you though those Cupid dating sites and social media sites have ruined the dating game for most guys Unless you're an eight nine or ten. I repeat get some boots on the ground preferably off the gringo tourist trail Because as you've heard me say many times before when you're on the gringo tourist trail

[22:49] The gringo dollar has contaminated the local population Us gringos and our tourism and our gringo dollar and loose spending. We've created a culture of gold diggers We've helped create an expectation of high maintenance with both the girls and the guys They see how foolish and loose we are with our money when we're on vacation So you can hardly blame them. They think that's our lifestyle how we are 24-7 even when we're back home up in the States But little do they know though most gringos on vacation appear to be human cash machines Latinos down here don't know that when you get back home You're back on that treadmill trying to crack that monthly nut and stay even it ain't pretty and in most cases just monotonous and soul-crushing Latinos don't realize a gringos life the rest of the 50 weeks out of the year does not

[23:36] Resemble in any way the life they saw you living when you were on vacation That's why when a gringo or gringa marries a Latino or Latino here in Latin America and brings them back to the states to live It's almost always a guaranteed recipe for disaster Though that's not to say if you have a love connection here in Latin America. It won't turn out to be a disaster, too Lots of gringo Latina and gringo Latino relationships Just don't work out life love romance mating and dating that stuff is very complicated Often just a roll of the dice the thing is though I know tons of gringo Latina couples and some gringa Latino couples who've stayed down here in Latin America and whose Relationships have weathered the test of time But I can't seem to think of a single success story when a gringo or gringo has hooked up with a Latina or Latino

[24:25] Here in Latin America and moved back to the states to live. Like I said, that seems to be a recipe for disaster But you knew that already, right? By the way, here's something that may or may not shock you What do you think of this very repeatable huge statistical study? There was a question put to 10,000 college-age women at different campuses around the states the question was Would you rather be the second wife of a billionaire that is in a polygamous relationship? With a billionaire or the first and only wife of an average guy? a guy making 75 grand a year How do you think the ladies answered that survey? Well, there's two different answers With half the group the women were told their answers will be openly known along with their names

[25:15] With that particular group only 30% of the women answered that they would rather be a second wife of a billionaire in a polygamous Relationship than the first and only wife of an average guy However in the group of ladies that was told that their answers would be completely anonymous 70% Pick number one. They'd rather be the second wife of a billionaire in a polygamous relationship than the first and only wife of an average guy So I'm thinking maybe we have to reevaluate the definition of a gold digger. Huh? Oh and here's something I bet you'll never hear about not in the lame stream media. Anyway, I was talking to a Guatemalan guy a farmer Who's near the border of Mexico? He said just lately just this year he hasn't had to bring his limes or limones as they're called to market because

[26:04] Mexicans are coming down and buying all of them up by the truckload Unusually said but good for him and all the farmers on the Guatemalan side of the Mexican border Turns out he said extortion is getting so bad in Mexico They charge a fee for everything basic foods soft drinks beers chicken Avocados limes lemons, so everything's more expensive in Mexico than it is on the Guatemala side He says it's cheaper for some Mexicans is just drive down with a truck and fill it up with limes and go back to the Mexico and sell them. He said even the ingredients for tortillas are cheaper in Guatemala So trucks are coming down from Mexico and buying all that stuff up to he said Mexicans coming down with their trucks are telling him That everyone's getting extorted up there the tomato banana mango producers Even the transportation companies and distributors are paying the gangs

[26:52] He said but not in Guatemala He said in fact the price of limes in Mexico has doubled in just the last year reaching about Four dollars and fifty cents a kilo or two dollars a pound. They're much cheaper in Guatemala He said hundreds of farms in Mexico have been abandoned what used to be banana and avocado and mango plantations Have been completely abandoned by their owners due to widespread extortion Hmm not good, huh? Which begs the question. How is that plan B in Mexico looking to you now? By the way, if you want to get on that early bird list for my tentative February 2024 Exped insider seminar send me an email the expat files at gmail.com You've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America

[27:37] If you need some help with your own plan B, we can schedule a one-on-one phone or Skype consult Just send me an email the expat files at gmail.com And if you want to get on the waiting list for my next week-long expat insider seminar in Central America Where you're guaranteed to get a two to five year head start on your plan B Send me an email the expat files at gmail.com