Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller explores the retail and cultural dynamics of Latin America, offering a detailed look at the economic and social landscape for expats. He begins by introducing the upcoming Latin American Insiders Seminar in Guatemala and El Salvador, set for November 14th to 20th, 2026. Johnny discusses the prevalence of Chinese and Korean-owned retail stores in the region, contrasting them with the presence of wealthy Latino families in high-end grocery chains. He highlights the chaotic, inexpensive wholesale districts where expats can find a wide range of goods at lower prices than local stores. Johnny also describes the informal parking practices and the role of street workers who watch over cars for a small fee, noting the cultural and economic dynamics behind the dominance of Asian-owned retail in the region.
In a deeper dive into business ownership, Johnny notes that while Asian entrepreneurs often have a rudimentary understanding of Spanish, Latinos rarely speak Chinese or Mandarin. He highlights the industriousness of Asian business owners, their frugality, and their tendency to invest in expensive cars rather than other luxuries. He contrasts this with the lifestyle of Latinos, who are more likely to spend on dining out and socializing. Johnny also touches on the cultural differences between Asians and Latinos, including the lack of romantic attraction between the two groups. Despite the economic dominance of Asian business owners, Johnny observes that there is no significant animosity towards them in Latin America, unlike in Chicago, where there is more resentment towards Asian-owned businesses.
The episode also includes a discussion on cultural differences between Asians and Latinos, noting that Asians often start businesses with little money but don't spend it as much as Latinos, who tend to show off their wealth through parties and luxury items. Johnny then shifts to a technical discussion about cryptocurrency wallets, explaining how hidden wallets with extra passphrases can increase security against hackers. He also touches on internet speeds in Latin America, highlighting the disparity between countries and offering insights on what download speeds are sufficient for everyday use.
In another segment, Johnny discusses the availability of prescription drugs in Latin America, highlighting the legal framework and the reality on the ground. He notes that while laws require prescriptions for drugs like antibiotics and painkillers, in practice, there is a significant gap between regulation and enforcement. He also touches on the cost of real estate in Buenos Aires, the role of insurance in accessing medications, and the prevalence of generic drugs and their impact on expats, including the issue of opiate addiction and the practice of carrying large quantities of medication across borders.
Finally, Johnny critiques motorcyclists in the region, calling them a societal problem. He shares an article from the South American newspaper Mercurio about Ecuadorian authorities seizing 20,000 motorcycles since 2021 due to issues like lack of registration, invalid licenses, and possession of weapons or drugs. He highlights that only a small fraction of seized motorcycles are reclaimed by owners, with many remaining in detention lots. Johnny expresses satisfaction with the recent increase in seizures in 2026. He also reads an email from expat Rico, who promotes his YouTube content showcasing life in Guatemala and encourages others to attend Johnny's upcoming seminar. Rico emphasizes the importance of experiencing Latin America firsthand, noting that virtual experiences cannot replace real-life immersion. He credits Johnny's seminar for changing his life and encourages others to attend, promising to be available for questions and to meet other expats. The episode ends with Johnny thanking Rico and promoting the seminar, inviting listeners to contact him for a consultation or to join the waiting list for future events.
Episode Notes
Johnny opens with an update on the upcoming Expat Insider Seminar in Guatemala and El Salvador, then covers a wide range of practical topics for people living in or considering Latin America.
He looks at hardware-wallet security, internet speeds across the region, Brazil’s oil exports, rising construction costs in Buenos Aires, prescription-drug availability, and motorcycle enforcement in Ecuador.
The episode closes with Rico sharing how attending a previous seminar changed the direction of his life and why seeing Latin America firsthand can matter more than years of researching it from a distance.
More episodes, resources, and seminar information at ExpatPlanB.com.
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Related guides: Moving to Guatemala · Healthcare in Latin America · Cost of Living in Latin America · Renting and Buying Property · Safety and Scams
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Topics
The Expat Files podcast, Latin American expat life, Economic dynamics in Latin America, Cultural and business practices in Latin America, Wholesale districts and retail ownership, Street culture and informal economy, Business ownership dynamics in Latin America, Cultural differences between Asian and Latino communities, Economic impact and social perception of Asian business owners, Language and cultural adaptation in business settings, Cryptocurrency wallet security, Internet speeds in Latin America
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:31 Announcing the Upcoming Seminar Dates 00:01:07 Observations on Retail Ownership in Latin America 00:02:03 Contrasting Chain Stores and Small Retail Businesses 00:02:49 Exploring the Chaotic Wholesale Districts 00:05:25 The Role of Chinese and Korean Entrepreneurs in Retail 00:05:41 Acknowledgment of a previous statement 00:05:41 Observation on the lack of Chinese or Korean ownership in hardware stores 00:05:47 Explanation of why Chinese business owners are often found in wholesale businesses 00:07:37 Observation on the language skills of Asian and Latino business owners 00:10:02 Discussion on the lack of resentment towards Asian business owners in Latin America 00:11:22 Cultural Differences Between Asians and Latinos 00:12:25 Cryptocurrency Wallet Security 00:15:46 Internet Speeds in Latin America 00:17:54 Interesting Fact About Brazil's Oil Exports 00:18:23 Real Estate Costs in Buenos Aires 00:18:56 Availability of Prescription Drugs in Latin America 00:23:23 Challenges with Medications in Latin America 00:23:45 Critique of Motorcyclists in Latin America 00:23:51 Ecuadorian Motorcycle Seizures and Regulation 00:26:15 Impact of Johnny's Seminar on Expat Rico 00:27:26 Promotion of Johnny's Upcoming Seminar
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 out to play and now as I wonder Hello there all you ex-pat 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 Got some great news for you. We finally picked the seminar dates My next one week long Latin American insiders seminar will take place in both Guatemala and El Salvador From November 14th through November 20th 2026
[00:46] That's Saturday November 14th through Friday November 20th so for all you guys and gals who've been sending me inquiries All you guys and gals on the early bird list. I'll have all the details and sign-up sheet ready in a day or two I've already got some repeat offenders from past seminars signed on much more coming at you in a couple of days Anyway, there's something you're sure to notice if you're down here in Latin America for any length of time You'll notice that a large portion of the tienes the mini marts your run-of-the-mill average clothing stores Varieties stores etc are owned by Koreans and Chinese and various other Asians But mostly Chinese, of course, you might not realize it at first because all the grunt workers all the workers Even behind the checkout windows are Latinas and Latinos
[01:35] And if you think about it, it's sort of a mystery as to how that happens I'm talking about all of Latin America here with a possible exception of Mexico You'll find Koreans and Chinese behind many many of the retail stores and the vast majority of wholesale Operations too. In fact, I remember once when I was in police during that last trip I must have walked into five or six mini marts even a pretty good-sized grocery store and they were all owned by Koreans Now here's the thing. There are chain grocery stores and mini marts, you know franchises throughout Latin America And they're not at all owned by Chinese or Koreans Like for example, Guatemala has a fairly high-end grocery store chain called La Torre Completely owned and operated by a wealthy Latino family and the Costco's and Walmart's and all the big chains are owned by wealthy Latino
[02:26] families, it's those small and usually much scruffier mini marts and Variety stores that are owned by the Chinese and Korean now Here's the thing if you do any wholesale shopping yourself, you know, bye-bye bulk You've got a choice here in Latin America you go to Costco You know big box store or you go down to a certain section of town in any medium in Latin American city You'll know where it is It's a crazy chaotic section of town where everything is cheaper and stuff can be bought in big quantities and I know those places well because I've had a few girlfriends who've had little clothing stores themselves and guess where they'd buy their clothing supplies and stock in those Big wholesale markets in the dingy part of town and man those places are dingy where they're just massive
[03:12] quantities of all kinds of clothes and shoes Furniture all kinds of plastic garbage, you know bottles and cheap plastic chairs and tables anything and everything and mostly it comes from China You know the drill Well, those are the main suppliers for the little tienes you see in other places and out in the boonies, etc Now because my girlfriend right now and some of my previous girlfriends had little tienes, you know Neighborhood clothing and variety stores. I'd say at least a dozen times I've had the privilege of going on one of those buying sprees in one of those very chaotic Wholesale districts where anything goes and I mean any in fact, it's so chaotic It's difficult to find a place to park your car though There's always a guy on the street that will park you in an illegal spot and watch your car for a buck And when I say illegal, that's because there's a yellow line or a no parking sign
[04:00] But here in Latin America, that does not seem to matter That's sort of the lowest priority on any cops agenda In fact, you'll see cops just standing around on their iPhones right in front of a car. That's illegally parked And they'll do nothing as long as there's a little guy on the street whose job is to watch cars and collect his dough Even though it's not a real job. It's not sanctioned. It's in fact illegal. Nobody cares. Oh But it is a job kind of by the way You shouldn't worry about that little guy that rushes up to you and says watch your car Oh and being that you're a gringo and he assumes you don't speak Spanish. I mean 95% of us don't he won't say anything He'll just point to one of his eyes, you know Like he's gonna watch your car for you and you nod and lock your doors and walk away Oh and another thing you don't pay him the buck right then you tell him when you return you'll pay him that way
[04:48] He will actually watch your car and make sure nothing happens to it. You pay him ahead of time He just might slither off to the nearest cantina But the point here is when you go into one of those big wholesale districts in any medium or large Latin American city You will see that it's complete chaos and Guatemala City by the way That would be zone one and two and believe me when you're in one of those wholesale districts You can get practically anything almost always much cheaper than you could get it in a local T and a convenience store mini market etc in your neighborhood now Here's the thing the Chinese and the Koreans they have little retail stores as well It's pretty much owning in the wholesale business oddly enough though. There's one kind of popular store I've never seen the Chinese or Koreans involved in at all. That would be hardware stores. Isn't that funny? Though that's not to say the local hardware stores called
[05:34] Fetid areas here in Latin America don't buy all their inventory down in the wholesale district from the Chinese That's true But the actual owners of hardware stores don't ever seem to be Chinese or Koreans and that funny and over the years I've kind of figured out why the thing is when you go to a hardware store You've usually got a problem like a plumbing problem electrical problem You need some specialized screws or bolts or washers and a Chinese person a Chinese business owner Though he knows a little bit of Spanish enough to get by and let's say the clothing or grocery store business He has no way of dealing with the strange little nuances of the hardware store trade When I mentioned you figure out after a while that the Chinese own the wholesale businesses in certain parts of the city But you don't figure it out right away
[06:20] Because like I said all the employees all the grunt workers are Latinas and Latinos now as for me curious as I am When I've done my trips to the wholesale district I'll usually take a nice long walk through the whole store Check out all the little cubby holes and stuff because like I said even the arrangement of the merchandise in the stores is chaotic Sometimes piled so high in a stand you think it's gonna collapse or in big mounds on the floor Anyway, I've noticed that in almost all the wholesale shops there's that door that has a little sign on it in Spanish, of course that says employees only or Authorized personnel only and because these big wholesale outfits are hot and stuffy The doors often left to open a crack and the times I've peered in I have seen a guy at a desk with a calculator
[07:06] TV monitors because there's cameras everywhere in the wholesale district because it's so easy to steal stuff Being that there's piles of merchandise everywhere and you can barely see around corners Anyway, I've noticed there's always a little room off to the side With a Chinese or Korean guy or two or three Running the operation from there with files and papers scattered everywhere even piled up on the floor now only very occasionally You'll see an Asian guy at the checkout window and that would only be because guys Spanish is fairly decent Which brings me to another interesting observation. I've seen many a Korean or Chinese guy Speaking in Spanish to his workers a real terrible kind of shitty Spanish, but they get their point across on the other hand I've never ever seen a Latino speak Chinese or no any Latinos who can speak Mandarin or Chinese
[07:55] It seems to be a one-way street the Asians come down here and eventually learn rudimentary Spanish, but Latinos never reciprocate Oh and just a little comment on the Asians and their industriousness man It seems they live at their businesses from seven in the morning to eight or ten at night These guys are in their little offices. Oh and another thing. They're super frugal and don't spend their dough Extravagantly like Latinos and Latinas, you know, I've been to many many nice restaurants and I never see Asians eating out Except in their own low-end Really cheap Chinese run-of-the-mill hole-in-the-wall restaurants. Oh and you never see Asians out dancing or in the bar That is apart from Asian American tourists and you almost never see him walking through high-end malls
[08:43] Though what's really funny is when you're in the wholesale district often you'll spot a really nice car a brand new forerunner even Range Rover or Mercedes parked right in front of a wholesale business in the loading zone and it stays there all day Asian business owners love a nice car and it seems that's about the only extravagant thing they spend their dough on Oh, and you don't see him at resorts or vacation spots or out at the beach Apart from the odd Asian or Asian American tourists on vacation. Oh and here's a story I do have a geeky tech friend an engineer He's half Chinese and half Guatemalan and he tells me it's a super important feather in the hat of any immigrant Asian guy Living here to marry a Latina But as he points out Latinas don't seem to have any romantic attraction to Asians at all
[09:29] So that rarely happens too big a culture gap Plus, you know, I've floated that idea around to many Latinas over the years and to a person They say not only is their culture way too weird for them They tell me they've got no rhythm can't dance and are just physically unattractive But as my buddy said his dad pulled it off and that's why he's here. By the way he's a really handsome guy which sort of feeds that stereotype the notion that an extraordinarily large proportion of mixed race people Rate quite high on the beauty scale now you might think that since Asians virtually own the wholesale business down here in Latin America that Latinos and Latinos would resent that that they may harbor some bad feelings towards Asians who come down to their country and
[10:16] Sort of take over whole business sectors Well, you know oddly enough that doesn't seem to be a topic of discussion or a problem Believe me. I probed this issue because you know being from Chicago where in most all the black neighborhoods and ghettos Asians own the little mini markets there, too I can tell you the black and Latino buddies of mine in Chicago have no love for those Asian small business owners But here in Latin America, I don't detect that kind of animosity In fact, you could prove it to yourself when you're down here you get invited to a party You're sitting around with a bunch of Latinos or Latinas Just bring up the fact that there are all kinds of rich Asians living around them owning very profitable businesses And they'll certainly agree then just ask one of those Latinos if they'd like to change places with one of those Asian guys
[11:02] Even a filthy rich Asian guy and guess what to a person they'll just scrunch their faces and say are you kidding? No way and look I've asked that question a number of times and I always get the same answer It's just the facts ma'am. Don't call me racist now, of course certain more intelligent Latinos ask the question Why can't we do that? How can the Asians come here not knowing our culture or our language and just a short amount of time be the boss of a Wholesale company or mini market or restaurant? Whatever. Yep It's a common point of discussion amongst the more higher IQ and educated Latino in a nutshell What do the Asians have that we don't even stranger? They usually come over fairly broke But it is a belief according to Latinos Anyway, that Asians though they have businesses and a lot of dough
[11:50] They don't seem to enjoy their dough and they definitely don't assimilate because you see in the mind of a Latino when you have dough Or let's say when you've made it you're a success When you make a lot of dough you spend it even if you don't make a lot of dough you put on the dog As if you do Most Latinos are glad to spend their last peso on parties dance marathons resorts And of course luxury item is like jewelry and cars designer clothes to most Latinos showing off and spending themselves into debt Well, that's living. So as you can see between Asians and Latinos, there's a wide almost insurmountable cultural gap Alright moving on. I've been getting a slew of emails lately talking about that hard wallet hack that cold wallet hack Where just last week millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin were stolen and here we all thought the world thought
[12:40] Hardware wallets were impenetrable by hackers. Well, here's the story You longtime listeners may have heard me mentioned many years ago That if you have a hard wallet like a ledger or a treasure by the way those cold wallets You know the ones that got hacked they use a completely different firmware, but that's not even the issue here Anyway, you longtime listeners might remember me saying, you know, if you open up a ledger or Trezor wallet You can set it up the normal way and when you want to go into it You just type your passphrase and it opens up and there's your dough in Bitcoin or Ethereum, whatever But way back when I mentioned that Trezor and ledger had another option a hidden wallet In other words, once you're in your wallet, you could set up a hidden wallet that has another password or passphrase
[13:27] So for example, if you first open up your wallet, it'll tell you what you've got in there Bitcoin Ethereum Yet there is another option somewhere on the main screen that says access your hidden wallet I've always recommended to use that hidden wallet feature This gives you an extra layer of security because get this in setting up a hidden wallet with an extra passphrase Whatever that passphrase may be. Let's just say that phrases 10 horses Well, guess what that passphrase isn't a separate lock bolted on to your device It's mixed directly into the math that derives the seed So let's say a hacker does crack your initial 12 or 24 word seed But you've got a hidden wallet with the passphrase 10 horses to find and steal those funds
[14:15] They'd have to additionally guess the second passphrase on top of the original 12 or 24 word key phrase Which turns the hackers problem into one which would take days or months or even years to crack So if you've got a decent passphrase on your hidden wallet, the problem becomes intractable for a hacker Now a lot of people use their hard wallet like a treasure or a ledger as a decoy wallet That means if someone steals it and opens it up They'll find a decoy wallet instantly You'll have you know, tiny amount of money in it 50 100 bucks, whatever and they'll drain that But your hidden wallet if you bother to set one up will have your mother load Which cannot be accessed without that second password
[15:02] Which can only be stolen or opened if someone physically compromised your device by watching you type in that second passphrase Or if some kind of malware was installed on your computer or device and it's capturing your keystrokes So in short a secret passphrase for your hidden wallet doesn't just add an extra door to your device The hidden wallet passphrase just doesn't sit next to your keywords But it's cryptographically folded into the final key which makes it very much more difficult for a hacker to penetrate Just make that hidden wallet password a convoluted one. You get it? That means if your cold storage device has an option for a secret wallet use it All right, let's talk about something useful. How about internet speeds in latin america that does interest a lot of people, you know
[15:53] talking about median download speed fastest country chili at 335 megabytes per second number two surprisingly peru at 258 megabytes per second number three brazil 222 megabytes per second then there's panama and columbia around 220 megabytes per second now the surprising thing is at the bottom end of this list Did you know that venezuela has a hundred megabytes per second, which is better than? Nicaragua guatemala honduras dominican republic bolivia and the two worst haiti in cuba haiti by the way has 52 megabytes per second on average download speed and get this cuba's average download speed four megabytes per second almost 100 times worse than our top contender chile now you might be thinking
[16:43] What do those numbers really mean? Well, just look at what's basically necessary for everyday people Bottom line 50 megabytes per second is perfectly fine for one or two people in a household Even if you're running a small business, so it turns out and remember I used to be an engineer in a past life Anything over a hundred megabytes per seconds is nice to have but not necessary unless you have many heavy users in your family But then again so many people are addicted to tick-tock Instacrap in another social media and of course AI use is really picking up So maybe in six months or so we should reevaluate all this oh and by the way latency or what they call ping Pinji is more important than raw speed for gaming and video calls now. I'm not into gaming
[17:29] I never was which is kind of odd for an engineer and someone who might qualify as a minor nerd though There's something you should understand you could have a hundred megabytes per second Which most people will never use and still you complain occasionally about your internet You know cutting out or whatever well most of the time when that happens It's your internet plan itself or the Wi-Fi quality if you've got a cheap ass shitty router Versus a brand name more expensive one that makes a big difference all right. Here's an interesting fact I just sort of stumbled on did you know Brazil? exports more oil than any other product You might think of Brazil as maybe a huge coffee exporter, but oil well It's their number one export and guess where almost all of it goes to China
[18:17] Mmm sort of strange huh all right now for but those of you possibly thinking about moving to Argentina Turns out Argentina's real estate rebound is colliding with reality turns out building in Buenos Aires Has become dramatically more expensive Reports show construction costs per square meter have soared since Covid with cost to build in Buenos Aires Doubling since then meanwhile since that covid it crap in the US new home construction costs have increased about a third 33% all right, let's talk about something that everyone wants to know about the easy availability of prescription drugs in Latin America without a prescription Isn't it funny that most all Latin American governments have strict regulations in place to ensure that all prescription drugs
[19:09] Not only meet international quality standards, but should only be sold with a legitimate written prescription In fact just a cursory walk through most any Latin American pharmacy Just drift towards the counter and you'll generally see some government documents posted right there to see in Spanish Of course it'll say prescription medicines such as antibiotics and painkillers Can be dispensed only if the consumer provides a written prescription from a board certified government registered physician man I can't tell you how many times I've seen that posted in a pharmacy yet There's a big gray zone and a disconnect between law and practice Just like the rest with practically every law and rule here in Latin America now The thing is if you're down here in Latin America and go to a doctor and he gives you a prescription
[19:58] If you have insurance and I'd say about 20 to 30 percent of Latin Americans now have some kind of medical insurance either through their employer or they buy it privately Anyway, having a legitimate prescription is the only way the insurance company is gonna reimburse you But you know most part-time gringo visitors even short-term expats don't generally have Latin American insurance coverage So reimbursement is not an issue Now I personally have a private insurance plan that covers 80% of any prescription drugs as needed But only if I have a prescription from a legit doc funny thing too down here in Latin America You'll see that there are chain drug stores They always seem to be a little more strict about prescription drugs and slightly more expensive than most mom-and-pop drug stores
[20:47] That said a lot of older expats. I know are into Viagra and Cialis They tell me that a lot of the chain drug stores won't sell it to them without a prescription So they go to a mom-and-pop drugstore and they always give it to them Same thing with heavy-duty pain medication, which is a complete no-no up in the States Oh another thing I found out many US gringo expats living down here in Latin America Routinely go to the drugstore and buy generic opioids as mentioned you could buy different kinds over-the-counter here The fact is a good percentage of older gringo expats are in some kind of chronic pain and they love that No prescription pharmacy thing here older folks are plagued with stiff joints and arthritis knee hip shoulder and back problems So basically down here if you've got a lot of medical problems and tick a lot of drugs
[21:35] It's a candy store and generics are dirt cheap It's a double-edged sword because lots of gringos get addicted to opiates though admittedly the proprietary drugs You know the brand names they can be more expensive than up in the States I even know of a gringo expat who spends half a year down here Goes back and forth to Georgia a couple times a year and each time he brings with him a stockpile of opiates That he's bought at the pharmacies down here the local generic version of Tylenol threes Tylenol with coating he's got a trick a scheme He takes a vitamin bottle vitamin C empties it out and loads it up with generic Tylenol three I asked him how much is enough or how much is too much? He said he buys three boxes at the pharmacy 30 in a box, so he takes 90 with him each time he goes back
[22:23] He's been doing it for years He says and he's never been stopped or searched at the airport because he says those generic Tylenol threes are really generic They've got no manufacturer stamp on him besides that he says practically everyone over 40 carries a shitload of pills In their luggage all the time Americans are on so many pills Immigration and customs just expects old-timers especially to be loaded down with that stuff So he says they never check now That's his story He's sticking with it and by the way I know a couple of guys that were just visiting down here who did the same thing They discovered there was a drug free-for-all down here And they loaded up at the local pharmacy before they went home mostly again Viagra and pain pills Oh, and those weight loss GLP ones have arrived here in Latin America
[23:10] The pharmacies are advertising they have that stuff on the internet marketplaces and as expected without a prescription Now up in the states. I know you need one now those GLP ones have made it here to Latin America But I don't expect they're gonna be overused. Oh for sure everybody wants them, but they're Proprietary brands there are no generics not yet, so they're US Expensive and even if you have an insurance plan, they're not covering it So we'll see how that works out We'll see if the population starts slimming down or not by the way you longtime listeners No, I just hate the motorcyclists here in Latin America. They're a plague on society So I had a smile when I read this article that came out of the South American newspaper Mercurio
[23:57] I'll translate this the article says 20,000 and 100 motorcycles have been seized by Ecuadorian authorities since 2021 the reasons why they were detained is for lack of license plates for lack of current registration or because the owner did not have a Valid driver's license which was the number one reason other seizures were made because the driver or passenger were carrying weapons We're in possession of drugs or intoxicated with the police fully admitting that only a tiny Minority of motorcycles that violated statutes were seized only flagrant violators The other amazing things that it says the Motor Vehicle Department reports only a tiny fraction of the motorcycles that have been seized were ever
[24:44] reclaimed by the owners and remain in two giant detention lots in Cuenca and Finally it says in the first six months of 2026 3,000 additional motorcycles have been seized Wow music to my ears and not Ragged tone either that ain't music. All right before we close out today one last email. It should be of interest This one from our very good expat friend. Mr. Rico. It's been a while since I've written in Heard you're doing a seminar again in November. Don't ask me how I found out I've been running around Guatemala like a crazy person with a camera lately making videos showing people what it actually looks like down Here trying to make them laugh Rico unchained on YouTube Instagram and tiktok. If anyone's curious I've been getting a lot of emails same conversation over and over. What's it really like down there? What does it cost?
[25:35] Is it safe? Can I actually do this and I tell him I show him I can point a camera at this place all day But it still isn't the same as standing in it You have to be here eat the food walk the streets see what a meal costs when you're the one paying for it Feel what 11 in the morning on a Tuesday feels like when nobody's rushing you anywhere That part doesn't come through on a screen. It never has which is the whole reason your seminar works so well You're not just describing it to people you're taking them by the hand and letting them live it when people do that They know it's either for them or it isn't both answers are worth a plane ticket Too many people spend 10 years thinking about maybe I'll admit I'm not neutral on this that seminar you did fundamentally changed my life for the better
[26:21] It's the reason I'm living down here right now and absolutely thriving. I came I saw it with my own eyes and I never went back Somewhere in a parallel universe. There's a version of me still sitting up there in the States I don't even want to think about how miserable that guy is right now that said Johnny. There's no way I'm missing your upcoming seminar, which means your people are stuck with me the whole time I'll be around to answer anything people who want to ask me and if someone wants to pull me aside and ask the stuff They'd never ask in front of a room full of people I'll be there and easy to find and I don't embarrass easily. So Johnny tell your people I'll be there. I said come Worst case they'll have loads of fun and eat. Well signed repeat offender Rico PS
[27:07] The attendees will also get to meet some people that have made the move and are living down here permanently Interesting people very interesting people. It's that little social network that you get plugged into that makes the move so much easier signed a permanent expat repeat offender Rico Well Rico, thanks for that. Remember the seminar is November 14th through the 20th. We'll see you there 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
[27:55] Send me an email the expat files at gmail.com. No spamos