#26 – Episode 26: Navigating Life and Logistics in Latin America

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

[00:01] South of the border Down Mexico way Hi everybody, I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America The one-of-a-kind show that tells you what it's like to live work play and or retire in Latin America So let's get started I have to point out now that we've been having a lot of trouble with our email system a lot of your emails have not Been getting through to me. So here's my new email and it's guaranteed to work The expat files at gmail.com once more the expat files at gmail.com Okay, are you expats and expat wannabes out there it's time for some more sweeping generalizations about Latin America as

[00:48] Only we at the expat files can give them to you. And where do we get our information? Well, of course, it's based on thousands of unofficial expat interviews and case studies I'm talking about things that expats talk about when stuck in a room or a bar together and Not necessarily things they talk about in mixed company because what they have to say sometimes doesn't come off too nice So if you want things nice and candy-coated don't come here to the expat files Buy yourself a condom as traveler or a photos or a lonely planet Or you might go down to your local travel agency and pick up a bunch of pamphlets Because you know you're gonna get the truth about a country when you pick up one of their government sanctioned pamphlets with a bunch Of happy smiling locals frolicking at some tropical beach. That looks like paradise itself

[01:38] Yep, you're sure to get the unvarnished truth with that kind of propaganda now. Oh, well, well, let's move on You know I thought I was done with the theme of buying land and Building or buying a house with the last show we did on the expat files, which was number five in that series But wouldn't you know it a slew of emails arrived asking me about things I didn't quite touch on or didn't quite touch on hard enough So naturally, I'm glad to oblige and in more than one of those emails I was asked if it was possible down in Latin America to buy brand name Construction items for a house that you're building or restoring or whatever. In other words after you build your house Can you get all those first world fixtures and appliances that you want? Or do you have to settle for that second-rate junk they make in Argentina Chile Mexico and Brazil and I have to tell you right now

[02:29] Throughout Latin America There are factories that build all the first world appliance brands like Hotpoint, Amana, General Electric and Whirlpool So naturally you can get those brands pretty much anywhere in Latin America But consumer beware because every country seems to have its own oddball brand of kitchen appliances furniture washers and dryers and household items They're always about a third or more cheaper than the brands you're used to seeing but they're also pretty much inferior in every way So you really should stick to the known brands whereas the locals they generally tend to buy the other crap just because it's cheaper For example the best way to compare two brands of stoves a local brand called Atlas against an international brand Let's say Hotpoint. Well, it's like comparing a brand new Toyota against a brand new Kia

[03:18] And right off the bat the Toyota is gonna cost a few grand more than the Kia They both look excellent on the showroom floor But in 10 years which one's still gonna be serviceable and which one's gonna be pretty much junk you get the idea Of course everybody knows you can locate a manufacturer or supplier on the internet anywhere in the first world and have them ship it down To you anywhere in the rest of the world including Latin America And as you might imagine if you do it that way, let's say you want to order Anderson or Pella windows for your brand new house down in Honduras well, you can do that of course over the internet and The stuff will get to Honduras just fine and it'll end up in the local custom office called the aduana in fact throughout Latin America all the local custom offices are called aduanas and

[04:05] normally once your order does land in the aduana all you have to do is check on the internet with the supplier or shipper and You'll know exactly where to go to pick up your stuff Which will generally end up in a port city in the country that you're in if your stuff was shipped by boat Which most big orders are especially for our example when we're talking about Anderson or Pella windows now that sounds pretty easy, right? Now what happens next and just how easy or difficult it might be for you to get your stuff out of that port city Aduana now that depends a great deal on the guys in charge down at the aduana And let me add right now if your stuff is being shipped by air it'll end up at the nearest international airport in the country that you're in and in that case you'll be picking your stuff up at The airport aduana and for your information

[04:53] Airport aduanas are usually much more efficient and easy to deal with that is compared to the aduanas at Seaside shipping ports where they're dealing with hundreds of containers a day and your stuff can easily get lost in the shuffle Now normally something that you've ordered from a manufacturer or even something you might have ordered from eBay Let's say you ordered a nice antique dining room set over eBay and you want to ship it down to your new house in Panama Though God knows why you'd want to send anything antique down to Latin America because the climate is pretty hard on stuff like that As a matter of fact, I recommend right now never send a real piano down or even buy one down in Latin America I mean people still do that just because they look good in your living room I mean really nobody really plays a piano like that except in the movies, of course

[05:40] I'm not talking about an electronic piano like a Yamaha or a Korg. That's just fine I'm talking about big old grand pianos things that have mostly solid wood and that goes for violins and cellos and stand-up basses, too The fact is if you're a musician, you'll do a lot of crying down in Latin America And though your expensive instruments and stuff might remain looking good for a long time in 80% of Latin America The temperature and humidity changes can suck the life out of a professional quality instrument in a couple years Not that many of you listeners out there are professional musicians or anything, but who knows? I'm just giving you another little piece of information that you probably won't get anywhere else In fact every so often in all the classified ads in the big cities in Latin America You'll see a baby grand piano or a grand piano pop up for sale or even a nice high quality guitar like a Gibson or a Fender

[06:30] And I'm talking about the high-end Gibson and Fender guitars made in the USA Not the low-end junk that they make in Mexico and China Well again, what I'm saying is you should stay away from that stuff unless you just want it for furniture Because everyone I know who's a real musician down here has nothing but complaints about the way the climate wreaks havoc on a good instrument So the bottom line is stick to instruments made out of glass plastic metal or chrome So obviously what I'm saying is if you're gonna ship furniture down Don't bring antiques because in time you'll wish you hadn't and as far as furniture in general goes What holds up particularly badly is anything that's laminated wood And I know a lot of really good antiques have laminated wood and a lot of that stuff has special patterns and inlays

[07:19] Which are bound to get damaged? Well, if you bring something like that down Even if it was your great-grandma's favorite coffee table You're asking for trouble because I guarantee you it might not happen for some years But eventually the glue will start deteriorating pulling apart and the laminations are gonna start lifting Separating and curling and you're gonna wish you left that piece back up with your sister in Cincinnati Now I know a lot of you guys are thinking who's gonna bring antiques down here Well, let me tell you with all the parents of baby boomers coming down and retiring the fact is I've been in a lot of houses down here and I've seen a lot of antiques and I've watched the climate take its toll because it's not like moving down to Florida or Arizona when you have air conditioning 24 hours a day and Those are places where your antiques are gonna hold up pretty well

[08:05] Because they're kept at a constant humidity and they're not subject to expansion and contraction or extremes in humidity Every time a new warmer cold front rolls in because like I explained in a previous show almost no one in Latin America No matter how much money they have has central air conditioning like they do up in the first world Oh sure They have AC in commercial buildings office high-rise towers and all the first world transplanted franchises like McDonald's and Wendy's and Starbucks and Sears But the fact is the vast majority of people I'd say more than 95% Don't have air conditioning in their house at all and those big Casablanca style ceiling fans are the norm But there are some expats that just have to have air conditioning But even then 99% of the time they end up getting a window unit just for the bedroom so they can sleep well at night

[08:56] So guess what happens to your great grandmother's antiques and that baby grand piano in the living room It's called entropy, baby, which means a constant state of deterioration Oh, and did I mention that most expats prefer to live by the ocean or the beach? Which means you have that constant perfusion of microscopic salt Which also wreaks havoc on not only your furniture, but anything metal which is another great reason Why you should never bring your antiques down or for that matter any fine wooden furniture that was made up north However, if you're really into antiques, you might consider buying them down here The fact is one of the strange fun and practically unknown things about Latin America Is that you could be driving along an old road in the boonies and often come across a little wooden stand

[09:44] Filled with all manner of antiques. You'll find some really nice old pieces of furniture Mixed in along with the junk like old books and containers and plates and knickknacks the usual junk you find at any yard sale But along with that stuff, there's some really great antiques. It's probably one of the last places in the world you're gonna find some really fine old Spanish furniture a lot of stuff from the 19th and early 20th century and usually the pieces are in really good condition for their age and almost never restored and What's most surprising of all is that this old stuff has seen little deterioration from the severe climate? That's because it always made by artists and craftsmen who use the wood. That's indigenous to the area

[10:30] That very dense and beautiful hardwood that's resistant to almost anything that mother nature can throw at it And it's almost always Spanish colonial style made out of heavy tropical wood like mahogany antique You know what I'm talking about the kind of stuff that almost no one can afford anymore Even up in the first world The fact is this stuff is heavy duty and lasts forever and it's of great quality and design and often the craftsmanship Unbelievable, so if you're into antiques, this is the kind of stuff You should be collecting and restoring because it's not only dirt cheap. It's already stood the test of time I mean after all it's already been sitting for years and years in somebody's living room or stuffed away in somebody's storage bodega And I'm telling it no one down here ever gives a damn about protecting the finish

[11:17] I mean no one down here ever takes the time to store an antique away from the elements So what you see is what you get and every Latin American country has so much of this stuff it almost seems like there's an inexhaustible supply because after all the Spanish started colonizing this place over 500 years ago, and that's 500 years worth of furniture and because that dense hardwood they made it out of doesn't deteriorate Well a lot of that stuff is still around So for you antique lovers out there You'll be shocked to see how really great and well-preserved some of this stuff really is But the only problem is if you're an antique collector You're pretty much stuck with Spanish colonial or mission style because those three styles have always been the tradition down here

[12:02] But you also know how great that stuff can look when it's in the right environment So for all you antique lovers out there and you weekend garage sale rummagers Latin America is the perfect place to root around and find your little treasures and you won't believe the prices The fact is I don't think the locals have ever really figured out that there's a big market for antiques That is except in the tourist areas where there's a lot of gringo dollars and that's where everything including antiques Suffers that gringo price inflation So it's not really fair to make a comparison and talk about those areas because to me and most expats That's not really Latin America. It's just like up north when we say that Disneyland in Las Vegas I really not representative of an average place in the United States

[12:48] You know what I mean? Well in the rest of Latin America, especially in the boonies Terrific old Spanish style antiques go for prices You might pay for used furniture in a secondhand store up in the States In other words, they're not being sold for antique value at all But just as a used piece of furniture Even if it's a hundred and fifty years old and that's because the average small-town guy has no idea of the market value So simply put there's a lot of great deals to be had But let's get back to the subject of ordering something from the first world Whether it be from a supplier or eBay or wherever and what happens to it after it ends up in customs Called the adwana in the country that you're now living in Well, like I said before if it ends up in the customs department of an airport getting it out and taking it home will be

[13:40] quite easy As a matter of fact airport customs departments are perhaps the least corrupt of any governmental Departments in any country in Latin America What I mean is most of the time no one will ask you for a bribe That's because at airports There's a lot of international business going on and the prices and the import taxes are set And everything's been computerized and packages and goods are coming in from the first world in big volumes And that includes a lot of business from transport firms like UPS and FedEx and first world companies like that Don't stand for paying bribes So basically these first world companies have paved the way for the little guy like you and me Which means that once you've been notified that your stuff has arrived the rest of the process is fast and streamlined

[14:28] But then again, you're not going to get your Anderson or Pella windows at the airport adwana You're going to be stuck getting big loads like that at one of the local ports where they receive shipping containers Because you know when you order stuff and have it shipped by air. It's always more expensive a lot more expensive Maybe three or four times as much as having it shipped by sea So if you don't need something in a hurry or you have a big volume It's always better to ship by sea In fact from anywhere in the united states It usually doesn't take much more than two weeks to get anything shipped by a container to anywhere in latin america Now normally when you order something from the outside or ship something into the country There'll be a sales receipt from the manufacturer or the place you bought it from and based on that official receipt or invoice

[15:14] You'll pay some kind of import tax For example, let's say you built a house in honduras and you bought all your kitchen appliances Down at some high-end kitchen supply shop down in miami Well that stuff will arrive at the port in a container Along with the invoice and since every latin american country has its own set of import fees Based on the kind of stuff you're bringing in be it construction materials supplies medicine electronics computers You name it often they'll have a different import tax rate for every one of those categories Now suppose on your kitchen appliances They have an import tax rate of 18 percent, which is the actual rate in some countries But it's never the same in all of latin america For example, some countries don't charge any import tax at all on computers and related technology

[16:04] Which is pretty good thinking if you want to drag a third world country into the technology age But alas forward thinking programs like that Almost never last in the third world because as soon as the next administration comes in A new round of corruption and skimming begins and we're back to ground zero after all. This is the third world down here It's always the same old story Corruption trumps logic every day Anyway back to the adwana now One of the first things you might notice when you go down to the adwana at one of the ports Is that no matter how good your spanish is it's unlikely that you'll be able to get anything done yourself In other words, don't go down there alone and expect to get all your stuff released the same day Even if you have perfect spanish and all your paperwork is in order, but usually at the airport adwana most people speak english

[16:54] And there most times you can get your stuff out yourself without anybody's help But not at the seaport adwanas and that's because it's set up that way It turns out there's a whole big layer of people working not in the adwana But alongside the real adwana workers working in a parallel gray market fashion Making money off of you and everybody that ships or receives anything through the adwana system And these ancillary guys that have little cubbyhole offices within a block or two of the big adwana warehouses Well, they're called trami tadoris Which translates loosely in english to paper pushers and the fact is you pretty much can't get anything done without hiring one of these guys Because you're in their world now and their world consists of form after form

[17:41] in triplicate white out typewriters and that ancient stuff that doesn't exist in the first world anymore carbon paper So to get all the right signatures and stamps and triplicate forms filled out You're gonna need one of these trami tadoris or you're gonna get nowhere and for the last few hundred years It's been set up that way But luckily if you're an expat that knows a little bit of spanish You won't get hit too hard and that's why in most cases an expat doesn't even go down to the adwana To get anything he's ordered instead the expat's lawyer sends his own trami tador Down to the customs office at the port to hash it out with their trami tadoris And like I explained in a past show every lawyer has at least one of these trami tadoris of his own on his payroll

[18:29] Now your lawyer's trami tador he doesn't know all the ins and outs of shipping things through the adwana because believe it or not Trami tadoris are specialists For example, some specialize in the paperwork involved in importing cars some importing and exporting food Perishables and flowers and still others with passport license and visa renewals So your lawyer's trami tador will be the general type a jack of all trades who knows a little bit about everything But most of all, he'll know just what guys to go to depending on a client's needs He'll know just which other trami tadores he has to connect with to get your stuff done And it's really not as expensive as you might think you might end up paying your lawyer And his trami tador a few hundred dollars to get a half a container of kitchen appliances through the adwana

[19:18] That's on top of the 18 import tax You might have to pay and of course you have to count in the cost of the container and the insurance on your goods Which could run about 1500 more So if you have a full shipping container, which is 40 foot long And believe me can hold everything that you might have in a 2500 square foot house back in the united states Anyway, you might pay anywhere from two to three thousand dollars to have that container shipped from the united states or canada To any country in latin america and of course on top of that Anything that you purchase new that has an invoice you're going to pay maybe 18 duty or thereabouts Now if you're actually considering moving a whole household down to latin america Like I just said and packing it into an entire 40 foot shipping container, which a lot of people do though in a future show

[20:10] I'll explain how it's often better just to have a huge rummage sale up north and buy all your stuff down here But we know that's not often realistic because most people I know up in the first world Get a bit irrationally attached to some of the things they own up there and they just have to bring them down Which in a lot of cases is not the smartest move, but we'll get into that later. So stay tuned Anyway, if you're going to send a container down through a moving company The tricky part is to decide what the value of the stuff in the container is because obviously you don't have invoices on stuff That's used like furniture beds and tools and clothes and knickknacks Well, that's not a big problem because any of the big shipping companies will give you a nice detailed checklist Which gives you a pretty precise idea how to price your stuff

[20:56] Which believe me you have to be pretty detailed about and when you pack things in boxes You have to put on each box a list of every item and an estimated value and believe me that's a big job But it's worth it to be really precise Because if your stuff isn't new a lot of latin american customs officials will really lowball your tax rate In fact, I know of one expat who is so meticulous about his marking techniques and boxing that the customs officials in costa rica No, less a country known for hitting expats pretty hard on import taxes Anyway, he shipped everything down from his house in oklahoma filled a complete 40-foot container and only paid 500 in import tax and I know stories of other expats in costa rica

[21:42] Who shipped out a container full of their own personal household items and ended up paying twelve thousand dollars to get the stuff through customs So what i'm saying is in many cases it depends on your lawyer and his tramita door And how the customs officials are feeling the day you bring in your paperwork and try to get it all sorted out Okay. Now suppose you've been waiting for your stuff to arrive and you get that phone call from your lawyer or the adwana Telling you to come down for an inspection And here's how that works you show up at one of the big adwana warehouses and the entire warehouse floor Will be painted like a checkerboard and each 10 by 10 foot square will have a number in it. Wait, let me rephrase that Actually since we're in the metric system in latin america

[22:27] The squares are going to be three meters by three meters, which is close to 10 by 10 And at least one of those squares probably more depending on how much junk you've shipped down Anyway, some of those squares will be loaded with your boxes and household stuff because a few days earlier when your container arrived The guys at the adwana opened it up and stacked everything in one or more of those squares And that's what they do to get your stuff ready to do an inspection to see if your invoices match what you've got in your boxes And this is when one of the adwana guys will ask you to open maybe six or seven of those boxes And remember what I said before on each box is a complete packing list And now comes the moment of truth When the adwana guy will match what you have in those boxes with what's on the packing list

[23:17] And after you open two or three of them If everything in the box matches the packing list, it's all over you pay all your fees to the adwana You hire one of the big moving trucks that's waiting outside And they load your stuff up and move it to your house or apartment But if the guy from the adwana happens to find that your packing list doesn't quite match what you've got inside Or he wants to be a jerk about things or maybe you rubbed him the wrong way Or maybe he didn't get his cut or a good enough cut when chamitadores were greasing palms And that you'll never know because that always happens behind closed doors In that case you just might be stuck there all day opening every single box and going through every item Having your cost estimates evaluated to the upside paying a half to your tax and maybe even getting a big fine

[24:05] And what's worse if you gotta let a junk and you can't open all the boxes and they can't evaluate all your stuff in one day Or there's some other kind of delay You'll have to pay extra storage and rental fees and come back another day And again, you're at the mercy of the way these guys feel that particular day Now because this is the expat files and we like to pass on every little trick or advantage we can Especially tricks that you'll never hear about in the glossy travel magazines Well, there is one nifty little way to get your stuff through the adwana with no hassle whatsoever In and out as quick as can be and at the minimum rock bottom rate Now remember what i've been telling you in all my past expat shows how latin america is a macho society And it's always been that way. Well you first world ladies out there

[24:53] Don't take offense, please at what i'm about to say But expats should know that if you have a container in the adwana and you've been called down for a physical inspection You'll be doing yourself a big favor by bringing one or two beautiful girls with you You know what? I mean tight clothes the sexier the better I know how this sounds totally sexist But in latin america it never fails as long as you're dealing with adwana guys that are men And 95 of the time they will be men in fact one expat I know with a very sexy young latin wife Actually got his container through customs without even opening a box or having an inspection But I can assure you those macho customs inspectors were doing an inspection with their eyes And my expat friend ended up paying a 600 import tax fee when his lawyer had previously estimated

[25:43] That he'd pay at least five thousand dollars and that's the way it goes in latin america So ladies don't kill the messenger, okay But to get back to the original question of whether it's worth it If you're building or furnishing a house to order special construction items that you like from the first world And have them shipped down and I used for an example anderson or pelo windows Well five or ten years ago I would have said yes It was worth it to order at least some high quality construction items from the first world That just weren't available down here because the local versions were just substandard or garbage But now things are completely different. The fact is every big city in latin america over Let's say a half a million people has just about everything you might need to build a high quality first world style house

[26:30] Including first world style hardware stores carrying hundreds of name brand items that you're used to seeing in the first world like schlog locks Kohler bathroom fixtures even kitchen aid and kuzinart appliances And the fact is you'll even find brand names out of europe that you've never even heard of high quality brand names From italy germany spain belgium So in some cases you'll have even more selection down here than you ever had up in albacurkey And surprisingly enough even on the high end stuff The prices are very comparable as to what they are in the first world Don't ask me how they do it considering all the crap you have to go through to import stuff into the third world I mean there's the container fee the insurance the adwana the import taxes the tramita dores

[27:17] Those are all extras on top of the cost of the products themselves to tell you the truth I don't know how they keep the prices down so low Well, maybe I do have a suspicion on how they keep the prices low I got a sneaky feeling that when some of those containers arrive, there are some very distractingly beautiful women Walking around during the inspection south of the border You've been listening to the expat files living in latin america And don't forget you can email me about any question you have about latin america That's the expat files at gmail.com See you next time. Los bemos