Episode Summary
In this episode, Johnny Mueller discusses the challenges of living and traveling in Brazil, particularly in the context of the World Cup preparations. He highlights the government's efforts to improve Brazil's image through propaganda, which he contrasts with the reality of violence and instability in the favelas. He notes the high casualty rates and the impact of police operations on drug gangs, which have led to increased violence and casualties. Johnny also addresses the cost of living in Brazil and the safety concerns for expats, emphasizing that even vacation packages come with risks. He then shifts to discussing the media landscape in Latin America, where the presence of sexy female sidekicks in sports broadcasts is a common feature, and contrasts this with the more conservative media environment in the United States. He concludes by mentioning the perspectives of expat women on this phenomenon, highlighting the cultural differences in media representation.
Johnny Mueller also discusses the cultural differences in advertising and media between Latin America and the United States. He notes that in Latin America, the use of sexy women in commercials is common and accepted, whereas in the U.S., such content would be considered provocative and potentially controversial. He mentions that while some long-term expats from the U.S. find the content tasteless and vulgar, it is generally not a topic of public discussion or protest in Latin America. Johnny also touches on the language aspect, suggesting that news broadcasts are easier to understand than movies or soap operas, which are filled with slang. He concludes by highlighting the superficial nature of media in Latin America, where appearance often plays a significant role in broadcasting success.
In another segment, Johnny Mueller discusses the beauty standards and media representation of Latin American women, emphasizing the preference for light-colored hair, such as blonde or with streaks, to appear more 'gringified' or Western. He contrasts this with the stereotypical image of a dark-haired, brown-eyed Latin woman, which is often seen as outdated or less desirable in media. Johnny also shares a personal anecdote about his friend Tom and his family's experience in Central America, highlighting the presence of young, scantily clad Latinas in Walmart stores, which reflects broader cultural and media dynamics.
Johnny Mueller describes the phenomenon of young Latin women in tight clothing handing out products and pamphlets in shopping centers, which is more common in certain regions than in the United States. He refers to these women as 'impulse adores' and notes that they are often not models but work for advertising companies or agencies. These women are typically paid between $2 to $5 an hour, which is considered high in their region. They often live at home and work on a seasonal basis, especially during holidays. They travel on the 'chicken bus' and dress down for the journey, and they face risks like harassment and theft. Johnny also mentions that they use high-end cell phones to stand out and be noticed.
In another segment, Johnny Mueller discusses how cell phones serve as a status symbol for middle and lower-middle class women in Latin America, comparing it to the perception of car ownership in the US. He shares an anecdote about overhearing two young women comment on someone's old phone, highlighting the social judgment associated with phone ownership. Johnny then contrasts this with the perception of expats, who are not judged by their possessions. He transitions into a discussion about the media in Latin America, where he criticizes the lack of talent among TV personalities and their inflated egos. He recounts a story from a Christmas party where he confronted two TV personalities for calling another one mediocre, pointing out their own mediocrity and the lack of opportunities for Latin media personalities to work in the US.
In this segment, Johnny Mueller discusses the challenges faced by Latin American celebrities trying to make it in the first world, emphasizing that very few have succeeded. He critiques the unrealistic expectations of expats and highlights the cultural differences in the perception of mediocrity in Latin America compared to the first world. He also touches on the role of women in advertising and media, noting that they are often used as bait to attract male consumers. The segment transitions into a discussion about the World Cup in Brazil, where he comments on the frequent televised reports of thefts and robberies, suggesting that Brazilian thieves are brazen and unafraid to commit crimes in public, often on camera.
Johnny Mueller discusses the safety and living conditions in several Latin American countries, particularly highlighting Brazil, Venezuela, and Argentina. He references a series of real-life crime incidents captured on camera, such as a drugstore robbery where a second robber stole the stolen goods, a journalist being robbed on live TV, and a car theft on a street report. He also mentions a clip of a man being shot at in the background during an interview and a robbery in an emergency room. Johnny warns against visiting Brazil due to the crime problem, high costs, bureaucracy, and heavy taxation. He also criticizes Venezuela for its political instability, economic crisis, and anti-American sentiment. Argentina is noted for its financial chaos and strict currency controls. Johnny also touches on a personal anecdote about a falling out with a friend named Ex-Pad Eddie due to his fiancée's disapproval of Johnny's influence on him.
In this segment, Johnny Mueller discusses the impact of Eddie's fiancée and her family on his life, particularly their influence as a 'bad influence' and how they have transformed her from a simple, modest girl into a materialistic consumer. Johnny attributes much of the problem to Eddie's actions, suggesting that he has enabled this transformation by not setting boundaries. He also comments on the lifestyle of expats in Latin America, emphasizing that having a maid or gardener is normal and not considered high maintenance.
Finally, Johnny Mueller recounts a story about a friend named Eddie and his girlfriend, highlighting the girlfriend's personal driver and the SUV she owns, which Eddie bought for her. Johnny comments on the extravagance of the purchase, suggesting it was unnecessary. He also mentions that more details about the story will be shared in the next episode, encouraging listeners to stay tuned. The segment ends with a standard outro for the podcast, including contact information and a call to action for listeners to sign up for free reports on Latin America.
Topics
Brazil's World Cup preparations and the reality of violence in favelas, Safety and cost of living for expats in Brazil, Media representation in Latin America vs. the United States, Cultural differences in advertising and media, Language learning in Latin America, Appearance and broadcasting success in Latin America, Beauty standards in Latin America, Media representation of Latin women, Cultural and Western influence on appearance, Expatriate experiences in Latin America, Impulse advertising, Seasonal work in Latin America (chicken bus, cell phone usage, cultural differences)
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:32 Brazil's World Cup and the Reality of Violence in Favelas 00:01:53 Safety and Cost of Living for Expats in Brazil 00:03:37 Media Representation in Latin America vs. the United States 00:05:01 Provocative Content in Latin America 00:05:37 Cultural Acceptance of Sexual Imagery 00:06:40 Religious Influence and Media Acceptance 00:08:42 The Trifecta of Winning the Broadcasting Lottery 00:08:59 The Rise of Light Hair in Latin America 00:11:18 A Nine-Year-Old's Perspective on Walmart in Central America 00:11:47 Introduction to the Phenomenon of Young Latin Women in Tight Clothes Handing Out Products 00:12:24 The Gringo Advantage and the Concept of Impulse Advertising 00:13:16 High Pay for Low Pay Work in the Region 00:13:54 The Challenges of Working on the Chicken Bus 00:14:21 Risks Faced by Women on the Chicken Bus 00:14:43 The Use of High-End Cell Phones to Stand Out 00:14:59 Status Symbol of Phones in Latin America 00:15:38 Expats Are Not Judged by Their Possessions 00:16:13 Media in Latin America and TV Personalities 00:17:52 The Reality of Latin American Celebrities in the First World 00:18:42 Cultural Perceptions of Mediocrity in Latin America 00:19:04 The Role of Women in Advertising and Media 00:20:13 Theft and Robbery During the World Cup in Brazil 00:21:16 Introduction to Crime in Brazil and the World Cup Context 00:21:46 Synopsis of Crime Clips Seen 00:23:09 Recommendation to Avoid South American Countries 00:24:24 Eddie's Isolation and Lack of Support System 00:24:47 The Nature of the Family's Influence 00:25:06 Eddie's Role in the Transformation 00:27:13 The Breaking Point 00:27:14 Introduction to the Story 00:27:22 The Personal Driver and SUV 00:27:30 Promising More Details 00:27:43 Podcast Outro and Call to Action
Transcript
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. Now a few months ago you might remember that I was talking about Brazil having the World Cup and how it, meaning the government, was trying to clean up its image by spending tens of millions of dollars on propaganda pieces, TV, radio, posters, billboards, spinning it the way they want it spun, you know, showing Brazil is kind of a clean, wholesome, safe tourist and sports tourist paradise. Which believe me, it ain't. And you may have heard that hundreds if not thousands of cops and military personnel have
[01:03] been sent into the favelas, you know, the slums, to round up the guns and the bombs and the drugs and the usual suspects. But what you probably haven't heard is that the body count is well into the hundreds and growing exponentially daily and thousands more have been injured and sent to hospital. And this is two months before the throngs, the millions of crazy fans are slated to arrive. So then why all the casualties in the hospitalizations? Well it's because you know the well armed drug lords and gangs that run those slums, those favelas, have been paying off the cops and the local authorities for years. And suddenly changing the way things have been done for so long is causing a lot of bad blood and therefore a lot of confrontations and shootouts, therefore a lot of collateral damage from friendly fire.
[01:48] Anyway, if you've been listening to my show for any length of time, you know I never recommend living as an expat in Brazil or even touring there. Though maybe if you've got a nice cheap all-inclusive vacation package. I've done that and it's fine but it's like going to any other nice beach resort. Except for the fact that you're looking at an eight or ten hour flight and about two thousand dollars for airfare. And these days nothing in Brazil is cheap. Even if you do get a reasonable all-inclusive package deal let's say in Rio, you still do not want to walk the streets alone. And never at night. And when you see signs in your own hotel saying that, well that's not so encouraging is it? Most people go on vacation to leave their cares behind, you know? Distress. So how do you do that then in Brazil?
[02:36] The reason why I'm bringing this up again today is because of some popular news clips that have been making the rounds down here in Latin America but I'm sure they'll probably never hit the airwaves up north yet. For one thing, they're in Portuguese and for another, it's just simply bad PR for Brazil and the World Cup. Anyway, because the World Cup only comes around every couple of years, it's a huge thing down here. For Latins it's like the Super Bowl, the World Series and the Olympics all rolled into one. Meaning there's a huge amount of media hype and reporting going on even now. Two months before the first game even kicks off. Which means every time you turn on the TV, there's always a live updated report coming from Brazil giving diehard fans all over Latin America and Europe the latest and the greatest news coming directly out of Brazil
[03:21] where all of it's supposed to be happening. And note that because this is Latin America, nearly every time you tune in, you'll see that these male sports announcers will have a sidekick that's a sexy bombshell woman and she's the one that gets all the attention and notoriety. So are you gringa expat ladies and gringa expat wannabes? It's something you just have to get used to. You won't get your news or sports or weather any other way. And it's not just sports, where sexy women and cheerleaders etc. have always been around. A kind of tradition. But down here in Latin America, you'll see the sex card played to the hilt in all media. Not just sports. In fact, you could go so far to say that down here, playing up the ultra sexy female thing
[04:07] has been taken to its absolute limits in popular advertising too. And once you're down here, you'll know they could never get away with that kind of stuff up in the states. One, because too many women would complain and probably pick at the TV stations. Not to mention boycott the advertisers. And two, because a woman in that position, in that job would take too much heat from her friends and relatives and neighbors and boyfriend or husband, whatever. Now get this. More than a few gringa expat women I know have tossed in their two cents. Obviously, you do hear them comment about it because they see it on TV all the time too. Now let me paraphrase what they say about it. Their perspective being how news women and media types on TV up in the states present themselves.
[04:53] For example, for a woman in the media in the Midwest, to dress like these Latina media types do. Not what you'd call formal or business like, but basically provocative. If that was on network TV or a local TV channel, it definitely would ruffle some feathers. Think about women's groups and Christian groups, the moral majority and other hypocrites, etc. The stations would surely get some heat and that would not be good for advertisers. But down here in Latin America, you have to know that selling products with sex is so ubiquitous that advertisers absolutely demand a beautiful sexy woman or two, preferably in tighter scanty clothing, to sell their products. It's just something that's natural down here, but would be way too provocative back up in the states.
[05:41] And of course, we know that up in the states, sex is used to sell products too, but much more subtly. Now, remember that a lot of long-term gringas living down here are retired. Bolder ladies, fifties, sixties, seventies, etc. And I have heard a few of them remark that TV commercials, etc. down here are a bit tasteless and vulgar. Now, if we were talking about up in the states, that would be true, but I can't really agree with it when it's in the local setting. Obviously, it's totally fine with the public because there are no groups protesting it or any Latins, male or female, bringing it up or talking about it negatively at the dinner table, etc. It's just not a topic anywhere. There are no blogs about it, no letters to the editor about it, no op-ed pieces about it.
[06:27] It's just not on the radar. Even though when gringos and gringos first get down here, it certainly draws our attention in a hurry. And eventually, most of us get totally used to it too. And being that Latin America is so Christian and Catholic, you'd think there'd be some pressure or opposition from the church, but there ain't any. So anyway, once you get down here and you start watching a little TV, occasionally you'll get a little bug-eyed, believe me. And I really do recommend you watch some of the newscasts because it's a great way to learn your Spanish. They speak nice and slow and easy and understandable, and rarely use slang. They generally use textbook 6th grade Spanish. Even I can understand it. Now, you'll find that
[07:12] it's the Spanish movies and soap operas that are hardest to understand. They're loaded up with slang and street language, which you'll eventually catch on to too. Anyway, what I'm saying is, no matter what you watch on Latin TV, there seems to be a hot, sexy woman or two in very tight clothing in the scene somewhere. And note that those hot ladies are nearly always there just for window dressing. They're not on display for their broadcasting talents, that's for sure. Then again, neither are the male broadcasters. It's just so rare to see media types here with outstanding talent, or in fact, any kind of talent beyond mediocre. In fact, down here in Latin America, all you have to do to be a good broadcaster is have a bit of luck with certain qualities like height,
[07:58] because the average Latin's about three or four inches shorter than a gringo is. Another huge plus is to have clear eyes. That means blue, green or hazel. Since 99.9% of all, Latins have dark brown or nearly black eyes, which by the way, gringos and gringas find quite attractive. And Latins, well, Latin guys don't talk much about things like that, but I've never met a Latin woman with brown or black eyes, who wouldn't change her color in a second. So if you're truly lucky enough to have clear eyes, you'll get your foot in the door right away. And if you're tall with clear eyes and don't have jet black hair, which I'll mention in a second, and you don't sound like a munchkin, well, that's the trifecta
[08:43] and you just might win the broadcasting lottery. Which is why a huge majority of women on TV here in Latin America have ultra straight light or blonde hair, or maybe coffee-colored hair with light streaks in it. It's the big thing here in Latin America now in hair, tinting it in streaks. Those streaks and patches are called mechas in Spanish. That's mechas. And of course, none of it's natural. It's all out of the bottle in an attempt to look as first-world gringified as possible. That gringo advantage thing again, you know? Now, the fact is, people up in the States have a stereotypical vision of a beautiful Latin woman as a black-haired brown-eyed beauty who's not all that tall at all.
[09:30] For instance, Selma Hayek was only about five foot one. And her beautiful so-called stereotypical Latin look is what the rest of Latin American women are trying to get away from. Take Shakira, for example. She's a pure bottled blonde. In fact, you wouldn't recognize her if you saw what she really looked like way back when. It's that gringo and gringo wannabe thing we always talk about. Now, I'm not saying that you don't see some dark-haired brown-eyed beauties in TV and the media here, but a girl with that look has to be pretty striking and exotic looking to get selected for any kind of media job. So, you do see women like that occasionally, but they're not the preferred type. And when I mean the preferred type, I'm referring to the type
[10:15] that Latin men prefer because it is a macho society and they rule the media down here, too. Now, directly related to that, let me give you another interesting something to think about. A newer friend of mine named Tom, who came to one of my expat wisdom seminars, he's been down here I'd say a year, year and a half living permanently now. He's a retired guy and I ran into him the other day and he told me that his daughter and his daughter's son, who would be Tom's grandson, came down to visit a couple of weeks ago. He mentioned something about wanting to prove to them that he really wasn't totally nuts for ditching the US after all. He wanted to show them that he was safe and happy and living the good life here in Central America. Evidently, they came down
[11:01] and had a great time and when it was all over, his grandson said to him, grandpa, I can't believe it. They have the world's greatest Walmarts in Central America. They just absolutely blow the doors off the Walmarts back home. And here's the reason. And remember, this kid was nine years old. What he saw at his grandpa's local Walmart is what we gringos and expats see every single time we go into a Walmart or any big shopping center or store. A team of beautiful, young, scantily clad Latinas handing out free samples of products. Cookies, lunch meats, crackers, sausages, dips, you name it. Usually terribly unhealthy stuff, but it's free. So do take it home and give it to the dog or whatever. So I repeat, when you're in a Walmart
[11:47] or a shopping center, there will be a handful of beautiful, young Latin ladies in skin-tight clothes and leotards and or uniforms that are skin-tight too, handing out products and pamphlets including toothbrushes and samples of dog food and laundry detergent, you name it. And of course, you'll never see that kind of thing happening up in the States. Oh yeah, you might have ladies handing out products like that, but never ladies that could be in a Hawaiian Tropic Beach Party ad. And they're young between maybe 17 and 24. And ever so nice and cordial, especially if you're a gringo. But you knew that already. It's the gringo advantage again. So what's that all about? You could say it's kind of a B grade modeling job. They don't work for Walmart. They work for an agency or the advertising company
[12:34] for the product. And they're either called impulse adores. That's impulse adora, which has the word impulse in it, like impulse buying, which is an aptonym or a hell of a coincidence because they're actually trying to get you to do an impulse buy. And I don't know who figured out that connection, but it's true. Some of these ladies who actually do modeling work besides are called edecans. Edecan. They're considered to be a bit higher level than impulse adores because they truly are models and occasionally get close modeling work on the side. So you might ask, why do they get paid for standing around all day and skin tight clothes and super high heels? Now, don't laugh, but they make anywhere from two to maybe five bucks an hour. And if you've been listening
[13:20] to this show for some time, you know that five bucks an hour is big money down here. Not even minimum wage in the States, but down here it's huge. But the work's not steady. So normally, these girls all live at home. They're usually a couple of weeks on and a week or two or a month off because that kind of work is seasonal. Christmas, Easter, New Year's, holidays, etc. Though many of them do work continuous weekends, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, still it's not a full work week. And get this, since few of these women make enough money to have a car, they have to go to work on the chicken bus, which means they dress way down when they travel. And they get shuffled around at random from store to store from week to week, sometimes in a store
[14:05] far out in the boonies in other parts of the country. So they've all learned the hard way. If they dared to dress like that and stand on a bus stop, they'd be hassled and bothered mercilessly. In fact, one of these Eticon girls that I know told me she had her cell phone stolen three times last year on the chicken bus. But understand that cell phones are a very big thing with ladies down here and they have to have not the ordinary cheap ones like I use. They want to have the higher end models with the touchscreen and the candy colors, etc. So they do stand out quite a bit when pulled out or when they ring, which is the point, right? To stand out and let people notice that it's not the cheap ass throw away Johnny Mueller $15 model, you know? Kind of crazy for chicken bus riders, huh? Go figure. So for beautiful young
[14:52] middle and lower middle class ladies, phones like that are guilty pleasures. Quite an obvious status symbol, too. In fact, I was at a checkout counter recently in a grocery store and I overheard two young ladies talking about cell phones and one said, I don't know why she has that old junky phone. Why doesn't she get a new one? I'd be embarrassed. Something on that order anyway and I know it's true. Just look at it like this. In the US for the middle and lower middle classes, in many cases with those folks, there's a certain perception that you are what you drive. That's why stateside folks generally buy and finance way too much car. Well, down here in Latin America since almost no one can afford a car, your phone is often what other people judge you by. However, that does not
[15:38] ever apply to gringos and expats because well, we're gringos and expats and we are a completely different first world kind of animal. We're stereotyped by Latins as a group, not by what we individually have our own. We can have cheap junky cell phones and dress sloppily and drive a beat up old car. No matter, you'll still get tons of respect and everybody will want to be like you and be your friend. At least when you're off the tourist trail. But you knew that already, right? Of course you did. And what I'll say now might be a little off topic. Like I don't get off topic, right? But speaking of the media, radio and TV in this case. Now, whether you know it or not, I did a lot of radio and a little TV down here in Latin America. And I got to know a few of the real hot shot TV personalities
[16:24] in various countries and they think they're hot shots. Let me say it that way. Now, I'll never forget one time at a Christmas party, I was sitting around with a bunch of these guys. And you got to know that compared to anyone in media up in the first world, these guys are no talent, nobody amateurs. But being that they get recognized at the local Walmart and stuff for being on TV, they have huge egos. And well, you know the story, right? Anyway, I'm sitting around at the Christmas party with these guys and listened as two of these lame brain, mellowed headed TV personalities were talking about another guy from another station, who they said was mediocre. And of course, I could have let them get away with that. But I just didn't feel like letting them off the hook this time. So I looked at them both and said,
[17:10] I know what you're saying. You're saying that guy is crap. And you're right. He is. He's worse than crap. It's you guys that are mediocre. Don't call him mediocre because he's much worse than that. If you guys were a cut above mediocre yourself, you wouldn't be at this station making 1000 bucks a month. You'd be up in Miami or LA or Chicago doing a show now, wouldn't you? Making 10 times that. Because that's every Latin TV and soap opera personalities impossible dream to the states to get a media job that pays first world money. And how many of them do you think have actually made it up there? I asked these two melon heads that and they were stumped. Then I said something like, think a minute and think how unrealistic that is. Of all the thousands
[17:55] and thousands of so-called celebrities and personalities in Latin America, how many of them have actually gone up to the first world and made a name for themselves? I mean, that's what all you guys are dreaming about, right? So tell me, how many have made it? Try two, maybe three. And we all know who those people are. They're all hot looking Latin women, aren't they? Scrawny little Latin macho men need not apply. You get it? So you really shouldn't call your competition mediocre until you're looking the mirror yourself. And yes, maybe I jumped the gun there and I wasn't so diplomatic. But you know, when you're in the presence of jerks, even at a Christmas party when you're supposed to be nice. Well, in your own way, you've probably been there yourself. In fact, it's my feeling that to be mediocre down here
[18:42] is actually a compliment. Since the Latin idea of mediocre, though they don't know it, is a couple of rungs down the ladder than our first world version of mediocre. Up there, it just means simply acceptable. No more, no less. So anyway, with TV, soap operas, and movies down here in Latin America and radio, it's always amateur night. After all, you know, this is the third world. But let's get back to that topic of sexy girls on display everywhere, working for various companies, advertising agencies, and media that use them strictly as bait or frosting or candy to get the people to buy, buy, buy. Come to think of it, it's to get men to buy, buy, buy. Because women, they're gonna buy whether the girl's there or not.
[19:28] But guys, they'll stop and talk. And of course, flirt. As is the custom in Latin macho societies. The very reason why a nine-year-old American kid would say they have the best Walmarts in the world. In fact, adult gringo and gringa visitors down here for the first time often say to me, it seems like the women's lib movement has completely bypassed Latin America altogether, which, depending on where you're sitting, could be a good or bad thing. Now, relating back to the World Cup in Brazil, and this conversation does relate back to that, believe it or not, these days throughout Latin America, whatever channel you're watching on TV is gonna break in every half an hour or so with some new report on the street direct from somewhere in Brazil as a lead-in to the World Cup.
[20:16] Now, based on what I said a few minutes ago, it should be no surprise to you that Brazilian TV stations employ a hell of a lot of very good-looking, often scantily clad women to do those sports reports on the street. And, of course, in the studio, too. So, anyway, in the last couple of weeks, there have been three or four televised World Cup reports direct from the streets of Brazil showing reporters in the act of the interview, mostly lady reporters, getting robbed right on camera. Not only that, in more than a few other cases, in the background, someone or something is being stolen right on camera, too. I mean, come on, these Brazilian thieves have big balls. They're committing their crimes on camera in front of a crowd of people
[21:03] who are watching the interview in the presence of a camera TV crew and in broad daylight. And, like I said, I doubt you've heard about this because these reports are in Portuguese. Now, if you remember, a couple of months ago, I mentioned that down here in Latin America, they were running footage on TV of a drugstore robbery caught on camera and, while the robber ran out, a second unknown robber walked up to him and stole his stolen goods. Remember that? It's all on camera and you can see it on YouTube now, I think, but, like I said, it's in Portuguese. So, do you really want to go to Brazil and see the World Cup or do you want to go to Brazil at all? Not recommended. Now, here's a synopsis of a couple of the clips that I've seen.
[21:50] A few days ago, I saw a clip where a beautiful lady reporter was doing an interview and a guy ran up, grabbed her neck, tore her gold chain off and started running, right on Brazil national TV live. Then, I saw another clip a couple weeks back where a lady was doing an on-the-spot report on the street again and about 30 or 40 feet behind her, you could clearly see two guys walk over and break the windows out of a car and steal something out of the back seat. And then, on another occasion, I saw a guy doing an interview in Brazil on the street again and you could clearly see in the background some old decrepit houses with a young kid in front shooting his gun off at somebody or something. You could hear that pop, pop, pop.
[22:36] And the cameraman jostled the camera and everybody turned around to look and you could tell it scared the hell out of him. Now, remember, this is during an interview on the run-up to the World Cup. I mean, come on, can PR like that get any worse? Oh, and remember, a couple of months ago, I mentioned that there was another TV clip out of Brazil where a bunch of thieves walked into an emergency room and robbed everyone there, including the doctors and the nurses. Remember that one? Again, all of it caught on camera. So, as far as South America goes, scratch three places definitely off your list. That's Venezuela, crime-ridden, riots, chaos in the streets, severe basic commodity shortages, monetary crisis, and all that.
[23:22] And to top that off, it's one of the only places in Latin America they really don't like gringos much. Thanks to old man Chavez going on TV every night and hammering against the Americans. And of course, scratch Brazil because of the crime problem, First World prices, terrible bureaucracy and heavy taxation, and Argentina, of course, because it's absolute financial chaos. It's a meltdown there. First World prices too if you're in the cities, and very stiff and harsh currency controls against bringing dollars in and out. Okay, enough said about that. Now, in the last show, I ended by starting a little bit of a rant on Ex-Pad Eddie. I mentioned that we had a bit of a falling out because of his fiancée who doesn't want him to hang around with me anymore.
[24:08] Remember that? In a nutshell, she thinks I'm a bad influence on him and he knows I'm actually a stabilizing influence on him. Possibly the only really good gringo friend he's got. Because after all, he's way off the gringo tourist trail like me and does not have very many gringo friends at all. Mostly, you might have guessed, because his fiancée has cut off the remainder of his other few gringo friends too. So he basically does not have a close First World friend nearby to prop him up, no one to lean on when he needs another First World person's advice. And I'm talking specifically when his fiancée's family starts beating up on him. And I don't mean physically, there's none of that. It's just that every time they come over and every time he visits
[24:53] or gets invited to one of their places, he tells me he can count on the fact that someone's gonna try to hit him up for some money or a job or a visa or whatever. The bottom line is, she and her family are the bad influence and a lot of it is Eddie's fault. In fact, most of it's Eddie's fault. And you know, I've seen over the years what's happened with Eddie and his girlfriend. He basically took a nice middle class girl, Latin style middle class that is. A nice girl with a decent job get the occasional ride from her dad in his junker sometimes. And if he was at work and she didn't have money for a taxi, she'd do what all middle class Latin girls would do when they desperately needed to buy a new pair of high heels or pop off to buy minutes to charge up the cell phone. She'd dress way down
[25:38] and take the chicken bus. Like I may have mentioned in a past show, she was beautiful and basic and pretty much unaffected by the fact that she was and is in some demand as a model. So four or five years ago when Eddie first met her, she didn't have a computer or a smartphone and never had been out of Salvador except for a two week trip to Costa Rica on a modeling job. And little by little over time, Eddie took this nice good natured girl with a good heart and turned her into a materialistic first world style consumer monster. And you know, maybe that in itself wasn't so bad and could be reversed or slowed down. However, her family who are very close to her watched all of that go down too realizing that Eddie
[26:24] was a soft touch because in most cases he just couldn't say no to her. And soon enough, it was all about trips and vacations and buy this and buy that. And still, Eddie didn't care. He had the money. Now, I'm all on board with if you find your true love down here, whether you're a gringo or a gringa and you have a certain amount of money in it, believe me, it doesn't take much. You should live exactly like you want with a low profile but first world middle class at least, which is upper middle class by Latin standards. Nothing wrong with that and you can have your maid in your gardener too. Down here, that's not splurging and that's not high maintenance, believe me. That's absolutely normal for every gringo I know. So we don't even have to dwell on that. She had that already. Now, the latest thing
[27:10] that put me on the outs with her, the straw that broke the camel's back is when I went over to his place a while back and Eddie and I were sitting on the porch and his girlfriend pulled up and she's got her own personal driver. It isn't enough that he bought her a brand new SUV which he shouldn't have. Anyway, you'll hear more about this revolt and development next week so stay tuned. 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 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.