Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller dives into the complexities of banking in Latin America for expats, focusing on the challenges of opening U.S. dollar accounts. He explains that while it's now possible to open such accounts, it requires the involvement of a lawyer due to regulatory concerns. He also highlights the contrast between the availability of dollar accounts and euro accounts, noting that the latter are less common. Johnny provides examples of the initial deposit requirements for both local and dollar accounts, emphasizing the financial burden on locals. He also touches on the cultural perception of the U.S. dollar as a stable currency, despite its devaluation, and the nostalgia many Latin Americans feel for the past when their local currencies were more valuable.
The podcast segment explores the skepticism Latin Americans have toward their central banks, politicians, and monetary systems. Johnny Mueller highlights how Latin businessmen, especially those with experience, often compare their local currencies to the U.S. dollar, which is seen as a gold standard. He also discusses the challenges expats and tourists face in pronouncing the Guatemalan currency, the quetzal, and how locals often mispronounce it as 'cue.' The segment further touches on the concept of a 'gringo tourist trail' in countries like Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, noting that while there are popular spots like Antigua, Tikal, and Roatan, they are not as heavily trafficked as destinations in Mexico. Johnny also explains the origin of the quetzal currency, linking it to the rare quetzal bird, which was highly valued by the Mayans and is now a symbol of Guatemala, despite being nearly extinct.
Johnny Mueller discusses the quetzal bird and its cultural significance in Latin America, highlighting how it's a symbol of national pride, similar to the bald eagle in the United States. He notes that while the quetzal is endangered, it's still hunted and displayed as a trophy in wealthy homes, and its feathers are sought after by birdwatchers. He also touches on the macaw parrot, or guacamaya, which is similarly endangered but often found as a pet in Latin America, despite the legal and ethical issues surrounding its trade. Johnny criticizes the practice of keeping these birds as pets, citing the challenges of housing and caring for them, as well as the noise and destruction they can cause.
The podcast segment discusses the challenges of maintaining U.S. dollar bank accounts in Latin America, highlighting that most accounts are dormant and incur fees. It also touches on the cultural and historical significance of Latin American currencies, such as the limpira and balboa, which are named after indigenous tribes and historical figures. Johnny Mueller emphasizes the irony of naming currencies after conquistadors and the eventual fate of such figures in Latin American history. The segment also includes a brief anecdote about the pereguayan gawani, named after an indigenous tribe and language, and its potential to outlast the tribe itself.
In this segment, Johnny Mueller discusses the phenomenon of remittances from the United States to Latin America, highlighting the challenges faced by undocumented immigrants in accessing bank accounts and the role of money transfer services like Western Union. He also raises questions about the increasing trend of remittances despite economic downturns in the U.S., suggesting that either more Latin Americans are finding better jobs or more are returning to their home countries voluntarily. The segment transitions into a discussion about the Spanish language, focusing on linguistic quirks such as the word 'enamigo' meaning 'enemy' and 'discapacitado' replacing the more politically incorrect term 'minos válido'.
This segment serves as the closing of the podcast episode, with Johnny Mueller providing a brief sign-off and encouraging listeners to engage with the show by contacting him via email and visiting the website for additional resources. The content includes a call to action for email contact and a website visit, followed by a farewell message in Spanish.
Topics
Banking in Latin America, Expatriate experiences, Currency perception and value, Financial regulations and expats, Skepticism toward Latin American monetary systems, Cultural and linguistic challenges for expats in Guatemala, The concept of a 'gringo tourist trail' in Latin America, The origin and symbolism of the quetzal currency, Cultural symbolism of the quetzal bird, Endangered species in Latin America, Hunting and trophy display of wildlife, Illegal wildlife trade
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:36 Banking for Expats in Latin America 00:01:00 Regulatory Challenges for US Citizens 00:01:58 Euro Accounts vs. Dollar Accounts 00:02:50 Financial Burden on Locals 00:04:37 Cultural Perception of the US Dollar 00:05:32 Skepticism Toward Central Banks and Monetary Systems in Latin America 00:05:35 The Lack of Faith in Central Banks and Politicians 00:05:41 Experiences of Latin Businessmen with Currency and Monetary Systems 00:05:48 Currency Instability and Inflation in Latin America 00:05:56 Interest Rates and Currency Comparison in Latin America 00:06:04 Comparing Local Currencies to the U.S. Dollar 00:06:11 The U.S. Dollar as a Gold Standard for Currency Comparison 00:06:14 Expat Experiences with Currency and Banking in Latin America 00:11:17 The Quetzal as a Symbol and Trophy 00:12:00 The Quetzal and the Bald Eagle: A Comparative Symbolism 00:13:35 The Macaw Parrot and Its Challenges as a Pet 00:20:58 Verbal Detour and Return to Topic 00:21:03 Returning to U.S. Bank Accounts in Latin America 00:22:11 Why Don't They Open U.S. Bank Accounts for Remittances? 00:22:46 The Role of Western Union in Remittance Transfers 00:24:17 The Paradox of Increasing Remittances Despite Economic Downturns 00:25:57 Linguistic Quirks in the Spanish Language: 'Enamigo' and 'Discapacitado' 00:27:36 Podcast Sign-Off and Introduction to the Show's Focus 00:27:42 Call to Action for Email Contact 00:27:47 Promotion of the Website for Free Reports 00:27:53 Farewell Message in Spanish
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 Okay, let's start out once again with a little Latin American sociology and in this case It's tied to banking now the good news for all gringos and expats Is that if you come down here and open a bank account these days in any bank? That's got any kind of branches whatsoever. They'll let you open a dollar account though
[00:48] I might add these days it won't be you personally opening that account It'll be you and your lawyer or just your lawyer opening it for you since as you probably know by now And I've mentioned it before banks in any foreign country Don't want American citizens as clients anymore because they have to deal with all that paperwork involved in those rotten fat Galos and report your account details and movements back to the IRS in the States But anyway, let's say you're a brand new expat in Honduras and you and your lawyer go down to the local bank and Open up a US dollar account, you know, this is Latin America So it could take a couple of hours, but it'll happen you'll actually get it done now That's a lot different than it was five or ten years ago When only the three four or five largest banks in a Latin American country would offer dollar accounts But that's all changed in the last three or four years
[01:36] That means when you come down you can open a bank account in the local currency pesos boulevards doubloons Whatever and at the same time get yourself a dollar account two birds with one stone and about euro accounts Well, they're about in the same position The dollar accounts were five or ten years ago Meaning only the three four or five largest banks in any Latin country offer euro accounts Why because basically the euro just hasn't taken off down here that much So unfortunately a lot of Europeans are stuck changing their euros into dollars and losing twice on the conversion to the local currency Now it doesn't cost you anymore to have a US dollar account here Except that generally you must deposit a much higher amount to open that account than you would with a local currency account For example, if you're in Honduras and you open a local currency account in L'Ampere's
[02:25] That's what they're called You can actually open a passbook L'Ampere account with an initial deposit of a hundred L'Ampere's six bucks As opposed to opening a US dollar passbook account, which would normally require an initial deposit of about a hundred bucks Big deal you say right for us? No, but for regular Honda reños yes, because a hundred bucks is like a week to a week and a half salary for them and Relating that to the average first world American imagine opening a regular passbook savings account and having to deposit 600 to a thousand bucks. No small thing, right? Anyway, when you're down here opening a US dollar account, you'll need to deposit a hundred bucks And of course, you don't lose that money. It's just your opening balance Oh, and by the way, I'll admit that Honduras has a very weird sounding currency the lamp era
[03:14] So how do gringos manage to remember such a strange name for a currency? Well, I'll tell you how some of us do it Just imagine a slimy disgusting lamprey eel because the word lamprey sounds and looks a lot like lamp era Anyway, there's a little memory trigger for you. And by the way when you're learning your Spanish It's a great idea to use as many of those language triggers as possible That is connect the Spanish word You're trying to imagine to some oddball person place your thing in English And in fact, that's how some of these memory wizzes remember long strings of numbers by connecting each number to some odd or outrageous Physical or mental picture try it it really works, but you knew that already, right? So when you open a US dollar bank account down here, the fact is you won't have very much company In fact the statistics coming out of the financial pages of the big Latin American newspapers
[04:01] state that right now only about one out of 80 bank accounts is linked to a dollar bank account and if you exclude Businesses and about one in five of those have dollar bank accounts That means when you're strictly talking about individuals That means only about one in 200 Latin American people who have some kind of bank account have a dollar Denominated account too and those stats are for all of Latin America Now if you're on the high-volume gringo tourist trail Then you'll find the majority of people who have bank accounts have dollar accounts too because many of them are getting paid or tipped In dollars and by the way, like I've mentioned in past shows, I think Every single Latin you talk to thinks the US dollar is the gold standard they have absolutely no idea that since the birth of the Federal Reserve in 1913 a dollar today's worth about
[04:48] Four cents or is it three but then again? 95% of US citizens don't know their dollar has shrunk in value to the size of a postage stamp either So if you get a chance to quiz a Latin American who happens to have a US dollar bank account as to why he would Maintain such a thing even though more than likely it's been inactive since the day he opened it They'll often say it's because their own currency is so undependable but they're stuck with it and every last one of them remembers the good old days when they were kids when one single peso or Balboa or lampita or Quetzal bought him a nice lunch at a fancy restaurant Whereas today for example one lampita is worth one US nickel and what if anything can you buy with that? So the vibe you pick up from every Latin person
[05:35] In fact the vibe you pick up from every adult person over 35 is that they really have no faith in their central bank their politicians and the people who run their monetary system and Latin businessmen who've been around the block for a while will tell you how Their currency's been whipsawed and devalued how bank and CD interest rates in their local currency almost never beat inflation Even though a CD and government bond interest rates can sometimes be three and four times what you could get with dollar-based CDs Now when you run into a Latin who can explain all that what he's really doing is comparing the history of his currency to the US Dollar because that's their gold standard of measure In fact, I can't tell you how many times I've been at some wealthier Latin guys house And if and when the subject turns to banking finance or the economy and I've heard the guy or his friends say
[06:24] God, I wish I would have had my money in US dollars instead of pesos or lampita's or doubloons or quetzales Oh, yeah, and that reminds me. Let's talk about Quetzales for a minute Which whether you know it or not is the national currency of Guatemala. That's Quetzales not Quetzal's or As fresh green gringos and expats often mispronounce it Even though there's no end in the word gringos like to slip one in and that's why in Guatemala when gringos gather You'll often hear them use the term cue. That's it Basically to avoid mispronouncing the word Quetzales and getting weird looks from the natives That means ten Quetzales becomes ten cue easy, huh? But unfortunately that only seems to be an understanding between gringos
[07:10] They can talk tens and 20s and hundreds and thousands of cues to themselves all day long But the locals don't get that so you'll eventually have to make a stab at saying the word Quetzal which is singular for one Quetzal or the plural Quetzales and by the way That's one way to find out if a gringo or an expat has actually spent a little time in Guatemala if he's still saying Quetzales or Quetzales He probably hasn't been in and around the country for much time at all and if he's prone to saying cues all the time Then you know, he's not far off the tourist track and has been hanging around with gringos which begs the question is there a gringo tourist trail in Guatemala or In Honduras or Nicaragua or any of the Latin countries on the US State Department feces list Well, yes, there is a kind of a tourist trail in Guatemala though
[07:56] Nothing like Cancun Panama or Costa Rica In fact, the only place that can kind of be qualified as a gringo tourist trail is the city of Antigua, Guatemala Which is famous for its Spanish ruins great climate and 25 or so cheap Spanish immersion schools Which draws a lot of North American and European backpacker types and low to medium budget Ecotourists, so yes and antique what you see gringos all the time But it's not high-volume touristy as we've come to know that term even the massive Mayan ruins in Petén the city of Tikal Considered the emerald city of the Mayans It's massive spectacular astounding and all the best adjectives and goes on for miles and miles Yet still it gets nowhere near the traffic of those big Mayan ruins in Mexico like Chichen Itza
[08:43] In fact, I remember a tour guide at the Tikal ruins once told me they're lucky to get 5% of the tourists spill over that Chichen Itza gets maybe it's because it's just so far away from everything way out in the jungle with no big city Not even a lightly populated one within an hour's drive and the way I look at it. It's a good thing. In fact, it's great It's one place you can get completely overwhelmed by without any idiot kid with a camera or an iPhone sticking his elbow in your eye Now, of course the Guatemalan tourist bureaus and stuff promote the hell out of it But it's really not had too much effect The fact is the US State Department's website has really clipped the wings of the tourist business in Latin America So in a backhanded way for adventurous gringos and expats the US State Department makes these attractions Much nicer places for us more adventurous gringos to visit
[09:30] But what about the gringo tourist trail in Honduras? Is there one there? Well, yes, and that's the island of Roatan though It's pretty low-key too, but note that on the Honduran mainland there really isn't a gringo tourist trail In fact, there's another tremendous Mayan ruin In fact a huge city in Copan Honduras and again There's only a small trickle of gringo tourists going in the place and it's really hard to believe considering the immensity of it But that's why it's one of those hidden gems that your average gringo tourist rarely gets to see the same with Belize and El Salvador And Nicaragua, they've got a tiny handful of places where you often see gringos But again, there's no such thing as a real bona fide gringo tourist trail, but I digress I was talking about that funny Guatemalan currency the quetzal that fresh new gringos and expats have such a hard time pronouncing
[10:19] The confusing part for gringos being that it starts with a Q and has a Z in it instead of a more convenient K and an S And alas us gringos like to pronounce our words phonetically. So we always screw up when we get to Latin America Especially with the indigenous names where there's lots and lots of X's Y's and Z's and Q's and in English Those letters are the least used even us very long-term expats below words like that all the time Which by the way amuses the locals to no end so get used to it. Okay, then what about that quetzal name? Anyway, where did it come from? Well, it's the name of a rare and spectacular bird whose long Multicolored feathers were highly prized by Mayan royalty, which certainly helped to make them nearly extinct even today
[11:05] They're so endangered that the average Guatemalan has never actually seen a live one not even in a zoo Though he does see it every day on his country's flag and all his money and on all the government propaganda and on a hundred and One products and advertisements the quetzal it seems is everybody's favorite bird and its public property Even though the public's killed off just about every last one of them and get this once in a great While you'll go to a wealthy Latin Americans house I'm talking about old money in a grand Spanish villa built before the turn of the century the last century and lo and behold You just might see among the other trophies in the owners game room a stuffed quetzal Of course, I'm talking a real dead one here admittedly stalked and killed off a long time ago Maybe a hundred years ago now to me
[11:52] That's really sad killing off your heritage and stuffing it like that But some men have their game rooms and just have to show off their trophies for Guatemalans The quetzal bird is what the bald eagle is to North Americans And isn't it ironic that the bald eagle is not only extremely endangered too But that the vast majority of Americans have never actually seen a live one either and I'll bet you a Bitcoin if an American kid With a BB gun happened to see one He'd take a potshot at it because boys will be boys and not only that North American kids can afford BB guns Whereas Latin kids can only afford slingshots. Oh, and by the way half the Latin kids actually make their own slingshots from scratch Now it's not that the quetzal bird species has been completely eliminated now there are some known nesting pairs in the jungle wilds and
[12:40] bird watchers from all over the world come down and spend a big buck to take a long long trek through the jungle with a Guide hoping to get a photo op of the male that is because he's the one with the nice feathers the fact is if you talk to any real old-time Guatemalans guys in their 70s 80s and 90s if they were born and raised in The boonies they'll often have a story of a friend or acquaintance of theirs when they were boys who'd tapped one of these rare birds With a slingshot because you see nearly all young Latin American boys Especially ones in the boonies have very powerful slingshots and unfortunately boys being boys Their main goal is to plug anything that moves and those poor beautiful quetzales birds With their two and three foot long multi-colored tails Well, that was the grand prize and I've been told second only to the quetzal is the macaw parrot and down here in Latin America
[13:33] They're called guacamayas Which by the way is also a nearly impossible word to say phonetically and suffice to say it takes a gringo an awful long time To master that one. Anyway, guacamayas or macaw parrots are beautiful and spectacular birds, too And I've been told easily picked off with a nice slingshot though Thankfully those guys breed fast and in very high trees though They're technically endangered you still see them often as pets in restaurants bars and resorts and believe it or not If you get far enough out in the jungle in the wild Oh and one more thing about guacamayas a lot of gringles and expats when they first come down here They think of getting one or two of those things as a pet since occasionally when you're on the boonies You run into a guy or a gal selling one or two on the street
[14:19] And of course absolutely dirt cheap compared to first world prices. Wait a minute. What am I saying? I don't think you can even buy one of those things up north. They are endangered, right? Anyway, I've personally seen these things for sale on the street And of course, that's not legal But since there are no bird or endangered animal police down here And if there are that's news to me now, of course You could never ship these things out of the country since at the borders or as they're called frontiers down here The border cops and contraband police are really checking for things like that Though I know that kind of trafficking does go on because gringles up north pay big prices for those things Anyway, what i'm saying is within latin american countries Even though these big beautiful birds the guacamayas the macaws are endangered You see an awful lot of them around as pets Like I said in hotels restaurants bars and occasionally at a person's house
[15:08] So how does that happen if they're endangered? Well, you tell me this is latin america, you know So anyway, the occasional gringo or expat down here when he sees these things are available as pets Sometimes he or she gets the idea He's got to have one too Now these things do need a lot of space and what i've been told is that you have to clip their wings and give them A nice big space to roam in the house a big tree stand area They can perch in or even better a nice big caged in leafy area out in the garden But i'll warn you right now based on a few gringo friends that have those things It's not a good idea to keep those big birds in captivity or as pets at all And you know those minimum requirements I just mentioned big open space maybe a huge area in the backyard
[15:53] You just don't see those kind of accommodations when latin zone those birds though I admit in some of the big hotels that have them it can be a very nice setup But that's the exception not the rule so for all you bird lovers out there I can think of three or four very good reasons not to have them So listen up first of all those things are big and wild and it's kind of cruel to keep them all cooped up Secondly, even though they're very intelligent and have a great vocabulary when you get them talking They somehow just can't be house trained Which means you can never have nice furniture carpets or throw rugs around meaning if you have nice stuff It won't be for long And the third reason not to have one of these things They have a hideously loud annoying squawk and they squawk at the most inopportune times Not to mention if you've got a pair of them look out because when one starts up the other one always chimes in
[16:41] And since they're big birds their squawk is so loud if you're a peace and quiet loving person They'll just drive you to the nut house So anyway If you're coming down to latin america and you have an eye on a bird like that as a pet Or any big tropical bird or endangered species for that matter if you really are a bird lover You'll let them live where they want to live in the jungles and in the trees Oh and another thing those birds are big and powerful and can really bite They can take your finger off and you know kids they like to touch prod and poke colorful things enough said about that So anyway, like I said before that cat's owl bird That's on all guatemalan money that famous bird that practically no one's ever seen live Now the fact is that there's only a couple of known surviving pairs has prompted some european genetic engineers and cloning
[17:27] Specialists to come down to collect cells and preserve them to take a shot at future cloning Now that's the good news, but it's also kind of sad, isn't it? And like my buddy expat eddie always says no one would be worrying about things like that If that amazing looking cat's owl bird was just a little bit uglier Now I said before that the honduran money the limpira is also a difficult term to remember for gringos Now the really interesting thing about that name the limpira is that it's the only latin american monetary denomination That's named after an indigenous tribal warrior A guy whose tribe actually fought and died fighting off the spanish invaders Which makes the name limpira unlike any other latin american money Just think how much that contrasts with the name of the costarican money colón, which is the spanish word for columbus
[18:14] And though these days up in the states columbus's rep has hit the skids down here You still see columbus's name everywhere colón in spanish, of course and down here with that lag time effect No one's taken to the streets when another public building or monument gets named after the old discoverer slash conqueror Down here his rep is still pretty much intact even though in reality He's the guy that opened the door to misery in a couple of continents in fact The people down here are just now seeing the cracks in his facade And I expect in the next couple years a few of his statues and monuments will be defaced and eventually bite the dust And speaking of perpetually famous skunkies to daughters There is the latin american monetary unit called the balboa You know the guy the history books say discovered the pacific ocean Which does seem amusing since millions of indigenous people knew it was there all the time, huh?
[19:02] Anyway, the balboa is or I should say was the panamanian monetary unit At least it was until they'd dollarized but still In panama the coin change consists of us dimes nickels and quarters But also there are coins of the same size as the american coins floating around in panama with the spanish conquistador Balboa's head stamped on them So panama never quite gave up the balboa and by the way If you're in panama, those things make good souvenirs But if you bring them back to the states, you can't spend them Even though they trade one for one with us coins in panama My advice if you're at the panamanian airport and you're stuck with a pocketful of that stuff Give it to some of the scruffy looking kids that are always hanging out there They need it more than you need another dunkin donut and yes, they have dunkin donuts at the panamanian airport
[19:49] Okay, where was I? Oh, yeah, then for example, there's the bolivar used in venezuela named after simon bolivar Who wasn't exactly a conquistador but a spanish revolutionary? Now another odd one is the pereguayan gawani named after an indigenous tribe and their language So why would they name their currency after a language or a tribe? Well, it turns out when the country decided to select a name for its currency back in 1945 to replace the peso And by the way, they say government officials there thought there were just too many other governments with pesos in latin america All of them with a completely different valuation. So back then in 1945 Nearly 100 of the rural population of pereguay mostly farmers out in the boonies spoke the guarani language
[20:34] So that's how that new currency got its name However, these days only about 50 of the rural folks speak that language and local sociologists think that in a few years It'll be the guarani currency that outlasts the tribe and the language So anyway, as far as latin american currencies the majority of them stick to their version of the peso Or the name of some historical colonial spanish guy or conquistador Man, did I take a verbal detour there? What was I talking about at the beginning of the show? Oh, yeah, I started by talking about u.s bank accounts in latin america Continuing with that you'll find when you're off the gringo tourist trail almost no average latin americans have a dollar bank account In fact, what one banker friend of mine told me that guy I told you before who works at city bank He said that fully three quarters of all the us dollar bank accounts there don't have any movement at all month over month
[21:26] Basically, they're stagnant and just accumulating little charges and fees all the time for sitting there dormant So you might ask what's the point of having a bank account if you don't use it and the city bank guy said great expectations Good answer, huh? Then he went on to say that the quarter of those bank accounts that do get some action Are generally from people and families who get those us dollar remissas from friends and family back up in the states However, the vast majority of latin american families that get remissas when they receive the funds usually through the local western union They don't save that money They just convert it to the local currency and spend it right away And that's why the vast majority of latin's getting those remissas do not have us dollar bank accounts for the average guy It's just not necessary which brings up another legitimate question Why don't they open up a u.s bank account and take the wire transfer directly from a bank up in the states
[22:16] From their friends and relatives sending their remisa that way they can avoid those oppressive western union charges that can work out to 20 to 30 percent Of the money sent especially when small amounts are transferred like from 50 to 200 dollars the average remissive By the way being around 100 bucks sent generally on a monthly or a quarterly basis Well as you might have remembered from a past show a large percentage of latin's up in the states sending remissas are not there legally So they can't open bank accounts So they can't do a bank-to-bank wire transfer like that And that's why money transferring services like western union have moved in to suck up all that business making well over five billion dollars last year in profits now regarding remissas Here's something that's really puzzling and I hope someday someone can answer this at the end of every calendar year
[23:03] Which just passed by the way all the big latin american newspapers publish statistics about remissas coming from the us to their country Now how they get precise data on that? I don't know because certainly money transferring agencies like western union aren't talking that's proprietary information for sure And because like I just mentioned banks in latin america are not on the receiving end of a lot of remissas Then where do they get such precise data? What I mean is just last month in december I've seen charts in latin american newspapers that show the amount of remissas coming into a country like Nicaragua broken down by every state in the us union. How do they come up with that stuff? So that's puzzling. But here's something else for the last three years I've been more or less monitoring these remissa numbers that are published and here's the amazing thing
[23:51] Every year for the past three years the money returning back to the latin country has been up by three four even five percent Year over year So I wonder how can that be when we all know that us and first world economies in general are in a tailspin And the real not government published unemployment numbers in the states are around 20 percent. Those are Depression-era numbers. So considering all that bad news up north and it's getting worse How can there be more remissas year over year coming back to the people in latin america? From friends and relatives up in the states you'd think those numbers would be way way down Especially since in the last year or two I've seen articles in the local latin papers that say many more illegals are returning back to their home latin countries because they're
[24:36] Disillusioned and I don't mean they've been caught and deported back though tens of thousands are deported every year I'm talking about a different set of people in the states illegals that come back voluntarily now That's a new phenomena, huh? And once back in latin america when they're interviewed they all tell the same story They can't find halfway decent jobs up in the states enough to support themselves And in fact the american dream they were looking for was exaggerated if not for them an outright lie So what's up with that and the fact that remisses are on the increase? It would appear looking at the statistics that either more latins living up in the states are getting better jobs and making more money Therefore can send more back home or there are more latins in the states previously unemployed latinists who are getting hired
[25:22] Either way, I don't get it. Something is definitely screwy now changing gears a second Most of you know that I like to tell you little idiosyncrasies about the spanish language that you'll never learn from your spanish teacher Not up in the states or down here after a while There are certain words and phrases you pick up and use yourself not realizing how odd or strange or sometimes funny They really are after just a little bit of analysis. For example, take the word friend in spanish That's amigo, right? Simple. Now take the word enemy Well get this the word enemy in spanish is Enamigo Enamigo the preface en with the word amigo after it as if you're saying your enemy is your anti friend Which makes sense. All right, but why wouldn't they have a completely different independent word for it?
[26:11] Who knows and though the words amigo and an amigo are very commonly used down here It takes an english speaker who knows spanish to pick up on the fact that part of that word an amigo means friend It's like this imagine an american soldier in world war ii calling hitler his anti friend And if you think that's strange, here's another one the word Discapacitado this capacitado means handicapped, but what it actually means precisely is Incapable now down here in latin america that word is slowly replacing the more politically incorrect term Minos valido Minos valido which precisely means in english less than valid The preface minos means minus or less and the rest of the word valido means valid minos valido less valid
[27:00] So nowadays when you go into a parking lot in a big shopping center or wherever you'll notice those typical handicap parking spots Many of which used to have a little sign above them or painted on the ground the word minos validos are slowly But surely being changed over to the more politically, correct Discapacitados and in some latin countries, they don't use Discapacitado they use in Capacitado either way that's the politically correct term these days So you might wonder is the public catching on to that in a word? No, since there's about a 20 year lag time on that pc stuff You've been listening to the expat files living in latin america coming to you twice a week from somewhere South of the border email me the expat files at gmail.com
[27:47] And don't forget to check out expatwisdom.com to sign up for your free reports on latin america See you next time. Nos vemos