#342 – Episode 342: Electrical Systems, Cultural Norms, and the Gringo Advantage in Latin America

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

[00:14] 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. You want to know something that pisses off every single one of us long term expats and it's sure to create on all you wannabes and wannabes when you come down here to set up house 2. Well I can tell you this, it's something that will never happen to you in Flagstaff, Rowley or Cleveland, unless you're living in an alternate universe which I kind of doubt. Now you do recall in a couple of past shows where I mentioned that in your average Latin American neighborhood, and even in a lot of upper middle class neighborhoods too, home and office construction might look totally first world, at least when it's first built

[01:02] it does, but after a year or so it kind of looks like typical Latin American scruffy. Anyway, underneath the surface, behind the walls and under the floors etc, it's really not quite first world at all, and sometimes third world to the core. And of course that's the stuff you don't see at first, it's not obvious, and it's only after you've been living there a year or so that you realize you have to make some uncomfortable adjustments in your living habits, or live in a constant state of irritability like some gringos and expats I know have done and are still doing. For example in 90% of Latin American houses and office buildings, the electrical wiring and plumbing are substandard compared to what we're used to. So in effect you could drive by a very nice 3000 square foot version of a Latin American McMansion, but when you look in the electrical service box, you realize it's only a 60

[01:51] amp service, which for new housing construction in Latin America is about average. Whereas a house like that up in the first world would have at least a 200 amp box. In fact I think that now that's probably code up in the first world, you can't even install anything less than that. And regarding that here's something you really should know, and I guarantee that you'll never find out about this, till you've been in your house or office a while and you realize you're blowing circuit breakers all the time. Now keeping in mind what I just told you about how they undersize electrical service boxes here in Latin America, if you're looking to buy or rent a new or used house or office space, after you've heard this from me, you're definitely going to have a look at the electric service panel aren't you? Because you're going to be thinking, Johnny says, a 60 amp box is just not enough.

[02:39] Which it definitely isn't. Unless of course you're off the grid and using solar panels, and in that case you might only need a 30 amp service panel, because your whole house will be ultra efficient. But we'll talk about that later, so stay tuned for that. So with a traditional house anyway, you're going to walk over to the service panel and have a look at the current or amperage rating on the box. And more often than not, the box will have a 100 amp rating and when you open the door on the panel you'll see a lot of spots for quite a few circuit breakers. Maybe for 20 separate circuits or even more. However, 9 out of 10 times, you'll only see about 5 or 6 breakers actually being used in there. You know, with some kind of labeling in Spanish of course. Perhaps the writing on the first one will say kitchen, one will say downstairs, one will

[03:26] say upstairs, one will say garage, etc. And the rest of the spots will be empty. Do you see what I'm getting at now? 5 or 6 breakers being used in a 3,000 square foot house with 15 or more empty slots for breakers not being used at all? And if you don't know anything about wiring a house, that won't mean anything to you. But let me make it perfectly clear right now that's not a good sign. There should be at least 10 or 15 circuit breakers in use in that box to balance out the electrical load and the power draw. If not, I guarantee the place is under-wired and overloaded. But let's talk about the service panel itself. Now if you open the panel door it'll tell you the rating. And if it says 100 amps, which like I said is quite common in new construction here. So you'll think well 100 amps at least it's not 60, which Johnny says is not enough.

[04:15] Well 100 amps is almost twice that so maybe it won't work out so bad. Well you know what, it will work out okay as long as you're not using air conditioning along with an electric stove or electric dryer. Which means if you're in the Altiplano in one of those high altitude places in Latin America that have eternal spring weather all year round. We're talking an elevation of 3,000 feet or higher. Which by the way turns out to be the hands down choice for us long term expats who've been around and just can't stand a thin coating of sweat on us 24-7. Anyway if you live in the Altiplano you won't have air conditioning except if you're in an office building tower. In a place like that you might need air conditioning but more often than not you won't. So in that case you can get by with a 100 amp service.

[05:01] But here's where a lot of gringos and expats get fooled. And after a while they end up getting pissed off and end up very frustrated in the long run. Now listen carefully, that electric service panel may say it's 100 amps but I've noticed that more than half the time the wires coming in from the pole, those big fat service feed wires that connect at the top of the box, they're actually only rated at 60 amps. That's all they can carry, not 100, 60. So what I'm saying is don't get fooled if you see a 100 amp or even a 200 amp box with tons of spots for circuit breakers. That doesn't mean a thing if you've only got wires coming in from the main power pole outside that can handle 60 amps. So now you're thinking how am I supposed to know that?

[05:48] Well you have to ask what gauge wire is coming in, that's it. So you can ask an electrician or you can look at the two hot wires coming right in at the very top of your panel box. Those are the big fat ones that are either white, red or black. And if on the insulation it's stamped number 6 AWG, that'll only carry 60 amps. And if it says number 2 AWG, then your service will be 100 amps. And I'm talking copper wire here, if they're using aluminum, just check with your electrician on that. Those wires will be even bigger and fatter. Now if you do find out you've only got wires that'll hold 60 amps coming in from your main pole, you could easily have them swapped out for 100 amp or even a 200 amp service. A certified electrician could swap those out in 3 or 4 hours.

[06:35] No big deal, down here maybe 200 bucks. That's easily done. The real problem is if you've only got 5 or 6 circuit breakers installed in a big box, in Latin American homes at least it's quite a pain in the ass to add more circuits directly from that box to wherever you might need more outlets in the house. Now doing that is not expensive at all, in fact it's dirt cheap compared to first world prices. However, it's one huge pain in the ass that'll disrupt your life for a couple of weeks at least. And why is that? Because houses are constructed with rebar, concrete and big fat heavy concrete blocks down here. Not with wood stud construction. So in order to add a couple extra circuits in your house, you're going to have to get your maintenance guy or electrician to chisel out long channels in your wall to put in

[07:21] the new wires and boxes where you need them. And of course labor is cheap so that's not the problem, not at all. Problem is, the dust and dirt and grime it creates, you won't believe it. The cleanup, it's horrific. So just keep that in mind. Especially if you're going to have a home office and you need a lot of electrical outlets for computers and servers and electronics and stuff. Oh and one last thing. When Latin system selves discover they're blowing out a lot of circuits and actually need to add a few more outlets, they often don't even bother having someone chisel out long channels to install the boxes and outlets properly. They go to the hardware store and buy those tacky, ugly trailer cord style surface mount electrical outlet strips that should tack on a wall with metal staples. Or worse, they just string some 14 or 16 gauge lamp cord along the walls and ceilings

[08:11] wherever they need it and they tack that up with metal staples. Always an eyesore and often times a rat's nest of cords running every which way. And yes, an installation like that's as ugly as sin and looks really low class. But you see, that kind of stuff everywhere, all throughout Latin America, even though it almost always violates the electrical code and in fact can really be dangerous, especially in the rainy season. For obvious reasons, since most Latin houses are leaky and damp. Not to mention, there's kids crawling around everywhere, which needless to say is a recipe for disaster. And sure, all that violates the electrical code but no one's checking and they never will. You see that kind of stuff, even in the houses of the very wealthy. Again, it's all about the details. Now in our own homes, the vast majority of us gringos would be embarrassed to have a setup

[08:58] like that, though we might have something like that temporarily in a pinch. Still most of us would be embarrassed if any other first world person happened to see a tangled rat's nest of electrical wires like that in our homes. But in Latin homes and offices, you see it all the time. And worse. And are they embarrassed? Never. Because that's just the way it is. Now I started out the program by saying that there are always a few situations that cannot be corrected that piss us first world people off and continue to do so. And the operative phrase here is cannot be corrected. So if you come on down, you have to be prepared to get pissed off yourself. And even if you're a very easy going type, nevertheless, I predict you will be irritated on a regular basis. And here's a great case in point.

[09:46] You've heard me say this before, but let me expand on it. Down here in Latin America, everybody, and I mean everybody, puts their used toilet paper in the garbage can alongside the toilet. And do bear with me here because this conversation is not necessarily going where you think it is. Anyway, it's an automatic reflex for every middle class Latin American to do it without thinking. They just don't put their used toilet paper inside the toilet. Even though it is amazingly enough called toilet paper, not garbage can paper. Anyway, like I mentioned before, you'll even fly into international airports in Latin America and you'll walk into the restroom and see a sign on the wall that says, please do not put your toilet paper in the toilet. And some signs will even have a diagram of a garbage can and a toilet with a hand

[10:31] tossing the paper in the garbage can and a red X like in a no smoking sign drawn right across the toilet. Obviously intended for people who can't read. And when traveling through Latin America, you'll see that little sign in hotels and restaurants, car dealerships, mechanics, repair shops, everywhere, except surprise, surprise in businesses that are first world franchises like McDonald's and Hilton's and Sears and Starbucks and Office Depot, et cetera. And that's because when you buy into a first world franchise, you buy a cookie cutter, first world construction plan that includes bathroom and restroom plumbing that's actually big enough to accommodate toilet paper. God, what a unique idea, huh? So that said, what's going to piss you off even more if that doesn't piss you off enough already in your own house, your gringo abode.

[11:18] You're not going to do that. You're going to put your toilet paper where it belongs in the toilet. And you will be able to do that without any problems whatsoever, because you're going to, with all probability, end up buying or renting in a first world style development or even build your own home to first world standards. And you'll make sure the plumbers don't skimp on the tube sizes, meaning they stick absolutely to first world plumbing codes. That's one thing you'll be on top of. If you listen to my program, I guarantee you that because you know, that's the first place a contractor or architect will skimp if you don't bring it up. Anyway, that's why 95% of gringos, maybe even more have homesteads that will accept toilet paper in, surprise, surprise, the toilet. And that's good, you say? So what's the problem?

[12:04] Well, here's the problem. The thing that's really going to piss you off. As you meet and make friends, especially off the gringo tourist trail, most of them are going to be Latins, since that's the definition of being off the tourist trail. There's a shortage of gringos. Good for us, right? Because that's when the gringo advantage is in full force, where there are few gringos. But because of that eventuality, your new Latin friends and acquaintances that will occasionally come over to your house will stick the damn used toilet paper in your garbage can. Why? Because that's what they do at home and that's what they always do. They were trained to do that from the day they were able to wipe their own pink little butts. So do understand that every single time you have company over, after they've gone

[12:50] and you use your own bathroom yourself, you're going to get irritated if not truly pissed off. Your guest bathroom or the bathroom in your spare bedroom, if you have a Latin person or two staying over, are no longer going to be first world gringo hygienic, guaranteed. So what are you supposed to do about that? Well, you could do like one of my ex-pat friends in Colombia does. He has a little plastic laminated sign in the drawer of each of his bathrooms that he hauls out and puts on the bathroom sink countertop when he knows Latins are going to be dropping on by, spelling out in a roundabout way that his plumbing is first world and ready for any kind of TP they can throw at it. So he made it kind of a joke so they wouldn't get embarrassed about it. And get this, he says having those signs is infinitely preferable to

[13:36] actually announcing his first world plumbing capacity when company walks through the door. And that was something he actually tried once that didn't go down very well, he says. He told me it was a sticky moment. His company didn't seem to be embarrassed, but he sure was. And his wife, who was a gringo, made him do it. She wasn't about to announce something like that. Now, if you were in that situation, you might not be inclined to do any of those things. But if you don't, just remember the consequences of the aftermath. And by the way, while we're on this revolting subject, don't forget that when you hire a maid or a cleaning lady, the garbage can is where they'll put the toilet paper too, naturally, or should I say, unnaturally. Meaning if you don't lay down some hygiene rules right away, you'll have a

[14:22] problem on your hands there too. So then what about your gardener and your maintenance guy if you have them? You have to advise them too, right? Not quite. In regards to that, all gringos and expats down here that have gardeners and maintenance men, they'll tell you they're always outside, almost never in the house except when doing a repair. If you hire one or more yourself, you'll soon find out these guys are very down-to-earth and humble types and they'll never ask you to use your bathroom. And I found that true all over the place. I've asked a lot of gringos and the gardener and the maintenance man, they just don't want to trouble you. Not only will they never ask you to use the bathroom, they'll never knock on the door and ask you for a glass of water either. In fact, they'll never ask you for anything except maybe a hammer or a shovel or a garden tool or some fertilizer.

[15:09] Just the basics they need to do their work. They all pretty much just keep to themselves and don't want to bother you for anything. Which means, of course, when they're doing their business, they're doing it nearby, hopefully not in your shrubs, you know? Or maybe that's why the shrubs look so nice. It's something we don't want to know. And by the way, here's an interesting story regarding my own maintenance guy. When I first interviewed the guy for the job a few years back and believe me, an interview for a gardener or a maintenance guy is nothing formal at all. Anyway, he's about 55 years old and he told me that he started working as a gardener and a maintenance guy since he was about 12 years old. So he'd been doing that kind of work for at least 40 years. And he said over the years, he worked for about a dozen different families, practically all of them wealthy Latin people.

[15:55] Wealthy that is by his standards, meaning they had big houses with nice gardens and a maze quarters and a late model car or two. And he said at one time or other, he worked for two families that had bodyguards. And you know, I asked him in the interview if he'd ever had any trouble with his former bosses or he'd ever been fired before. Which by the way is a very good question to ask because almost everyone's had some kind of a disagreement with their boss or they quit or they got fired. So if a person like that who's been working 40 years says, no, no, I never had any trouble with anyone at all, well, then they're probably lying or hiding something, which still isn't enough to disqualify them from working for you. But I find most of the time when you ask somebody if they've been fired or had any trouble, they'll usually say yes and tell you exactly

[16:40] what happened. Slanted from their angle, of course. I mean, after all, as expat Eddie says, you haven't really lived a full life unless you've been fired a few times. And that goes for, he says, getting the crap kicked out of you too, which for him is another prerequisite for living a full life. But that's Eddie, you know? Anyway, when I interviewed my maintenance guy and asked those questions, this guy told me the story of the time he got fired while working for the son of an Alcaldi. That's the son of a mayor of a district. He said that he and a maid got hired on the same day to work at the house of this pampered mayor's son. And everything started out okay, except when paydays came around twice a month, traditionally on the first and the 15th. And after working there about three or four months, he started getting paid later and later, a day or two late, three days, four days, until this mayor's

[17:30] son had actually gotten a month behind in paying him. And then as he started complaining about it, the mayor's kid started getting verbally abusive to him, saying insulting things about capacinos and indigenous people and the like. And finally, when this mayor's son got too much behind in paying him, he had to sit down with the guy and told him that he just wasn't going to come to work on Monday if he didn't get paid and the guy fired him. And since he was two months in arrears on paying the maid, he fired her too. And then in the interview, he told me a second story of another guy, a rich guy in his eyes again, who also kept paying him later and later and started writing him checks that bounced. And the bank would take the bounced check fee out of his account. And when he complained, the boss started giving him post dated checks. And when he'd go down to the bank to cash him, it was a flip of a coin,

[18:17] whether there'd be sufficient funds or not. So eventually he just had to quit. And by the way, he didn't hesitate at all to give me the names of these guys, just to complete the story and for full disclosure. And believe me, he didn't even report on those situations in a bad way. In fact, he said, Gracias Adios, which means thank God they gave me a job so I could feed my family and stuff, which gives you an idea how genuinely humble some of these lower class Latins can really be. But that's not all. Here's the punch line. When I asked him who is the best boss that he ever worked for, he instantly blurted out that it was an older gringo lady. In fact, he said she was the only gringo he ever worked for because there just aren't any gringos around. And he was happy to tell me her name. She was a retired English teacher who he only quit working for because she moved away to another Latin town.

[19:04] And when I asked him why she was his favorite boss, he told me this. He said, every morning around nine o'clock, she'd give him a cup of coffee and at lunch, a glass of lemonade. And at Christmas time, she gave him a basket with some fruits and cookies in it for his kids. And he added she always, always, always paid his salary on time. So think of that for a second when you want to explain what the gringo advantage is all about. In his case, the only gringo or gringo he ever worked for seemed to be the only boss this guy ever had in his 40 year career as a maintenance guy who didn't somehow stiff him. And he was quick to remember that she was the kind one, the one that gave him the coffee and the lemonade and the little Christmas basket.

[19:50] So think of it. If that's all it takes to instill loyalty in your employees down here, just a little basic kindness and respect, what a no brainer, huh? All I can say is that it says a hell of a lot about the attitudes of the so-called wealthy Latin classes and how they feel towards the poor lower classes who do all the grunt work for them. Like I've said many times before, Latin America is not only a racist society, it's a very classic society too. And to tell you the truth, when gringos and expats get together down here and those two subjects, racism and classism come up, we all can do nothing but shake our heads and say, if people up in the States only knew, man, if anybody points to the US and says they get bad marks on the racism, sexism and classism thing, they need to come down here a while and see how the rest of the world lives.

[20:37] But the problem is you need to really know your Spanish to realize the extent of it. I mean, take the case of my maintenance guy. If I hadn't interviewed him in Spanish, I would have never heard any of those stories. And since so few gringos and gringos who come down here to live, actually do know enough conversational Spanish to have an interview like that, that means the vast majority of gringos down here know very little about their workers' personal lives and struggles at all. They only know based on the little shacks that these folks live in, that it's a pretty tough life. And the fact is so many expats and gringos come down here and never really learn their Spanish. That means they never really get to know common Latin people, though they occasionally mingle and socialize with upper-class Latins. The lower classes, the grunt workers, though right in your face,

[21:24] somehow remain socially invisible. And that's what you're up against as long as your Spanish sucks or remains spotty. And if you ask most gringos and expats, how many of them have actually had personal conversations, not superficial ones, with their workers? Over a cup of coffee in the kitchen, let's say. You'll find very few of them have. And in fact, the first few years I was down here in Costa Rica, for example, all the Latin people I really thought I knew were the ones that spoke English, and when they were around gringos, they were always on their best behavior. And these Latins who spoke English naturally weren't the grunt worker class, they weren't the cleaning ladies, or the gardeners or maintenance guys either. And I do recall a few times when the Latin folks around me would break into Spanish and I didn't understand a thing, and those would have been the conversations that would have been most revealing,

[22:11] not the proper conversations they had with me and my gringo friends in English. Why do you think they'd occasionally break into Spanish in the first place? Well, I can think of one good reason. They were discussing something they didn't want us gringos to overhear. I mean, that's what my grandparents used to do, they'd break into German. When they wanted to say something to each other, they didn't want the kids to know about. See what I mean? Now, I'm sure along the way here, you've picked up on the fact why that little interview with my maintenance guy goes a long way to demonstrate some of the reasons why gringos and expats have such a positive stereotype in the minds of Latins. After hearing that, you can see why they prefer working for us instead of their own countrymen. For one thing, we're much more likely to pay on time. And regarding that, good old expat Eddie tells me

[22:57] when he interviews people for restaurant jobs, that's the number one complaint he hears from people when he asks them why they left their previous job. Now, you think they'd complain that the pay was too low, and it is, but that's generally down the list. The fact is, the most common complaints for leaving a past employer include not paying the salary on time, bouncing checks, and writing post-dated checks. And remember, if you're the boss and you pull that kind of crap on people who only make 200 to 400 bucks a month, you're really screwing up what little security these folks have keeping their humble households in order and putting food on the table, because you have to know these people live absolutely from paycheck to paycheck. And if a boss misses a payout by just one day, talk about stress, that's really got to hurt.

[23:43] And you know, looking at that whole thing from a gringo viewpoint, it doesn't take much brain power to understand why the lower classes have no particular love or respect at all for people in the so-called wealthy and upper middle classes. The fact is, within the Latin community, there's an absolute line of social demarcation that's almost never crossed, and you see it everywhere. That means, when you do get down here, get ready for that. So bottom line, do pay your help on time, I know you'll do that. And the 9 o'clock coffee and the noon lemonade and the Christmas basket, that just might be the cheapest goodwill on the planet. Now, to change gears a bit, you might remember on my last show, I was talking about how those big 20 or 30 very powerful blue-blooded land-owning families that traditionally had a monopoly on basic services

[24:30] and goods like beer, rice, sugar, cement, etc. Now, these big oligarchs and monopolistic families that pretty much run things in every Latin country except Cuba, we all know Castro threw his out in 1959. And where do you think most of them went? To Miami, of course. Anyway, just recently, these wealthy blue-blood families that sit at the top of the food chain in the rest of Latin America are starting to lose their grip a bit on the social and economic power due to the competition that's come in in the last 10 years with all those big trans nationals. Now, like I said in the last show, these families are land-rich and have been at the top of the food chain in so many Latin countries that they want to keep it that way. And the family patriarchs thought they could achieve that by sending their kids off to expensive first-world universities

[25:16] and polishing them up there with degrees in economics and finance and banking and stuff so that when they graduated, they could come back down to Peru or Chile or Bolivia or wherever, and with all those first-world skills, take over the reins of daddy's big empire. And after some years of implementing that plan, it doesn't seem to be working all that well. Yet a few of these big family companies, but by no means all, made some very wise decisions way back when, when they first started seeing the writing on the wall and the trans nationals were knocking at the door. What they did was effectively monopolize some first-world franchises before they even got established in Latin America. Like for example, McDonald's, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Wendy's, Subway,

[26:02] and even before McDonald's and Burger King landed, that would be pre-1980s. Very few of these big old monopolistic Latin family bought up all the local Latin country rights to bottle and distribute the top two or three sodas and soft drinks like Pepsi and Coca-Cola. At the time, they had more cash than land and little did they know it would be the best investment they ever made. Then, to everyone's surprise, something much in their favor once again happened about 10 or so years ago when the world, including the third world, people who could afford it anyway, caught on to bottled water. Now, whether you know it or not, you will know. Pepsi and Coca-Cola own the vast majority of all the big bottled water companies in Latin America too. And who owns the rights to Pepsi and Coca-Cola? I just told you. A handful of those blue-blooded monopolistic families.

[26:50] Pretty convenient, huh? And by the way, it's Nestles that owns most of the other bottled water companies in the rest of the world. That's why I always say, screw them and make your own. When you make your own, it's infinitely more pure and... Now, to mention once you've bought the system, which is only about 100 bucks or less, then the water itself becomes nearly free. Why give Nestles and those corporate jerks a dime? Anyway, now, would it surprise you to know that there are over a thousand subway franchises in Central America alone? And it's well known that in every Latin American country they're in, it's usually just one big Latin family that has locked in the rights. And even though you might not eat that crap anyway, I don't, it gives you an idea of how things work down here. You've been listening to The Expat Files,

[27:38] living in Latin America, coming to you twice a week from somewhere south of the border. Email me, theexpatfiles at gmail.com. 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!