#254 – The Expat Files: Affordability, Negotiation, and Life in Latin America

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:00] South of the border down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came up to play and now as I wonder My thoughts ever straight Hi everybody I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files Living in Latin America the show that tells you what it's really like to live work play and or retire in Latin America I tell it just like it is so let's get started Now I talk a lot about the fact that it's very cheap to live down here in Latin America when you're off the tourist trail That is and because I mention it so much. I do get a lot of emails from people asking me for proof It's not that they're actually calling me a liar or anything

[00:48] Oh, maybe they are but they're asking for some real live proof some examples So here's one that just came in today from a pretty good friend of mine a new friend of mine really I only just met him maybe five months ago when he came down for the last seminar and never left Which really says a lot about the parts of Latin America that I recommend the parts that I like to show certain people I mean who would have thought when people come down for a four or five or six-day seminar Most of them having never been in a Latin American country before or at least never way off the gringo tourist trail In a Latin American country. Anyway, who'd have thought that so many of these guys would come down and end up staying for life Or at least that's the plan and that's exactly what's been happening ever since I did my very first seminar about a year and a half ago

[01:36] Anyway, I'm always going on about how really cheap it is to live down here when you're off the tourist trail I mean the gringo tourist trail Now let me stop just for a second and explain my definition of tourism There are tourist areas in every country even in North Korea believe it or not I mean they have more than their fair share of rich genocidal psychopathic business guys and politicians I mean even a completely closed country like that has a handful of guys running things And they've got to have some place to spend their dirty money on the weekends now, don't they? anyway down here in Latin America, there are a lot of absolutely terrific vacation spots and Thankfully gringos have only discovered about one or two percent of those places and the rest Well, those are the real paradises for the smart expats and expat wannabes

[02:23] and of course those are the places local Latins go for their R&R and that's where you really have the gringo advantage and we're great opportunities live for expats Anyway, how about a little objective unbiased proof about the unbelievably inexpensive cost of living down here Now you might remember from a past show when I talked about how to negotiate with a latin landlord when you're haggling about renting an apartment or a condo or a business space and if you remember I mentioned that the average latin tenant Almost never comes up with advanced rent payments on anything He's always paying month-to-month and he's usually behind on that Which gives gringos and expats like us a huge advantage because when we pull out the cash and say how about if I pay?

[03:10] Six months or a year in advance. Well, I can tell you when that happens to a latin landlord He's just absolutely drooling to get you as a tenant because I can tell you that 99% of latin landlords have never heard those beautiful words. I'll pay cash in advance in his life Anyway, my new friend Tom just this last week was in the midst of putting together his own rental deal on an apartment himself And he took my advice about haggling with latin landlords. And here's what he had to say He just sent me this email a few hours ago, and I'm gonna paraphrase this a little bit. Well, here goes he says dear Johnny I'm signing a six-month rental contract for a new place right outside of Antigua Guatemala. It's 2350 square feet four bedrooms with one bath which includes a patio and that patio is under a roof and

[04:03] Upstairs from there. I have a stunning view of the countryside the volcanoes and the mountains There are five separate rooms one of which is the kitchen area and a large master bedroom and what's the cost you ask? Well get this would you believe? 295 bucks a month for 2350 square feet. Oh and guess what that also includes all utilities and free Wi-Fi So that's what the landlord wanted 295 bucks a month all utilities included, but that's not how it turned out Because he followed my suggestions and did a six-month contract and showed him the cash He knocked 50 bucks a month off the rent. So now he's paying 245 bucks a month for all that

[04:51] Which effectively means by doing that six month deal and showing the cash he got a free month out of it Actually a little more than a free month So anyway, I just wanted to give you a real live example of someone who would just come down here and pull that off Someone who knows about a thimbles worth of Spanish no offense there Tom, but that's how we all start out, right? So that's real proof that it can be done by a fresh green expat In fact gringos and expats can strike deals like that all the time Provided that they know a little bit about the culture But the fact is you see gringos aren't used to haggling most of the time maybe 95% or more of the time We're so happy to hear the price we get right off the bat It seems like such a deal to us that we jump at it without even realizing

[05:36] They're ready to haggle and you're in the driver's seat because you got the cash now I told this story because let's face it It's not quite the same if you hear that a guy like me or expat Eddie pull a deal like that off That would seem logical. We've been down here a long time me over 20 years and expat Eddie more than a dozen But Tom he's only been down here since my last seminar about four months and he pulled it off and you can do it, too And by the way if you sign up for my June seminar, or you've signed up already You'll get to meet Tom because he's gonna be hanging with our group along with a few other people from my past seminars Who kind of forgot to return to the states and jump back on that treadmill? Latin America seems to have that kind of effect on people you know and Regarding the June seminar which starts on the 23rd

[06:23] That's a Sunday and goes through the following Friday the 28th It's over half filled now, which means I still have a few spots available So just go to expat wisdom calm and click on the Latin American seminar link and get the full details. Oh And regarding the expat wisdom calm website That's not just a website to sign up for the seminar There are a couple of free reports you can get there too including my 17 off the gringo radar picks Which to me are some of the best cities in Latin America to live work play and or retire And I'd like to mention something else about the expat wisdom calm website now I'm sure you figure it out by now that I'm not politically correct at all I tell it like it is the good news and the bad news about Latin America and that goes for everything else

[07:11] I ramble on about now one thing you have to know I get a ton of emails from people on almost every subject Concerning Latin America of course But there are a certain handful of topics that people email me about over and over again Those things that are on the top of the expat wannabe list and that's all right nothing wrong with that So in no particular order here's how they stack up number one health care in Latin America number two Retiring in Latin America number three setting up and doing business in Latin America and number four cost of living number five safety and security issues and last but not least the dating mating and romance scene in Latin America and As you might imagine that dating and mating business can be the most politically incorrect of all

[07:57] Reading and answering some of those emails on the air could be a very tricky business You wouldn't believe what kind of questions I get well Maybe you would in fact if I grabbed a handful of those kind of emails and started reading them randomly on the air it would Certainly take this show into a direction I don't know if I'd want to go like expat Eddie says Johnny if you start doing those dating and mating emails You just might open a door to a room. You'll never find your way out of But then again, it's not fair to leave out the dating and mating and romance part of Latin American life I mean you can't avoid that issue either because it's part of life, right? And I'll tell you there are tons of expat wannabes up north who are in fact Lonely hearts who I can tell by their emails. They've been in and out of bad

[08:43] Relationships or who have just had a lot of bad luck in the love and romance department up in Cleveland And though it's mostly men who write those emails I've had my share of emails like that from women too and as a rule these people are hoping to make a fresh start of It once they move down to Latin America So obviously they want to know what it's really like and they have a million questions So who do they come to for that kind of advice good old Johnny? Now I ask you do I come off as some kind of romantic or something? I doubt it So yes, I'll touch on some of that stuff once in a while You know if you've been listening to my shows that I do hit on those subjects every so often But if you really want a much more in-depth take on that stuff And I know a whole lot of you do based on the emails

[09:31] I'd advise you to go to expat wisdom calm and take a look at some of the brand new blogs that have been Posted by a very good friend of expat eddies a guy that will call expat X for obvious reasons Expat X is a former drinking buddy of expat Eddie and a journalist He's a correspondent for an English news service who's been stationed down here in Latin America for at least a dozen years he's just one of those very special guys that you meet in your life that becomes your friend instantly a Guy it seems that people just want to tell their most intimate stories, too And I'll tell you people just love to cry on this guy's shoulder and since he is a journalist He's a great listener Which means when it comes to the subject of love romance and mating and dating with gringos and latinas and latinos and gringas

[10:21] He's heard a thousand stories, and he's willing to go on the record with him though only as expat X So the bottom line is this he's claimed He's unofficially interviewed over 200 expat gringos and gringas who've been in and out of relationships with latinos and latinas And that includes mixed couples who've been married divorced and in long-term relationships, too And our new blogger expat X covers love and romance on and off the tourist trail in big and small cities and even in the Boonies, and I should tell you that expat X is an encyclopedia of this stuff He's been keeping a running log on the stories. He's accumulated for years He's got tips and pointers and information on the subject that you've never heard before

[11:07] Because you know this ain't Cleveland This is Latin America, and you know down here us gringos and gringos have that little extra thing going for us called that gringo advantage remember which Complicates things believe me it can work either for you or against you and expat X will tell you all about that So if you're interested in how all that plays out in the love and romance department down here Just go to expat wisdom comm and check out the new blogger expat X and sure he's bound to be totally Unpc and irreverent at times that can happen when you're telling it like it is, but it will not be x-rated I mean, I'm not into censoring anybody even here at the expat files. I do have certain standards You know yuck yuck and expat X is well aware of that. Let's see how it goes

[11:54] So again if you're interested in that angle and so many people are based on the emails I get just check him out and feel free to send me an email with your comments at Johnny at expat wisdom calm or The expat files at gmail.com Okay, let me change gears a bit here Now I admit a lot of times on my show I get carried away and start rambling and I slip into another subject that Kinda relates to the topic I started with as you've noticed I'm not real good at staying on point some people might call it a stream of consciousness Thing and others might just call it the beginnings of Alzheimer's Anyway, sometimes I'll get close to the end of the show And then I suddenly remember that I forgot the original topic I started off with and you know what some people send me emails beating me up about that

[12:42] So I'm sorry if I didn't comply with some of those promises and do let me know if I'm rambling too much Okay, not that I could do anything about it, but who knows? Anyway, let me just follow up on one thing I promise to talk about that is the state of vitamins and supplements down here in Latin America now I know a large percentage of the listening audience also listens to Gary know Now I'll tell you some of the things he recommends for good health like green stuff and red stuff and certain other things You can only get at his health food store. Well, it's obvious You're not gonna be able to get some of that stuff down here So you're either gonna have to bring it down yourself Have someone else who's visiting down here bring it for you Or you could get one of those ubiquitous PO boxes down here and have the stuff sent directly down

[13:29] They've got those mailbox Etc clones down here all over the place and they cost anywhere from fifty to a hundred dollars a year to maintain And of course in addition to that charge You'll pay the postage on everything that's sent from the states when you pick up the package and whatever taxes the government assesses so for example, if you order anything from down here in Latin America from your home computer or smart device or Directly from your mailbox, etc Or some such clone office or from Amazon or any other outfit on the internet it'll land right at your PO box within a week or two and Yes, that's right you can do that ordering to write from the PO box office because they'll have a computer there and a secretary who's Bilingual to assist you in doing that. That's just one of the services most of those PO box outfits provides

[14:18] And by the way down here when you register for one of those PO boxes, they'll ask you for a piece of identification But in truth, you could give him your brother's Boy Scout merit badge or a photoshopped library card and that would be enough You'll see nothing like Big Brother up in the States. That's for sure. They don't give a damn They just want you to pay the fee and get on with it. Another reason to love Latin America And believe me in every Latin American city over a hundred thousand You've got dozens of those private PO box outfits to choose from as well as the one run by the government mail service But since the government owned and operated mail services in most Latin countries totally suck and are terribly undependable I'd choose one of those private mailbox companies instead since generally the private ones will accept

[15:05] UPS and other courier services whereas if you rent a box from a government postal service They won't sign for a private courier delivery And if they did they'd probably loot your package anyway, because after all that's what governments are good at looting you now Regarding those courier services. They've landed in a big way down here, too And even if you're in a town of five or ten or fifteen thousand believe it or not DHL and UPS and Federal Express Will deliver right to your door Well, maybe not right to your door if since if you're living out in the bony's and even in some places in the city You might have a real cockeyed address and they'll never find you even with Google Maps Believe it or not But they'll deliver it to a business office like your lawyer's office or to your own business if you have one and what I mean

[15:56] By having a real cockeyed address Well, it's true At least a quarter of the personal and business addresses have really twisted and sometimes oddball addresses For example common small business or residential address might go something like this 6th Avenue a 14th Street number 26 150 meters from the Shell Station and I'm not kidding. That's an actual address in San Jose, Costa Rica It's printed like that right in the telephone book and here's an address of a nice big hotel in Panama City It's 9th Avenue B number 60 exiting the old auxiliary city road from the east Yep, that's the complete address in the phone book

[16:42] And it's even crazier when you read it in Spanish because it's all ass backwards You know compared to how we construct our sentences in English Anyway, the point is just imagine a UPS driver trying to find that and that's another very good reason why when you first get Down here you should get a lawyer right away because any lawyer worth his salt down here will let you use his business address for all Your correspondence and all your deliveries and pickups and as long as you don't abuse the privilege and have things shipped there Constantly your lawyer will probably never even charge you for it And by the way having it done that way is absolutely safe and secure So don't even worry about it Your lawyer wants to keep you the gringo as a client forever, and he'll do everything possible to keep you happy

[17:27] Then later on if you're getting a lot of Correspondence and it's getting out of hand and your Spanish is a little better You can go out and get your own PO box at one of those mailbox, etc clones if you like But you know when talking about vitamins and supplements and herbs the common stuff the usual suspects Not those specialty items that you can only get from one place in the States Anyway, you can get almost all of the usual suspects practically anywhere here There are a lot of natural food and supplement and herbal outfits a lot of them specifically catering to the upscale Wealthier Latin crowd, you know, there actually is a small percentage of educated types gringo wannabes who speak pretty good English that do follow what's going on in the world of vitamins and supplements and

[18:12] Admittedly that percentage of folks is tiny But the market still exists and in any city over a hundred thousand you'll find a number of places like that Plus dozens and dozens of little kiosks that have all kinds of natural remedies In fact, you'll see herbs and spices and roots and tinctures that you've never seen before or even heard about because you know Every society has its own set of natural remedies for what ails you in fact a few years back in one place that I lived I was in the backyard, which was just loaded with plants and fruit trees and vegetables and flowers and stuff And I asked the gardener about some ugly weeds that were growing quite tall And he went on to explain to me about the uses of about five of those plants One was supposed to be made into a T for gastrointestinal problems

[18:58] One was for young children with fevers one for kidney and one for liver problems And you know, I have no idea if that stuff really works But 80% of the general population in Latin America are not hooked on drugstore pharmaceuticals They have their own traditional remedies that apparently work because you see down here These folks have basically the same or even better life expectancy than Americans do and they don't use any expensive proprietary drugs Sure they'll go to the pharmacy once in a while and get their Alka seltzer and Pepto bismol and Extremely cheap antibiotics if they get an infection by the way, no prescription necessary But like I said in a past show you go into their medicine cabinet You see a tincture of iodine and some band-aids aspirin and a bottle of peroxide if you're lucky yet

[19:45] They still in many cases outlive the average American So it's a combination of healthier living that is they still eat a lot of natural fruits and vegetables So less and less with all that first-world junk food influence and 80% of them Don't have cars so they walk everywhere which puts them way ahead of the average American overweight couch potato And of course, they've got those natural herbal remedies going for them, too So again, you can get the usual suspects down here, you know Your vitamin D and your omega-3 fish oil and all that and if you're into curcumin like so many people are It's produced down here and you can get it in a bag for about eight dollars a pound and get this you can get a 12 ounce bottle of 100% milled flaxseed for about a buck 25 and

[20:32] Cinnamon is native to Latin America, too So you can buy five huge sticks for a buck and a half So as for natural herbs and spices you can get most of that stuff down here fresher than you're ever gonna get it up In the States, but if you want Gary Nall's green stuff or your particular certain brand of resveratrol Well, then someone's gonna have to bring it down here for you Or you'll have to order it online and have it shipped to your PO box or use UPS or FedEx Which is more expensive and by the way if you sign up for one of these mailboxes down here If you do buy anything at all online from up in the States or have anything shipped to your PO box You don't give them your PO box address in Honduras or Bolivia Belize or Guatemala Your PO box address is not in the country you're living in but actually in Miami, Florida

[21:21] So you use that address along with your personal code and then when your letters or packages arrive in Miami at that address They sort it and bring it to the airport and put it on a cargo plane Routed to the country that you're living in and then a few days later You'll get an email from your PO box service that says something has arrived Then you'll go down and pick it up or you might have a deal with your PO box company to deliver your packages and mail Right to your house as they get it no matter how screwed up or distorted your address is Because you see every PO box company has a van and a couple of guys with motorcycles that do daily deliveries like that It's part of their service. So in the end if you have something small shipped from the States like vitamins What will it cost you? For example, if you bought a certain brand of vitamin C from Amazon on the internet

[22:09] well first it'll land at your PO box in Miami and for that you pay the straight Amazon price and then your PO box company in Miami will ship it on a plane to your country and then you'll pay that extra freight by the Pound and occasionally if your atoms over let's say $50 You could end up paying an additional VAT tax anywhere from 12 to 25 percent depending on the country So I would say on the average if you order something from Amazon that costs a hundred bucks and it weighs Let's say one pound 16 ounces by the time you end up picking it up at your PO box in Ecuador It could end up costing you anywhere from a hundred and thirty to a hundred and fifty bucks But if you elect to bring it through while you're traveling down here or have a friend do it It'll still just cost you that hundred bucks

[22:56] Since you had it delivered to an address in the States and as far as being Tripped up at the airport and having to pay duty on it The only time I've ever seen that happen is when a person's carrying arm loads or boxes full of brand new stuff In their original packages and boxes and it's true if they are vitamins or supplements You should keep them in their original bottles and containers But don't keep them in the original outer box with all those peanuts and packing forms and stuff and do bring the receipts with you But don't give them up Don't pass them on to the immigration guys unless they're giving you a hard time and want you to pay duty on the stuff But that almost never happens And by the way, if you end up ordering stuff in the States and have it shipped by UPS or FedEx Well, you can do that all day long But those courier services are damn expensive because they guarantee to ship it in two or three days

[23:44] Which means you could easily pay double or even more In fact, even if you send a basic letter in an envelope from UPS FedEx or DHL to or from a foreign country It could cost you anywhere from 50 to a hundred bucks for a stupid one-page letter Because it's gonna come first or second day mail and you're paying a premium for that fast service And I really wish that UPS or DHL had a service where you could specify you don't want first second or third day air You're not concerned if it comes in a week or even a month as long as it eventually gets there and for that kind of service they could charge maybe 25 bucks for a pound instead of a hundred and Me and a lot of expats have checked it out and there doesn't seem to be such a service, but there's certainly a huge demand

[24:31] Aha now that looks like a great opportunity for an expat business now Doesn't it if an expat could somehow put it all together and make all those connections? It would fill a tremendous gap a great niche. And if you do it, I'll be your first customer Oh, and by the way before I forget I did mention in a past show they have GNC all over the place down here in Latin America, they must have 2,000 stores spread all around and it seems like they're connected with Walmart everywhere. You see a Walmart You see a GNC and you know what? I never buy anything at GNC But stupid upscale Latins do because they don't investigate things. They don't price shop on the Internet They've never heard of consumer reports and if they did they never check it. It's just not in their culture They see the GNC ads on US cable TV

[25:18] So if it's a gringle franchise, it must be good Anyway, it is there as a last resort Oh and just to mention for any of you who've gone through the airports with vitamins and supplements you know you're infinitely better off if it's checked on luggage because if it's in your carry-on you have to follow all kinds of rules because remember if you carry on any liquids or gels or powders, they have to be in TSA approved containers of 3.4 ounces or smaller what a bunch of BS and what a bunch of idiot jerks Remember if you carry on any of that stuff you have to place those containers in one clear quart size plastic zip top bag from what I understand you're only allowed one bag if you have any liquids or gels or powders Remaining you cannot bring them with you

[26:05] TSA ass wipes will take them which makes me wonder where does all that crap go that they confiscate? There has to be tons of really good expensive stuff and another thing as for vitamins and supplements If at all possible leave them in their original containers with the manufacturer's labels intact And that goes for both carry-on and checked luggage One one more thing when you go to the security checkpoint Tell those TSA assholes right away that you have liquids gels or powders because if you don't when those penis heads discover them You're in for what the British call a cock up Oh, and if you're gonna do that carry-on thing make sure that ziplock bag is right at the top You don't want to do any digging for it now at least those TSA jerks cut you a little slack with

[26:51] Prescription drugs in that case that three and a half ounce or smaller container does not apply Original containers if larger are not a problem as long as it's prescription now Here's the insane part as if the rest of those stupid rules were saying according to TSA rules and guidelines as for prescription drugs the quantity of all those Medications you bring through the checkpoint Should be reasonable for the length of the flight or travel period you get that Reasonable for the length of the flight or travel period well that means if you're going down to Bolivia to live forever Well, that would mean that the average American could bring 20,000 Xanax or Zoloft down, right? south of the border down Mexico way

[27:38] That's listening to the expat files living in Latin America coming to you each week from somewhere south of the border And don't forget you can email me on anything at all about Latin America the expat files at gmail.com See you next time