Episode Summary
In this episode, Johnny Mueller explores the cultural significance of quinceañeros, which are 15th birthday parties for Latin American girls, considered a rite of passage across all classes. These parties can range from middle-class events with strict chaperoning to extravagant ones for wealthier families. Johnny contrasts the behavior of middle-class and wealthier Latin American youth, noting that the former tend to have more conservative parties, while the latter may engage in behaviors similar to their first-world counterparts. He emphasizes the importance of these events in Latin culture and the social expectations they create for expats.
Johnny also discusses the cultural expectations and social dynamics within Latin American families, particularly highlighting the importance of family gatherings and the challenges faced by expats like Eddie. He mentions how Eddie's absence from family events is noticeable, and how he feels like a 'B grade rock star' due to his gringo status. Johnny touches on the stereotype that gringos are cold-blooded and the contrast between Latin American family togetherness and gringo habits. He then shifts to a story about Eddie attending a quinceañeros party and avoiding his girlfriend's drunken uncle, Beto, who is always trying to get Eddie's attention for a job or loan. Johnny also comments on the idea that having a personal driver is a status symbol in Latin America, even for someone like Beto who doesn't have a license. The segment ends with Johnny and Eddie meeting an interesting pharmacist who is curious about gringos, particularly Mormons, and their presence in the area.
In this segment, Johnny recounts his experiences as an expat in Latin America, highlighting cultural observations and interactions with both locals and other expats. He describes how gringos often behave differently from Latin Americans, such as leaving stores without their purchased items, which he attributes to their less relaxed nature. He also discusses the impact of gringo slang and behavior on local cultures, particularly in Mexico, where gringo influence has led to a mix of English and Mexican slang. Johnny criticizes the overuse of words like 'awesome' and 'dude' as inauthentic and unrefined, suggesting that such language has permeated Mexican culture. He contrasts this with the more refined and less crude language found in countries further south, like Guatemala and Honduras, where Spanish is more civil and less influenced by gringo slang.
Johnny discusses the cultural nuances of life in a Latin barrio, highlighting the shift in language and slang as one moves south in Mexico. He explains that while Spanish is more civil and less crude in certain areas, it's still common to hear slang from deported Latinos who picked it up in Latin barrios. He then transitions into a discussion about the cultural tradition of godparenthood in Latin America, emphasizing its significance and how it often involves expats. Johnny explains that being a godparent is a big honor and that expats may be asked to take on this role, especially if they are in a relationship with a Latin person. He also touches on the complexities of the tradition, including how a single woman may be asked to be a godmother, and how this role can transfer to her husband if she later marries. Johnny concludes by discussing the practical implications of this tradition, such as the number of quinceañero parties and the cultural context of healthcare in Latin America, including the role of pharmacies and the lack of private health insurance among the lower and middle classes.
In this segment, Johnny discusses the affordability of medical services in Latin America compared to the United States, using a personal anecdote about a friend's medical expenses. He highlights the significant cost difference, noting that lab tests in Latin America are about a tenth of the price in the U.S. He then transitions into a discussion about the 'gringo advantage,' suggesting that expats are genetically predisposed to succeed in Latin America due to their risk-taking nature and willingness to take chances. He also touches on the inefficiencies of the U.S. healthcare system, particularly Obamacare, which he argues lacks coverage for preventive care.
Topics
Cultural traditions in Latin America, Social dynamics and expectations for expats, Comparative cultural differences between Latin America and North America, The role of quinceañeros in Latin culture, Cultural expectations in Latin American families, Social dynamics between gringos and Latin Americans, Family gatherings and their significance, Status symbols in Latin America, Mormon presence and perception in Latin America, Cultural differences between gringos and Latin Americans, Impact of gringo slang on local cultures, Behavioral differences in expat communities
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:32 The Quinceañero Party Experience 00:01:00 The Significance of Quinceañeros 00:02:48 The Influence of Wealth on Party Culture 00:06:17 The Gringo's Status in Family Gatherings 00:06:44 The Welcome and Acceptance of Gringos 00:07:49 The Gringo's Driver and Status Symbol 00:10:01 The Pharmacist's Curiosity About Gringos 00:11:56 The Pharmacist's Observation on Gringo Behavior 00:12:07 Gringos vs. Latin Americans: A Cultural Divide 00:14:10 Critique of Overused Gringo Slang 00:17:39 Language and Slang in Mexico 00:17:45 Cultural Influence and Language Evolution in Southern Latin America 00:18:08 Cultural Expectations for Expats 00:18:41 Godparenthood Tradition in Latin America 00:22:44 Healthcare System in Latin America 00:23:29 Weak Salary in Latin America 00:24:13 Why Expats Come to Latin America 00:25:02 The Gringo Advantage Theory
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 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 You know the other day I went to a quince años party with expat Eddie actually he invited me because he knows that those quince annual parties are absolutely dead boring for any gringos that happen to attend so he figured he'd invite me along so he'd have
[00:47] Someone to cut up on or cut up with whatever and for any of you up there who don't know what quince annual parties are Well, you'll find out once you move down here because every one of us gets invited to them sooner or later Hopefully later Anyway, what they are is 15 year old coming out parties that every young Latin American girl gets when she turns 15 Whether she's from the highest richest class to the lowest class It's a rite of passage for a young girl and in some cases no expenses spared And that's always true of upper middle class and wealthy parents But even middle class parents will sometimes beg borrow and steal to pull up a big impressive quince años shindig Since it turns out latins of all classes are into keeping up with the Jones's in the quince annual party department
[01:33] In fact little high school girls are always comparing quince años parties And if a girl's party isn't up to snuff or it's over the top well Everybody at her school knows about it, and it'll be the talk of a neighborhood for a while, too In fact quince años parties are so important to latin girls that they cherish the memory all their lives Sometimes as much as they cherish their own weddings So just how much dough does a family dish out for an event like that? Well some of these parties push families especially middle-class families to the edge of insolvency Meaning sometimes they'll rent a big expensive hall or hotel salon And they'll have a live band or a popular local DJ And of course all the food booze and cake you can eat and note the booze and wine are for the adults not the
[02:20] 15-year-olds running around in formal dresses and smoking jackets and note that down here at least with the middle classes these parties are Extremely tame that is compared to parties that high school kids up in the states have down here 15-year-old kids are not into drugs pills or booze not for the kids in the lower and middle classes anyway Which makes up about 95% of kids in Latin America But I can't say as much about that three to five percent of kids who go to those expensive private schools You know the kids whose parents who have a little money are dead set on copying everything first world They want to be just like first world gringos And of course they're spoiled and entitled kids with the maids and the bodyguards want to be first world in the worst way, too So you know what that means just like your average first world high school kid they're into sex drugs and rock and roll, too
[03:08] In fact like one gringo expat English teacher told me a guy who's been teaching quite a few years at one of these wealthy private schools He tells me about the kids and their pot and their coke designer drugs and their ecstasy It's as if he'd been talking about your typical high school in the suburbs of Cleveland Which means if you're an expat down here, and you don't hang around with the high rollers Then you'll be seeing typical very tame middle-class heavily chaperoned kids annuals parties Which like I said before are dead boring to us So anyway, let me warn you right now. You don't want to be the only gringo at a quinceaños party That's why expat Eddie practically begged me to come to this one and again I'm talking about quinceaños parties off the tourist trail where gringos in general are very scarce Because for quinceaños parties on the tourist trail like in Costa Rica for example
[03:57] There's bound to be other gringos invited since Costa Rica is absolutely balls to the walls with gringos these days And that by the way might be one of the very few advantages to living on the tourist trail But back to the story well expat Eddie's girlfriend sister Just turned 15 and naturally Eddie has to go to the quinceaños party now The other thing is if Eddie was to turn that invitation down well for one that would not go down Well with his girlfriend his girlfriend sister or the rest of the family because you see being the so-called rich gringo and extended family In fact being the only gringo on the extended family It's really obvious when Eddie is invited to things and he doesn't show up and you'll find when you live down here that Latins are Very family oriented seems like every weekend someone's having a family get-together
[04:44] So if you have Latin friends or you hook up with a Latin boyfriend or girlfriend or marry a Latin or Latino Get ready because whether you like it or not your weekends are going to be booked and there's only so many excuses and ways to get Out of it, so you might as well play along and who knows you could get to like it Now the thing is I'm not saying it's a horrible experience at all It's just that it's something that North Americans just aren't used to because our families up there are not nearly as cohesive When comparing the two societies Gringo's are practically anti-social of course We don't think we are but compared to Latin's I mean most Americans I know only get together on Christmas Easter Maybe Memorial Day or the 4th of July if that and maybe the odd birthday here and there and for some of us three or four Get-togethers a year is way too much
[05:31] Now you see since Eddie's basically the only gringo his girlfriend's family has ever had real contact with Which like I've mentioned in past shows is pretty normal when you're off the tourist trail in fact you might remember that statistic I laid on you some shows back when I said only about one in 20 Latins has ever actually spoken a single word to a real live gringo off the tourist trail of course, which is like 95% of Latin America and Anyway, well Eddie's connection to his girlfriend's extended family is a perfect example of that That means when Eddie ducks out of a quinceaños party or a birthday or a Christmas or some kind of celebration Everybody notices and for the person in the family that's throwing the party It's kind of a letdown because you know with that gringo advantage
[06:17] You're kind of the equivalent of a B grade rock star, you know So you have to keep that in mind when you're looking for a new excuse to get out of the next shindig Now I know some of you might think I'm a jerk for saying this stuff But these Latin families and their multiple weekend get-togethers can get pretty old Especially for us gringos who are absolutely not used to that kind of family togetherness, you know No wonder a lot of Latin's think us gringos are pretty cold-blooded in a lot of ways But still they welcome us into their families with open arms Go figure and like Eddie says and he's been to a gazillion of these family get-togethers After he's made the rounds and said hi to everybody all that's really left for him to do is sit back Suck on a drink and watch all the kids dance to some horrible Latin rapper ragga tone music
[07:03] Or he could make his way back to the kitchen or the living room or the outside Barbecue where most of the adult males in the family are kicking back with a drink glued to the big-screen TV watching their football Which we call soccer or anything else sports related that happens to be on the tube at the time So where was I again? Oh, yeah back to last weekend So anyway, Eddie asked me no beg me to come to the quinceaños party and keep him company He just did not want to get cornered by his girlfriend's drunken uncle again The one that's always trying to hit him up for a job or a loan and what he really wants to be is Eddie's personal driver Yeah, that's just what Eddie needs a guy at the wheel who's either nursing a hangover or tipsy most of the time anyway Like Eddie's always saying to his girlfriend
[07:49] I don't want your uncle Beto to be my driver gringos drive their own cars only pompous asses like George Soros Oprah Donald Trump and entitled criminal classes like mob bosses and the US Congress have their own personal drivers But the thing is down here in Latin America It's all about the show and anyone who's anybody has his own personal driver Even if the guy doesn't have a driver's license like drunken uncle Beto Though when marooned at a family gathering Eddie really much prefers shooting a breeze with drunken uncle Beto Which is short for Roberto then being stuck sitting next to the odd family member speaking bad English Who once did live up in the US who was unfortunately caught and deported sometimes more than once and though that part of the story is?
[08:39] Breached every long-term gringo expat down here knows the score after talking to a guy like that for about 30 seconds And guys like that They just love talking to Eddie in fact any gringo that they can corner since they really love being in the states and miss it So that's all they want to talk about and of course That's the last thing you want to talk about and they think by butting up to a real-life gringo like Eddie that he's got some Kind of magic connection at the US Embassy that could somehow grease the skits for them so they could get a real Legitimate US visa which could never happen But they don't know that because once you've been deported from the states You're permanently on the blacklist and the only way you could ever get to the United States legally is
[09:25] Through marriage with a US citizen fat chance, huh? So anyway, Eddie didn't want the Chinese water torture of sitting next to one of these guys instead He wanted the Chinese water torture of sitting next to me and this time for a change. We were in luck We didn't have to count on our own bad company to entertain ourselves Instead when we sat down on the sofa there was a fairly interesting and intelligent guy sitting down next to us in fact He was a pharmacist that owned his own pharmacy and since neither of us had ever met a guy like that We fired a lot of questions at him And he was glad to answer and the thing that I remember most about the conversation is this He told us that every once in a while a gringo would come into his pharmacy Black pants white shirt suspenders blonde hair and all since his pharmacy was only about a block and a half away from a Mormon
[10:13] Church and that explained the get-up So basically the only gringos this guy ever came in contact with were down here as part of a Mormon church brigade And of course Eddie and I were curious about his take on those guys You can't help but spotting a pair of those guys every once in a while I mean they stick out about as much as a hairy Krishna black pants white shirts black suspenders gringo tall Which is about six inches higher than the rest of the population and usually one of them having stark blonde hair Which is an extreme rarity down here, so you do see him once in a while But how much has the church really penetrated? I mean it is kind of odd when you're out here way off the gringo tourist trail and every once in a while you run Into a beautiful nicely constructed, but very simple church
[11:01] And one thing's for sure they use the very finest material granite slate and stone no expense spared on that And that's quite a difference then compared to your evangelical Christian splinter churches down here Some of those can be badly dilapidated or just haphazardly slapped together But not the Mormons their churches are monuments and when they're in a little town out in the boonies They're nearly always the nicest and best-built building in the area So anyway Eddie and I wanted to know this Pharmacists take on the Mormons that sometimes frequented his store and for one thing he said I don't know if all gringos are like This but every time one comes into my shop They seem to be in a hurry so much so that a few times They bought something from me, and I'd give him their change and they walk out of my place
[11:47] Without the bag with the product they just purchased in it then the guy said a few seconds later They're halfway down the street, and they realize they don't have their bag And I'm holding it in my hand knowing they're gonna rush back in any second now this pharmacist said that in the 12 years He's been in business never in his whole career has he seen a latin ever do that Buy a product and leave the store without it in his hand. He's only experienced that with gringos He said he's seen that happen with gringo Mormons a dozen times And when he said that Eddie, and I looked at each other and said at the same time. I've done that And we assured the pharmacist that it's not just a Mormon thing all of us gringos have that quirk We're just not easy going and relaxed like most latins are so how about you guys up there?
[12:35] How many times have you pulled that one by the way? I have to tell you there were the usual handful of young 20-something men at that quinceaños party that came over to talk to me in their broken English Gushing on about Atlanta or LA or Chicago or New York Places they lived and were deported from of course they'd never tell me that night never bring it up to embarrassing You know, but when you're at a party you can spot these guys a mile away Usually when you walk by they'll say something very friendly in English to you as opposed to latins that never left the country And learn their English down here They'd never do that they're rather timid about their English and would never speak to you in English Unless spoken to first and even then they might never try their English out on you
[13:22] They're just way too timid about their English skills to spring it on you right off the bat But latins who've been deported as soon as they spot a lone gringo at a party They're all over you and again I'm talking off the tourist trail and in fact here's something Eddie and I noticed right away Besides the fact that they really really wanted to hang with us and be friends the Latin guys that came over and bonded with Us were speaking a Latin barrio form of dumb down Jersey Shore style English So try to picture that Trying to impress us of course with their vast knowledge of what's happening on the US social scene Yep, that was a great first impression. Alright, I can't tell you how many times they said dude or bro or awesome Which to me instantly throws a bucket of cold water on any decent conversation
[14:10] I'm so sick of hearing words like awesome in dude packed into every other sentence I mean to me a nuclear detonation would be awesome That word should never apply to a Starbucks frappuccino or a 20% off sale at Sears So what really qualifies as awesome? How about Watson and Crick's discovery of the double helix that was really awesome and so was landing on the moon now Was that not awesome and practically all Nobel prizes and science are awesome as opposed to most Nobel Peace prizes Which aren't but these days they're just bad filler words Now a person who has a habit of saying like really dude awesome Why not just skip all that crap and wear a t-shirt that says I'm a moron and you know, I found out that in conversation
[15:00] You're infinitely better off by just nodding occasionally and saying Mm-hmm every so often which could actually make a dull person appear to be somewhat intelligent. It always worked for me because you know if someone nods and says Mm-hmm at strategic intervals you assume there could be a brain behind that as opposed to assuming liberal use of the crack pipe Which is always possible with someone who peppers his phrases with dudely awesomeness and here's another phrase We got to get rid of well, actually, I mean young women under 25 have to get rid of it's that high-pitched machine gun rapid-fire Exclamation. Oh my god Oh my god, and I know that didn't sound exactly right because guys just can't pull it off
[15:45] But you get the idea, you know, it was cute back in the spice girl and Britney Spears days in 2013 Now I took a detour with that but I didn't get totally sidetracked. So follow me here Anyway suffice it to say if someone says it's awesome, dude You can assume it's definitely not and now I'll connect the expat dots on that for you when you go to Mexico in practically every city these days it's been so contaminated by the gringo dollar and Since everybody and his brother has a dozen relatives up in the states or a dozen that have been deported You can bet all that gringo slang and bad street grammar have made it down to Mexico in a big way So you will hear the dudes and the bros and the awesomes and oh my god Mixed in with regular Mexican lowlife slang like pen dejo, which means jerk or worse
[16:36] Mula, which means mule or idiot burro, which means stupid or stubborn like a mule or burro Then there's baboso, which means stupid or clown or fool Then there's those two most favorite Mexican lowlife terms puta and cabron Which are used liberally by all classes of Latin American men even high-class Latin men when it's a boy's night out but upper-class Latin guys won't use it in front of women folk or children and Those two words puta and cabron are almost never used by cultured Latin American women or so-called good girls They're kind of in the same category as our English fornication word and the C word Which means if you hear Latin women on the street saying puta or cabron or cabron You're looking basically at the Latina version of trailer trash
[17:24] But here's something interesting as soon as you get south of Mexico into Guatemala Belize and Salvador and Honduras and Nicaragua Etc. All of a sudden that crude Latino slang that we're all used to hearing in every Hollywood movie that has Latin actors or any Movie that depicts life and a Latin barrio. Well, I'm here to tell you that south of Mexico Spanish language on the street becomes more civil and much less sprinkled with crude slang And it's not to say you won't hear it once in a while You will but mostly from deported Latinos who picked it up in Latin barrios They lived in up in the States and the bad slang they picked up sneaking their way back and forth through Mexico But it's time for me to get back to that quince años party But first let me point out there will come a day for you expats when you're approached by your Latin wife
[18:14] Girlfriend husband Latin co-worker or Latin next-door neighbor some Latin person You know We'll ask you if you would do them the honor of being the godfather of their child or the godfather of their Sisters or cousins child sometimes a family go-between will pop the question to you now don't laugh You see being a godmother Madrina or godfather Padrino is a really big thing down here And I know some of you are recognizing that padrino thing by the godfather movie same thing anyway because Latin America is 90-plus percent Catholic that godfather godmother thing Madrina and padrino is taken very seriously here And it's not like up in the states where true most people have a godmother or a godmother
[19:00] But after the song and the dance and the gift giving and the little party you might never see your godparent again or Very infrequently in the states. It's a tradition with no big strings attached Anyway, I guarantee you if you mingle with Latins on a regular basis You will be asked to be a godfather or godmother and in some cases like Eddie You're asked to repeatedly and it could be very embarrassing for you to turn something like that down It's a huge slap in the face and Latin folks Just never say no when approached like that and the fact is you could become a godfather by proxy without even realizing it For example, if your girlfriend or wife is asked to be the madrina of a kid You are automatically the padrino the godfather
[19:46] You have no choice in the matter that happens a lot and since we're Latin folks It's a big honor your girlfriend or wife will always accept So like Eddie says the day'll come when your girlfriend or wife will announce to you that you're gonna be a godfather You got nothing to say about it And there's another little catch to it if for example, a Latin woman is asked to be a godmother and of course She'll say yes, if she later becomes your girlfriend or wife You're automatically the padrino of that kid because you see the unwritten law in the godparenting business Is that if you're unmarried and you're selected to be a godmother madrina? Well, then a godfather might not be selected at that time at all Not when the godmother is single instead when the godmother eventually does get married her new husband
[20:37] Automatically inherits the title of padrino or godfather to all the kids. She is godmother of so that's the baggage You just might inherit I've discovered that in many many cases a single woman will be asked to be a godmother and that's it the kid has a godmother Until she's married, but I've never heard it happen with a single guy In other words, there's basically no little Latin kids walking around with just a godfather But there's a ton of them walking around with just a godmother. Do you get it? It's kind of a reverse machoism, you know, and I'm sure some of you are thinking well, how far can this go? How many times am I gonna be asked and can I somehow get out of it? Well, like I said, as far as expat guys are concerned, you're never gonna be asked upfront by a new mother It'll be your girlfriend or wife that's asked to be the godmother and you'll automatically become the godfather
[21:26] Well, let me just bring up one example Eddie's future suegra his future mother-in-law She's godmother to a grand total of 13 kids and Eddie's girlfriend who's only maybe 25 years old She's already godmother to two kids and has been tapped by a third pregnant friend with a bun in the oven So what does this mean for Eddie? Well, it just means more boring quinceaños birthday and Christmas parties and stuff and Eddie's in no way mad about that He just says it's fine with him as long as the party's not at his house and they're not drinking his booze and here's a little more fuel to the fire Eddie's suegra his future mother-in-law has 19 brothers and sisters and they're all from the same mother and that's a story I'll say for another show So stay tuned for that and since I was talking about the pharmacist that we were hanging with at that quinceaños party
[22:16] He was telling me about a cool service that a lot of pharmacies down here offer Of course off the tourist trail and in middle-class neighborhoods he said that once a month usually on a Saturday one or two doctors and a couple nurses will come down and Donate their time for an afternoon and the doctors and nurses will do physicals and checkups and take blood urine samples and the like and the whole ball of wax will cost the patient about 15 bucks and that's just for the lab work because the doctors are donating their time And he said the reason why a lot of neighborhood pharmacies and doctors do this is because in Latin America Less than 5% of the population has private health insurance and in middle and lower class neighborhoods It's more like less than 2% and though all people working on the books are on the national health care plan of that country
[23:04] No one really voluntarily goes down and uses the national health care hospital system Unless it's a dire emergency because everybody knows the system is completely broken And if someone for example went to a private hospital or a private lab a complete hospital lab workup without insurance will cost About 70 to 75 dollars which to us is rock-bottom cheap, but to the average latin guy That's a weak salary in fact I have such a private lab bill in my hand right now from one of my gringo friends It was a lab workup ordered by his doctor for a hernia repair surgery He had an electrocardiogram Thorax and pelvic x-ray and a complete blood workup and urinalysis and it cost him $72 he paid that out of his pocket because he doesn't have insurance now
[23:53] I just checked on the internet and the average cost of just a thorax radiograph is $410 and in the u.s. A complete blood workup and metabolic panel it ranges from a hundred to two hundred bucks Anyway, as you can see down here in Latin America the cost of lab tests in this case Anyway, it's about a tenth of what they are up in the first world And that's why so many expats would come down here Don't really care if they get insurance coverage or not in fact in all my years down here I've never heard of a single case of a gringo crying about his medical bills in fact It's just the opposite normally. They're bragging about what a great deal it is now speaking about evil twins Were we speaking about evil twins? Well we are now Did you know that in that great and wonderful medical plan fronted by our Savior Obama?
[24:40] Dubbed Obamacare. Did you know that in that plan there are? one hundred and eighty Thousand treatment and billing codes that doctors and nurses and their staffs will have to check off and submit in order to get paid 180,000 codes, but there's not a single code in Obamacare that doctors can check and mark off and submit to get paid for performing Wellness or preventive treatment preventive care just doesn't exist and another thing since we've been talking a lot about the gringo advantage lately I just heard a gringo advantage theory Posited by a very smart expat gringo that I met at a party somewhere now Here's theory is that expats in Latin America are genetically Predisposed to succeed down here now at first glance it sounds a bit racist, but it's really not
[25:28] He says that we expats have at least two different reasons why we're predisposed to succeed first Expats are all products of parents or grandparents or great-grandparents that themselves were big chance takers They completely dumped and rejected the life of a typical European and came over here on a boat most not even knowing the language Most with only a few hundred bucks or less than a few suitcases So for one expats are a product of people who are predisposed to take chances and secondly expats themselves are chance takers And though very few of them come down here with just the clothes on their backs And only a few hundred bucks They've all ditched what they've had up in the first world most of them to coming down here not knowing the language You see these guys aren't couch potatoes sitting back watching reed runs of two and a half men
[26:18] Expats have that chance taking gene somewhere buried in their DNA if there is such a thing and so when they come down here They're not only unfairly aided by that thing I call the gringo advantage But they're aided by the fact that they're the kind of people that when they see an opportunity or believe that there might be one They're gonna try to be the first in line to get a piece of it Now you must have heard the story that if you ask a successful Businessman in the States what is secret to success is more often than not you'll hear him Say the secret is not to stop trying no matter how many times you failed so bottom line I have to believe there's a lot of truth in what that guy said that gringos and expats are actually predisposed to success down in Latin America
[27:04] So there's another little something that should make you feel good about your move you are moving, right? And before I finish up today, don't forget my Latin American seminar June 23rd through the 28th I've only got room for 24 people and there's still a few spots available So just go to expatwisdom.com and click on the seminar link for all the details So like dude, man, was that the awesomest show or what? Oh my god. Yes You've been 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