#1384 – The Expat Files: Reverse Culture Shock, Power Outages, and Political Censorship

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 ex-pad 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 Have you heard of this thing called reverse culture shock? It happens to gringles and expats who've been living down here in Latin America for a long long time And they finally decide to go back to the states to visit go to a graduation party a funeral

[00:46] Maybe it's a buddy or friend from high school getting married. Well, anyway, it goes like this you've been down here in Latin America Let's say five or six years. You haven't been back to the states because hell you made a new life for yourself down here You have your plan be going good and strong. You're liking it You're loving it, but eventually, you know people in the USA Canada Europe Whatever called you and you're gonna make a trip back and as soon as you land as soon as you hit the airport It's a WTF moment. You're thinking what? This is not the place I left This is not the place I grew up and it only gets worse as you head to your old hometown Everything seems a bit different a bit off. Everything's changed for the worst You can see nothing that's improved nothing that's gotten better

[01:33] And you think it man was I smart or what? Getting the hell out of Dodge when I did you pat yourself in the back and think man But for the grace of God Buddha Krishna, whatever I could have stayed and become one of the millions of brainwashed lemmings You can't help but feel sorry for him. Oh, I know I know there are lots of un-woke Unbrainwashed Americans still hanging in there thinking things are gonna get better. Hope is not a very good life plan They'd like to get a plan be gone, but they just can't some people just can't or won't do it So if you can't leave and you're not woke you're gonna try to resist right try in your own way But think of the odds of winning even gaining a little ground almost impossible You've got way too many cards stacked against you

[02:19] Starting with the fact that everyone's balls to the wall and credit card debt young adults are strapped to the limit with student loan debt They graduate university with the equivalent of a house mortgage with stupid and useless degrees that aren't in demand Most people can't scrape up a thousand bucks cash for an emergency. You've got deficits so large people are in cognitive denial You've got schools and universities pumping woke and marxist communist ideas to the tick-tock generation Just taking up space in every classroom. You've got a government. That's nothing but an ever expanding cancer You're paying more than 50% of everything you earn in taxes The government lies to you about unemployment numbers inflation numbers military spending and billions in handouts to other countries

[03:05] On top of that you just might wake up look out the window in the morning and see a bunch of illegals Digging through your garbage or camped out in your garden The thing is when you're living down here in Latin America None of that stuff is on your radar you have none of those little irritations and stresses nothing to be depressed about Come on be truthful you guys and gals up there living in the states. Tell me that stuff doesn't depress you I'm sure you've heard me say this before but living down here in Latin America is like living up in the States back in the 70s and 80s not such a bad time at all was it it's when you've been living down here in Latin America for a while And you suddenly have to return to your hometown up in the states for a funeral or your 25th class reunion any number of reasons That's when that reverse culture shock kicks in and it ain't pretty but as far as Americans living in that Twilight Zone

[03:52] Most people seem to be oblivious. They still shuffle along watching their lifestyles slowly degrade Most of them overweight or obese on a ton of prescription medications. They're addicted to social media They eat too much and drink too much still they set that alarm for six o'clock every morning and get back on that treadmill Nope, not even the right treadmill the treadmill in the gym we're talking about the treadmill called American life and that my friends is what's called reverse culture shock a Phenomena that can only be experienced by expat gringos who've been living down here in Latin America for a while And they only realize it if for some reason they have to make a trip back to the states Oh and speaking of prescription medicines How many are you on I was talking to a gringo buddy of mine the other day. He's an ex biochemist

[04:39] He says if you're on more than three or four medications, technically, you are a walking science experiment You can prove it yourself by going to any AI engine, you know, like chat GPT plug in all of your prescription medicines Three four five six ten. However many you're on then ask chat GPT. What are the possible drug? Interactions. Well, guess what? Chat GPT will not be stumped But the answers will be never ending your body's so complex There are third fourth and fifth order effects. No human could ever predict So again, if you're on a lot of prescription drugs, you are a walking science experiment You longtime listeners might recall when my brother first came down to Latin America to get stem cell treatments He was on 21 different prescription medicines and

[05:26] On day one at the stem cell clinic. They cut him down to 11 Still a massive number now. You have to ask yourself. Why didn't his doctors up in the States do that? Oh and guess what when they cut him down to 11 within a week his vertigo his night sweats and oh He had what's called night terrors. You ever hear that? I guess those are extremely bad nightmares So terrible, they jolt you out of your sleep at night like having a panic attack during a nightmare Anyway, the night sweats the night terrors and the vertigo were all secondary and tertiary drug interactions from being on all those meds Alright moving on you've heard me say before that I read a lot of local Latin American news sources Because you get a take on the news. You never get up in the first world in most any first world media

[06:14] most of these news articles no matter how Surprising or shocking they are never make it up to the first world unless they involve deaths or some kind of spectacular disaster like a tsunami volcano earthquake, etc, etc Priorities priorities in the states of a cat falls down a sinkhole and gets rescued after three days. It makes national news Meanwhile in Mexico a hundred kids disappeared from school or the bodies of 30 young women found in an unmarked grave Well, that doesn't even make the news in the states. So then you might wonder What's the big news today in Spanish language newspapers? Today I'll give you a little taste For example in El Mercorio one of the biggest newspapers and media sources in South America Let's take this headline

[06:59] surviving in darkness in Ecuador Now remember a couple shows ago I was talking about how for the past 15 days the whole country of Ecuador has been Experiencing power outages to the tune of 10 hours a day So here's what's being said about it today in this article called surviving in darkness. Sobra viviendo Escura it says and I'll translate the small business sector of Ecuador. It's experiencing very low sales Changing hours increasing costs and insecurity due to the 10-hour blackouts Carlotta very is of a pan de los vassillas the owner of a chain of bakeries in Ecuador said This is a worse situation than the pandemic ever was at least during kovat We could still produce things and found ways to deliver our products door to door now

[07:47] We can't work She said that her staff starts work at one in the afternoon now and instead of seven in the morning To take advantage of the available hours of electricity. That's when they turn it on, but that means additional pay for night work She says each of her bakeries lose at least a hundred dollars a day and suppliers have increased costs of primary materials Such as corn and fruit still she says she can't raise prices for her customers because they won't buy they'll go elsewhere Eduardo Jimenez president of the Association nationale de panifica daughters That's the National Association of Bakers says if the blackouts continue for another couple of weeks businesses will close Unemployment will skyrocket Meanwhile Franklin Pintado a tailor for the last 15 years caused the situation in

[08:34] Sostenable which means unsustainable Since the tools of his trade need electricity He says in the last two weeks sales have decreased by 60% and the trend is getting worse because people without electricity Prioritize basic necessities over clothing businesses from all sectors say there's plenty of demand But no way to fulfill it without power. The situation is similar throughout the country Joanna, okay a Beauty salon owner says her clientele has been reduced by more than 50% Most small businesses like barbers and beauty parlors say they consider getting a generator But the prices are between eight and nine hundred dollars double what they were before the electrical outages Plus again the cost of gas The other fun fact here is that the article says if you want a generator

[09:24] All the hardware and power equipment stores selling them are out right now. There's a two-month waiting list Prices are posted for when the new generators come in and they'll be twice as much as they were before the blackouts Remember the old Boy Scout model be prepared if you're not the price gougers will get you By the way, if you're wondering why little Ecuador is experiencing such terrible blackouts Well, it just didn't start two weeks ago. It was due to poor planning by who else the government You see the country went 100% hydroelectric and geothermal in their energy production Yep I remember a few years back when it all came to pass all those great press releases The government was so proud and boastful labor a hundred percent energy efficient No need to import diesel fuel for generators or buy electricity from neighboring countries

[10:14] Yeah Well one thing you can always count on governments never plan ahead They never prepare all they care about is the next election cycle. You know what the professors used to tell us in engineering school Engineers are in great demand even shitty engineers. The bottom 10 of us will always find work in government I'm serious. You hear that in every engineering school So anyway with Ecuador depending a hundred percent on hydroelectric and hydro thermal Come on. No one in government ever thought there'd be a drought the water levels would drop and the turbines wouldn't spin Hell all you gotta do is look at the history of rainfall over the past 100 or 200 years There are charts on all that there have been seven major droughts in Ecuador in the past 200 years No one ever thought of that looked it up or remembered it

[10:59] So anyway as it turns out there have been 101 days of drought in Cuenca, Ecuador That means the turbines just won't spin As of Sunday three of the four dams that supply the turbines that are extreme low flow rates Get this they're asking everyone to conserve water to avoid rationing yet All the government buildings with lawns and gardens have their sprinklers going. Yep. Those shit for brains government fools will never learn That last part was not in the article That was me johnny speaking should have been in the article, but no one has the balls enough to be that outspoken You know that reminds me in my eight years as a radio guy doing syndicated shows in latin america and all the big markets You know, I was the rush hour drive time voice in english There are lots of strange things going down in latin american radio

[11:48] But one thing i'll never forget every two years when elections would roll around About a month before every election cycle The boss guy the owner of the radio station would sit me down privately in a room and he'd say johnny You can't see anything bad on the radio about politicians or politics He'd say that to me because he knew how I was I say what's on my mind and suffer the consequences later Anyway, every two years I had to get the lecture johnny, please election time's coming up So don't say anything negative about any candidate or any party. I said why you know, they're all lard ass shit for brains thieves He said yeah. Yeah, but they fill our coffers here at the radio station with advertising revenue All the political parties pay for ad spots and we don't want to alienate any of them every two years He says they put us way in the black

[12:34] He said don't do anything to piss him off. They pay our bills So they did censor me and I didn't like it But after the election cycle when it didn't matter I was back to form ripping on those thieving lard asses when necessary And then after the year 2008 when I was off the radio I hadn't thought about that political censorship thing for years and years until Covid it came I was possibly uh one of the first guys to realize that the first world Media monsters like cnn fox the rest of them. They were getting censored by their sponsors, too I saw how every other commercial on abc nbc cnn fox etc Was for a fizer or johnson and johnson product, you know wolf blitzer is brought to you by the friendly people at fizer Man that struck a chord because you know, I had a taste of the same thing way back in the year 2000

[13:24] There wasn't about meds fizer of axes. It was about political candidates and their parties. They said johnny. Shut up Don't say anything Don't bring up any scandals or trials or investigations Just shut up. They advertise heavily with us provide a big chunk of our income looking back now I feel sort of embarrassed that I caved All right, what else is headlining latin american news? Oh, it says peruse former president Toledo gets more than 20 years in prison after being convicted in a corruption scandal Hmm, so you might think what's so unusual about that? Well, this is what's unusual in peru authorities have accused tilido and three other former peruvian presidents of receiving 35 million in corruption payments from the construction giant

[14:12] Oda Brecht company in exchange for contracts to build 650 kilometers of highway leaking brazil to southern peru So there'll be a total of four ex peruvian presidents going to jail Well, like I always say they ought to change the term limits rules for politicians worldwide There ought to be term limits two terms one term in office and one term in jail Just think about it for a minute four consecutive presidents of peru In jail right now are on their way. You've got to say what the How is that possible for rotten egg presidents in a row? You know, it always seems these corrupt presidents vice presidents congressman, etc They burn themselves with their own greed Like for example, these four presidents they took a 35 million dollar bribe

[15:00] Suppose they'd have just asked for a million apiece a total of four million They probably could have gotten away with it like a rounding error Look taking a four million bribe versus a 35 million dollar bribe By the way, I like how they all whine and cry when they get to court This guy this ex-president Toledo when given the right to speak He said to the judge in the court with a broken voice and his hands together as if he was praying Please let me return home citing his age his cancer diagnosis and his heart problems Please give me a break Kim By the way, you want to know what really pisses me off? I mean, we all know they're thieves and scumbags But what really pisses me off is that he was arrested at his multi-million dollar mansion. Guess where?

[15:47] in california Where he'd been living since 2016 Oh, and he's got a million dollar condo in my jammy too Surprise surprise. Do you think they're gonna confiscate that? Nope Because the property's always in somebody else's name a daughter a wife a mistress Oh, and you're gonna like this. He's gonna serve his sentence at a prison on the outskirts of lima peru. That was Specifically built to house former peruvian presidents. Are you getting the significance of this? There are so many former convicted criminal ex-presidents. They actually built a special presidential prison forum What a sick Country, huh? Now you long-time listeners have probably heard me mention. I would never recommend peru as

[16:35] Plan B not for me. Anyway, you heard me say nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there They do have machu pichu, you know a real wonder of the world. You have to see it at least once And lima, you know the big city. I don't recommend i've been there a number of times I gave all the reasons why on a show segment probably four or five years ago now You can find it back in the archives if you like So i'm looking here. What else is in the news? Oh, yeah, there's the funeral of that 43-year-old guy named Alejandro Arcos. Remember him? He was that mexican mayor who after six days in office was decapitated. Yeah, right. You know the mexican motto According to ex-president manuel lopez obelor. Remember he said hugs not bullets So I think that ought to be amended to hugs not machetes or maybe quit while you're ahead

[17:24] By the way, that crime has not been solved yet. They've got no suspects Hmm you're trying to tell me a guy running around with a bloody machete Is not on tiktok when everyone in his dog has a camera? Oh and by the way on tuesday another local mayor roman riz Borcheres in oaxaca was stabbed to death at his home. Yep, mexico. What a lovely place Oh and get this in the first two weeks of the brand new president shinin bombs administration. There were 1247 homicide victims in two weeks Well, here's some facts that'll interest you according to human rights. Watch only one percent One percent of all crimes in mexico are solved by the police So be advised that whilst in mexico if you decide to be a criminal if you commit a crime

[18:10] 99 percent of the time you'll get away with it By the way with ex-president lopez obelor's hugs not bullets policy Almost 200 000 people were homicide victims during his six-year term the highest rate under any mexican president By the way one expat listener who lives in mexico wrote in he said johnny There are only two types of politicians in mexico the ones who are controlled by the cartel and the ones who aren't dead yet Oh, and there's some breaking news too shoot out mexico sinaloa state kills 19 yep with all the illegal criminals flooding into the states that kind of thing's coming to a neighborhood near you Still there are plenty of expat shows sites and blogs telling people. Yeah, go to mexico place to be Hmm. I just don't get it, but there are a lot of things I don't get

[18:59] All right. Let's talk about one more interesting thing that happens to be a headline in today's latin american news spanish only of course So i'll translate it here First to refresh your memory a short tour ago. I spoke about how ex-president of bolivia evo moralis Is right now under three separate arrest warrants on rape charges? Which shows once again that latin american voters are dumb idiots These rumors actually they're more than rumors have been going around for years everyone in bolivia knows about it hardly matters though You know how latin americans are they revere their politicians like heroes You see a guy like that or even a politician who's been in jail for a while after stealing millions He shows up in a costco or in a parking lot you run into him You'll see latin americans gush over him beg him for selfies and autographs

[19:48] They just kiss the ground these scumbag thieves walk on So I guess you really do deserve the politicians you get case in point One of guadamalans ex-vice presidents was accused of stealing. I don't know 13 million dollars He went to jail for five or six years and when he got out Guess what the biggest tv station in guadamala gave him his own sunday morning talk show And by the way, I did happen to see him face to face in a costco And yes people were fawning all over him asking for selfies None of them were outraged. In fact, they were thrilled to be in the presence of a celebrity No one walked up and spit in his face who said what should have been said a million times You're a disgrace. You're a thieving piece of shit. Yep only in lat america. Wait a minute Wait a minute. I don't know why I even said that because that happens in the united states, too

[20:35] Scumbag political thieves and crooks are caught red-handed all the time and they become celebrities in their own right, too Which only reinforces the earlier statement that you get the scumbags you deserve after all you voted for Anyway on last week's show we were talking about how former bolivian president evil. Morales Is facing arrest warrants against him for human trafficking and statutory rape? And there's more on that in today's latin american news headline Morales threatens to bring bolivia to a standstill If he's arrested on rape charges And i'll translate this it's in spanish It says former bolivian president evil. Morales is threatening to bring the country to a standstill if the prosecutor's office Complies with arrest warrants against him in the case of human trafficking and statutory rape

[21:24] He said quote we will mobilize and shut down the highways Said former president during his speech before his followers in sakaba in a speech he gave on decolonization day on saturday Morales says his supporters would mount a massive protest if the arrest warrant was served Turns out last thursday morales failed to appear for questioning by prosecutors over allegations He raped a teenage girl when he was in power There are actually three such cases against him He claims his personal safety would be in jeopardy if he complied with the judge's order You think? It says the 64 year old is accused of rape human trafficking and human smuggling over his alleged sexual Relationships with three different women one a 15 year old member of his political youth guard in 2015 and in 2016

[22:13] A girl gave birth to a daughter who morales is accused of fathering The plot thickens because it says the case is being expanded to include human trafficking and smuggling Over suspicions that the girl's own parents enrolled her in his youth wing Trading their daughter to morales for their own personal gain and political advancement So the human trafficking part is that her parents are being accused of sort of selling her off by the way Typically morales is using the usual suspect defense. That is saying it's all politically motivated by his enemies Latinos in the hot seat always use that as their defense But think of this if he's truly innocent Why doesn't he just agree to a paternity test that would solve half of the puzzle, right?

[22:58] But that he won't do but wait a minute. Wait a minute. He's no scumbag. He's no piece of shit said no one ever By the way, you long-term listeners have heard me ranting many times about how so many scumbag latin american politicians Own million dollar houses condos and pen houses in my jammy and other places in the states, but it's mostly my jammy That includes known latin american narcos. They own million dollar apartments and condos in miami, too That's something i've never been able to reconcile You've got these corrupt scumbag politicians who've been convicted in their own countries. They're in exile They can't go back because they'll be immediately thrown in jail. They're fugitives Meanwhile, they live like kings and princesses on the jet set circuit in my jammy

[23:43] New york and la I keep saying to myself. How is this possible? It's just another form of corruption It's obvious. They've got state-side politicians and judges in their pockets, too Though every once in a while a latin american politician is so dirty so irredeemably corrupt Or perhaps he just didn't pay off the right us politicians that sometimes just sometimes a us state department order will come down Banning their entry into the united states, you know block their passports Well, guess what amongst all the rottenness in us government some good things do come out once in a while Perhaps by mistake, but it does happen like for example just yesterday the us state department sanctioned ex-equidorian president korea and his ex-vice president glass They've had their passports blocked and will no longer be allowed to enter the us

[24:31] And man, you just can't imagine how much that pains a latino with money This new decision made by the state department also extends to the immediate family members of both ex-leaders Now just to refresh your memory a bit Korea served as president of equidor from 2007 to 2017 His administration was marred by accusations of corruption particularly surrounding large-scale construction projects He was convicted in absentia on corruption charges in 2020 by the way He had more than 18 different foreign bank accounts No red flags here, huh? In 2020 was sentenced to eight years in prison since then He's been a fugitive on the run and has lived in exile in belgium From where he continues to wield influence over the political landscape in equidor

[25:18] He's been able to hide out in belgium relatively hassle-free because his wife is belgian by the way One of the things that latin american politicians most fear is having their passports sanctioned or blocked by the us state department because then They can't visit or live in their million dollar estates in my jammy. Los angeles in nova. York Tell you the truth. I can't understand why the state department and the us. Just department Doesn't just clean house drop the hammer on all these guys that have been convicted in their own countries and are living Like kings in the states on their stolen money Will someone please explain it to me? I must be thick the answer seems so obvious Are we living in a bizarro world or what? All right one last latin american headline article This comes from one of brazil's big wire services headline says

[26:07] Six people who sought new organs end up with hiv Dateline rio de Janeiro brazilian health officials are scrambling to explain how six transplant patients in the country's public National health care system received organs infected with hiv They have no idea whether there are more cases to come but are investigating Goes on to say the rio de Janeiro public health system officials blame a private laboratory that tests organ donors for hiv Meanwhile rio de Janeiro's health secretary claudia mellow says it's clear a failure has occurred and it's unacceptable It further states two lab employees including one of its partners were temporarily detained monday as police say they are being investigated for fraud and criminal association Whatever the hell that means. Hmm. So you believe in national health care, huh?

[26:56] Well brazil provides free national health care to all its citizens However, the system as with any system run by government is underfunded has low quality care long wait times And a critical shortage of specialized professionals who by the way prefer to work in private hospitals and clinics because the working conditions are nicer And the pay is better So there you have it a few news tidbits of the day coming from spanish language media and news sources I don't expect most of those stories get translated and make it up to the states by you maybe but I doubt it 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