Episode Summary
In this episode, Johnny Mueller shares a series of stories and insights from his experiences living and working in Latin America. He begins by recounting a traffic stop in Mexico where he was pulled over by a cop with a non-functional radar gun, highlighting the prevalence of bribery in some countries. He offers advice to expats on how to handle such situations, noting that in countries like Mexico and Costa Rica, bribes can be significant, while in others like Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, they are lower and more negotiable. Johnny also shares a personal anecdote about a similar encounter in Chicago during his engineering school days, emphasizing the importance of understanding local customs and legal procedures.
Next, Johnny discusses his attempt to contest a radar speed ticket by consulting his microwave engineering professor, Dr. Petzl. He learned that radar guns are more accurate when the officer is close to the road, with an error margin of plus or minus two percent. When officers are farther away, errors compound significantly, especially in speed traps. Using this knowledge, Johnny created a diagram and supporting evidence to challenge the ticket in court, ultimately deciding to contest it to avoid paying a $120 fine.
In another story, Johnny recounts his experience with a police radar gun where he attempted to prove that the device was used incorrectly. He was nervous about presenting his case in court, but the police officer failed to appear, leading to the case being dismissed. A journalist friend later explained that the officer likely avoided appearing because he anticipated that Johnny's case might have been strong, potentially leading to a public story and a shift in how radar guns are perceived. Johnny also reflects on the use of electronic speed signs on roads, questioning their purpose and effectiveness, and notes that some countries like South Korea and Scandinavia fund such projects in Latin America.
Moving on, Johnny discusses the maintenance of medical equipment in Latin America, highlighting how companies like GE Medical and Westinghouse maintain their equipment through long-term contracts. He also critiques Ecuador for its foreign currency exit tax (ISD), which he views as a political tool rather than a temporary measure. He contrasts this with the U.S. federal income tax, which he claims was initially a temporary tax for World War I but has since become permanent. Johnny also criticizes Wikipedia for its biased and inaccurate information, especially regarding modern science and pharmacology.
Finally, Johnny critiques the overreliance on Wikipedia as a definitive source of information, particularly among Latin Americans. He argues that Wikipedia is not a reliable source due to its lack of editorial control and the potential for misinformation. He highlights the irony that many smart Latinos and Latinas trust Wikipedia without questioning its credibility. Using the example of a Latina who takes extensive health precautions, such as using supplements and avoiding certain materials, he illustrates how some individuals are more informed than others, even if they are not exposed to alternative media. He concludes by promoting his expat seminar as a way to gain more knowledge and planning for expat life.
Episode Notes
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller shares his experiences with traffic stops, legal challenges, and cultural nuances in Latin America. From radar gun encounters to courtroom battles and critiques of Wikipedia, Johnny provides a deep dive into the realities of expat life in the region.
For more episodes, seminar information, resources, and the full archive, visit ExpatPlanB.com.
Keep exploring
Related guides: Moving to Guatemala · Healthcare in Latin America · Cost of Living in Latin America
Related episodes
Search the full episode archiveBrowse practical guidesExplore the Expat Insider SeminarAsk about a consultation
Topics
Living in Latin America, Expat experiences, Bribery in Latin America, Radar guns and traffic stops, Cultural differences in law enforcement, Radar gun accuracy, Contesting speed tickets, Engineering principles in legal cases, Courtroom experience, Journalism and media, Speed monitoring technology, Government spending and international aid
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:14 Introduction to the Expat Files Podcast 00:00:26 Overview of the Expat Files Podcast 00:01:16 Johnny's Experience with Bribes in Mexico and Costa Rica 00:02:57 Johnny's Advice on Dealing with Bribes in Mexico 00:04:12 Johnny's Recommendation to Avoid Costa Rica Due to High Bribes 00:05:05 Johnny's Personal Anecdote About a Radar Gun Incident 00:05:55 The Idea to Contest the Ticket 00:06:00 Consulting Dr. Petzl 00:06:07 Understanding Radar Gun Mechanics 00:06:17 Asking Dr. Petzl About Accuracy 00:06:22 Discussing Radar Gun Error Margins 00:06:24 Exploring the Possibility of Error 00:06:29 Dr. Petzl's Explanation of Accuracy 00:06:34 Clarifying the Accuracy Context 00:11:51 Curiosity and Preparation for the Courtroom 00:11:54 Johnny's Plan to Prove the Radar Gun Was Used Incorrectly 00:12:00 Johnny's Determination to Present His Case 00:12:07 Johnny's Nervousness and the Courtroom Setup 00:12:17 The Cop's Absence and the Case Dismissal 00:12:34 The Judge's Decision and Johnny's Relief 00:12:46 Johnny's Reflection on the Outcome 00:13:09 Johnny's Speculation on the Cop's Absence 00:17:52 Medical Equipment Maintenance in Latin America 00:19:37 Ecuador's Foreign Currency Exit Tax (ISD) 00:21:26 U.S. Federal Income Tax History 00:22:17 Criticism of Wikipedia's Reliability 00:23:30 Wikipedia's Reliability in Question 00:24:01 Critique of Latin American Trust in Wikipedia 00:24:47 A Latina's Health Awareness and Alternative Media
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 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 Hey, my new year got off to a terrific start How about yours for me about 11 hours into the new year? I got pulled over by a cop who was using a radar gun has that happened to you I'm sure it has to most of you at one time or another right, but it's been a long long time for me
[00:49] I've been pulled over by a cop with a radar gun for over 20 years and last time I was in Mexico You longtime listeners might remember me telling that story. I Was driving on the so-called Mexican Riviera between Tulum headed towards Playa del Carmen got pulled over by two cops with a radar gun Of course, I asked to see the reading on the gun and they wouldn't show it to me that's when I knew something was up and You know, there's only two places in Latin America. You can't play the dumb gringo. That'd be in Mexico and Costa Rica That's part of the loss of your gringo advantage in those two countries the more gringo smiling the less your advantage Nope in Mexico and Costa Rica that no hablo español thing does not get you far
[01:36] Whereas in the rest of Latin America the cops usually just get flummoxed and wave you on through So I repeated got pulled over by two cops holding a radar gun and later on well a few minutes later I was out of the car and I was walking around their pickup truck Their Petruya or patrol car and I saw the radar gun was in the truck bed And I also noticed the back of the gun was open, you know the place where the battery goes There were just a few wires hanging out. I realized then there was no battery in the thing so they didn't clock me after all they were just you know looking for a payout and Who was I to argue? I think they got 50 bucks out of me You know the best way to deal with cops who you suspect really want a bribe is just to say something like this
[02:24] In case you know, you're worried. You might get in trouble for actually mentioning the word bribe or mortita Knowing that if you're up in the States and let's say get pulled over by the state patrol. That'll get you in big trouble Anyway, when you get pulled over by a cop in Latin America, especially in Mexico All you have to tell them is that you're in a big hurry and if there's a fine you'd like to pay it now Yep, those are the magic words just in case, you know You're actually confronted with an honest cop in that case if you're worried if you choose your words carefully You can never get accused of offering a bribe But in my experience I'd say one out of a thousand Mexican cops are honest So that chance you'll ever meet one just think about it. If you say to the guy look if there's a fine I'm in a real big hurry. Can I pay it now? You can't really construe that as offering a bribe
[03:13] Whereas expat Eddie's a little more blatant when he's in Mexico He takes a $50 bill folds it behind his driver's license clipped to his license with a paper clip Eddie's not worried. He believes he'll never run into an honest Mexican cop By the way, all bribes to Latin cops are negotiable. I bet you were thinking I was gonna say tax deductible No, not quite, but they should be of course in the rest of Latin America the cops want bribes, too Though I found Mexican cops always want the biggest bribes. They might start at a hundred or two hundred bucks Whereas the cops in Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Bolivia those cops and non gringo tourists countries They'll start out low and generally settle for 20 in any event. You can always work them down Just don't pull out your wallet and show them a watt
[03:59] Oh and Costa Rica is another country where the bribes are really hefty Recently one of my gringo buddies living in Costa Rica told me he was hit up for five hundred dollars He worked them down to a hundred but still in the world of standard cop bribes That's outrageous another good reason to skip Costa Rica. After all, it's a completely tourist-based country And they know just how much they can lean on a gringo for a bribe And even if you don't have the cash on hand I have heard of cases firsthand where they'll take you to the ATM Yep, the cops will take you right to the cash machine pretty blatant, huh? You wonder how they learned that trick So anyway on the first day of 2024 I got nicked by a cop with a radar gun and the thing actually worked He showed me the screen, but I also noticed the gun was scruffy and scratched and pretty well beat up
[04:46] You know like it's been dropped on the ground a hundred times There was even a chunk of plastic missing from the housing now. I have to tell you Some time ago a long time ago. I became pretty much an expert in radar guns of all things I know. I know you're thinking. Yeah, right Johnny. Tell us another one Well, I believe in all the 1300 plus shows I've done. I never told this story Stop me if I have if I did tell it already could be Alzheimer's kicking in in that case. I don't want to know Anyway way back when I was in engineering school in Chicago I got pulled over and ticketed by a cop with a radar on my way to school one day The ticket was something like 120 bucks. Now that was way back when
[05:32] Today's value of that 120 bucks would be probably 500 with inflation and all And here I was a broke student and I think it was my third year of engineering school It said on the back of the form if I wanted to contest it I could go to court on a given day Just called the number on the back It said to reserve your spot in the court to have a hearing with the judge And man, the wheels were turning in my head. I thought is there a way to technically contest this and win? I know i'll ask dr. Petzl. So that very day when I was at school, I knocked on the door of dr. Petzl He was one of my professors who taught a class called principles of microwaves and I knew cop radar guns worked in the microwave range So I asked dr. Petzl the real nice slow talking guy
[06:22] What kind of accuracy Radar guns have was there a chance to prove significant error when they took the reading? He said well, they're pretty damn good if they're very parallel to the road In other words The closer the cops use in the thing are to the road The more accurate they are probably plus or minus two percent He said in other words, he said if the cops right on the side of the road and you're clocked at 100 miles an hour Your true speed would range between 98 and 102 miles per hour Plus or minus two percent However, he said the farther they are off the road when they're taking their reading For example, if they're far back from the road hiding from you in a speed trap behind a big mounded dirt or a road sign
[07:07] That happens a lot i'm sure you've seen it For example, if the cops are 50 feet or so off the shoulder of the road In that case he said the errors start compounding really fast It all depended on which point in the process they pulled the trigger How many cars were in your grouping and how many cars were going the other way down the road? Where a reflected microwave signal could bounce back and there's a very simple equation for that By the way, it said right on the ticket medium heavy traffic So I had that in my favor too meaning there were lots of cars around lots of bouncing reflected and refracting signals There were plenty of ways Errors could be introduced into the system According to dr. Petzel. The question was how do I explain it to the judge if I ended up contesting it in court?
[07:58] First of all, it would involve making a nice diagram of the scene of the crime starting with a triangle With one line being the road another line being the perpendicular distance a right angle off the road That would be the distance from the road to where the cops were taking their readings With leg three of the triangle being the angle of intercept the hypotenuse of the triangle The direct line of fire from the radar gun to my car Then he said draw me that triangle so I did and he said look you got to go back out there again Paste it off and put the numbers in the equation Then we'll figure out the real error and if you got a case So the next day I did took like 10 minutes Turns out the distance the cops were sitting in that speed trap from the road permitted a range of air anywhere from 11
[08:44] Plus or minus to 18 plus or minus Now if the cops are sitting right on the edge of the road, you're going to see them They'll usually back off from the road somewhere. So you don't see them till it's too late which compounds the error I'm sure they're never taught that in cop school Anyway, they clocked me at 70 in a 55 zone again. That was years ago up in chicago down here It's kilometers. So you'll have to get used to that. It's another whole different story So acting on the advice of my microwave engineering professor. Dr Petzold I bought a big poster board drew an aerial view of the place where I got nab Made a reasonable facsimile of the cop car my car the shrubbery the place The cops had been hiding the additional cars going by and alongside me
[09:33] In my lane and the oncoming traffic lane as well. I used thick magic marker to draw the error equation It was pretty simple Oh and I brought along my microwave engineering book to prove that the equation existed And I was even able to get from our engineering library a schematic of an actual police radar gun Which was a godsend because in a small footnote it explained how operational errors increased with distance from the road Now just for the record I was speeding a bit I don't know how much but I really couldn't afford to lose 120 bucks and I figured hell Maybe I could beat this thing wouldn't hurt to try. What have I got to lose? Hey, it was a long time ago and maybe I even thought I could bluff my way through it with a good presentation
[10:20] Anyway, the day came I went to the courthouse with my big old poster I was sitting on the hall with probably another 20 people all waiting for their time in court for various reasons You know a couple guys drunk and disorderly some wife beaters others there for traffic violations They wanted to contest and by the way on the other side of the hall sat the police officers who? Were witnesses to these crimes and misdemeanors and my cop was there too the one that gave me the ticket So then all the cops sitting there across the hall Were obliged to be in the courtroom when the cases came up so the judge could ask him questions if need be That's why my particular cop was there. He got me on radar. He gave me the ticket Now I remember acknowledging this guy. He was sitting almost right across from me
[11:08] He was staring at my poster board saw my diagram saw me holding my engineering textbook And of course so did everyone else sitting on both sides. I looked the odd one. I was the only one there with props Anyway my cop he heard me talking to the other guys around me who are also gonna appear in court for various reasons We'd all sat there at least an hour or so waiting for our turns You know, this is government and government operates very slowly like molasses So naturally people said i'm here for this or for that People were talking about their cases here and there, you know, no one's guilty. Everyone's innocent, you know Including me. Of course. I was the only guy with the props. So everybody I mean everybody was curious about me because I
[11:54] Was toting all this stuff and I said i'm an engineering student and i'm here to prove that the cops who use that radar Did so in error i'm gonna prove they used it incorrectly and all this stuff right here is gonna prove it And then came my time in front of the judge. I set up my poster ready to start my spiel I was pretty nervous. I'd never done this kind of thing before. I'd never been in a courtroom. I mean really who has Anyway, five minutes went by and there I was but no cop the judge said send in officer So-and-so the bailiff or whoever he was went out into the hall and another five minutes went by Then the bailiff or some official guy said to the judge officer. So-and-so is a no-show Then the judge looked at me tapped his hammer down and said case dismissed
[12:40] And man was I relieved? But a few seconds later, I felt kind of short change. I never got to state my case I was nervous but kind of looking forward to it. But hey, i'll take the no-show. I'll take the win And as I went out back into the hall I kept wondering about what just happened since the cop was looking at me for the past half hour sitting Practically right across from me. It was a brainteaser. All right. Did the guy have an emergency or something? I just couldn't figure out what happened except to think He thought maybe I really did have a case with all the technical stuff I had on hand and didn't want to look bad in front of the judge if the judge ruled for me However, that explanation didn't seem quite satisfactory either And when I told dr Petzel he said you did it good for you though. I never thought it was a legit win
[13:29] So anyway, some years went by I graduated from engineering school and I ended up living next door to a Chicago tribute reporter a byline reporter Meaning he had an article on the front page or the second page Anyway every single day and one day sitting at a party at I don't know if it was his house or mine I brought that story up when someone there brought up the fact they just got nailed by a cop with a radar gun Just that day And that's when my buddy the chicago tribune reporter Filled me in on why he felt that cop ducked out at the last minute Can you guess well until that moment? I wouldn't have imagined it that way But my buddy the reporter he knew the chicago court system. All right He'd done many a story on it and he said he'd be willing to bet the real reason the guy didn't show up
[14:16] Because he knew If I won that case and there was a good chance I would being that I was really prepared above and beyond the call of duty There definitely would have been a reasonable doubt. Anyway, he said if I would have won it would have been a juicy story for the paper for sure One of the reporters on the court detail would have picked up on it would have been a nice amusing filler story engineering student proves cop radar guns are inaccurate and the word would get out pretty fast that radar guns have built-in error He said it wouldn't take long for the chicago court system to get clogged up with people who'd been nabbed by cops Contesting the accuracy of radar guns you get the picture Sounds to me. He said that cop ducking out at the last minute seemed like a plan
[15:02] So how about all you guys and gals out there? What do you think? Oh and my journalist neighbor buddy also said he wouldn't doubt in the next few days after that court no-show event All the chicago precincts had a little presentation about the proper use of doppler radar guns Have you ever heard of a story like that before? Well, you could say I've led a pretty interesting life But back to the auspicious beginning of 2024 being nailed by a latino cop with a radar gun Well, you know, I'm not as feisty as I used to be so I didn't give a thought to wanted to fight it In court, there'd be lots of time and effort wasted Didn't even cross my mind, but it did cross my mind to say to the cop, you know, I'm in a big hurry
[15:50] I understand there might be a fine here. Would it be all right if I paid it here and now? And let me tell you suddenly me and that cop became pretty good friends So in the end after a bit of dickering cost me 35 bucks By the way on the same subject You know what i've been noticing more and more though most exclusively on toll roads and latin american superhighway Seems just recently i've been seeing electronic road signs that flash your speed as you approach In other words, they've got some kind of radar going that's checking each car as it goes by But there are no cops or actual humans around I don't get it really Who would allocate the money the technology etc, etc? Just the flash the speed you're driving at it wasn't necessarily a speed trap
[16:37] There was no one to find you or stop you you have to wonder what the hell good are those things? I'm starting to see them all over the place Look, we've all got speedometers on our car dashboards, right? So we all know what speed we're driving at Do we really need a five thousand dollar flashing poster that'll die soon due to lack of maintenance? Does a big flashing billboard like that make you want to drive slower? I don't see how there's no deterrent Just wondering though another stupid government do nothing project. Well, that's what you'd think, right? Just another foolish waste of money. However, if you read the spanish language newspapers occasionally They'll be an article about some benevolent charity or even government or ngo By the way, the south koreans and the scandinavian countries in europe are really good for this one
[17:26] They'll donate a bunch of money earmarked for latin american ambulances or fire trucks police patrol cars streetlights Or just for a particular latin american country's transit authority in general and some of that money After it's been skimmed a few times Actually ends up being used for that purpose Problem is and you've heard me say this many times the word maintenance here in latin america almost doesn't exist Except and this is a good thing when it comes to high tech hospital equipment like cat scans monitors ultrasonic equipment, etc It turns out the gringos and europeans who sell that stuff learned their lesson a long time ago They won't sell it here unless you buy a first world long term or even lifetime maintenance contract
[18:12] That's why medical machinery and medical technology companies like westinghouse and hulid packard ge medical etc Have an office and a maintenance department in every big latin american city That's why you can have faith in and trust so many the first world hospitals here in latin america All of their technology is being maintained properly because they have to buy the maintenance agreement or Ge medical won't sell the machine By the way, just like your computer and iphone etc Companies are always updating their software and firmware So the hospital and clinic equipment down here have the latest and greatest updates Keep that in mind next time you end up in a latin american clinic or hospital private clinic or hospital that is Don't panic. They usually have things well in hand
[18:59] All right, moving on. You know, I never really recommended ecuador for a good plan b strategy Nice place to visit wouldn't want to live there In addition to the fact that me personally, you know, i'm a type a personality always, you know up and at him I find ecuador personally boring though. You might not It may be just fine if you want to fade into the sunset if that's your idea of a perfect plan b It ain't mine great place though to get off the grid do some farming and write the great un-american novel If you're so inclined to each his own However, i've got a big list of reasons why I don't like ecuador besides the fact that it's utterly boring One of the things that really torques me about ecuador. They've got this terrible law called the foreign currency exit tax the isd
[19:46] Have you heard of it? Well, let me clue you in It's a tax you're forced to pay by the ecuadorian government if you travel abroad If you use cash or credit or debit cards when traveling abroad or make any kind of purchases Outside of ecuador like for example ebay or amazon Now it wouldn't be so bad if it was a tiny little tax and you barely noticed it like 0.05 or 0.5 percent, but get this as it stands you have to pay 3.75 percent if you're an ecuadorian resident or citizen traveling outside the country or buying anything from outside the country By the way, that includes sending money to relatives or friends or companies abroad through remittances or with bank and wire transfers Even western union 3.75 percent is a pretty big gouge
[20:34] To make it simple if you buy something from amazon for a thousand bucks. You got to pay the government 3750 the problem is what started out as a temporary tax became a political tool almost all previous Presidential candidates have promised to lower it to two percent But once they get into office, they never do why because it's a huge windfall for the government. In fact, just from january 2023 through may which is what five months the ecuadorian government collected 456 million dollars in those so-called isd tax collections meaning they're lard as governments addicted to that money After all, you know what milton freeman said there's nothing more permanent than a temporary government tax By the way, did you know that the federal income tax in the us is a temporary tax?
[21:23] When it first went into effect in 1913 It was a temporary tax to pay for world war one And in 1913 when the federal income tax went into effect, it was called the 16th amendment Less than one percent of the population one in a hundred paid income taxes at all and the highest rate at that time was only One percent one percent of net income and now in 2024 for some it's 30 times as much By the way, if you look it up on wikipedia, it says the us feds kept the federal tax system Because of the growing demand by the public for public services and progressive era social stability programs Bullshit wikipedia man. I can't tell you how I hate wikipedia. They're just a bunch of Liars makes me laugh when you can look up something on wikipedia and they say go ahead add your comment here
[22:13] It's supposed to be interactive, right? But they lie about that. You can't add your comment It's run by a bunch of malignantly woke self-proclaimed progressives who are actually retards You know what i'm talking about if you look up any kind of herbal remedies or holistic medicine or things like vitamin c They'll say they're unproven unscientifically proven or sound even dangerous quackery They'll tell you dr Falsy's the king of the science shit pile they'll tell you ivermectin's horse pace and hydroxychloroquine a dangerous and evil drug It'll tell you robert kennedy jr. Is a conspiracy theory nutcase And that malay the new president of argentina is nothing more than a tantric sex Practitioner who consults with his dogs and walks around with a chainsaw only in the small print way down the page Do they say he's written 10 books on economics and has two economics master's degrees
[23:03] I'll tell you how much I like wikipedia if I ever run into somebody at a party or something when they're saying Hey, what do you do? Who me? Well, I work for wikipedia You know what? I can practically guarantee you that guy's going to leave the party with a broken nose and a shoe up his ass However, I found that there are a few things Wikipedia does get right when they're talking about geography or ancient history or sports and entertainment But when it comes to modern science topical news and pharmacology They're completely captured bought and paid for by mainstream media the us government and big pharma Oh and get this on wikipedia site. Here's a quote Quote in wikipedia. There are many areas that remain unnoticed for hours days weeks months even years Therefore wikipedia should not be considered a definitive source in and of itself
[23:51] They admit it So for all you guys and gals out there and you idiots and dweebs who praise wikipedia as if it was a real definitive source You'd better think twice and dig deeper Now one of the main reasons i'm bringing up this wikipedia thing is that latinos even the smartest latinos I know They'll occasionally back up facts and statistics by saying it's got to be right. I read it in wikipedia The thing is i've met lots of smart expats and ringos and a lot of you guys write me emails, too Many of you have been telling me for some time. You don't trust wikipedia either i'm on that page, too All right. Are you ready for a severe critique of the latin american brain trust because here it comes You know wikipedia has been around 20 years or so It's been translated into something like 10 other languages including spanish
[24:40] Now you have to know i've met many many smart latinos and latinas and in all the years i've been down here I've only met one personal latina who told me wikipedia has not to be trusted. They lie How about that and man i'll tell you I was flambergasted By the way, she is one of a kind. She's also the very first latino or latina i've ever met who When I went to a party at her house not so long ago, I noticed in her kitchen She had a drawer chock full of vitamins and supplements all the right ones too curcumin coenzyme q10 omega-3 vitamin d k selenium methyl folate aka folic acid not just folic acid But the methylated kind the variety that's most highly absorbable. I was also shocked to see that on her computer screen
[25:31] She's got a blue light filter. I said wow i've got one just like it. She said really She said my friends and family think i'm crazy. I take all these vitamins and supplements I've got a blue light filter on my computer screen. I use stainless steel pots and pans not teflon or aluminum She says I buy bottled water, but run it through a gravity filter to remove forever chemicals and pesticides I'm thinking what planet did this latina come from? She doesn't even speak english So she's not been exposed to any of that stuff on the alternative internet sites, which are 99% of the time in english only the alternative media sites in spanish are just starting to get off the ground So you can hardly blame even very smart latinas and latinos for not being up on the latest dope But she certainly is meanwhile everyone else especially all latin american college students use wikipedia
[26:22] That is the spanish version of wikipedia, which is basically the same thing as an unassailable reference as if god handed it down To moses as an appendix to the 10 commandments. It could be because i'm getting older I'm a boomer and i'm stuck in my ways as soon as someone says to me. I saw it in wikipedia or Things like it must be right wikipedia says it's so Well, that person instantly drops a few notches on my scale almost as much as someone who tells me their sign Then asks me for mine. By the way, what do you do when you first meet someone and they ask you your sign? Do you roll your eyes and play along or excuse yourself to take a leak? Always an acceptable exit strategy. Oh just noticed we're coming to the end of the show already
[27:07] Time to remind you once again about my march 2024 expat insider seminar Come on down and hang with me in the seminar gang for an entire week Once again, we'll be doing the guadamalan alti plano and the beach areas of El Salvador, you know in and around the famous bitcoin beach Check out the details the agenda and itinerary at expat plan b.com 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
[27:56] Send me an email the expat files at gmail.com