#1377 – The Expat Files: Latin Decor, Fluoride Debates, and Cultural Stories

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 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, let's get to a few emails. They're always fun This one's from rod Commenting on a show I did a couple of weeks ago talking about how Latinos and Latinas just do not have good taste when it comes to decorating

[00:45] I know a lot of you thought man. That's a dumb topic Johnny. Why are you talking about that? Who cares? Well, apparently for some it was such a hot topic. They wrote me full-blown emails So it must have touched a nerve like this one from Rod. He says hey, Johnny I completely agree with you on the lack of interior decoration culture in Latin America actually though. I can only speak for Venezuela He says my mom used to call it quote a steel Oh Remore dea miento unquote, which loosely translates to funeral home style. I like it He says it consists of very dark interiors with overly ornate furniture that doesn't match anything However, he says there's one exception somehow Latin Americans know how to decorate old colonial houses. What's up with that?

[01:33] However, they're not consistent. They still make horrible mistakes with the colonial houses, too Especially when renovating them and trying to modernize them for example They'll take out the exquisite original terracotta tiles and put in cheap shiny ceramic tiles instead The horror of it all he says anyway Johnny. He says your show is amazing many. Thanks. Well, Brad Thanks for that. And you know, I've been into many old colonial mansions. A lot of them still held by the family through generations Problem is as you say Eventually things need to be remodeled and modernized sounds easy, but often they do screw it up big time For example, I went to a little get-together at a big old 200-some year old colonial house about two or three months ago Beautiful brick arches two and three inch thick rainforest wood doors

[02:22] Some of the walls were rock and stone two and three feet thick Super ornate carvings in the plaster ceiling details and the place I think had something like 11 bathrooms Get this not a single bathroom and I made the tour through the house and I noticed these things not a single bathroom Had an electrical outlet, you know for a hair dryer or electric race or whatever Of course, you couldn't expect that in a 200 year old house There was an electricity back then but we're talking about the year 2024 And they still haven't remodeled the bathrooms up to I'd say up to 1950 bathroom standards Oh and man, I noticed that every single room had some kind of stain from a water leak So after falling in and out of love with so many of them over the years as much as I love those old

[03:08] Colonial buildings, I'd never want to own one the maintenance and upkeep would just kill you Oh, and you know every Latin American town or city small medium or large they've got an old town a colonial section lots of old two and three hundred year old buildings cobblestone streets the works and Most gringos and expats. I know when they walk through those parts of town. They're amazed. They love it They're always saying with eyes wide open and mouths a gape man I'd love to own a building like that. Look at the detail and I say no you wouldn't Because I've known some gringos and expats some with very deep pockets Who regret ever having that thought enter their minds because man, sometimes you're talking about buildings with stone walls three feet thick

[03:55] Now how you gonna run a new modernized circuit panel or plumbing through solid rock? It's a massive project and it just might never look the same again How do you find craftsmen who know how to work with colonial structures how to work with and match new and old rock? How to work with that 300 year old wood and the real nightmare is up on the roof Yeah, they used all the right stuff when they were first built slate terracotta that stuff lasts a hundred two hundred years But guess what we're talking about buildings whose roofs are well past their shelf life Oh and where do you get matching replacement parts for a 200 year old slate roof though? What I have seen occasionally is a gringo or expat will buy a big colonial building that's in disrepair You know a couple of walls falling down

[04:42] maybe a big section of the roof caved in or missing and they'll turn it into a big indoor outdoor bar disco or restaurant or maybe A concert or event salon Some of them look really slick and others never get off the ground And even if you don't bring it back to its original form, it takes a lot of dough For example with a place that's pretty wrecked and fallen down Some just want to spiff it up enough to look rustically classic and not like a bombed out building in a war zone By the way, one of my gringo buddies said he's a retired architect He tells me it's an architect's dream to remodel or fix up one of those old colonial buildings You could spend a lot of dough or use a cheap trick You could make any old building look majestic and otherworldly by just placing a few strategic

[05:29] Spotlights on the ground and let the floodlights shine on the side of the building on up to the sky That night it'll be as ethereal as mount olympus Any old classic building looks great with the proper exterior lighting But that doesn't mean you should own one A lot of those buildings as majestic as they look at night in the morning in the stark light of day It just wins. Well, let's put it this way Like buying a boat it's the worst and the best day of your life So anyway, in case you were wondering there are lots of those old ancient colonial buildings for sale Remember though if you fall in love with one of those buildings, you're going to need deep pockets Besides the fact that there are lots of restrictions and how you can remodel them Due to the fact that many of them are located in historic neighborhoods where you can't change things much by law

[06:15] All right moving on Have you heard this breaking news that a federal judge in new york has ordered the us epa the environmental protection agency To lower the level or even eliminate fluoride in drinking water studies have proven and we knew this already It's toxic. No amount of fluoride is safe studies have shown it lowers a child's iq All right. Let me paraphrase from this article It says u.s district judge edward chand caution that it's not certain how much fluoride lowers the iq And kids but mounting research indicates it does in fact lower iq So he ordered the epa to take steps to lower that risk According to researcher ashley mayland from the university of florida A specialist in fluoride research who has outlined the negative effects of fluoride in pregnant women

[07:06] She's calling it the most historic ruling in the us fluoridation debate that we've ever seen. Of course It's always been the standard line According to the u.s centers for disease control and the american dental association That fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities. Well, that might be true, but it also lowers iq in children Isn't that nice? Of course, there's always been speculation that fluoride does damage to the body because it's an extremely toxic chemical But it's only been in the last two decades where studies have been done suggesting a different problem a link between fluoride and brain development Hmm me john here, you know, I think this calls for new conspiracy theories because the old ones keep coming true What do you think by the way? There are a great number of dentists in the united states who no longer give kids

[07:53] Fluoride gel treatments on routine checkups, even though the insurance will pay so it's a cash cow for dentists and hygienists Many dentists do realize fluoride is a problem But they won't come right out and talk about it because the american dental association still heavily promotes it By the way for years now i've been ordering toothpaste from amazon that has no fluoride in it at all I understand some of the big brands are coming out with non-fluoride toothpicks in the states So the public and the manufacturers are catching on by the way in case you haven't heard I talked about this in a previous show a long long time ago down here The water supplies the municipal water supplies are not fluoridated at all It's not that they don't want to they always follow the trends of the us, right? It's just that the chemists at the municipal water treatment plants down here are smart enough to know

[08:42] It needs to be very tightly regulated and they'd probably Fuck it up Unlike chlorine which just stinks a lot when you put in too much a little too much fluoride in your poison people The maximum level of fluoride permitted up in the united states is one part per million And if it ranges much higher than that, let's say 1.5 or two parts per million There's a condition called fluorosis where the teeth start turning dark permanently Not a good look you get modeled bones out of it, too Then there's that pesky iq problem, which they've just lately been talking about Point is if you're really serious about getting fluorite out of your water up in the states You got to buy a special filter for that However, if your plan b is to move down here to latin america Not to worry because none of the municipal water supplies are fluoridated

[09:28] Now, of course like almost every municipal water supply in the world they chlorinate their water sometimes way too much Somehow always seems there's an idiot in charge down at the water treatment plant Some days when you turn on the city water tap it stinks to high heaven of chlorine some days not at all So if they can't even control the chlorine concentration, it's a good thing. They don't mess with fluoride By the way, speaking of dental health or unhealthy, you know pretty much all the sugar cane in the world Comes from somewhere in latin america or the caribbean Cane sugar you remember That's the stuff kids pour on their frosted flakes because they're not sweet enough already Of course, we all know the real root of all the metabolic evil is high fructose corn syrup A completely different and more dangerous animal than cane sugar. You know sugar made out of corn

[10:18] That's in practically every packaged and canned item on the shelf Let's forget about that for a second and talk about sugar cane. Have you ever seen it in its raw and pure form? I drive by fields of it all the time and I see kids chewing on it sucking away I've always been tempted to try it, but I never did hell It just grows along the roadside and it's free candy for kids walking by What kid isn't nuts about sugary candy, especially if it's free? Well, guess what the other day I stopped by a little roadside stand out in the boonies to buy a little jar of cashews Yeah, beer can get cashews direct from the farmer down here They were also selling sugar cane by the sticker the pole You know sugar cane by itself is brown looking it's a stick. It's about a yard long about inch and a half thick

[11:06] Looks almost exactly like a piece of bamboo, but very dark brown on the outside instead of yellow I thought hell i've been down here 30 plus years i'll buy a stick i'll go for it 35 cents a stick the little guy selling this stuff showed me how to peel off the bark the dark outer layer It's pretty thin Inside it's yellowish white and you're cut off a piece about an inch long pop it in your mouth and start chewing Have you ever tried that? Oh, it's sugary sweet. All right, it is sugar But believe it or not, it's got lots of vitamins and minerals in it too because it's unrefined Who would have thought huh? I thought it just was pure rotten evil sugar Apparently the kids who suck on that stuff do get some nutritional value out of it. It's not just dead calories So you chew on it and you chew on it and in about two or three minutes you're down to nothing

[11:52] But fiber which you can't eat or digest. So you just kind of spit that out Well, that was enough for me. I knew I didn't want to do that again Hey, but one in rome speaking of rome, have you ever been there? You know the old saying rome wasn't built in a day Well, they're still not done with it But back to this cane sugar thing, you know, it's funny I haven't seen any city kids chewing on sugar cane But on the boonies you see it all the time, which is why dentists tell me kids out in the boonies have lots and lots of cabbage Kids in the city not much Meanwhile, none of them here in latin america are getting a daily dose of fluoride which more and more we're finding out is a good thing Which raises the dilemma? What would you rather have your kids with a few less cavities or a few less iq points? Then again, maybe fluoride is a good thing for america

[12:39] After all a little iq is a prerequisite for a seat in congress All right. How about this email from mr. Lp? He says hello, johnny I'm very interested in your next seminar on latin american living sadly, my schedule is in flux So I work roughly five weeks on and five weeks off in hawaii Please keep me posted on your seminar dates Then he says I listened to a recent show of yours johnny where you talked about the frustrations On the lack of working brake lights and headlights on cars in latin america He says johnny. I experienced something very similar in india with a delightful twist The midsize to large trucks in india usually just had the brake lights painted on their bumper

[13:26] You read that right? They're painted on No lights were ever even installed just some red circles painted on both sides I was taking a bus across india and noticed at night our bus would almost rear end fuel trucks with painted on lights Talk about the anal pucker up factor Anyway, that was my first trip to india that he says and stepping on the occasional pile of human poo Were some truly memorable moments However, johnny the real reason i'm writing is that I have a question You may know the answer to or someone you know might have the answer to Here's the question it's about stem cells in the dr Yes, you sent me the info and I thank you for that. My question is What about the mothers or others who've had the covid at mrna experimental gene therapy?

[14:16] Certainly, they must be contributing their placental stem cells as the raw material for use at stem cell clinics My question is do you think their stem cell contributions may be risky or possibly have unknown side effects When injected later on in people receiving them at stem cell clinics He says I like the idea of stem cells myself, but i'm not a fan of joining the borg And the ongoing gene therapy experiment via the covid at jabs He says i'd like the idea of stem cells, but don't want even unwittingly suspect stem cells shot into me So that's what's on my mind johnny. Thanks for your attention on this matter All right. Thanks for that. Mr Lp a couple of things to address there first of all talking about how

[15:04] Here in latin america trucks and cars often don't have headlights or taillights and nobody seems to care at least of all the cops Which always makes me wonder if there is an accident and one of the party says look I smashed into the guy because he's got no taillights or headlights what then and whose insurance pays Silly question though because I know the guy who's got no headlights has got no insurance Still I guess i'll have to ask that question to my buddy who works at a big insurance company funny How i've never heard anyone discuss that though. I know how car insurance works up in the states You know you get something like a 10-page document with all the exclusions on it along with your policy, right? I seem to remember back in the old days reading a clause in one of my insurance policies that said We're ensuring your car under the assumption. It's in good mechanical condition

[15:50] In other words if your car's a shit pile with no taillights guess what if you get in an accident Sorry, bud. We ain't gonna cover it I know up in the u.s Some states and counties require a yearly car safety inspection which would pick up obvious defects down here in latin america though insert laugh track here However down here if you elect to have full coverage on your car your insurance company will take pictures and inspect it just once After all, they don't want to pay for a dent you already had Anyway, this whole thing is a sore subject with me because i've often said if i was running for president in any latin american country All I would have is one platform A politician can only do one thing at a time down here if he's lucky I'd tell the entire police force. They'd have to give out tickets for moving violations and missing headlights and taillights

[16:38] Imagine the secondary effects the roads would be so much safer There'd be many fewer accidents and collecting on the tickets would balance the budget But even something as simple as that is way too complicated for the average shit for brains latin american politician You know with all the retarded politicians down here you'd think They'd be overdosing the water with fluoride as mentioned though. There's no fluoride to be found sort of strange Oh and mr Lp another thing you don't see on the streets down here in latin america is piles of human poo So here in latin america compared to india things are looking up Now as far as your question about the stem cells and the mothers or pregnant ladies who are donating to placentas You're not the first one to bring that up In fact a couple of years ago. I had that very discussion with some people from different stem cell clinics

[17:26] They told me all you have to do is ask Say that you want stem cells from an unvax mother and they will comply Turns out a high percentage of people who get stem cell treatments are really tuned in to health and the covid vax disaster They're aware of failings in the us and international healthcare systems And how big pharma has basically captured both doctors and medicine in general up in the first world After all think about what brought them down to a stem cell clinic in a third world country in the first place These are people who've mostly lost faith in traditional allopathic medicine That's one of the big reasons they end up at a stem cell clinic So my advice is when you pick a stem cell clinic you go on their website Go to their contact page and their questions and comments section Tell them you want your stem cells derived from a mother who hasn't been vaxxed

[18:16] And here's the thing in latin america where they get these stem cells from young mothers Remember many of these young girls who are popping out babies now at 16 17 18 years old Back in the covid days. They were still children and children did not get vaxxed though I know in the states the cdc is recommending and doing it now. What a bunch of idiots, huh? But in the third world, especially children did not get vaxxed. It was adults and geriatrics only Here in latin america, it's mostly girls in their mid and late teens who are having babies. Thus They're the ones donating placental stem cells. Hey, just work out the numbers A 16 year old girl given birth today was only 12 in the lunatic heyday of vaxmania So there's a huge pool of pregnant women out there who never got the vax

[19:02] Especially in third and fourth world countries where it was hard enough to get the adults and elderly vaxxed funny thing The ones that missed out were actually the lucky ones weren't they? All right, let's take another email This one's from ruth. I think you'll like this one She says hi johnny. Love love your show. I think I will cry when you stop producing it Ruth wait a minute not to worry I'll probably be doing this show a long long time barring Catastrophe like being abducted by aliens or something She says johnny about last month's show regarding suntan lotion. I really dislike using it as well Again ruth. You're so right. Don't you hate that sticky stuff? Anyway, she says like yourself johnny. I'm also an avid walker. I use a big pair of sunglasses and a hat it's

[19:50] Listed below and these cooling sleeves listed below which are surprisingly effective at cooling my arms She says I do love your idea of using an umbrella. Have you seen the reflective umbrella listed below? Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I'm clicking on all these links. Yep. She has an umbrella that blacks uv 99.98% And the arm sleeves great idea too However, I don't know if you're down here in 80 and 90 degree weather if arm sleeves would be that practical I'm a 100 short sleeve person Remember i'm down here in the tropics all the time and long sleeves in the tropics don't mix not for me anyway I noticed that in the description for those arm warmers. They say they're good for both uv protection and

[20:36] tattoo cover-ups Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I always thought you get tattoos on your arms because you want people to see them Sounds to me like the principal use for those arm sleeves are for tattooed people who are having second thoughts Ruth do you have arm tat you want to hide? Come on fess up Hmm. Ruth says johnny. I have a question for you I've heard you talk about water filtration and you seem quite knowledgeable about it We have a samsung refrigerator with a filtered water dispenser. I'm diligent about changing the filter frequently based on our usage Do you think those samsung filters are any good or am I fooling myself? They are not cheap Well ruth, I just checked out that samsung filter of yours and it does filter out all the right toxins and such But I can tell you years ago

[21:22] I gave up using the water that comes out of the refrigerator because there's all kinds of plastic tubes in there And you're right. The filters are small and expensive. I much prefer a big stainless steel gravity type filter No plastic at all. I'll send you a link to the one i've been using for years It's got two identical filters in it Ceramic on the outside a carbon block on the inside and coated with nano silver particle The unit has two of these filters and each one of those filters is about twice the size of yours So there's four times the surface area in the unit I use and you say you change your filter element every six months Though again, your samsung unit might be just fine, but I just don't like the idea of all the plastic tubing in there I'm sure you know, there's that big nano plastic scare going on right now pretty serious, too

[22:09] I mean our bodies are being loaded up with the stuff plastics are endocrine disruptors and there's no way that's good Anyway, i'll send you a report on what I use and that book you asked me for Anyway, she closes with saying incidentally johnny I was riveted by the story of your friend the girl who was 13 years old and being courted by a much older suitor So yes, johnny, please keep the stories like that coming. Thanks a bunch. Johnny one of your loyal fans Ruth, all right. Ruth. Thanks for that. You say you want to hear similar stories? Here's one coming at you right now Anyway, a couple of weeks ago. I got into that age old argument or discussion again Add a little get together where a bunch of 20 and 30 something latinas Were talking about how latin guys cheat most of them were there with their kids

[22:55] It was a family get together. Of course, the non-supportive fathers were absent or nowhere to be found Anyway, this group of latinas were comparing notes on their unfaithful men almost all of them except one Caught their guy screwing around and after some crying and begging they took him back. That's the usual drill They take him back and he repents for a while and gets caught again These days they get caught a lot faster though because of social media because you know the cheating guy's new girlfriend who thinks the guy Is single or unattached? She's nuts about posting pics of him and her on social media You know of their dates going to the beach restaurants It doesn't take long After those pictures make the rounds on insta crap and fake book etc That someone spots the guy out and says hey, isn't that Juanito out there kissing a girl on the lips shit

[23:46] Can you believe it? He's married to my cousin hulia And suddenly the game is over. Anyway, while I was in the midst of those ladies telling their infidelity stories I decided to play devil's advocate I said in spanish, of course because they didn't speak english. Come on ladies. Your latino guys can't all be cheats Not all of them. Of course. I said that because i've been accused of generalizing that fact way too much I get emails from people saying johnny not all latin guys can be cheaters. That's impossible Well, I brought that up to those ladies and I got a storm of protest from them All the girls in that group said it's a latin male thing a sickness deep in the genetics of every latino male So my playing devil's advocate did not work. They were having none of it Then one of the ladies told me a story that was almost too excruciatingly hard to hear

[24:32] She said she was married to a latino guy for eight years They met in the first year of university. So she thought he was a good sort, you know a studious guy He soon dropped out though, and she finished her business degree He inherited a little mini market store from his mother and he ran it They got married. They moved in together. She just couldn't get pregnant though, and they tried and tried finally going to a fertility clinic She was on fertility drugs for about a year. They were expensive and with many uncomfortable side effects. She said she was miserable One night she said they were in bed. He got a phone call He got up walked into the other room and started talking in whispers something bad happened. She knew it. She quizzed him and quizzed him Finally the guy fessed up and started crying. He said he'd knocked up one of the workers at his mini mark She kicked him out

[25:19] So the girl had the kid a year later the guy went on a trip to the usa and never came back Abandoning the woman who had his kid and the kid too turns out in the states He met a latina who was legal married her just to get permanent residency He'd gone to the states on a tourist visa By the way, this bad guy's mother was from a fairly well-to-do family with a bunch of mini markets She the mother took the kid and the kid's mother in it's what grandmothers here in latin america often do when their wayward sons Screw up. Remember he married that latina in the states. She knows nothing of his hidden past Now he's a bigamist married to two ladies. I'll be it in two different countries Here's the second kicker an even bigger one the grandmother who took in the illegitimate kid and the mom Had three sons in total and all three eventually impregnated other women while married with children

[26:09] In other words the mother of these three unfaithful guys is the proud grandmother of her legit grandkids through marriage And three other kids one from each of her cheating sons Three out of wedlock kids that just sort of showed up on her doorstep one day This kind of crazy stuff is normal in latin america. Did you follow that? I know it's kind of convoluted now if you're wondering how I got so much detail out of the story Remember the latina the one telling the story the one who took the unsuccessful fertility treatment for a year Turns out her unfaithful guy who knocked up the mini mart worker Even when he moved to the states and took up with another dumb latina He kept trying to get back with his infertile wife through conversations with her brothers who he'd been friends with If you can imagine that her brothers tried and tried to convince her their sister to give him another chance after all that

[26:58] They kept saying he's such a nice fun guy. So handsome such a good dancer So he made a mistake anyone can make a mistake They liked him. They were buddies with him fully knowing he had a new life and wife in the u.s Remember he went there and became a bigamist by marrying another latina to assure he'd get residency in the states So anyway i'm sitting there listening to these latinas one up each other with these terrible infidelity stories All the while i'm thinking only in latin america, huh, by the way Are you still thinking this gringo advantage thing is hyperbole? 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

[27:45] 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