#1299 – The Expat Files: Living in Latin America, Pest Management, Bitcoin, and Fire Safety

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 All right back in the saddle again Speaking of saddles how many of you guys and gals out there have ever ridden a horse? You know, I still don't get the fact that almost every young girl loves horses. Hey, I like horses too, but I don't love them

[00:47] What I don't like and what I don't love is cats And rats rhymes with cats and I hate rats. Don't y'all hate rats. I don't think anybody likes rats Though I did have a friend back in grade school up in Chicago who had a pet rat in a cage and all that You know white rat Was always afraid to pet it thought it would take a chunk out of me. Anyway now on that horse thing I know it's a very expensive hobby, but down here in Latin America. Not so much at all I know a few couples a few older gringo couples who came down on their plan B And the lady always wanted a horse and she got one and one of those ladies She tells me up on the stage. She could never afford to board and feed her own horse much less afford the veterinary bills Hmm. Speaking of horse veterinary bills. I wonder if she got any of that horse space, you know, Ivermectin

[01:37] Remember when those bullshit rumors were going around I still say if I ever ran into that ass wipe Dr. Falsy face-to-face I'd give him one right in the kisser Then I'd give him an overdose a horse paste and about 30 kovid it boosters for a good measure But I digress. Where are we? Oh, yeah talking about owning horses here in Latin America if you're into it It's eminently affordable down here. It's like a fifth of the cost. So very affordable if that's your thing It ain't mine, but it could be yours. This might sound strange to you But I never in my whole life saw a rat except on the dissecting table in high school biology class aside from that I never saw a rat that wasn't a white rat till I moved to Latin America Now I'm well aware if you live in the big city like Chicago, New York, New Jersey, wherever people do see rats

[02:24] Especially in crap neighborhoods where the garbage is piling up That's one of the reasons you occasionally see a rat here and there in Latin America garbage piling up Not to say they don't have garbage pickup and it is on a certain schedule Problem is they let it pile up in boxes and bags. It's generally left right out on the street. Not in garbage cans It seems having a nice garbage can with a sealed top has not settled into the culture of Latin America yet Even in some of the nicest gated guarded communities You'll see people often just tossing their garbage bags out on the front curb Or they might have a garbage can or 55 gallon drum with an open top. No cover Which is an open invitation to dogs rats cockroaches and the occasional street urchin

[03:12] Personally, I don't get it because you can go down to the local feta Teria, you know hardware store and buy a nice solid garbage can with a top that seals quite nicely And yes, some people actually buy them Gringo's an ex-pastor. Of course, there's always that lack of maintenance thing, too Because you know, you could have a nice garbage can but they don't last forever Maybe a year two three five depends how you take care of them And if you whack them with your car on the driveway or out on the street Then of course the lid doesn't fit right anymore and it's an open invitation to dogs rats and even worse Now if you live in a nice gated guarded community there'll be a couple of maintenance guys and gardeners taking care of the grounds all the time and So you'll probably never ever see a rat or a stray dog in the colony That's what they call neighborhoods down here colonies

[04:01] Colonias like, you know a bee colony That's what I thought when I first heard that phrase being used bee colony It doesn't quite fit in the traditional American mind, but you get used to it. What do you think of when you hear the word colony? Anyway, I'm not trying to give you the impression that you're gonna see rats everywhere. You're not sometimes months and months ago by I don't see It's on garbage day, especially in congested areas of the big city But then again, I just read a stat that says that New York has ten times as many rats as people I think that number includes politicians Now as far as having rats or mice in the house God, I think I've lived in at least 15 to 20 apartments and houses since I've been near Latin America

[04:47] in only two of those places have I ever seen an actual rat or a mouse and Both of those places were first-floor rentals never a house that I built myself So then how'd they get in? Well, it's because as I've mentioned many times before Latinos don't use proper weather stripping. They don't use weather stripping at all 9 out of 10 Latinos don't even know what you're talking about if you mention the word and that of course means there's small spaces and openings under every single door Window frames aren't sealed so they leak air But mostly if critters are gonna come into your house like kookarachas mice rats geckos or snakes They're gonna sneak in under that door space where there is no weather strip so my advice, you know what that is get weather stripping as soon as you move into a place and

[05:34] Normally, it's not at all necessary on the windows But man put that weather stripping on the bottom of the entrance doors. You will think before that advice later Now I know what some of you newer listeners are thinking. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Johnny just mentioned snakes coming in under the front door Uh-uh. No way. I don't want any part of that Well, you know, I'd say about a year ago now on a previous show. I told my snake in the house story I know I scared a few gringa expat want to be ladies with that story Stuff like that's easily preventable if you've got weather stripping under the entrance doors And it's not as if snakes are everywhere. They're just hiding out on your door stoop waiting to sneak in Out of all the houses and rentals I've been in here in Latin America

[06:20] Like I said 15 to 20 anyway, there was only one place where I had a snake problem They actually snuck into the house twice. It was in one of my houses way out in the boonies Surrounded by nothing but tropical cloud forests and lots of overgrown trees and brush nearest neighbor Maybe three four blocks away and that's right. No weather stripping under the entrance doors Oh, and they weren't gigantic monster snakes. There are only little ones about a foot long babies You know because that little space under the door is only so wide but man I'll tell you I hit the hardware store in a hurry because as mentioned previously Most all big hardware stores have a section with weather stripping even though almost no one ever uses the stuff How can you tell well because when you sort through it? It's all dusty and you get that dust on your fingers as you're going through the various types on the shelves and in the bins

[07:12] Alright moving on. Let's take an email from Johnny says Johnny. I haven't heard anything lately about El Salvador's volcano bonds Where as I understand it the country of El Salvador would grant residency with the purchase of let's say a hundred thousand dollars worth of those bonds He says I couldn't find much on a search except for one report that it's been scrapped Is that true? Anyhow Johnny? Thanks for the show. I listened to all of your shows signed John Alright, thanks for that John You know, I've got quite a stack of emails from people asking that very same question because I don't know why but it seems like All kinds of people listen to this show who've got Bitcoin and crypto are also interested in buying some Bitcoin Volcano bonds from El Salvador. Hmm. How'd that happen?

[07:58] Could it be that because on this show we've been talking about Bitcoin and recommending cryptos since about 2013 Anyway, as you probably well know Bitcoins outperformed every single investment vehicle over the past year. It's up a hundred and fifty percent and I predict though. I'm not a guru. I'm not clairvoyant I don't have a crystal ball, but people ask me all the time What do I think is gonna happen at Bitcoin and crypto in the next year? Well with those 14 ETFs slated to be approved by the SEC in the next couple months and The Bitcoin having coming I think it's in April, right? It comes every four years and we've got another coming up just a couple months and the fact that the US government is completely and utterly bankrupt beyond broke and

[08:48] that even government predictions themselves which are almost always wrong and Underestimate reality and put a positive spin on things as if they're doing something, right? Anyway government stats themselves say that within five years Every single dollar collected in taxes in the US will go to pay debt and or entitlement programs Which means there will not be one cent left over to pay for actual physical infrastructure programs But you knew that already, right? So anyway my prediction for Bitcoin in 2024 and I'm being very conservative here 100 grand listen it went up 150 percent in the last year. It's at 42,000 as we speak That means it only has a pop another hundred twenty percent and we're at a hundred K

[09:38] Now about those volcano bonds out of El Salvador There was a lot of talk about them over the last couple years, right? But as Bitcoin dropped and fell into a bear market Hanging around 15 to 25 K for about a year or more That meant the Bitcoin that El Salvador had in its Treasury was in the red taken a loss But now that Bitcoin has passed 30 K. Like I said, it's around 42 as we speak I just happened to see a little press release yesterday that came out of El Salvador saying El Salvador's Bitcoin investment is now in the black by 30 million dollars and so Those volcano bonds are on the table again. Not only that standard and poor, you know That rates bond issues and such and Moody's you've heard of them have upgraded the quality of Salvador's bonds

[10:25] Twice in the last year funny thing is to that almost never happens with third world countries standard and pours and Moody's almost always downgrade the bonds as countries get deeper and deeper into debt even technically bankrupt like Argentina Venezuela and Italy Greece and Turkey too as well as guess who the US government who were by the way Just downgraded again by Moody's and Standard Pours Yep, you heard that right the US government's credit rating their bond rating has just been Downgraded by Moody's and Standard Port in your lifetime. Can you ever remember that happening? Yeah Well, the lame stream news media is not making any kind of big deal about it or reporting on it at all But it is, you know a really big event

[11:12] Anyway, as for John's question about volcano bonds in El Salvador We can expect to hear a lot more information a lot more details coming out in the next couple months because you see was all sort of dependent on Salvador's own Bitcoin stash and being that they were in the red for the last year and a half They've had nothing but a constant barrage of bad international press on the subject But now that Salvador's Bitcoin investment is solidly in the black book alleys looking like a hero Oddly enough though. The international press media hasn't said a thing typical, huh? Anyway, I understand that all the financial particulars regarding those volcano bonds are in place They've got the international brokers set up to sell the product It's just a matter of good timing because you know, the IMF will bank the bank for international settlements, etc, etc

[12:02] They absolutely hate the idea of volcano bonds tied to Bitcoin Why because they've got no fiduciary control over them at all Volcano bonds will be completely outside the regular banking system and the IMF and the big banksters Absolutely hate that which is why if you've heard any press at all about those volcano bonds It's been bad press from, you know who the captured lame Street media By the way, just yesterday book lay posted some very interesting things on Twitter X Let me read some of them here. He says contrary to the hopes of many first world bankers El Salvador's Bitcoin investments are in the black after literally

[12:48] thousands and thousands of articles and hit pieces that ridiculed our supposed losses for the last year and a half all of which were Calculated based on bitcoins market price at the time. However, boo Kool-Aid goes on to say now that we're well into the black International media sources are strangely silent Then book lay adds that we have no intention of selling our Bitcoin We are fully aware the price will fluctuate and it doesn't affect our long-term strategy at all He says since October 2021 about three years ago The country has purchased Bitcoin 11 times at various prices with its most recent purchase taking place well below the $20,000 mark in late 2022 and at today's Bitcoin prices El Salvador as well

[13:34] Into the black showing a profit on all Bitcoin investments to date Then he says get this and it was just yesterday It's important that the naysayers and the authors of these hit pieces take back their statements book Lee posted this morning The responsible thing to do would to be for them to issue retractions and offer apologies or at the very least acknowledge that El Salvador is Yielding a profit. We are well into the black just as they repeatedly reported Hundreds and hundreds of times that we were incurring terrible losses Putting our country's economic foundations in danger Meanwhile the opposite is true with El Salvador continuing to stand as the foremost example of national crypto adoption With its Bitcoin experiment demonstrating an alternative path for countries all over the world that might seek to escape

[14:24] dollars as the world reserve asset and to escape the dominance and control of International central banks and bankers in other related news get this all eyes are now on Argentina as its new president Javier melee a libertarian Has announced he will dismantle the country's central bank and allow Bitcoin to be used freely Along with dollars and gold and any other currency its citizens might choose. So yes folks Bitcoin and cryptos time has come now personally, my own family has asked me lots of questions about Bitcoin and I recommend to them and Of course, it isn't always possible for them to own at least one Bitcoin

[15:11] Because it's my feeling and a lot of friends and nerd buddies who are a hell of a lot smarter than I am That if you have just one Bitcoin within five years, it'll be so valuable. You may never have to work again Now that's not investment advice But advice I've given my own family and guess what about half of my family bought in To Bitcoin when it was between four and five thousand bucks and you know I tried to get him in at a thousand Well, and they wind and they hesitated then it went to three then four grand and they said what the hell I'll give it a shot Some of them bought just one some of them three or four and guess what every single one of them has about a 10x On their investment. Oh, but they wind it hesitated when Bitcoin was around 5k

[15:58] But here's how I convinced him I said look you buy what you can at 5k one or two or three Whatever and I said to him at the next halving which is gonna be around April 2024 I said if they're worth less than five thousand bucks, I'll buy them back from you at 5k what you put in Well, they like that deal. All right, so they bought in and guess what now it's 42k and my next prediction And it's not investment advice. Now. We've got another 10x coming within I'd say the next three years But hey, if you don't believe me, go ahead sit on the sideline That way you'll have a good story to tell your grandkids how you missed out on the opportunity of a lifetime Actually, you missed out on two or three opportunities of a lifetime because you had a chance to get in

[16:44] Really early when it was a hundred or five hundred or a thousand You know what? I've found so funny about crypto in general in Bitcoin Everybody you talk to has an opinion on it. They've had it all along since inception maybe 12-13 years ago Especially people who never took the chance to buy any of it They always have lots of opinions almost all of them negative. In fact unless you bring it up Most people don't even think about crypto. They're not in the industry They only casually read or hear about it sometimes and what they read is in the controlled lame stream media So it's all negative. They don't have any plans to buy it and they don't like it when other people buy it and say hey Look how much it's gone up They've got zero Bitcoin zero altcoins, but lots of opinions when you ask them almost never a positive opinion either

[17:32] They secretly want Bitcoin to go to zero because they don't have any They missed out on the first two or three big runs and they secretly resent the fact that some of their buddies some nerd guy Friend they knew told them about it a long time ago when his kick an ass and they never pulled the trigger deep down They don't like that. You know, I see it all the time. You speak to someone about crypto They've got zero crypto though They say they always meant to get some but they won't because they're so sure that Bitcoin is a scam or a Ponzi scheme They talk about hearing this guy or that guy who lost all his coins somewhere and they don't want to be that guy Not realizing that stuff rarely happens anymore That only happens these days when people are stupid about where they store their coins or more technically their 12 or 24 word

[18:23] Keys that only happens to people who keep their coins on exchanges like coinbase finance or by bit and not in a cold wallet in their own possession like a treasure or a nano if You've got a hard storage wallet bad things can't happen to you But guess what a hard storage wallet costs maybe 70 to 100 bucks You wouldn't believe how many people don't want to make that little investment just to keep their coins safe On top of that people don't like the fact that they missed out in the early days on Tesla Microsoft Amazon, that's why a lot of people secretly want to see Elon Musk crash and burn That's how people feel who didn't pull the trigger on Bitcoin. So anyway, many times I'll be talking to a gringo and They'll say cryptos a scam and I'll say did you ever have any they'll say no. Have you ever transacted with the stuff?

[19:13] They'll say no They've got zero experience, but massive negative opinions on the subject You could tell they secretly do not like the idea of anyone else making money on crypto cuz they have it Expat Eddie says it's like someone you run into who's just won the lottery He's all happy and excited to tell you about it and secretly you're thinking shut up Why don't you lucky asshole and I'll tell you what's gonna happen a hundred percent This is gonna happen those same people are gonna have a massive shot They're gonna get slapped in the face when someday very soon, too. They'll wake up and see on the news There's been a fantastic financial disaster Maybe the US announces displacing harsh currency controls on everyone who's got a bank account Like what's happening in Argentina and Venezuela right now or maybe some first world country or two or ten will declare bankruptcy

[20:03] And they're sovereign bonds like US treasuries take a huge hit or default or maybe yours and a dozen other first world banks will fail They'll lock up your deposits You won't be able to make any wire transfers or withdrawals and that's when the average non crypto user is gonna panic and they're gonna pile in Sending Bitcoin from a hundred grand to five hundred grand and beyond personally I think when Bitcoin approaches a hundred K That's when the world's gonna wake up all the people that never had a single crypto that kept saying Bitcoin is a scam a Ponzi scheme. That's when all the stragglers and lagers are gonna jump in They'll become true believers a little late But nevertheless true believers and all you guys and gals out there who've got just one Bitcoin Something you bought at a grand or five grand ten grand twenty whatever you'll be patting yourself on the back

[20:51] You'll consider yourself one of the luckiest SOBs in the world at that moment You'll realize you've got yourself a winning lottery ticket. You've heard of f you money, right? Now you've got some of your very own f you money and you really never have to work again if you don't want to oh And by the way, if you're still confused about Bitcoin and crypto and blockchain and all that You want to get in but you don't know who to trust because you've heard about a little scammers out there You know what? That's no excuse. It's never been a good excuse. Not if you're a frequent listener to this show Anyway, remember our own captain mango who's been into crypto for ten years now He'll train you up get you up to speed over the computer and on a series of signal calls He'll hold your hand and walk you through some real transactions

[21:38] Show you how to get in and out of crypto exchanges how to change between various crypto products how to cash in and out of Dollars and how to use one of those famous offline hard wallets to keep your private keys. Absolutely safe if you're interested, just shoot captain mango an email at be where Captain mango at gmail.com. That's beware captain mango at gmail.com. Oh And remember you don't have to buy a whole Bitcoin or a whole ethereum You can buy the tiniest little fraction there out In fact, many people who don't have lots of dope dollar cost average that is every week or every month They buy let's say a hundred or two hundred dollars worth of crypto at that day's price

[22:23] And in no time it really adds up you've heard of that buying method right dollar cost averaging Anyway, ask captain mango about it. He's your man He's trained up quite a few of our listeners and if you come to my next expat insider seminar You'll hear him talk about it Now if you recall I announced on last week's show my next expat insider seminar will start Friday, March 8th 2024 through March 15th 2024 It's a week long actually eight days long and the price does include eight nights in our hotels So for all the info agenda and sign up details Just go to expat plan be dot-com and click on the seminar link. That's expat plan be dot-com

[23:12] Once again repeat offenders will get a thousand dollars discount off that price We always have repeat offenders You know and really if you want to know if the seminars worth it repeat offenders are the best advertisement of all I mean really think about it if it wasn't worth it. Why would so many people Repeat the seminar not once or twice, but three different times Yeah, we've had people repeat the seminar three times must be something extra special going on could be or is it maybe because I'm So tall dark and handsome nah can't be I'm a solid six Anyway mark your calendar for Friday, March 8th 2024 through March 15th Sign up soon to get in on those early bird discounts. Just go to expat plan be dot-com

[23:59] Alright now an email from Chris. He says Johnny I wonder if you've ever talked about fire safety in Latin America For example so many of the hotels and hostels in Latin America have really heavy security bars to keep the bad people out Some even have steel lacking gates that can only open electronically from the front desk Which seems to me gives very limited options for getting out in the case of a fire I guess the one advantage is that these buildings are typically a hundred percent cement in steel So the fire probably doesn't spread nearly as fast All right that comes from Chris Well Chris, you know after being down here a couple of decades now Occasionally you do hear about a fire here and there but it's almost always in the ragtag really horseshit sections of town

[24:46] Where people haphazardly build stuff with wood and don't have the dough to pour concrete There are seasons to where you can predict there will be an occasional fire Like around Christmas and Easter where people blow off massive amounts of fireworks Even then it's a building or two in the crap neighborhoods that catch fire because they're stick-built And most all the time when you drive through those neighborhoods You know there is no zoning and no one's got any building permits to build that kind of stuff because it's all ragtag very tight quarters and Kind of a fire trap in general By the way if you're staying in a hotel or hostel Let's stick-built not made of concrete and steel all I can think is that you must be on an extremely low backpacker budget Because even most $10 a night joints are concrete steel and glass by the way

[25:35] I once had a big-time kitchen fire That's because the natural gas line Melted and caught fire because the idiots didn't use the right gauge tubing or the right thickness or quality They've got building codes down here. All right, but remember no one inspects to see if they're following them once again It's a case of Latino contractors cutting corners. It's the honor system and some ain't so honorable Now it took me about one minute to put out the fire because I have a handy fire extinguisher in my kitchen All charged up and hanging on the wall Yeah, you can buy them down here in the big hardware stores for maybe 10 to 20 bucks Yeah, really ought to have one or two now if I didn't have that extinguisher I'm sure my kitchen cabinets would have been up and smoke, but that would be about the end of it Nothing else in that building could catch fire. It's all concrete and steel

[26:23] Oh, and one other thing I should mention in the big markets oftentimes that people live there Tienda on the first floor and stick-built apartment above crowded as hell and people living right on top each other So naturally every year or so there's a big fire in one of those places and it's a disaster Whole blocks go up and smoke but rest assured if you're the average gringo living down here and enjoying your plan B You'll be living in a house or apartment. That's cement block and concrete in a place. That's almost impossible to catch fire Though I visited a few houses and I've been in a few kitchens where the cook or mommy or grandma Who's ever making dinner has had a kitchen fire a grease fire cuz they love to cook with pans full of grease and deep fryers

[27:11] Pretty much why so many people are overweight, too So there is that risk of a grease fire in the kitchen I've seen a few of those but again any damage is very limited as long as the place is made out of concrete Block and steel my advice go to the hardware store buy a nice fire extinguisher Maybe to put one in the laundry room and in the kitchen why the laundry room? Well, if you've got a gas dryer, that's why You've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America 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