#1309 – Episode 1309: Luggage Damage, Online Shopping, Mailbox Services, and Medical Education in Latin America

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 time to register another complaint, you know, I get no satisfaction in traveling I mean going through airports taking planes and all that to tell you that it's getting worse and worse is nothing new You don't want to hear it, right? But let's talk about baggage handlers for a second. You know the last two times I took a long-distance trip

[00:51] Those baggage hand there's actually cracked by luggage, you know luggage is supposed to be pretty much indestructible especially if you buy a decent brand like American tourists or Samsonite Plus the decent brands give you guarantees for what that's worth by the way in another lost in translation story I remember many years ago when an airline lost a piece of my Samsonite luggage You know how that can be a nightmare. It ever happened to you Well, you know, they don't lose it completely. You finally get it in a day or two At least when they've lost my luggage. I think it's three times now. I always got it within a day or two Delivered right to your doorstep or hotel room though you waste an hour and a half and baggage reclaim Sort of hopeful then pissed off then dazed and confused because you got to sit there at the carousel

[01:42] Watching every last piece of luggage come off from your plane and whatever plane that's also assigned to that carousel You have to wait till every last piece of luggage has rolled by and everyone's picked up their luggage Though there still might be the add two or three pieces just circling around and circling around Hmm. Does that mean the person never made it on the plane and therefore wasn't there to pick it up? Anyway, so you end up standing there like an idiot twiddling your thumbs watching two final pieces of luggage roll by Spinning round and round the carousel and they're not yours Only then can you go to the lost luggage claim? So you're stuck there an hour and a half with I should add two or three other pissed off people who also lost their luggage Anyway, it seems like I'm complaining about lost luggage. I'm really not here

[02:30] I'm complaining about how they handle your legs because the last two long flights I've taken they've broken my luggage or Permanently damaged it anyway, and that's not supposed to happen luggage is supposed to be indestructible, right? Except for maybe the zippers the zippers are always the weakest link. They get the most abuse Tell me you haven't put undue force on your zippers So anyway in the first case my luggage was cracked right down the side. I mean cracked clear through and through Luckily and strangely enough the zippers held so it didn't pop open that would have been a disaster now I'm on the lookout for that I've seen other people's luggage pop open with stuff spilled out everywhere then what? So years ago to prevent that I bought these luggage straps on Amazon

[03:15] They're something like four for ten bucks ten bucks for peace of mind. That's a good deal so far so good Oh, and I know what a lot of you frequent travelers are thinking right now Why stole your luggage at all just to pack a carry-on piece of luggage? Stow it above your head in the plane Then you've got an eye on it at all times and carry a backpack too because that's like having two pieces of luggage Airlines don't like it much because people take advantage But it's allowed well That's what I almost always do except when I'm going on a long trip for a month or more then I'm almost always stuck Checking at least one piece of luggage simply because I hate wearing the same clothes over and over like a backpack So anyway talking about that second to the last long trip. I took where they cracked open my Samsonite suitcase

[04:03] Well Samsonites a decent brand and they actually have a guarantee saying they'll fix it But believe me it ain't worth it to even try cuz you got to send it back How easy is that plus the shipping will cost you fortune anyway? What got me started about even wanting to talk about this on the show is that the very last long trip? I took which was about two and a half months ago My other piece of decent brand luggage an American tourists came rolling off the carousel with a wheel missing Well, I should say not actually missing just broken off to the point It was just flapping around like a broken wing on a bird still sort of attached in a very flimsy manner Held by a tiny piece of plastic that hadn't broken off yet Now in the moment you don't know what to do because you haven't got any tools or any way to fix it

[04:50] Though you're thinking if I just had some duct tape, but they won't allow that you know I've actually had a small roll of duct tape and clear wrapping tape Confiscated on a previous flight. They won't let you take that stuff on board You can imagine duct tape would really come in handy for broken wheels and screaming kids Anyway, when I got it back to my place I took my drill put a few holes in the base Reattach the wheel in its proper place with a few stainless steel bolts washers and nuts and now it's working fine Though it looks a little tacky. I Suppose it'll hold up, but we'll see anyway I took a picture of the repair sent it to American tourists or uploaded it on their website By the way, I phoned up their customer service and was put on hold for quite a while. What else is new?

[05:39] Finally an English speaker answered with an Indian accent named the gene Virginia something like that. He told me to just call him Dave Figures, huh? Anyway, I'm not expecting much in the way of results or satisfaction But at least I got through by the way I've often wondered if let's say an Indian guy in India Phones up a customer service call center because he's got a problem With some product or other does a corn-fed Midwestern all-american pickup on the other end or does some other Indian guy in a call center Down the street in New Delhi pickup, which brings us to another related topic You know, it's been a really amazing thing and positive bone that internet merchants like eBay and Amazon Will ship products to practically every country in Latin America

[06:27] Except of course a few of the usual suspects like Cuba Nicaragua and Venezuela Hmm the same three countries run by Socialistic authoritarian dictators now, how'd that happen? Anyway, as far as buying stuff on the internet like from Amazon eBay and other places Yep, they'll ship direct or you can send it to your own mailbox in the States and they'll forward your stuff And you'll get it in a week or so Pretty damn good turnaround. I'd say especially since when I first came down a couple of decades ago There was no internet. No Amazon. No nothing and If you were a gringo expat living in Latin America The best you could hope for was a Christmas or birthday care package from your mother up in the States though Someone making the trip from the States would have to bring it down So anyway with the advent of the internet and Amazon Alibaba, which is huge down here eBay even Target and Sears all of that convenience

[07:18] But a fantastic help to all of us sex pets and gringos living overseas Though there are three potential downsides in getting any kind of merchandise that way Number one, you'll have to pay extra for the shipping charge based on weight No big deal if what you're receiving is just a couple pounds or less, but if it's something heavy Let's say it weighs 10 pounds, then you're gonna pay at least 4 bucks a pound So you have to decide if you're ordering from Target or Amazon or eBay Is it worth the extra 40 bucks or so? The second downside if you're living overseas and you order from Amazon Let's say if your product is worth over a hundred or two hundred bucks Depending on the country you're having it sent to you'll be hit with import taxes anywhere from 10 to 30 percent of the value of the object again depending on which country you're having it shipped to

[08:07] Luckily though. There are angles to get around that I mentioned those in previous shows, so we won't go into it right now Anyway, the third potential problem with ordering things from let's say Amazon and having shipped to your chosen country in Latin America If when you receive your item you find it's damaged or maybe just not to your satisfaction Or for example in the case of the luggage damage I was talking about Well, you know They'll want you to ship the damaged item back which will sometimes cost you more Than the value of the product itself even if it's got a hundred percent guarantee They won't reimburse you for the shipping you the purchaser are on the hook for that because they made their delivery To your Miami mailbox it landed their safe and sound so their job is done By the way with all the competition between mailbox companies now some of them are offering

[08:57] Free returns that is free shipping back to the purchase point as a carrot for you to try their services though I see it's complicated. They've got all kinds of rules and time limit regulations Aside from that what about having to return an item to Amazon or whatever the question is how often might that happen? Well, thankfully, I'm a very good test case for that I'd say I've ordered at least two hundred items from Amazon in the past five or ten years And only three of those items came broken or damaged In fact, one of them it was a tiny mp3 player when I opened the box. It was completely empty Nothing was in it. Surely someone with sticky fingers along the way lifted it. So that very day I went to Amazon online Using their customer service live chat box, which by the way, ain't easy to find when you go to it on Amazon

[09:46] Which it seems is a way to discourage customers from using it Anyway, I uploaded a photo of the empty box and guess what they sent me another problem solved the second time I had a faulty product a supplement I ordered came in a broken bottle I Went on the Amazon website again and through the customer service chat box Text back and forth with a guy who had a very long Indian name. Hmm another big surprise Let's call him Indian Dave number two I uploaded a photo of the broken supplement bottle and they sent me a replacement. No problem No return of the faulty item necessary. Well, I shouldn't say no problem because I still had to pay the shipping Coming from my mailbox courier in Florida to Latin America. I got stuck with those charges

[10:34] No one's gonna reimburse me for that with something like under 10 bucks The problem is though when it's a very big item like a piece of luggage You can't just take a photo and resolve it through customer service You got to send the item back and that's gonna really cost you so it ain't worth it Oh and another thing I never tell any of the Indian Dave's in the chat box that I'm in Latin America I'm thinking because they might not honor the guarantee once it's been shipped once again beyond the point They originally dropped it off in Florida So if you're a gringo or expat living in Latin America You should keep all that in mind when you're ordering things online By the way, I've ordered some very big stuff from Amazon some pretty heavy stuff weight wise, too now you might think it's nutty that I ordered a bathtub from Amazon and a digital piano that weighed 25 pounds and

[11:22] a bass guitar amp that weighed 50, but here's the thing I Waited for that special Christmas sale or offer they have at my mailbox right before Christmas every year at that time They cut their shipping rates in half for just the month of December, you know to spur more ordering and it works So instead of five bucks a pound, it's two and a half bucks a pound Now, of course, not all mailbox companies will do a deal like that But some of them will cut their rates way down up to 50% less if you order something that's over Let's say 20 pounds. They announced those offers once in a while and it could happen anytime So depending on what mailbox company you use, there are certain angles you can play Just order your heavy stuff when they're doing a special that is if you're not in a hurry to get them Just inquire about special deals and rates because you know, there are lots and lots of mostly Miami US mailbox couriers

[12:15] They're in heavy competition with each other. So they're always offering little deals Like for example, I just saw a mailbox courier company offer a 50% rate cut if you happen to be a university student Well, you know what? That's an angle you can work if you know how to Photoshop things Even if you're a gray-haired old gringo or expat because you know old people take university classes, too By the way, there are lots of free university courses online, too So what would stop a person from signing up online? Printing out your inscription form then bringing it into your mailbox career office to get that student discount So then am I a tech Ganyo a cheapskate? Maybe Speaking of discounts, you know, I've got my March 2024 expat insider seminar coming up if you sign up before February 1st

[13:06] Which is about three weeks away. You can take full advantage of the early bird discounts Do keep that in mind because on February 1st, we're back to the regular pricing By the way, this show first goes out on January 12th 2024 which means you've got about three weeks to sign up and get in on that deal So just sign up before February 1st. Oh and if you sign up for the three payment plan method Just pay that first payment before February 1st and you get the discount for all the seminar info Agenda and sign up details go to expat plan B comm and click on the seminar link All right. Now we're gonna talk about something very important. So pay attention maybe even take notes Now you've heard me say many many times on this show that private medical care in Latin America is first-rate

[13:56] You've also heard me mention how to find a first-rate physician dentists specialists, etc You just don't throw a dart at the classified ads or look up a doc on the internet There is a correct procedure to find a good one You've heard me say you must check the diplomas of the doctors in their offices to see if they've studied abroad You've heard me mention this many times. Why is that important? Well, you see if a doctor in Latin America has studied in the USA or Europe or Brazil or Argentina Chile even Venezuela. Yeah, even Venezuela. All right, let's stop there for a second Just an aside here about medicine and doctors in Venezuela. That's one of the few Industries in that country that has not crashed and burned. I've been there. I know

[14:43] Wealthy and high-placed people from all over the world still fly into Venezuela to get medical treatments done I know this might sound hard to believe but they're cutting edge in medicine and technology in Venezuela Though once again in the private sector only we'll get deeper into that and why it's happening in an upcoming show So stay tuned Anyway, if you're in Latin America and you see diplomas on the walls and doctors offices that say they studied in Europe, Brazil Argentina, Chile, even Venezuela, Japan, Canada, whatever. Well, that's a very good qualifier and I always look for that Because only the top 5% of Latin American medical students get a chance to study outside the country So you can be assured you're getting with the best and brightest

[15:28] simply because they have to be absolutely top-notch to be accepted into a medical school program or graduate studies Specialist or fellowship program outside their own country. Great example is my own personal dentist in Guatemala. Dr. Alex He went to dental school in Guatemala was in the top 5% of his class So he applied for an oral surgery residency in the United States got accepted in a prestigious oral surgery program in Florida In fact when he graduated they asked him to stay on as head of the department He said no, I want to go back to Guatemala. My family and friends are there, etc So in the end one can't be more trained up in his field than dr Alex that said when you're in Latin America looking for a physician or dentist

[16:14] Here are a few cautionary tips to look out for and why you should avoid National health care clinics and hospitals at all cost unless of course, it's an actual emergency Let's say you get in a car accident right outside of a national health care hospital Well, they're good on trauma. That's about it Otherwise tell the ambulance driver you got private insurance and you want to go to a private hospital or clinic By the way on those diplomas check out how long they did a residency or fellowship in another country It's easy enough to fly to a week or two week seminar. That's not enough They have to have studied in a program outside their country for at least a year or two You've also heard me mentioned many times You should never be fooled into signing up for a national health care program as a gringo or expat thinking That should get you through your Latin American sunset years quite adequately and on the cheap

[17:04] Here's another warning another very big problem that I've just been made aware of Fact is I just read a very revealing article that came out on January 5th 2024 just a week or so ago. It's a long article. I'm gonna paraphrase and take excerpts from it's written by an expat gringa with a master's degree in nursing from the US an Expat gringa who's been teaching for the last 10 years and one of Ecuador's largest medical schools According to her and other older medical doctors. I've spoken to here in Latin America Something quite troubling has happened in Latin American medical schools since the onset of the covid at lockdowns People aren't talking about it, but they should so pay attention Here's what you won't find out and no one wants to tell you so here goes it starts out

[17:52] I'm an American nurse practitioner and I teach Ecuadorian medical students in Ecuador The purpose of this article is to share some critical insider news She says I read medical texts and I studied in the real world before attending nursing school in the US In the US to get into medical school you have to be a college graduate many have masters and PhDs before admission The MCAT exam the medical college admission test is a difficult exam and the results the resume The list of courses completed in scores personal essays and multiple Recommendations are the minimum requirements for a medical school admission in the States in the US rivalry to get into medical school is intense She says since I was tested and accepted in US medical schools. I can say this is a lengthy process

[18:39] I personally got accepted into five medical schools, but then something terrible happened Both my parents had metastatic cancer and needed my help The other problem was I was married to a man who would not support me through medical school He refused to help me with the high cost of medical school, and he was not willing to move to where I was accepted We divorced while I was caring for my dying parents So I would have studied medicine if my parents had not needed me No regrets except I couldn't muster the will to reapply after they died After almost a four-year hiatus. I didn't have to drive to relearn physics chemistry calculus anatomy, etc I was spent so I did the next best thing and became a nurse Practitioner through my master's degree teaching medical school students in Ecuador for the last 10 years

[19:25] And here's what few people know and Ecuador as with the rest of Latin America High school graduates can apply directly and be admitted into medical schools at 17 or 18 years old unlike in the US They do not need a four-year degree or pre-med or pre-dent or whatever to get into medical or dental school They get a four-year head start on Americans by being able to apply right after high school Though that does cause certain problems. For example, I'm certain all the students that are admitted live with their parents They've never been out on their own living in the world as adults going directly from high school to medical school In other words, unlike American medical students who start medical school at around 22 years old When you start at 17 or 18 like in Latin America, they are very immature

[20:13] Also in Latin American medical and dental schools There is no central exam required like the MCAT or den cat just a five-month qualification period Which is okay, except many legacy students whose parents are doctors or dentists or Powerful parents who are upper class or politically connected are exempted from this five-month process Legacy pupils in Latin America with powerful parents often lack any qualification at all They're just accepted because of their parents status as for my medical students She says they're immature and their parents will not accept that their coddling is why they're immature I observed that a certain kind of Latin American mamacita coddling in the home is very dominant and this coddling makes them much less

[21:02] Creative and less self-sufficient less self-reliant than American medical students Additionally, she says no one in Ecuador and probably the rest of Latin America has taught critical thinking skills in the states Critical thinking may be a lost our tube But before the internet whole generations of us still relied on it by the way This is how Latin American medical school educations are structured The study of medicine is divided into ten cycles roughly similar to long US semesters in The medical school in Ecuador. I teach my students pay $3,000 per cycle up from around 1500 just two years ago before Covid So add it up that means the total cost for medical school It's a private medical school called Catholic University is about thirty thousand dollars total

[21:48] That's the cost of about one year sometimes even one semester in the average American medical school Then she says here's my warning for gringles and expats for your safety You as a patient you might receive both excellent and horrible advice from two different Latin American doctors All right, me Johnny chime in in here You know I know many Latin American medical doctors and dentists and they all tell me no matter what medical or dental school they go to they have To spend the last year sometimes to in the national healthcare system Doing the rounds and learning the way the hospital system works for basically minimum wage That period of time is called their practica and believe it or not these young practitioners live at the hospital They've got a little dorm there

[22:34] They're on call 24 hours the same as medical residents in the US Alright back to the article. She says here's a word about the Ecuadorian national healthcare system She says acute care for trauma is always available. However routine care is often unavailable She says as for me, I qualify for the national healthcare system But I also bought a private care plan called Humana first dollar health insurance policy The key is there are no young wet behind the ears doctors in the private health care system None are new and under qualified and that's one of the keys. She says to having good care Don't select a new young doctor wet behind the ears. Now. Here's the real crazy part She says if a young doctor attends you Note if the following graduation years appear on his diploma 2020 2021 2022

[23:25] 2023 and 2024 She says if you get one of those remember to get a second opinion. Why? COVID ceased clinical studies and hospital rotations during medical school for two years She says I've seen for myself that these new fresh green doctors are unprepared and scary My personal interns in their final year who will be unsupervised in four months Have few skills and poor work ethic these young doctors were not able to attend their clinical studies or hospital rotations For two years or more during the COVID thing are unprepared. They are not adequately trained They do not pass my standards She said crazier yet. I've tried to help the situation. I've tried to help them personally. I was not successful

[24:14] Worse yet. She said and one huge problem is that since COVID in the last three years Anyway, not a single new doctor in Ecuador learns from corpses There are no cadaver studies and that's essential now I don't know if this was true up in the States with medical students if they wouldn't let them touch cadavers because of COVID But when you don't have a chance to work on cadavers you lack basic lab and manual dexterity skills There's no way to learn complicated anatomy without ever having dissected a corpse She says even me when I did my family nurse practitioner degree up in the States cadaver dissections were part of my curriculum But not here for young doctors here in Ecuador If your doctor is young find out where and when they graduated case in point one of my own

[25:01] National health care young doctors prescribed me blood pressure medicine without first examining my own blood pressure I asked him to do it three times No blood pressure check during a routine exam imagine that she says But the young doctor was punching away at things on his laptop Oh, and as for me, I've allowed just one National health care doctor to actually touch me in five years. I saved my own life all the time She says a 30 or 40 dollar private pay private clinic private doctor visit is worth far more than you can imagine She says it's practically guaranteed at private offices. The doctors can practice better medicine on top of that They can prescribe medicines not available at affiliated national health care hospitals and clinics besides that

[25:51] She says if you go to a private doctor They'll spend much more time with you and we'll be able to inform you much better in The end she says governments just do not know how to run a national health care system accounting and legal professionals run it with just one doctor on the board of directors of each hospital the rest legal professionals and bean counters Imagine that just one doctor on the board of directors of a whole hospital She says she's seen the actual national health care protocols and they aren't truly medically motivated at all It's all financial based on cost-cutting Alright, there's more but that's about the gist of it and what's new and so very Informative about this article is that who knew the covid it lackdowns had such an effect on new medical school graduates

[26:39] Who knew they shut down the clinical studies the labs and quit using cadavers But now we're all stuck living with that those secondary effects and consequences We never knew about because of the plannedemic just because all those lying big pharma ass wipes Wanted to make a killing with their bonuses and stock options. Oh And they did and those shit for brains jerks like Soros Bill Gates and that incarnation of evil. Dr. Falsi They're still pushing jabs and masks when all the evidence coming in now points to the fact that History will show that lockdowns jabs and masks were the 21st century's biggest stain on science Big government and big pharma in cahoots and out of control, but you knew that already, right? By the way

[27:28] How many jabs did you take? Better yet. How's your plan be coming? So you've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America If you need some help with your own plan be 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