Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller introduces the show, emphasizing the unique experiences of living, working, and retiring in Latin America. He highlights the mix of good, bad, ugly, and great aspects of life in the region. Johnny also invites listeners to sign up for his upcoming expat wisdom seminar, stressing the importance of serious inquiries due to the planning involved. He then transitions into a story about Eddie and his girlfriend, a young Latin lady from the middle class who has achieved many of the typical wishes of Latin women, such as owning a decent house, living in a safe neighborhood, and having a stable relationship. Johnny contrasts this with the challenges faced by many Latin women, who often struggle to achieve these basic goals. He also discusses the presence of gringos in Latin America, noting that while there is a small trickle of gringos, especially from NGOs and missionary groups, Latin women are often skeptical of their intentions. Johnny concludes by emphasizing that Latin women are selective and reluctant to waste their time on gringos who are only in the region for a short period.
Johnny Mueller discusses the phenomenon of gringos falling for part-time hookers in tourist areas like San Jose, Costa Rica, Panama City, and Cancun. He highlights how these women often have day jobs and use their charm to attract lonely gringos, sometimes leading to scams where the gringos end up marrying or financially supporting these women. Johnny shares a listener's story about a man who fell for a woman who had multiple gringo boyfriends and eventually realized the truth when a younger sister revealed the woman's history. He also criticizes internet dating services for their poor long-term success rates, especially when targeting Latinas, as many of these women have problematic personal histories or are simply looking for attention and money.
Johnny Mueller discusses the pitfalls of expat relationships with Latin American women, emphasizing that many Latinas on dating websites are not looking for marriage but rather to move to the United States. He warns that these women often subtly coerce men into spending money and that the majority of successful relationships require transparency about financial habits and a clear understanding of the expat lifestyle.
Johnny Mueller discusses the financial habits of expats and gringos in Latin America, highlighting the contrast between first-world spending and the more frugal lifestyle often adopted by expats. He shares a story about Eddie, an expat, and his girlfriend, a model who earns a modest income. Eddie enforces strict financial rules, such as not buying expensive items and encouraging his girlfriend to manage her own money. Johnny also warns about the potential pitfalls of expats not setting boundaries, which can lead to their Latin partners becoming materialistic and financially dependent. The segment ends with a discussion about how Eddie's girlfriend feels socially and economically elevated, but also feels isolated from her family due to her new lifestyle.
In this segment, Johnny Mueller discusses the cultural and social behaviors of young Latin women, particularly their awareness of public perception and the challenges they face in Latin America. He highlights how these women often dress impeccably despite facing harassment and abuse from lower-class men, especially on public transportation. Johnny also notes the difficulty expats face in determining a woman's socioeconomic status based on her appearance and behavior. He further touches on the expectations and pressures young Latin women place on themselves to maintain a certain image, as well as the complexities of dating and the potential financial entanglements that may arise with their families.
Topics
Introduction to The Expat Files, Expat wisdom seminar invitation, Story about Eddie and his girlfriend, Challenges faced by Latin women, Presence of gringos in Latin America, Skepticism of gringo intentions, Gringo and Latina relationships, Scams and exploitation in tourist areas, Internet dating services and their effectiveness, Expat relationships with Latin American women, Dating websites and their pitfalls, Financial transparency in relationships
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:16 Introduction to The Expat Files 00:00:46 Expat Wisdom Seminar Invitation 00:01:06 Story about Eddie and His Girlfriend 00:01:57 Challenges Faced by Latin Women 00:02:56 Presence of Gringos in Latin America 00:05:10 Skepticism of Gringo Intentions 00:06:19 The Reality of Part-Time Hookers in Tourist Areas 00:07:24 The Widespread Nature of the Problem 00:10:21 The Failure of Internet Dating Services 00:11:25 The Five-Day Date Trap 00:11:30 The Reality of Long-Term Relationships 00:11:35 The Honeymoon Phase vs. Long-Term Reality 00:11:42 The Hidden Warts and Wrinkles 00:11:44 The Disaster of Bringing a Latina Back to the US 00:11:49 The Recipe for Disaster 00:11:55 The Promise and Hope for Latinas 00:12:01 The Absolute Recipe for Disaster 00:17:24 The Cheapskate White Trash Thing: Bringing Your Own Wine to a Restaurant in Latin America 00:17:55 Eddie's Gringle Law: Setting Financial Boundaries in an Expat Relationship 00:20:36 The Consequences of Not Setting Boundaries: Expats and Materialistic Partners 00:22:52 The Appearance and Resilience of Young Latin Women 00:23:37 The Competitive Nature of Latin Women and Public Perception 00:24:54 Determining Socioeconomic Status in Latin Relationships 00:26:09 The Mutual Expectations in Cross-Cultural Dating 00:27:15 Financial Risks and Family Entanglements in Latin Relationships
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 Hello there all you expat wannabes I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America the show that tells you just what it's like to live Work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great, and it's all right here, so let's get started I just want to take two seconds to remind you to send me an email if you're interested In signing on for my next expat wisdom seminar, which I think is gonna be in January And I mean serious inquiries only since a lot goes into planning the event
[00:46] I want to get a solid list going so just send me an email the expat files at gmail.com I'll keep you posted with updates and remember if you want you could pay it off in three monthly payments this time enough said about that Okay, Johnny. Let's finish that expat Eddie story. We started two shows ago Anyway, just to refresh you on that I mentioned that every single young Latin lady from the middle and lower classes has a Handful of dreams on her wish list starting with she never wants to ride the chicken bus again She'd like to have a decent house in a decent neighborhood And of course she'd like to find a nice respectable husband who isn't a drunk a womanizer or an abuser And she'd like to have a car even a crappy one will do so a Latin girl's wish list is not unreasonable at all Not to us first worlders anyway, but down here for the average Latina. It really is a stretch
[01:35] In fact every first world woman has no trouble at all getting that stuff without even trying in fact all those things are left unsaid Since every woman pretty much gets that stuff automatically Except maybe the part about the husband thing since a lot of really independent first world ladies Don't need one or at least they say they don't but that's another story And I'm not a shrink so I won't touch that one with a 10-foot pole However for the vast majority of young latin ladies it really is just a dreamy wish list now You see Eddie's girlfriend is one of the scant few ladies from the middle classes Who's actually achieved all those goals in fact above and beyond her wildest expectations really and except for Eddie's? Occasional drinking binge she's got absolutely nothing to complain about and Eddie's always been a happy drunk So there's no danger of him going on a rampage in fact by meeting and hooking up with a guy like him
[02:25] She's won the lottery and remember she and Eddie are in El Salvador way off the tourist trails in fact You could walk all day long in that city and sometimes never see a single gringo Like Eddie says if you absolutely have to find a gringo for some reason or other the only place You're sure to find a few of them is at the airport or in the business district at one of the big first world hotels Like the princess or the clarion where newbie chicken shit gringos gather because they're afraid of staying anywhere That's not affiliated with something first world so like I said off the tourist trail There's so few gringos around that any latin girl Let's lucky the snag one as a long-term boyfriend or a husband has really in a way won the lottery now That's not to say there isn't a small trickle of gringos coming and going all the time Even off the tourist trail and of course they're always looking for a little love and romance and companionship to even the forbidden kind
[03:16] And don't let those starry eyed gringo do-gooders that come down on those religious missions fool you either during the day They may be digging drainage ditches with the sweaty masses, but at night. They're looking for a little action, too I mean after all they are 2,000 miles from home And you know what they say what happens in Rio stays in Rio or is it Vegas well same difference? Not to mention that steady small trickle of gringos that come down from dubious Government missions and believe me some of them are fronts for what I don't know like for example Us-aid you've heard of them haven't you I really wish someone would tell me why they have the best nicest buildings around they're like Guarded fortresses once I tried to drive up to the USA ID building in Cartagena, Columbia
[04:01] And I had to go through three levels of security like it was area 51 or something I'm sure they didn't have all that security Just to guard a couple of warehouses filled with sacks of beans and rice someday I'm gonna find out what's going on and then off the tourist trail again You've got a small trickle of gringos coming down from the Peace Corps and habitat for humanity And don't forget those nutty guys with suspenders and white shirts the Mormons. They're everywhere However Latin girls are smart enough to know that these gringos coming down with these NGOs and missionary Do-gooder groups are only in the town or within the general area For a couple of weeks to a couple of months then they're gone back to Cleveland to their college or high school sweethearts That's why Latin girls are always a bit suspicious when they first meet a gringo like Eddie says they're always looking for cracks in your story
[04:52] Because they're used to the worn-out pickup lines that Latin guys use on them And they know Latin men are excellent liars and the same thing goes for so many weekend warrior Gringos that go to tourist areas like Costa Rica, too They're always looking to pick up Latin girls, and they have their lies down pat, too Bottom line is Latin girls are very reluctant to waste their time and effort on a gringo That's down only for a couple of weeks or a month or two Fact is gringos will go down for a quick trip to places like Costa Rica and Panama on the tourist trail of course Expecting to hook up with the Latin beauty queen or two, but when they get back to the States 99% of them report back to their friends in Cleveland that sure the girls are beautiful and sexy But they just didn't have a whole lot of luck in the love and romance department
[05:38] Not with the Latin girls anyway and believe me if they tell their buddies in Cleveland that they really hit the jackpot Chances are it's a load of BS Unless they hung around the dance clubs and dropped some big bucks on the disco Queens Or maybe they were hanging on with the part-time hookers that absolutely flood the bars Restaurants and discos in the Central Park areas and places like San Jose Costa Rica now I tell you a lot of weekend warrior gringos in places like San Jose fall in love with a nice young Beautiful Latina that they met in a bar club casino or disco around the Central Park only to find out later that night Maybe even a day or two later That she expects a little cash on the barrel for hanging around with you and being a kind of special friend
[06:25] And when I call these ladies part-time hookers What I mean is they have day jobs in a bank in a legal office a Starbucks or an office depot and once or twice a week She'll hang around the Central Park looking for a lovelorn gringo And they know how to spot them and why do they do it besides the fact they can make in a couple of hours on one Night as much as they make in a week on the day job well occasionally they can get a desperate lovelorn gringo to fall in love with them and marry them and take them back to the states and Thousands and thousands of stupid gringos fall for that scam every year now remember this part-time hooker thing I'm talking about does not occur off the tourist trail because there's such a shortage of gringos There's no point in it, but on the high-volume tourist trail You'll find that kind of thing everywhere and they can fool a green gringo every time
[07:12] That's because those young ladies don't do it for a living. They have a day job, too They don't have that hard burnt out look of the seasoned trooper and believe me There are hundreds if not thousands of these ladies doing that very thing Right around the park in San Jose, Costa Rica, and it's going on in Panama City and Rio and Cancun You name it where there's a gringo tourist trail You'll find part-time hookers, and you might wonder why I'm bringing this up now since I did talk about it Slightly in a past show over a year ago Well, that's because I just got an email from a listener this week telling me that he fell into such a scam and got out Of it just by the skin of his teeth and guess where in San Jose, Costa Rica He'd been going out with her for about two weeks and was all set to marry her talk about whirlwind
[07:59] romances and he said he'd already spent about a grand honor and presents and gifts and stuff including Spending a hundred or so on her kid yes There was a kid at home And that's probably why she was a part-time hooker in the first place and how did he find out more to the point? How did he get out of it? Well he had a couple of obligatory dinners at the family homestead with the mother and the kid and a couple of her young sisters and One of the sisters who was about 12 or 13 years old spoke pretty good English She was taking it at school and in practicing it on him. She innocently said She was happy her sister Monica was getting married, and she always knew Monica was gonna marry a gringo She said I knew it Monica always has gringo boyfriends no latinos just gringos
[08:46] And the guy was a bit surprised and said what every guy would say when confronted with details like that He asked her bluntly how many gringo boyfriends has she had and she said bon tone Which means in Spanish like tons and tons and he pressed her and he pressed her for a number She thought for a while and said 2025 maybe more and then he said and you met them and she brought him home for dinner, too Like she brought me to meet you and the family and she said no she doesn't bring them home She just meets them at the park or the casino or one of the hotels and well That's when logic kicked in and he figured it out from there for one thing He realized right away that the house was way too
[09:31] Well appointed with gadgets and smartphones and plasma TVs and stuff for a single mom working as a beautician Considering she supported the whole family the mother and the sisters too, and there was no father in the house But the truth is young gringo tourists on a weekend blowout like that more often than not end up hooking up with gringa tourists down for a weekend blowout, too In other words, they rarely get a chance to mingle romantically with the locals unless like our unfortunate lonely heart email You fall in love with a part-time hooker without even realizing it and maybe you do figure it out Stay with the game plan and accept it to each his own right and that's why all those internet dating services are so unsuccessful in the long run or Maybe you didn't know that the truth is if you hook up with someone on one of those sites
[10:21] They have predictably poor long-term success rates. You know what I'm talking about There's just so many of those internet dating sites specializing in Asians and Russians and of course latinas, too And the problem is you see with those internet dating services The majority of those latin girls have a bad personal history and are just desperate to get out of a bad situation that you don't know a thing about and Then there's a good percentage of these girls Especially from Colombia Costa Rica and Panama that are chronic disco party girls Who just live to be part of the in crowd and spend every last dime they have on makeup and clothes and these girls are good Actresses they know a desperate lonely heart gringo when they see one and actually they tone that image way down when they put their photos
[11:06] And resume up on the internet that my friends is the bait You know how these intercultural dating services work Don't you any number of young ladies get to meet you in the internet chat room, of course And that's where the lonely heart gringo sets up his whirlwind dating schedule when he comes down to Colombia or Panama for a week So if you come down for five days, you have five dates one each day and believe me I know plenty of guys who have done that and it almost always turns out as a disaster I don't mean at first during the get-to-know-you honeymoon phase of the relationship where both parties are putting their best foot forward and hiding Their defects and telling their best lies I'm talking about back up in the States a year or two later after they're married and all the hidden warts and wrinkles Really come out and that's why every gringo who's been down here a while will tell you that the worst mistake you could ever
[11:55] Make is to hook up with a nice beautiful Latin girl and take her back to the United States with you That is an absolute recipe for disaster And that's exactly what happens with lonely heart guys up in the States who get on those Latina dating websites They always come down here meet the girl and bring her back to the States That's the promise the gringo offers and the hope for every Latina on the other end of the computer So basically those internet dating sites are loaded with desperate damaged women and gold diggers That's not to say a lot of the gringos at the other end are desperate and damaged too They are but most of all, they're just desperately lonely which makes them naive and way too trusting sometimes But one thing is for sure those gringos up on their computers in Cleveland are not gold diggers
[12:42] Those beautiful Latin girls you see on the internet are all making poverty line wages or less by our gringo standards And that's why 99% of them are trying to hook up with gringos and get the hell out of Columbia or Peru in the first place And according to so many dozens of expats I know the majority of Latinas that they meet on the tourist trail like for example in Costa Rica, Panama are gold diggers too and one of the easiest ways to tell is to look for how many times they subtly coerce you into buying them things or buying things for their family members like for example extra carry-out dinners from mom dad and the kids when you're out at a Restaurant with her and the little subtle ways She insinuates the things that she likes and wants to buy someday hint hint
[13:28] when you're walking through shopping centers or out on a date and most importantly take note how much she hints about her dream of living in the US someday and Note that it means just about the same thing when she says she doesn't necessarily want to live in the states she just wants to visit it once in a while to get to know it and Suit enough if you're not too starry-eyed and overly dazzled by her exotic beauty You'll come to realize that her main goal is not to marry you. It's to get to the USA Legally that is have permanent residency and a green card Now in nearly all the successful Latina gringo Relationships that I've seen down here in Latin America and I've seen plenty of long-term successful ones There seems to be a winning formula
[14:13] It's when you the gringo the obvious one with the resources and the money Carefully explain why you became an expat and how you perceive your partner will fit into that expat model And you have to discuss money and how you handle your finances now I'm not saying you should reveal any of the details of your finances your bank accounts or your assets I mean explain your attitude and your philosophy of life and how you live it so that she understands You're not the typical gringo type that she's seen so many times on US cable TV And you have to do that early on in the relationship very early on so there's no surprises on either side For example Eddie told his girlfriend when he first met her a few years ago I think like on the second date He told her the reason why gringos seemed to have so much money at least so much more disposable income than the average Latin guy
[15:05] And the possessions to match like a nice house in a car is because they're cautious with their dough For example when they go out to the bars They don't blow it on top shelf whiskey like Eddie said to her a long time ago, and you gotta love this He said no matter how much money I have now I'll have a few or more than a few Johnny Walker blacks at home Before I go out to the bars And then once I get there I'll switch to Johnny red because by then I wouldn't know the difference anyway and get this when Eddie goes to a restaurant no matter What restaurant he's like me he brings his own bottled water because like he says I'm not gonna pay one or two bucks for a Bottle of water when I can make my own with my kitchen sink purifier for like a half a cent and when he explained that to his
[15:50] Girlfriend she still didn't get it like any Latin She thinks every bottle of water is pure water and eventually Eddie explained the nuances of that too And although Eddie says he's sure she still doesn't quite get it She totally accepts that he has to bring his own water with him to restaurants for her There's no stigma or embarrassment attached to it at all and get this here's a guy who could probably buy and sell every bottled water Company in Salvador, but things like that are not about the money and some people just don't get it and by the by I Too nearly always bring my own bottled water into a restaurant or any other place I go I've always got a couple of bottles packed away in my car Oh and just one thing about that there isn't a restaurant in Latin America even first-world franchises like sizzler
[16:37] Applebee's chilies or Tony Roma's that will ever give you any crap or even a sideways Look if you bring your own bottle of water or whatever in a bottle now, don't get me wrong I don't frequent those places myself unless I happen to get invited by a group and that's where they're gonna meet And even then I keep my mouth shut. I don't tell them the food sucks I just smile and order the thing on the menu. That's least likely to cut my system Although first-world gringo franchises make a lot of money down here. They don't get mine Now I know some gringos that are so cheap that they actually bring their own beer and wine to a restaurant Which believe me is pushing it and in the states they'd kick you out for that for sure Or you'd never get past the hostess at the front door anyway, but down here
[17:24] I've seen gringos bring their own bottle of wine, which is a totally cheapskate white trash thing to do now The only place of course you can't get away with that is at a bar or disco itself because that's what they sell They make their dough on overpriced beer liquor and spirits But if it's just a regular restaurant if you're a tight one and you got the balls you can get away with it Anyway early on in expat Eddie's mating and dating process with his present girlfriend Obviously she passed his test and he passed hers in fact, like I said, they're engaged now He did the right thing right off the bat. He laid down the gringle law and the expat lifestyle Kindly and gently of course way early in the relationship and as sexist as this might sound Eddie's got her trained or maybe it's her who's got him trained
[18:09] You be the judge for example Eddie never actually hands her any money She's a model and she makes her own dough not a lot But sometimes 800 to a thousand bucks a month, which is good money down here for a single girl And she could live very well on that I don't mean first-world style of course But almost as long as you haven't got car payments or insurance payments Well, you get what I mean Anyway, one of Eddie's little rules is that he doesn't actually hand her a lot of money for nothing even as a gift Instead for example if they're out shopping and she's gonna buy some clothes and she's a model So she's always shopping for clothes And of course that could really get out of hand because when she tries things on she looks good in everything So like Eddie says it would be money well spent though soon enough. The average gringo would be broke
[18:57] Instead it works something like this She picks up maybe 20 items which seems a lot But Eddie won't take her to the brand name stores like gas or hill figure or gap or diesel Not that they won't go in there and look around but Eddie won't buy anything for her there Unless there's such a sale that they're almost giving it away But in those name brand stores that almost never happens So rule number one Eddie doesn't buy anything at boutique or high-end brand name stores Then automatically he's chopped his costs in half or more now She can buy stuff there with her own money her modeling money. It's hers Why not but guess what she doesn't buy at those high buck stores either So anyway, for example when they do shop Eddie says go ahead and pick out 20 items
[19:42] Then when they're all done and near the checkout counter Eddie says to her and she knows the routine Out of those 20 items you can pick out 10 and she's happy to do that Then he says I'll buy you all the ones that are on sale and the ones that aren't I'll go 50-50 with you Now that's slick isn't it because he's got her condition to pick out things that are on sale at mid-level stores Now I know some of you expat want to be ladies up there will surely say that's manipulation on Eddie's part Which you have to admit it is but now let me ask you expat want to be ladies up there in gringo land how many of your Boyfriends or husbands up there will go into a clothing store with you and let you walk out with 10 items a couple times a year Just on a whim and it's not even Christmas or your birthday got you there, didn't I?
[20:31] But you see if you're a gringo with a little bit of money and you don't lay some kind of rules down You'll be sorry because then you'll end up like one or two of my expat friends who have money In fact a lot of it and they've turned their beautiful Latin lady wives and girlfriends into greedy materialistic money monsters and these were once humble Latin girls making two or three hundred bucks a month as Secretaries and bank tellers and now horror of horrors they make a couple flights a year to Miami just to go shopping and Unfortunately for me I had to cross those old expat buddies of mine off my socialist like I'm such a big social Butterfly yuck yuck. Anyway, I crossed them off because pretentious stuff like that just rubs me the wrong way So anyway with Eddie and his girlfriend it works both ways
[21:20] He figures he won the lottery with her and she feels the same Obviously, she knows she's jumped up a few notches on the social and the economic ladder and Eddie He says she's like a spark plug that gives him energy and makes him feel good and he admits it would be the kiss of death if he ever brought her back to the United States and Being that she's with a pretty well off gringo She has won the lottery But as you might expect that also tends to set her apart from her friends and family In fact her sisters have told me on various occasions that she's always been the lucky one in the family and they say it in A kind of a bittersweet way you can tell they're a bit jealous But they wouldn't have it any other way either And by the way anytime she goes anywhere with her mother or her sisters and by the way her sisters are about
[22:05] 17 and 20 or 21 years old Anyway, she ends up paying for the dinners and the lunches and the breakfasts and get this They're the ones that take advantage of her and she gets pissed off about it because they always order the expensive things on the menu and they never do that when they're out on their own only when they're with her and Speaking about Latin ladies friends and family One thing you learn as an expat who's been in and out of a dating and mating game Is that you see for yourself in so many ways that young latin women are very Conscious about what people think and what they say and I'm talking about their friends and their relatives now One good example of this is if you remember I mentioned quite a while ago That young latin women when they have a free day or are on their way to work
[22:52] They'll dress to the nines and be very well put together makeup and nails perfect nothing out of place yet They'll stand with the masses at the bus stops ride the chicken buses and take the stairs and the looks and the abuse from the low class Guys checking her out and just sit and put up with it and not just verbal abuse either In fact plenty of middle-class latin girls I've spoken to report that they've been manhandled and ass handled on various chicken buses It just comes with the territory yet They wouldn't have to take all that crap if they just dressed down But they won't and they'll suffer the slings and arrows of these low-class guys because they have to keep up appearances They have to keep looking good and in style every time they're out in public You see all the girls are decked out The competition is fierce and you have to admire them for what they're willing to go through and put up with yet
[23:43] You feel sorry for girls like that when you see them getting on the bus There's sexual abuse like that day in and day out yet if she just cover up and dress down Well you get what I mean young latin ladies are extremely conscious of what the rest of the world thinks of them Compared to first-world women who of course are in competition with each other to Latinas on the other hand seem to be in hyperdrive And that's why if you see a young beautiful latin girl dressed to kill walking in a mall or a bank or on the street It's very difficult to tell her socioeconomic class unless of course. She's got a bodyguard then it's a dead giveaway But if she's walking alone She could be lower class middle class upper middle class or wealthy and in fact if she's a rather poor girl
[24:28] She could still look like a million bucks yet She might only have two pairs of shoes and two decent outfits however you instantly have got a girl's number if you see her Standing in a bus stop or mashed up against a window in a chicken bus now You see a screen goes don't run into eligible young latin girls in chicken buses because we avoid that kind of public transportation at all costs So when we meet an eligible young single girl it might take you quite a while to figure out what? Socioeconomic class she's in in other words if she's poor or middle class She'll be very coy about it in fact as every fresh new expat in the dating game has told me a brand new girlfriend will almost never invite you back to her house until you've had a Number of dates because while she's been dating you now get this chances
[25:15] She's been painting and cleaning up and remodeling here and there around the house getting the homestead all spiffed up as best as she can To make a really good first impression when her new gringo boyfriend walks into her family's house for the very first time And by the way There's a huge chance that you're the first gringo ever to step foot in that place and I can pretty much Guarantee you that if you're off the tourist trail And another thing so many gringos and expats down here have told me after they do see her house and the neighborhood And meet her family that they were a bit surprised and had the impression that her and her family were a little bit better off Or even a lot better off so in a lot of ways latin's are a lot like us gringos We like to pump up our resumes put on airs and try to make people think we make more than we really do too
[26:02] So remember that all you expat wannabes out there who are looking for love and romance down here in Latin America as much as you're Pumping up your resume to her in her own little way. She's doing the same to you Oh, and here's something that's gone through nearly every expat's mind after he first gets invited to his new girlfriend's house and meets the family One of the thoughts that always goes through your mind at least for a second is if this girl becomes my long-term girlfriend or even wife You wonder in the future how many of these family members am I gonna end up supporting? What if her mom or dad or uncle Julio had a stroke or needed a wheelchair or an operation? Or the roof on the house just happened to cave in in that case guess who's the lender of last resort? Oh, and by the way never lend money to your girlfriend's relatives better yet if you can afford it
[26:53] Just give it to him as a gift Because you all know what happens when you lend money to friends and family in time your friends aren't your friends anymore And when his family its excuses and hard feelings all around because you know if there's such a bad risk that the banks or the loan Sharks won't lend him any money They're definitely not gonna pay you back and remember as you make friends and hook up with Latin families It's a 100% certainty that some of your new Latin friends and family are gonna try to borrow money from you I lost count of how many times that's happened to me in fact just this week the body man who fixes my car hit me up Whoops running out of time now to be continued next week South of the border Down Mexico way you've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America coming to you twice a week from somewhere south of the border
[27:43] Email me the expat files at gmail.com And don't forget to check out expat wisdom.com to sign up for your free reports on Latin America See you next time nos vemos