Episode Summary
In this episode, Johnny Mueller dives into the cultural and economic challenges faced by artists and writers in Latin America. He highlights that Latin Americans generally do not read books, preferring television and social media. He notes that artists and authors in smaller Latin countries rarely make a living from their work, often relying on tourism or second jobs. In larger countries like Mexico and Argentina, there is more support for writers, but they are predominantly male and often gain recognition internationally. Johnny also compares the reading habits of Latin Americans to those of North Americans, noting a similar decline in book reading, with many Americans also not reading books regularly.
Johnny discusses the low rates of book reading in Latin America, attributing it to economic barriers, lack of public libraries, and a general lack of library culture. He also touches on the underrepresentation of female authors in the region, noting that when they do write, their works often focus on feminist themes and are not widely accepted or recognized. Mueller highlights Laura Esquivel as a rare exception, a successful female author from Mexico who is gaining recognition.
Johnny discusses the state of media and literature in Latin America, comparing it to North America. He notes that while there are many women's magazines in Latin America, they are often similar to those in North America but translated into Spanish and slightly more dumbed down. He also highlights the success of Laura Esquivel, a Mexican author, who uses her novels to address social issues. Johnny points out that while top Latin American authors sell fewer books than their first-world counterparts, they still have a significant impact. He also touches on the cultural phenomenon of lying in Latin America, mentioning terms like 'mentera' and 'pinocchio' as ways to call someone a liar.
Johnny explains that 'pinocchio' is used as a kind way to call someone a liar, similar to the TV show 'To Tell the Truth.' He also notes the common confusion between 'mentiras' (lies) and 'meantras' (while), which many expats make. He then shifts to a story about 'Expat Eddie,' an expat who is popular among listeners, and discusses job opportunities for expats in Latin America, particularly in call centers and English teaching. Johnny emphasizes that expats can earn significantly more in these roles and provides a case study of an expat who was promoted due to his English skills. He concludes by discussing the complexities of relationships with Latin American partners, noting that such relationships often come with strong family ties and cultural expectations.
In this segment, Johnny Mueller discusses the challenges expats face when living in Latin America, particularly focusing on the cultural differences and the impact of family dynamics. He uses the story of Eddie, an expat, to illustrate how his girlfriend's family expects him to support them financially, despite the lack of a safety net in Latin America. Johnny highlights the contrast between the first world and Latin America, where many households lack basic amenities like hot water. He also talks about how Eddie's soft nature makes him a target for his girlfriend's family, leading to a loss of privacy and a high profile that he doesn't like. Johnny concludes by mentioning that Eddie is considering moving to a different area to escape this situation, but he knows it's not easy to escape one's past reputation in a small country.
Topics
Cultural habits of reading in Latin America, Economic challenges for artists and writers, Comparison of reading habits between Latin America and North America, Support for writers in larger Latin countries, Book reading habits in Latin America, Economic barriers to reading, Lack of public libraries, Library culture, Female authors in Latin America, Laura Esquivel as a successful female author, Media and magazines in Latin America, Laura Esquivel and her literary impact
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:01:30 Artists and Writers in Latin America 00:02:00 The Struggles of Artists and Writers 00:06:34 Economic Barriers to Reading in Latin America 00:07:26 Inadequate Public Libraries in Latin America 00:10:01 Female Authors and Feminist Themes in Latin America 00:11:19 Laura Esquivel: A Successful Female Author in Latin America 00:12:15 Magazines in Latin America and Their Similarities to North America 00:12:53 The Resilience of Print Media in Latin America 00:16:04 Laura Esquivel's Success as a Latin American Female Author 00:17:31 Cultural Terms for Lying in Latin America 00:18:04 The Meaning of 'Pinocchio' in Latin America 00:19:10 Job Opportunities for Expats in Latin America 00:22:33 Relationship Complexities with Latin American Partners 00:23:36 The Challenge of Cultural Expectations in Latin America 00:24:03 The Reality of Basic Amenities in Latin America 00:26:09 Eddie's Struggle with Privacy and Social Standing
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 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 today I'm gonna tie up some loose ends But before I get to that if you recall from past shows I always tell everyone that Latin Americans just don't read sure They read parts of the front page and the sports page But they're mostly interested in television and social media like Facebook and Twitter etc
[00:49] Which are the latest and greatest things down here like expat Eddie says Latin's have now joined the international Naval gazing community the fact is Latin's just don't read books unless they're in school In fact in all the years I've been down here in Latin America and all the great parties I've been to with the high rollers and the hoi polloi and of course the bottom end too I've never met a single author who actually made a living at it. And yes I have been to a few Latin book signings Yes, those authors clean up real nice and then they go back to that job at the hardware store in the morning So know that in the smaller Latin countries artists and authors etc Can almost never make even a middle-class living out of it Although some do in the bigger Latin countries like Mexico and Argentina etc
[01:35] But I'll tell you it's like being a musician or visual artists in Latin America The story is nearly always the same talented young Latin artists unless they come from wealthy families Then they can be crap and still have quite a career because daddy and mommy are financing that little hobby You know pressuring their business man and banking friends to buy the stuff and often Setting them up in their own gallery in a very high-end part of town Anyway, the other ninety nine point nine percent of people who are artists or think the art coming from the unentitled classes Start out as starving artists for sure like every artist does However, they've got almost zero chance of ever getting out of that category Unless of course they happen to be lucky enough to be in a high-volume tourist area and they can prey on
[02:21] Tourists with some real campy crappy art in foreign tourist spots junk art flies right off the shelf, doesn't it? I mean, come on when you've been in a foreign country haven't you bought what you thought was a nice piece of local art Well, sorry, I'm here to tell you It's mostly junk that these tourist area artists have figured out by hook and crook catches the feel of the area the local lake the mountains the Mayans the Incas the Toltecs the Aztecs whatever and Tourists who just have to have a reminder of that fantastic trip whether it's a hand-painted ashtray Volcano sunset or hand-painted warrior. You just know there's a spot for it in the house or in the office back in Cleveland But really ninety percent of that tourist art and Dolores has back home on her coffee table ain't worth the clay
[03:07] It's potted with nope that ain't art, but don't tell her I said so now for example Let's pick the country of Oh Nicaragua I'd say there's about 20 artists in the whole country that actually make a living at it enough to have their own house But still probably no car and out of that group Nearly all of them or at least three-quarters of them are making their money off of tourism and gringos In other words, they'll have an art gallery in a place like Granada Nicaragua where there's a lot of tourists What I'm saying is without the tourists the local economy itself cannot support artists or writers or theater groups or symphony orchestras You see down here in Latin America people in those activities have to have second jobs or continue to live with mommy and daddy and believe me
[03:53] Almost all of them are living on the edge But like I said, there are some bigger Latin countries like Argentina Brazil and Mexico and of course Colombia Which is probably the most cultured of all anyway those big Latin countries with huge cities That have millions in population can support a small number of writers For example now note that because these are macho countries the writers that do get some support are about 95% male in fact there have even been one or two Nobel prize winning writers in the history of Latin American writing But they were only able to do that by breaking into the mainstream Crossing over and getting first world recognition because you know after all the Nobel Committee is based in Sweden where they're all English German or French speakers and yes, Swedish too no Spanish spoken there
[04:43] So anyway, like I said if you're coming down to Latin America to do any writing or become an artist You better plan on selling and marketing your stuff to the tourists or to the first world via the internet or whatever Anyway back to the point Latin Americans do not read books Oh, that's not to say upscale Latins don't have books on the shelves and sitting on coffee tables and stuff But it's a show just like it is nowadays for many many North Americans Yes, I know North Americans hardly read books anymore either In fact the Pew Research Center this year reported that nearly a quarter of American adults had not read a single book in the past year as in they hadn't cracked a paperback fired up a Kindle or even hit play on an audio book in their iPod or
[05:29] in their car in fact some researchers say that 25% number is a big lie to a vast underestimate because Americans are quite Embarrassed to say that they aren't readers even in polls a lot of Americans tell little white lies It's much the same as lying on a dating site pumping up your resume or telling your buddies you make more than you actually do how about beefing up your golf score or Fibbing about your weight, but of course listeners to the expat files never do that, right? The fact is it's kind of an eagle killer to admit to anyone that you're not a reader So they're saying now that it's probably more like 50 even 75% of adult Americans who haven't cracked a real book Etc in a whole year anyway, like I said down here in Latin America
[06:17] maybe one to two percent of Latin Americans actually read for pleasure and There are multiple reasons for that mostly being that books are expensive up in the States Let's say a book cost 30 bucks down here would probably cost 40 and since 60 to 80 percent of the Latin American population Only makes about 3 to 500 bucks a month. Well, you can see why buying books would be out of the question So then what about borrowing books the old-fashioned way at the library? Well, you see that's kind of a problem too Especially for people at the lower end of the scale who could really benefit from the knowledge you get from reading Well, you see they just don't have public libraries in Latin America Why because of terribly irresponsible thieving governments? I mean, come on the public hospitals don't even have gloves syringes or toilet paper
[07:07] Much less a dependable supply of clean running water So then where do you think public libraries rate on the priority list? That said every big Latin American city does have a public library somewhere, but believe me They're pathetic with almost no bestsellers or newer book stocked at all Just your typical old tattered out-of-print books that you might see in a rummage sale up north only in Spanish Of course and not that those kind of books aren't valuable to of course They are but you can't go into a library like that Expecting to find a book that you might need or want You have to kind of search around as if you were at a used bookstore up in the States and hope that you see something That strikes your fancy which most people here in Latin America aren't willing to do
[07:54] The fact is Latin Americans don't have a library culture Not like we did when I was a kid we went to the library at least once a week we had to I don't know if they still do that anymore up in the States I don't think so since old-fashioned brick-and-mortar libraries aren't much needed anymore because of the internet But still for us gringos those childhood library habits really paid off well for some anyway down here Kids really don't hit the library in a real investigative way until they hit high school or even University Which ain't saying much because like I said before less than five percent of Latin Americans ever graduate from a university now Of course they do have libraries at private schools and private universities But you know you have to have a student ID to get in those places right because they are private
[08:40] But no one that's out of school is interested in reading books anyway So it's pretty much a mute point so as one Latin University professor once told me Working at a Latin bookstore is one of the loneliest jobs in the world now remember just a while ago I said that probably 90 or 95 percent of all the authors throughout Latin America were men after all This is a macho society, so you'd expect that now if you check it out prior to about 1940 or 50 up in the first world when the US and Europe too were quite male-dominated societies about 90 percent of first-world authors then were male too So again down here in Latin America There's a heavy lag time effect with female authors That is to say if you actually went to a Latin American bookstore and check the names out
[09:29] You'd see the vast majority are male anyway when female authors get into the act They're usually writing cookbooks and travelogues and stuff like that and of course puppy romance novels too again just like in the pre-1951st world so Presently here in Latin America as for serious literature written by females not much And it's not that there aren't some great serious female literature writers It's just that as soon as they start writing about what really happens to women in Latin America on a personal level they start drifting into Uncomfortable areas that people don't like to hear about like abused women incest rape Alcoholic abusive absentee husbands etc So then female writers logically drift into social
[10:15] Commentaries on women's rights issues and what we would call feminist Manifestos the same kind of feminist stuff that happened up in the states back in the 60s and 70s remember that But as usual there's a big lag time down here and even now in 21st century Latin America The average Latin American just doesn't want to face it or really talk in depth about it for most. It's just too Uncomfortable close to home, so yes There are female authors mostly coming from big Latin countries But very few actually make a good living at it and when they do they're preaching to their choir because their readers are almost exclusively female So like I said, there's a huge lag time effect in women's lib and women's rights, etc
[11:00] So all you female expat wannabes and goodbies up there You have to know that it's the kind of world you're gonna end up in if you come down here to live now That said I'm gonna give you a little example here of one of those very few Latin American female authors That's actually making a living at it and getting a lot of recognition now She's from Mexico and her name is Laura Esquivel and you know Occasionally you see her written up here and there in various media outlets and lately she's been talking up her latest novel Oh, and by the way, that's not to say they don't have women's magazines down here They have plenty of them, but they're mostly frilly glamour and beauty magazines But note there's also unfortunately tons upon tons of empty headed brain draining soap opera magazines
[11:46] Too the supermarkets and beauty parlors are just filled with them You wouldn't believe it and I must say Darwin would be proud since they're adored by a certain class of people with the brains Of a gnat though, of course, I say that with all due respect because up north We do have the e entertainment channel reality shows and of course the Kardashians So really it was your average and sub-average mr And mrs. North America that set that ball of feces rolling downhill to Latin America and man are they running with it? Oh and speaking of magazines down here There are plenty of women's magazines to the usual suspects you see around North America like glamour and Elle and women's fitness You know real beauty parlor highbrow stuff here in Latin America You'll recognize them as the same glossy and slick magazines that you see in beauty parlors in supermarkets up north only they're
[12:37] Translated into Spanish and a bit more dumbed down if that's possible because you see the big New York Magazine companies up north have figured the Latin market is growing and the middle class is expanding Well since print media is dying up north being killed by the internet They've discovered to their surprise that it really does have a second wind down here in Latin America Yep, magazines and print media are still going strong You think we ought to clue in Latin America that it's gonna go away pretty soon Well turns out us expats and gringos aren't clairvoyant, but we do know about lag time Don't wait the fact is if you ever bring that point up to a Latin person even an educated Latin person They just don't believe it They think like so many in the states thought 10 15 20 years ago that print media would always be strong and healthy and in
[13:24] Demand boy with a wrong by the way, how is your New York time stock doing about as good as your timeshare in Cleveland? I bet Anyway, as far as women's magazines down here, you won't find many serious ones almost always fashion and beauty Oh and of course the soap opera ones Anyway, for those of you out there who might be interested in the women's take on literature I'm gonna read you a few excerpts from a very recent article talking about this famous author Laura Escaville And of course, it's in Spanish. So let me translate it starts by saying you might think that no one believes Literature can still be an agent for social change But writer Laura Escaville is not convinced the Mexican author uses her novels to communicate
[14:10] social problems and suggest models for change as reflected in her newest book a Lupita legustaba plan char which translates in English to Lupita liked ironing Really? I'm not kidding. The book's name is Lupita liked ironing I mean, come on try that title out in English and see how far you're gonna get Sounds like a children's story, right? But believe me it ain't anyway, it goes on to say this book tells the story of an unlucky Alcoholic policewoman who has suffered from violence and lives in a world where appearances money and power prevail She is eventually drawn into the assassination of a politician Like I said a children's bedtime story. It ain't now. Here's an interview with the author
[14:58] Let me do some translation here quote we live in a sick society She says a society mired in an economic system that works against us women That has a very negative effect on the social structure of women and the family now my character Lupita represents the emotional spiritual social and family hardships experienced by middle and lower-class Latin women in Latin America in our time Lupita embodies a complete picture of a woman said the author in a recent interview with the magazine Alpe She explained that she's certain that all the miseries endured by her character Lupita do not hold a candle to what happens in real life
[15:46] Latin America to the average woman. So there you have it folks from one of the few successful Latin American female authors or is that authoris? Well, anyway as it turns out She decided the best way to get her social message out there is to write novels instead of dry stodgy Nonfiction that doesn't sell nearly as well now note that this author Laura Esquivel is the best selling Latin American female author In fact, she sold about 4 million plus books now compare that top 4 million sold number to top first world authors Like Stephen King and the Harry Potter authoris who I can't think of right now both who've sold over 200 million books each So you're looking at the fact that top first world authors sell more than 50 times the amount of books that top Latin American
[16:36] authors sell which gives you an idea what the Bookmarket is down here considering the fact that there are a half a billion people in Latin America And that's why you won't see top-selling Latin authors wearing Rolexes and driving Ferraris Though some do well enough not to have to live with mommy and daddy anymore. What a relief, huh? Oh, and when I mentioned earlier that first world people tend to lie on poles You know gallop and Harris poles and such even small little community poles like the ones college students often hand out in grocery store Parking lots. Yep. We lie on those too Of course It's an ego thing to avoid being put on the spot and looking like a doofus in front of the pole taker Have you done that before? Of course you have or so say the people at the harris and gallop poles, etc
[17:22] Psychologists say most of us will exaggerate to avoid looking like an idiot Well that said let me tell you about what they call liars here in Latin America The word mentera means lie the word mentor also means liar however Since calling someone a mentor also or a liar to their face can be quite harsh and even in some cases fighting words You know, this is a match of society Anyway, latins have developed a kinder way of calling a person a liar. Now you remember panocchio, right? Whose nose would grow when he lied? Well, of course every disney movie's made it down here and has been translated into spanish and what they call panocchio here is Pinocchio So when someone calls you pinocchio, that's like a kind way of saying you're a liar
[18:10] You know, it's never said harshly like pinocchio. They say pinocchio In fact get this there's a popular television program. That's based on trying to tell if a person's lying or not It's called pinochito pretty much again a direct ripoff of a first world show Remember that one called to tell the truth If you were around back in the 60s and are honest enough to admit it you remember how popular that show was So just know that when somebody says pinocho he or she's calling someone somewhere Probably one of their friends standing nearby a liar in a nice sort of way Oh, and by the way that word mentira or mentiras Which is the plural form of liar is not to be confused with the word meantras It sounds almost the same and it's just missing one letter and it means while
[19:01] while while again, that's mentiras lies and meantras while huge difference in meaning, huh? But believe me nearly every fresh gringo and new expat makes that mistake the first year or two that he or she's down here So don't be paranoid thinking people are calling you a liar pinocho Now changing gears completely I'd like to finish up on a little story about expat eddy that I started some shows ago, but never got around to finishing What else is new, huh? In fact expat eddy is quite popular with you listeners out there I get a lot of emails asking not only where is he how'd he get started? What's he doing now? And if maybe they can talk to him by skype or meet him I even get emails from expat wannabes and gannabes up north asking me if expat eddy's hiring
[19:49] To which I say yes, of course. He's always hiring. He's got a lot of restaurants But he's only paying latin wages which are three to maybe 400 bucks a month So if I were you I wouldn't be aspiring to a job like that You could make almost twice as much by coming down here Working as an english teacher in a private school or even at a call center Companies in big latin american cities are always looking for english speakers for the call centers And these days call centers are paying from four to five hundred bucks a month to start with bonuses Whatever that is and just a little side trip on gringo was working at call centers recently A new expat came down a guy who knew absolutely no spanish Got himself a job day one in a call center and after about six months Maybe it was four He was promoted to a call cylinder trainer because his english of course was first world english
[20:37] And his job was to train all the quirks in the street slang Out of local latins who were mostly recruited after they'd been deported from up in the states Because you know being up there a couple years they learned some really bad street english But call centers will hire people with 60 to 80 percent english proficiency And tweak their english up by putting them through a training program Which shows you how really desperate these call centers are down here for english speakers And why you can walk right in and get a job day one And that's also why in a couple of months that expat guy I was talking about Got promoted to trainer because like he said very very few people at the call center spoke perfect american english But he did And that training job he got promoted to started at around 850 a month
[21:24] Basically about four times the minimum wage down here. I know sounds like poverty crap wages But down here you could really live like a first world person on a thousand to fifteen hundred bucks a month Remember i'm talking about off the gringo tourist trail now. So at 850 a month He's not quite living first world, but he's coming close And like he said if he sticks around in a big company like that There are many many more promotions to look forward to and a lot more money Well again, not our definition of a lot more money, but enough to live a first world life But I digress as usual. Okay. Where was I? Oh, yeah, I was talking about that expat eddie story, right? Well, if you remember in a previous show I mentioned that expat eddie's girlfriend finally worked on him enough like the chinese water torture and talked him into getting her a nice brand new suv and
[22:13] a driver Now I can tell you this once you've taken a middle or lower middle class latin girl or guy Pick them out of the masses that normally take the chicken bus and now suddenly they're in a new suv with their own personal driver Well, it's an understatement to say that your relationship with him or her is going to get pretty complicated And as expat eddie found out his relationship with gringos and expats like me who know better His friends who've always made fun of stupid gringos who do such things Well, don't you know our friendships and relationships get tested along the way, too Now i'm not saying at all that you can't do what you want with your money But when you're down here in latin america If you have a latin girlfriend or boyfriend or you marry a latin girl or guy
[22:59] You're automatically going to get attached to his or her family and extended family in a way You never dreamed possible up in the states So you have to know that when she's alone with her friends and family they're putting certain ideas into her head They think because she's hooked up with a somewhat wealthy gringo wealthy not necessarily because he's a successful Businessman down here, but wealthy because he's a gringo and that's the stereotype latin's believe pretty much All of us gringos are wealthy and by their standards we are So note if you ever get into a discussion or argument about wealth and you try to explain that there are very poor gringos, too You're just never going to win that argument After all they see the news reports coming from up in the first world where people who never worked a day in their life
[23:44] have cars and refrigerators in houses with air conditioners and they take vacations and they get food stamps and Schooling and free medical, etc, etc. Remember latin america has virtually no safety net like that So you just can't blame latin's for thinking that every gringo is wealthy And just to ram the point home Did you know that three quarters of latin american households do not have hot water unless of course they heat it on the stove? So anyway, the message that expat eddie's girlfriend gets from her family and friends when he's not there Is she should be living the life of the ladies she sees on the reality shows coming from first world tv And as it turns out since eddie is such a soft touch And he's always been the kind of guy to give you the shirt off his back. Anyway, even when he didn't have money
[24:34] Unfortunately, he's kind of become the milk cow for her family Now, of course eddie can always say no when they try to hit him up for some money or a job or a loan Or ask him to be a cosigner on a loan. Don't laugh I've been hit up on that one quite a few times myself and i've never taken the bait yet So anyway in eddie's case When her family and sometimes her extended family show up on weekends to hang out at his pool and drink his booze Since he's a soft touch He can't say no or do what a lot of gringos who found themselves in that position do Pretend they're not home and eventually the family gets to hint and doesn't come around anymore But like I said, that's not eddie And for those of us gringos in that spot who've had enough of freeloaders and have played the i'm not home card a number of times
[25:21] It does discourage the family and hangers-on sometimes but the problem is once you're in the family like eddie It's very common for latin mother or father in the family to invite themselves over to your house because well That's commonly done down here In fact with some latin families it happens every single weekend latins as it turns out are much more social than we are up in the first world Now the problem here is that eddie is losing his low profile something that he'd maintain all these years And now like any gringo will tell you once you've got a high profile and you drive around looking like mr Moneybags only way you can really go back is to move to another latin country Now note, it's not eddie that's screwing up his low profile But it's his girlfriend and of course her family who are doing a pretty good job of it
[26:09] Eddie's not the one who drives around like mr. Moneybags. That's just not him. Hell. He has a five-year-old beat up pickup truck But even so he says now it's getting to be that everybody seems to know him and he doesn't like that In fact, he has contemplated moving from his upscale little neighborhood in san soledore to somewhere else in that country Just like he says far enough to be a half attack of gas away from her family members But the problem is even if you move far far away to a city within the same country Your recent past and your reputation will soon enough catch up with you So now eddie's stuck and he knows it and it's not like he's the only guy that's ever happened to I know a handful of gringos who found themselves in the same spot In fact one of my gringo friends married to a latin girl
[26:55] Has one daughter a senior in a private high school down here One of those so-called helicopter schools where every spoiled entitled kid at the school Either has a millionaire parent who owns a beer company or a cement company Or has a parent who's a disgusting thieving politician or a dad who's a general or colonel on the take in the military Now i'll tell you the other day this gringo friend of mine called me and he said he just doesn't know what to do Oops, we're getting towards the end of the show again So I guess i'm not gonna be able to finish this little expat eddie story till next time So stay tuned because next week I promise i'll get to the end of this You've been listening to the expat files living in latin america coming to you twice a week from somewhere south of the border
[27:42] 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