Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller addresses a range of topics related to expat life in Latin America, including housekeeping, security, cultural expectations, and nuclear power. He begins by discussing the challenges of hiring a housekeeper for a half-day, emphasizing the security risks and inefficiencies that can arise. Johnny explains that housekeepers often have their own routines and may not prioritize security, leading to potential vulnerabilities. He also touches on the cultural expectation for expats who marry Latinas to have a full-time live-in maid, especially when they have children. He notes that most expats prefer day workers over live, with only about 10% having full-time live-in maids.
Next, Johnny explores the cultural differences in domestic help between gringos and Latin Americans, highlighting how having a full-time maid can reduce tension in the household. He acknowledges the traditional role of women in housework and suggests that men in the first world often take on more domestic responsibilities. Johnny also addresses concerns about mistreatment of domestic workers, offering solutions such as paying more, treating them kindly, and providing opportunities for their families. He highlights the advantages gringos have in the Latin American context, particularly in terms of social status and the demand for foreign women. Finally, he warns about the risks of leaving a live-in maid alone and the importance of security measures.
In another segment, Johnny discusses the inflated costs of domestic services, particularly maids, in Latin American cities, especially near embassy districts. He highlights that maids are often paid significantly more in these areas due to the presence of embassy workers and expats who are willing to pay premium prices for services. He also explains that the embassy often provides lists of service providers, but these are not vetted and tend to favor businesses near the embassy, leading to higher prices for expats. Johnny warns against relying on embassy connections and emphasizes that embassy personnel are not reliable allies, as they are often insulated from local realities and pay inflated prices for everything.
In a practical segment, Johnny offers advice for expats dealing with housekeeping and food in Latin America. He suggests that expats can negotiate with cleaning ladies by offering full-day pay for half-day work, which can lead to better service. He also highlights the local food culture, emphasizing that while expats may prefer Western-style meals, the local cuisine is wholesome and natural. Johnny also touches on the prevalence of tortillas in Latin American cuisine, noting that they are made in small, often unhygienic, local shops, but are fresh and free from preservatives. He also warns about the risks of nuclear power in Latin America, citing a lack of maintenance culture and the need for first-world expertise to manage such facilities.
Finally, Johnny discusses his concerns about living in Latin American countries with nuclear power plants, citing his background as an engineer and his knowledge of nuclear technology. He highlights the risks associated with nuclear waste and the lack of proper infrastructure to handle it, especially in comparison to the region's ability to manage regular waste. He critiques the idea that Latin American countries are ready for nuclear power, using the example of their airline industry and the differences between international and domestic aviation standards. Johnny argues that while nuclear power is a global trend, Latin American countries lack the infrastructure and oversight to safely manage it, and only Argentina, Mexico, and Brazil currently have nuclear plants or plans for them.
Topics
Housekeeping in Latin America, Security concerns with housekeepers, Cultural expectations for expats, Managing housekeepers' work schedules, Cultural differences in domestic help, Role of women in housework, Treatment of domestic workers, Social status of gringos in Latin America, Security concerns with live-in maids, Economic dynamics in tourist areas, Cost of living in Latin America, Expatriate experiences
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:33 Question About Hiring a Housekeeper for a Half-Day 00:00:54 Johnny's Response to the Question About Half-Day Housekeepers 00:01:46 Johnny Discusses the Lack of Security Awareness Among Housekeepers 00:05:35 Cultural Expectations Around Full-Time Live-In Maids 00:05:45 Gringos and the discomfort of having maids around 00:06:30 The benefits of having a full-time maid 00:07:30 Expats treating their maids with respect and kindness 00:08:40 The status of gringos in Latin America 00:09:38 Security risks with live-in maids 00:10:48 Hiring maids by the hour in tourist areas 00:11:22 Inflated Maid Wages in Latin America 00:11:47 Expats Paying Premium Prices for Maid Services 00:12:22 Distorted Housing and Service Prices Near Embassy Districts 00:13:42 Embassy Lists Are Not Vetted and Favor Local Businesses 00:16:12 Embassy Housing Rules Distort the Market 00:17:02 Politically Controlled Bus Lines in Latin America 00:17:08 Negotiating with Cleaning Ladies for Better Service 00:18:01 Stocking Pantries with Western Food and Local Ingredients 00:20:24 Hygiene and Freshness of Local Tortillas 00:22:00 Risks of Nuclear Power in Latin America 00:22:36 Johnny's Concerns About Nuclear Power in Latin America 00:23:10 Latin American Countries with Nuclear Power Plants 00:27:22 Only Three Latin American Countries Have Nuclear Power Plants
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 Okay, it's time to take a few emails now this one coming from Robert he says Johnny I'm wondering if one can hire a housekeeper for just a half a day So if the going rate for a housekeeper is 15 bucks a day does that mean I'd pay eight dollars nine dollars or ten dollars?
[00:50] For a half a day, and what about a half a day five days a week? All right Robert, that's a good question But honestly I don't see why any gringo or expat would ever want a housekeeper to come in just for a half a day That is unless you're only home for a half a day at a time And you don't want her in the house when you're not there and by the way from my own experience and from talking to people It's never a good idea to have a housekeeper work in your house when you or at least one of your family members is not there And it's not necessarily because your housekeeper or cleaning lady is gonna steal from you or gulp down your caviar Or your single malt scotch, but it's the fact that they are careless about security in fact It's pretty much off the radar completely for them because where she lives in her neighborhood The doors and windows are left practically wide open because they've got nothing really worth stealing and as sad as that might be it's true
[01:41] But us so-called rich gringos well to them. We've got way too much of everything So like I said your average cleaning lady or housekeeper has no concept of security Not the way we view it anyway My cleaning lady like all cleaning ladies is hopping around from the front door to the back door and into the garage and sometimes Out on the front street sweeping the sidewalk or the curb then she's off to the neighborhood store buying this and that Cleaning supplies and food and stuff then she's back popping in and out of the house again And she does all that while keeping an eye on the little TV in the kitchen to catch What's happening with her favorite soap operas and believe me no matter how inefficient it all looks It's a mistake for you to try to organize her along first world lines many expats including me have tried it But it doesn't work. You'll just confuse her of course
[02:29] She can tell her exactly what you want clean and how to do it and correct her when she's doing a crap job But don't try screwing around with her rhythm I mean what parts of the house she cleans first last or in between It's best to just let her go at her own pace as long as everything gets done and even if it drives you nuts You'll get over it. Maybe for example. I'll tell you something that happens with every cleaning lady It never fails that she'll sweep and mop your tile or wooden floors sometime in the early morning And when she mops your floors, she'll use something like pine soil diluted liquid disinfectant Which can take up to an hour or two to dry even down here in the tropics and in the rainy season when it's humid even longer Now this is your house or your apartment and you live in it and you're not gonna lock yourself in a room all morning
[03:16] Or lay in bed for a couple hours just to wait for that floor to dry you're gonna be going down to the kitchen into the bathroom into the office and into the garage and doing all your things to and Guaranteed you're gonna make tracks on that nice clean humid floor and don't worry That's not gonna piss her off not in any way She's just gonna wait till you're gone and moisten the floor down again and do it all over not the whole floor of course But all those footprints you've been making in the house so after you make your tracks and you're out of there She's gonna follow your footprints and make things nice again Now I guarantee you that's gonna happen three or four times during the day at least and of course the obvious solution to that problem is to tell her to sweep and wet mop the floor at the very end of the day Right before she's done or finished with her work, but don't suggest that it'll only confuse her
[04:05] Oh, and by the way expat Eddie says his kitchen is always the cleanest room in the house by far And why is that because the TV's in there? So again, it's not good to leave your house with just the cleaning lady or the housekeeper at home The fact is they're just not thinking much about security. They're thinking about other things cleaning your house Of course feeding their kids who's screwing who on their favorite soap opera basically security is not on their radar And that's the case with most maids and housekeepers that aren't live-ins now Of course, if you have a live-in maid, she'll eventually become like part of the family So little by little you'll be laying down the rules and training her up and that's a different case But for now, I'm talking about maids and housekeepers that don't live at your place that just come in as day workers
[04:51] And it breaks down like this about 90% of gringos and expats who have maids Have the kind that come in as day workers only about 10% of gringos and expats or less have full-time Live-in maids and you see that almost exclusively with gringos and expats who have children So then she also doubles as a full-time 24-7 nanny babysitter and here's a little tip for all you gringos out there who end up marrying a latina and you have a family As soon as she's pregnant I guarantee you she's gonna push you to get a full-time live-in maid even if her family household couldn't afford one She's gonna push you to get one Why because it's just part of the class system that she grew up in any family man with an above average Income and that includes gringos is just expected to have a full-time maid not having one is a big exception to the rule
[05:43] Now you don't have to buy into that In fact, like I said, most gringos feel pretty uptight at first with maids hanging around the house all day That's just not how we were brought up though It would have been nice And I'll tell you if you hang around with other gringos and expats and latins that have full-time living maids Your latin wife is never gonna let you hear the end of it and in a way you can see your point look I mean, can you think of anyone who likes to do housework clean toilets and windows change baby diapers calm screaming kids down and clean vomit I mean, that's what our moms did because they couldn't afford help But believe me if our dads had the money They'd have gladly paid for a housekeeper and I know for a fact that would have certainly taken the edge off of my mom And I can tell you after having maids down here for like 20 years
[06:30] It makes life so much less tense and getting up in the morning ever that much more pleasant And I'm speaking from the viewpoint of a guy Fully knowing that wives up in the first world that I know do almost all the dirty work Even though men are helping more than they ever did but down here Why punish yourself or your significant other for one thing? You'll never argue about who trashed up the bathroom again Or whose turn it is to do the dishes of the dirty laundry get the point And if you're one of those human rights do-gooders who thinks we're taking advantage of poor uneducated latin women without skills Well, you could do a couple of things about that, too Number one you could pay your cleaning lady more than the going average number two You could treat her extremely nice and send her home with a lot of free stuff for her family number three
[07:17] You could find ways to give her kids jobs when they're old enough and number four if she's been with you a long while And has been a very good person to have around you can write her into your will and guess what all of those points I just mentioned I know a lot of expats who are doing all of that and more with their cleaning ladies and housekeepers right now And I know of almost no latin families that treat their cleaning ladies and housekeepers with any respect or real kindness at all And that's why housekeepers cleaning ladies gardeners and maintenance guys just love working for gringos And for all you gringa expats who marry latin men There's very good news on that front for you too because these guys will definitely hire a full-time living maid for you They won't even bat an eye about it
[08:02] Since the latin guy you end up marrying will most certainly be from the upper classes And we'll have grown up with full-time maids himself all of his life Oh, and just one more thing in all my years down here I've never met a first world gringa expat who's married a latin guy from the lower or middle classes You know a guy that makes three or four hundred bucks a month American gringa expats who come down here and meet the latin guy of their dreams and get married Always end up with a guy from the upper middle class or wealthy classes after all and it's very Unpc to say this the fact is first world gringas when they come down here have their choice of nearly any latin man They want the fact is first world gringa women are very rare and thus in huge demand Fat or thin uglier pretty no matter what you look like how smart or dumb you are you are a huge status symbol for
[08:53] Any latin guy? Because every latin guy wants to improve his bloodline through his kids He wants them to be North American and European like not short dark and brown They all want little blonde haired blue eyed Justin Bieber babies You should never forget that it's a very classist and racist society here much much more So than ever you'll see up in the states So that's part of the gringa advantage since to them you're that ticket to Justin Bieber dumb But back to the point like I said don't leave your cleaning lady home alone And that's why occasionally you hear a story or see in the paper that a home's been robbed with only the cleaning lady there And nearly 100% of the time she lets them in and not at all because she's in on the plan
[09:43] It's just that she's fooled by some stupid ruse like a UPS or delivery guy a mailman or a delivery of roses And as soon as she pops the latch they're in now admittedly that's never happened to any of my gringo friends But we've all heard a story or two about that kind of thing happening with in our own subdivisions So just a word of warning there, and if you have a full-time live-in cleaning lady make sure she's got absolute airtight instructions Never to let anyone in the front door or on the property without your explicit permission And you know a lot of gringos and expats live in protected guarded Subdivisions where you have to go to a guard gate and check in with your driver's license and tell the guard What house you're visiting and he'll call ahead to your house to get the okay before he even lets you through the gate
[10:30] And I'd say about 50 or 60 percent of the gringos and expats that I know live in protected colonies like that And you better get used to the fact that people in Latin America do not use the word subdivision instead They call them colonies colonias, so what about hiring a housekeeper for a half a day well I'll tell you right now That's probably not gonna happen unless you live in a high-volume tourist area like Costa Rica where you pay the cleaning ladies by the hour And doing it that way you'll pay them way too much now I have to admit that 20 some years ago when I did live in Costa Rica when a local maid that you got by word-of-mouth Was still making about 10 or 15 bucks a day thought of paying one by the hour was just ridiculous It just wasn't done, but soon after that I heard that in Costa Rica maids were getting paid by the hour due to gringo inflation
[11:17] In fact I understand now that in some of those gringified tourist areas. I like that word gringified I think I just made that up anyway these maids are getting like five or six bucks an hour Which is five times the going rate in the rest of Latin America off the tourist trail But even if you're not on the tourist trail a lot of dumb gringos and expats come down Looking for a maiden because they don't know how to go about getting one the proper way the normal inexpensive way They'll look on the internet or in the yellow pages and come across the maid services Companies that supply maids for three to five times what you pay if you contracted one yourself Yeah You can do that a lot of stupid gringos do gringos working at embassies and gringos working on contracts for big Corporations almost always do that they call the maid services, and they're not concerned
[12:04] They don't care that they might be getting ripped off because the government if you're an embassy employee or the company if you're working for a transnational Pays a house and housekeeping allowance. It's part of their contract for being down here So what do they care how much they pay and that's why the labor in the housing situation is so Distorted when you get closer and closer to embassy row in any of the big cities There is an actual embassy district in these cities now You know there are about 200 countries in the world and about a hundred of those countries have embassy offices embassy personnel Support people and physical buildings in practically all major cities and capital cities in the world That means there are a hell of a lot of embassies and embassy workers in all major Latin American cities
[12:52] Always located in the nicest richest sections of town That's why housing within that 10 block or so radius as well as doctor and beauty parlor services you name it They'll all be double or triple the price of what you'd pay for the same thing as you get out a couple of miles from that Area just to give you an example a lot of doctors in Latin big cities will have two offices one Close to the embassy and business district and one miles and miles away in a smaller little community And yes, they'll have a two-tiered price structure, too No, I also should mention that when expats come down to a new country to live or stay for quite a while They're often told to go down to the US embassy and get the list that the embassy always has on hand of doctors and plumbers and accountants and vets and any other service professionals that speak English and
[13:42] Gringos think that the embassy is putting their seal of approval on that list well, they're not Practically anyone can get on it just go down to the embassy and sign up and they'll put you on That doesn't mean that anyone including the embassy has checked them out or is actually doing business with them But also know this almost all of those professionals and business services will be close to the embassy office It seems nearby businesses get preferential placement on that list So if you're looking for a veterinarian or a cleaning lady, for example, you'll find vets But you won't find individual cleaning ladies that way only expensive maid services that contract people out because you see no individual cleaning lady working for 12 or 15 bucks a day is ever gonna go into the US embassy and
[14:30] Try to get on that list first. She doesn't speak English second. It's a high rent district So she's not likely to be there in third She wouldn't know a list like that even exists and since she's not a professional or a company the embassy wouldn't put her on Anyway, now I've known a lot of green expats and gringos who go down to the embassy once in a while and get their fix Of big brother propaganda and stacks of IRS fecal material I see that kind of thing a lot some green gringo expats kind of feel connected vicariously to the United States through the local embassy Well, I say you should just forget about your embassy. They are not your friends They're just there to keep tabs on you and it's a mistake to meet or socialize with embassy personnel, too First of all all the embassy people and their ancillaries are living in a bubble and they're paying twice and three times what you and
[15:19] I pay for everything though. They're down here They don't like being here and they don't even like the people and you could tell that because they never mix with the locals Unless they absolutely have to and I doubt if you knew this when you're in the foreign service and contract it to go down to a Foreign country you're only allowed to live in designated areas specified by the US government Well, you know the landlords in those areas Jack the prices up accordingly because they know is being paid by the US government or by a US transnational company And it's a first world style housing allowance So anywhere close to the first world business district where the embassy row is you can expect to pay double what you'd pay for? The same thing in the outskirts So I repeat embassy folks and US corporate types down here on contract are paying way too much for their maids their housing
[16:10] beauty salons doctors vets Practically everything because they're all living in that little designated bubble area of the city where embassy housing rules and the gringo dollar have Distorted the market now in talking to my own cleaning lady I know for a fact that she's very hesitant to work a half a day in anyone's house Because it's just not worth the bus trip back and forth for a half a day's wage now Certainly a lot of cleaning ladies live close enough to their clients to walk there But if you live in a part of town where there's upscale communities Daytime cleaning ladies will be taking the bus in and it's worth it for them to work a full day for 12 or 15 bucks Since the round-trip bus is only maybe 50 cents And by the way, all public bus lines chicken bus lines included are heavily subsidized by government It's a racket of course where the owners of those buses raking millions and subsidies and do zero maintenance and get away with it because
[17:02] Practically all the bus lines are owned by politicians or their brother-in-laws or family members get the picture So anyway, unless you can find a cleaning lady that lives within walking distance of your place You're not gonna find one that'll come in a half day Not for half wages, but you might try what an expat friend of mine does who's in a similar situation Since he's only home for a half day at a time himself. He told his cleaning lady I only need you for a half a day two days a week, but I'll pay you for the full day But I want you to have Pila's that's Pila's P-I-L-A-S. It's slang for doing things in a rush It's also slang for batteries like ever ready Any housekeeper would jump at that offer and for you 12 or 15 bucks won't break the bank Oh, and by the way, a lot of gringos
[17:48] I know who have daytime cleaning ladies haven't cook a big lunch for them, too Which means of course the cleaning ladies salary includes lunch for her and she'll cook it Now you should know if you have your pantry stocked with everything that us Gringos and first world people have and you can get 98% of all that stuff down here now, too So you can get that processed poisonous junk if you want it along with mass Quantities and varieties of cheap gigantic fruits and vegetables that grow everywhere down here including in your own backyard You won't believe how big this stuff grows. I'll never forget the words of one new expat He said even what they call small cashews down here are twice as big as Adrian Brody's schnoz But anyway, if you've got your food pantry stocked like most gringos and expats do and you ask your cleaning lady to cook dinner
[18:37] For you. Well, what you're gonna get is the local typical meal that she cooks her family beans rice Platinos maybe chicken soup carrots and yams maybe with a lot of fruit thrown in and that's about it because that's all she's used To cooking for her family. She won't touch any of your first-world esoteric stuff that she's never cooked before So what's my advice? Well, tell her to go ahead and cook anything she wants and you'll get a wholesome natural meal You'll live longer and you'll be regular for the first time in 20 years And of course, you know if you live in Latin America, every single table setting is loaded with tortillas So if you don't like tortillas or don't eat them Needless to say your housekeeper or cleaning lady doing the cooking is gonna scrounge him up somewhere because where she lives There's a little handmade tortilla joint on every corner
[19:24] Oh, and here's another thing for all you tortilla lovers For one thing every Latin American country makes them a different way like for example in Salvador and Guatemala and Nicaragua They're made out of corn and they're thick and they're small whereas in some Latin countries They're big thin and made out of either corn or wheat And about those little tortilla joints you see everywhere You should stop for a second stick your head in one of those places and see how those ladies are making them Hint they don't know the meaning of the word hygiene Luckily, they're well cooked But after that they stuff them in a plastic bag with their bare hands and where did they put their hands before that? You don't want to know Suffice it to say if you watch those ladies making them for a couple of minutes You'll never eat tortillas again And by the way those little tortilla stands make fresh tortillas three times a day for breakfast lunch and dinner
[20:15] Not like in the states where you buy tortillas that might be a couple of days or even a couple of weeks old And why not with all those preservatives and additives? Whereas down here a tortilla that's a day old. Well, the dog gets it There are no preservatives or additives here, which is of course a big thing in their favor However more and more wealthier people are starting to buy their tortillas at the big grocery stores From big corporate brands like bimbo, you know bimbo I talked about that before It's the biggest bakery in the world headquartered in mexico and they now own wonder bread and twinkies That's the company I once mentioned that got caught putting sawdust in their bread. Remember that? Anyway, nowadays the wealthier folks are not stopping in those little tortilla shops and buying from those indigenous ladies
[21:01] Uppity ladies don't feel like stopping in those lower class parts of town because what would the neighbors think, you know? So instead they buy at the big supermarket chains in walmart and costco So they can have the north american version of plasticized Predigested tortillas like the ones at taco bell But 95 of the rest of the population down here still buys their fresh tortillas at those little tortilla counter joints So my tortilla advice for expats and gringos forget about it Now I also get a lot of emails from people asking me about nuclear power in latin america And we all know by fukushima and three mile island that there are accidents waiting to happen Even when first world people design and build them and since you know already that the word maintenance does not exist in the latin vocabulary
[21:48] Well, you know what that means a latin country could have all the first world rules and regulations and rigid inspection policies in place But this is latin america. So they'll drop the ball every time It seems like there are almost no uptight and anal retentive people down here at all And from what I know about engineering you need those kind of people to run nuclear power plants. They may be jerks They may be ass wipes, but those are the kind of guys that are obsessed about details Well, you'll rarely find people like that down here in any occupation So the only way it seems they're going to get first world results Is to recruit management and maintenance people from up in the first world up there There are plenty of uptight technically competent jerks to go around I can recommend a few dozen myself
[22:33] But that won't happen. They'll just train the local talent Anyway, because of that cultural problem suffice it to say I would not live in a latin country that had a nuclear power plant And remember in my past life. I was a real engineer I didn't play one on tv And I kind of know a lot more than the average guy knows about nuclear power plants And that includes radioactivity and the half-lives of nuclear isotopes including safe and unsafe methods of storage and disposal of nuclear waste And those are some additional very good reasons why I'd never live in argentina mexico or brazil Because you see those are the three latin american countries that have nuclear power plants online or on the drawing board right now Argentina has two in operation with more under construction brazil has two with more under construction
[23:23] And mexico has two in operation right now and are in discussion about putting on a few more Now in a perfect world a nuclear reactor, especially a newer one is absolutely perfectly fine But we all know what happened at fukushima So that blows that argument not to mention the spent fuel and the waste products And there are some brand new very safe nuclear designs coming online But like I said, it's all about maintenance and nuclear waste disposal And in latin america just drive around and you can see They can't even handle their regular day-to-day waste that's supposed to end up in a landfill You tell me how is it that dozens of spontaneous illegal roadside garbage dumps? Pop up overnight in every city in latin america and even out in the boonies and latins are supposed to handle nuclear waste, too
[24:13] Now i've had this same debate with so-called intelligent knowledgeable and educated latins They all seem to feel it's a legitimate step on the way to becoming truly first world So i've had these so-called intelligent latins tell me johnny. How can you say that we can't handle nuclear power? We're not children Look at our airline industry. It's perfectly first world And it's true all latin countries have their own airlines They have about the same maintenance and crash statistics says first world airlines So why wouldn't they be ready for nuclear power? Good point you say right? I mean, come on india and pakistan and romania have nuclear power plants and they're not exactly first world But you know, there's something about latin american airlines that I didn't mention
[24:59] Yes passenger flights coming in from international airlines have very good first world style safety records But statistics on internal flights within a country flights that operate from small Non-international airports rarely meet first world standards and do not have sterling records at all Now you might not know this but all international airports in any country must get certified by american european and international aviation authorities If not, the big international airline carriers like american or united could not land there That means international airports are constantly being inspected by international aviation agencies I repeat inspections by international aviation authorities So they either comply or international carriers won't land
[25:46] So bottom line international airports all over the world are not left to their own inside country inspectors They're part of an international club and they have to maintain international standards Now when you're talking about nuclear power plants when it comes to power generation a country runs its own show It's a totally local affair Sure, the plants themselves are designed by huge mega firms like westinghouse and general electric But once it's installed and the people are trained It's your baby from then on just like a coal or a gas fired plant Of course, there are international regulations, but a country is responsible for its own plants. For example, take Chernobyl There was no international group or committee overlooking the construction and design of that monster The russians just built it and many others like it and for a long long time the rest of the world didn't even care
[26:37] It was on nobody's radar in the first world. In fact, they even sold that design to anybody who'd buy it And until the thing blew Everybody just figured the russians are very technologically capable people. They've got a space program nuclear ships and submarines They know what they're doing. So bottom line even after fukushima There are worldwide an estimated 67 nuclear power plants under construction right now And why is that well fossil fuels are getting expensive and everybody except obama knows that coal is dirty So do expect more nuclear power plants to go online all the time even down here in latin america But remember the only three countries that have them right now are argentina mexico and brazil
[27:22] And except for those three latin nutcases none of the other 17 latin american countries has any plans in that direction at all Now that's good news 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 Ah