Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller dives into the cost of living in Latin America, comparing everyday expenses like roses and movie tickets to first-world prices. He also discusses the cultural preferences for subtitles over dubbing, the role of pirated DVDs, and practical tips for expats dealing with bathroom hygiene and travel mishaps. From cinema experiences to supermarket prices and emergency preparedness, Johnny offers a comprehensive look at life as an expat in the region.
Johnny begins by discussing the affordability of everyday items in Latin America, highlighting how basic items like roses are significantly cheaper compared to first-world prices. He notes that a dozen long-stemmed roses can be purchased for about $2 to $3 on the street, which is at least ten times cheaper than in the first world. He also contrasts the outdated cinema experiences of the past with the modern, first-world-style cinemas now available in Latin America, noting that a first-run movie there costs about $3 to $4, roughly half the price in the United States. Johnny touches on the challenges expats face with dubbed movies and the cost differences between movie tickets and video rentals.
Next, Johnny discusses the decline of video stores in the first world due to the rise of streaming services like Netflix, but notes that in Latin America, video stores are still thriving. He explains that many Latin Americans prefer pirated DVDs sold on the street, which are often in English with Spanish subtitles, making them more appealing to expats who dislike dubbed Spanish movies. Johnny highlights the cultural preference for subtitles over dubbing and the practicality of pirated DVDs for expats. He concludes by suggesting that video stores will eventually decline, but piracy will continue to thrive. Later, he shifts to discussing supermarket prices in Latin America and offers tips for expats on assessing restaurant hygiene by checking bathroom facilities.
In another segment, Johnny provides practical tips for expats and travelers dealing with bathroom hygiene issues in places where water is not available. He highlights the unsanitary nature of electric hand dryers and recommends using hand wipes stored in ziplock bags. He also provides advice on using water from the toilet tank for handwashing when no water is available and suggests checking for a water valve under the sink if the sink is dry.
Finally, Johnny discusses practical advice for expats on how to handle common travel issues. He emphasizes the importance of checking under the sink for a valve that may have been turned off, acknowledging that while most male expats might be unafraid to do this, females often hesitate due to the dark, dingy space under the sink and the possibility of encountering creatures. Johnny reassures listeners that he has never been attacked by anything under the sink and suggests checking the area before turning on the water. He also highlights the usefulness of rubber bands, or 'oolays,' as an essential item for travelers, noting their versatility in securing food, bottles, and luggage. He also mentions bungee cords as a must-have for dealing with broken suitcases and other travel mishaps. Finally, he shares a tip about carrying a small Canadian maple leaf gold coin as a valuable and discreet item that can be used as a form of currency in case of theft or emergencies.
Topics
Cost of living in Latin America, Affordability of everyday items, Cinema experiences in Latin America, Challenges for expats with dubbed movies, Video stores and piracy in Latin America, Expats and media consumption, Supermarket prices in Latin America, Hygiene and restaurant evaluation for expats, Bathroom hygiene, Travel tips, Sanitation, Expatriate life
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:29 Cost of Living in Latin America: Roses as an Example 00:02:04 Cinema Evolution in Latin America 00:05:58 The Future of Video Stores in Latin America 00:06:31 Why Expats Prefer Pirated DVDs 00:09:29 Fruit Prices in Latin America vs. the U.S. 00:10:13 Hygiene and Water Availability in Restaurants 00:11:34 The Dangers of Electric Hand Dryers and the Importance of Hygiene in Public Restrooms 00:12:11 Carrying Hand Wipes for Hygiene and Convenience 00:13:17 Using Ziplock Bags to Store Hand Wipes and Their Versatile Uses 00:15:06 Using Water from the Toilet Tank for Handwashing When No Water is Available 00:16:29 Checking for a Water Valve Under the Sink When the Sink is Dry 00:16:49 How to Fix a Turned-Off Valve Under the Sink 00:18:05 The Importance of Rubber Bands for Travelers 00:20:27 Carrying a Canadian Maple Leaf Gold Coin as a Travel Safety Net 00:22:14 The Value of Gold Coins 00:23:57 Recycling in Latin America
Transcript
Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.
[00:01] South of the border Down Mexico Hi everybody, I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files Living in Latin America the one-of-a-kind show that tells you what it's like to live work play and or retire in Latin America So let's get started Alright, let's start out today then with our cost of living segment And this is where we give you some of the prices of everyday living down here For example, let's talk about long-stemmed roses of any color now You can buy a dozen roses at a flower stand for about three dollars again in pretty much any color Or if you're driving around in your car You could buy a dozen roses from any one of a number of guys walking in the streets selling all kinds of different things
[00:49] including pirated software and CDs parts and supplies for your cell phones and windshield wipers and sponges and of course roses and And on a street corner like this you can get a dozen beautiful roses for about two dollars Now, of course when it gets close to Mother's Day and Valentine's Day The sellers naturally take a little advantage of you and you'll end up paying three dollars for a dozen roses on the street Now I know that most of you won't believe that price because as far as I know I would think the rock bottom price for a dozen roses up in the first world is something like $25 which makes roses up there at least ten times as expensive as the ones down here And don't tell me that your $25 and up roses up in the first world are Superior to the ones down here because they're not in fact the reason why they have so many roses down here is because it's a huge
[01:38] Export item to the first world so bottom line expats is dirt cheap to say it with flowers and add it to the fact That most women down here are very low maintenance I guess that's another reason why first world guys who come down here often never leave and guys when it comes to flowers If you've been a real bad boy, and you have to make it up to your girlfriend or wife Go ahead and buy two or three dozen at these prices. It's almost impossible to break the bank And now let's talk about everybody's favorite pastime. No not baseball forget about that Go into the movies now hitting the cinema down here isn't what it used to be in fact the cinemas down here I've gotten so much better. It's almost a pleasure to get out of the house and go I remember 15 or 20 years ago the cinema houses were dark and dingy and dirty and the sound quality was bad and the film
[02:27] Would break, but the saving grace was you only paid a dollar or a dollar and a half back then to get in well nowadays Big first world cinema franchises have landed in Latin America in a big way in fact when you're in one of these places It's a carbon copy of the ones you have up north and you'd have a hard time telling you were even in Latin America Except that everything's in Spanish and believe it or not all the hit first-run movies that are playing in the United States and Europe Right now are playing down here at this very moment, too So you don't have to wait months and months for a movie you've been dying to see and as far as first-run movies Go they're always in English with Spanish subtitles But with some of the bigger and more important movies like let's say for example more recently Avatar and Toy Story 3 well a lot of times when you go to the movie house
[03:15] You'll see that they'll have a version in English and a version already translated into the Spanish language So people don't have to listen to the movie in English and read the subtitles But Hollywood only goes through that trouble with the really big blockbusters So most of the time you'll get them in English with the Spanish subtitles which like it or not has always been a tradition However, if you go to one of the video stores down here like Blockbuster video Which does exist in almost every big city and let me mention right now You probably know they've gone bankrupt up in the first world though so far It doesn't seem to have affected anything down here And of course, you know in video stores anywhere, they don't get first-run movies for about three or four months, right? Well because of that when you go to a video store down here like a blockbuster or its competitors
[04:02] well during that three or four month lag when that movie first came out and By the time it actually hits a big chain video store like Blockbuster down here Well during that time all those first-run hit movies have now been translated into Spanish for all the audiences down here And now there's no longer any subtitles Which is pretty much bad news for expats who don't know their Spanish too Well, and for that reason a lot of expats don't run from video stores And I'll tell you right now expats who do know their Spanish Don't like to rent from video stores either because who wants to hear Russell Crowe's voice dubbed in by some macho Spanish guy Or how about Kara Knightley's sexy British accent plastered over by some hysterical Spanish whiner things Like that can really screw up a decent movie for an expat
[04:49] Because if there's one thing worse than a British historical drama dubbed in Spanish like for example that movie The King's Speech Now can you imagine that dubbed in Spanish? Give me a break Well, there's only one thing worse than that and that's when they dub in Spanish and all American comedy Like for example the hangover or the 40 year old virgin I mean when you translate a comedy into Spanish it just never works and believe it or not I saw about three minutes of Borat dubbed in Spanish, and I just had to walk out But aside from that what it actually costs to go to a first-run movie down here is about three to four dollars And I believe the average price right now in the United States to see a movie is about 750 or eight dollars which means down here in Latin America It's about half price and as far as running a movie down here at a video store
[05:36] It always runs around a dollar or two depending what day it is and the sales that they're running just like in the first world But I also know that up in the first world video stores are dying They're getting killed by companies like Netflix and downloads on the internet but since Latin America is always lagging a few years behind the first world for the moment video stores are still going strong and You can bet that in a few years. They're gonna die off down here, too So all you expat wannabes with big ideas up north don't even think about coming down and opening a video store You'll just crash and burn But there's one thing that you have to know This is the land of the Pirates so a lot of Latins even if they do have discretionary income They don't ever step foot in a video store But end up buying pirated DVDs from their local guy on the street corner for about two dollars each
[06:26] And they'll throw in a free one if you buy five and honestly most expats I know go that route and that's because all those pirated DVDs are in English So they don't have to put up with bad Spanish dubbing only subtitles Because like I said before no expat wants to see a high-quality Hollywood movie dubbed into bad Spanish Wait a minute. Did I mix the words high-quality and Hollywood in the same sentence? Sorry about that Anyhow most expats I know have vast collections of pirated DVDs and at two dollars or less apiece How can you blame them? Especially since when you go to the video store You're only renting a movie for a few days and it's for the same price and right now I bet you're wondering why anyone even bothers to use the video stores when they can walk right out on the street
[07:15] Spend the same money and own the thing Well again it boils down to the fact that the guys on the street are selling pirated first-run DVDs and they're almost always in English with Spanish and sometimes Russian Subtitles and almost all of these are pirated copies made before any Latin production company had the time or the money to actually eliminate the English Translate the voices into Spanish and do the dubbing now you first-world people up there I don't have to tell you about subtitles It seems like nobody I've ever met actually has the patience for them And if you go to any one of these art houses that features foreign movies with subtitles Well, you know, certainly that's an acquired taste and unless you're the artsy fartsy type most middle-class first-worlders I know just don't have the patience for it. It's kind of like young people today
[08:02] They'll never watch a black and white movie, even if it's an all-time classic like Citizen Kane They just can't deal with the fact that it's not in color now for Latin people Subtitles are a way of life for them. Now. Remember it's a lot different down here all their lives These people have been watching first-run Hollywood movies in English not understanding much of what was said at all But reading the Spanish subtitles and of course, they much prefer a movie that's been translated into their own language But until recently they almost never had Hollywood first-run movies dubbed over into their language But in the last few years, that's exactly what they're gonna get if they go to one of the video stores So the video store businesses down here just keep chugging along while pirates hang right outside the door of the very same mall
[08:48] And they have their own booming market going and so far there seems to be room for everybody But in the future something's got to give and for my money, it's not gonna be the Pirates. They're just gonna grow and grow It's gonna be the video stores Okay, let's talk about a few more prices on other things then we'll get on to the main topics Today in the supermarket I could buy a nice ripe papaya for about 30 to 50 cents a pound and I could get a nice big locally grown pineapple for about 75 cents to a dollar each and The same thing goes for a honeydew melon or a cantaloupe. They're going for about 75 cents to a dollar each now I know up in Chicago right now The prices of melons are running between three and five dollars each which means the prices down here are less than half for the same
[09:35] But let's move on to some of the email questions I've had recently now I've talked a lot on past programs about the shortage of water in almost every place in Latin America And how if you go into a bathroom whether it's in a home or in a restaurant Sometimes you will not have water at the sink at all But here's a tip most often if you don't have water in the sink You'll still have water even if it's very slow running to flush the toilet because restaurants places of business and Households know if you don't have adequate water to at least flush the toilet It won't take long before no one's gonna want to go in there anymore and soon enough the smell outside is gonna turn away Customers and clients so for that reason alone toilets get a big priority over sinks now Here's a good pointer and a spot-on general observation
[10:23] Whenever you go into a restaurant down here The first thing you should do is go into the bathroom and check it out don't sit down at the table first and while you're in the bathroom see if the sink has water if it doesn't Don't stay at that restaurant because you know no one's washing their hands That's obvious and another thing check out the bathroom and see what they're using for towels because most of the time they won't even have them and if they do it'll be a soil dingy looking one that you'd never want To touch yourself and you definitely don't want to eat at that restaurant either The fact is there's nothing more unsanitary than a cloth towel in the bathroom That's being used over and over and over again But if they have paper towels you're in and just that little extra effort of paper means the owner Cares about hygiene and even if his workers don't which is probably the case
[11:12] He's forcing them to do certain things to maintain a level of cleanliness And if they happen to have one of those electric hand dryers It's your own call on that one because you know if you've been listening to PRN and Gary Null You know that those kind of units are not very good either and though they seem to do the basic job at hand That was a pond by the way in reality. They're quite unsanitary Sure, they'll dry your hands. All right, but in doing so they'll recycle all the germs microbes and viruses through that room Including airborne particles that came from your last flush. So how's your appetite now? Anyway, you should always flush the toilet with the top down You know that right and you should always flush it with your foot not your hand Okay, now that we got that basic bathroom hygiene etiquette out of the way
[11:59] What happens when you have to use a restroom public or otherwise and there is no water coming from the sink Well now come a few of the very best expat file tips for the day one Always carry a small compact package of handy wipes with you You know what I'm talking about those little moist towelettes that you see in the grocery store in the diaper section Now the best and most economical way to buy them is to buy the bulk pack of the cheapest ones You can get because it really doesn't matter if you have Johnson & Johnson or brand X Now you can get a soft pack of a hundred of these things for about two dollars now Whether you're an expat or a tourist you don't haul around that thick heavy bulk pack with you You leave that thing at the house or the hotel and I'll show you an easy way now
[12:46] How to carry just a few of those handy wipes with you at all times without them being anything of a burden or a pain in the Ass now you should always have a box of heavy-duty ziplock freezer bags around your house, too And you take one of those small size ziplock bags and you load it up with about 10 or 15 of those handy wipes And before you seal up the zip on that bag you squish all the air out of it nice and flat Then you zip it up fold it in half two or three times and slip it in your back pocket And I guarantee it'll take up such little space you won't even know it's there And now you're all set for a day in whatever town you happen to be in in Latin America You need a bathroom, and there's no water no problem You're at a cafe internet and the keyboard looks like someone took a crap on it no problem You're eating a mango on the bus and the juice drips down your arm no problem
[13:34] You get the idea if you're a traveler those handy wipes have a thousand and one uses and so do those zip clock bags And if you're a touch obsessive about hygiene like I am once you're in that bathroom You pull out one of those handy wipes if you have to touch anything like a faucet handle or a doorknob And here's another good restaurant tip while I'm at it now when you sit down at the table What you should do is take the silverware and wipe it down thoroughly with a clean napkin Now you don't want to do that when the waiters looking because he might get insulted or he'll just think you're a nutcase Though it sounds like I might be impossibly obsessive about this But let me just warn you people do not wash their hands down here And when you realize that 30 or 40 percent of the bathrooms don't have running water in the sink well under those
[14:20] Circumstances people couldn't wash their hands if they tried and if you've ever snuck a peek back in the kitchen at one of these Restaurants you'd see that all these restaurant workers who rarely wash their hands They grab touch and handle that silverware with their bare fingers And that's before they hand it to you wrapped in a nice clean napkin looking all clean and sanitary Well, even if it looks pretty good, it's probably not so by all means wipe it down yourself with a clean napkin And now here's our second bathroom tip for the day. Remember I said that many sinks won't have water So what do you do when you have to use a bathroom and you find out after you've used it that there's no water coming from Well before you pull out that ziplock bag with your life-saving handy wipes
[15:05] Here's what you do You make sure that toilets heat is down like I mentioned before and now you grab with two hands that porcelain lid on the toilets tank top and after you've taken that porcelain lid off You'll see that most of the time that tank is just filled with water And though that water might look a little cruddy and discolored That's the same water that would have been coming out of the sink had it been hooked up And even though the inside walls of that toilet tank might look pretty disgusting What you're seeing is only mineral and scale build-up and that's the same thing that's happening inside of all the water pipes Only you just can't see it Don't worry about what it looks like inside that tank The fact is now you have some water to wash your hands So now you have a couple of gallons of water right in front of you
[15:50] So go ahead and wash up and think of me while you're doing it And when you're finished put that porcelain lid right back on and nobody will be the wiser And I want you ladies to listen to this especially that water that you're looking at in that toilet tank has Absolutely no relation to the toilet bowl water not yet Anyway, that happens when you pull the flush handle So there's nothing particularly terrible about that water that you're gonna wash your hands in and though it's no good to drink It's plenty good enough to wash up with and in fact it might be your last chance for a while So take advantage of it But before you go through that business of pulling off that porcelain tank top You might want to try this little tip when you find that a bathroom sink doesn't have any water flowing in it
[16:36] I'd say about 50% of the time that's because the owner of the property turned off the water valve Underneath the sink itself. In other words, it's not truly disconnected It's just that someone turned the valve off to save water Which means if you can get your hand up under there and unscrew that valve you'll be in business Now, isn't that a quick fix? Now most male expats I know would be unafraid to do that But I also know that females often hesitate and that's because it's a dark dingy place down under that sink And who really knows what kind of creatures are living in those dark spaces? So just bend down and have a look first because most sinks are wide open at the bottom for some reason down here Most sinks are rarely boxed in in an enclosure So you can see all the tubes and pipes and guts if you just bend your head down
[17:24] So ladies take a chance and go for the valve and I have to admit I've done that same trick dozens of times down here and I've never been attacked by anything living under the sink yet Anyway, after getting stung by a scorpion, I think I can handle pretty much of anything So after you've successfully turned on the water Leave that valve open as a favor to the next weary traveler that comes in that bathroom And as far as I'm concerned where there's a sink there should be water Why would anyone bother to install a sink if no one could actually use it? But down here people do it all the time. I don't get it I guess they think it looks nice whether it's functional or not Now besides heavy-duty ziplock bags and generic handy wipes There's something else that everyone should have in their travelers arsenal and that's rubber bands
[18:11] They're called oolays down here, which means rubbers not to be confused with condoms And I know this sounds like a simple thing, but rubber bands don't sell them short Anyway, you'll be amazed at how many indispensable uses you can find for rubber bands down here And you should really have two sizes the small ones about two inches long and the larger Heavier-duty ones about three or four inches long now suppose you wanted to store some half-eaten fruit That's ziplock bag with a couple of rubber bands around it Suppose you bought a bag of pecans and only ate half of them Well, just roll that bag up and throw a couple of rubber bands on it Suppose you got a vitamin bottle and the top won't stay on a couple of rubber bands will handle that Just keep a half a dozen of each size in your fanny pack or a few in your wallet or ladies in your handbag
[18:57] And you're set for any emergency And if you think that hauling a dozen rubber bands around is a stupid idea remember down here is the land of high humidity high temperature occasional torrential downpours and the home of Billions of creepy crawly insects and other indescribable living things that would just love to get into your food supply and luggage And whether you believe it or not a good tight rubber band is an excellent first line of defense Another must for your travelers arsenal are a couple of assorted bungee cords There's a thousand and one uses for those things too not the least of which is when one of your suitcases pops or breaks Zipper then you just wrap a bungee cord or two around it and you're safe for the time being and I'm not talking about those
[19:43] Fat heavy-duty bungee cords I'm talking about those nice wispy thin ones the ones that come in a cheap three-pack at the hardware store and Speaking of creative uses for bungee cords one expat girl I know it was on the beach and she lost her belt somehow and for the rest of her vacation Her pants were held up by a bungee cord. I thought it was a nice touch it was her version of jungle chic and who knows in my kitchen and Since I'm giving you a few tips for your travelers arsenal Here's a great little tip that could really save your life if you're unlucky enough to get robbed and you're left with Practically nothing but your shoes and the clothes on your back What you do is while you're up in the first world you go to a coin shop or a pawn shop and you buy a quarter ounce Canadian maple leaf gold piece now in today's market with gold being nearly
[20:32] $1,500 an ounce that little quarter ounce piece of gold that Canadian gold maple leaf is gonna cost you about $400 Now here's the thing that little coin is not much bigger than a United States five cent nickel It's so small you could hide it just about anywhere You could tape it inside your shoe Glue it behind your belt buckle if you wear a baseball cap or any old hat You could have it sewn inside the headband or you could do it like one expat friend of mine does he has a small Cheap old plastic watch and he popped the back off of it took the guts out and slipped that gold piece inside of it And it fits there perfectly and you know he never takes that watch off even when he's underwater and he's a scuba diver and the point is he's wearing his very own personal safety net and
[21:20] In fact that little piece of gold could very well be a lifesaver Now imagine you were on a hiking trip in and around the outskirts of Machu Picchu in Peru And there were four of you and a tour guide and one night when you're camping out You got jumped by some thieves and were robbed of practically everything Well if you have one of those little quarter ounce Canadian maple leaf coins on you well that little coin Slightly bigger than a nickel is worth four hundred dollars any place you go in any country in the world And that means anywhere you are from the smallest town to the biggest city You can go to any coin dealer and trade it in for dollars or the local money And you don't have to find a coin dealer you could actually go to a jewelry store or a pawn shop or a bank too So if you happen to be robbed in a foreign country
[22:07] You're not completely down and out at all not by any means if you have that tiny little nickel sized piece of gold in your pocket Because you see a Canadian maple leaf coin is a solid piece of a hundred percent pure gold And not only that it's actually a legal coin produced by the government of Canada So it's known throughout the world and that story that I told you about those hikers that got robbed near Machu Picchu That's the same guy. I told you about that has that tiny gold piece hidden inside that fake plastic watch of his Now you don't have to buy a quarter ounce maple leaf like that if you don't want to You could always go bigger to the next size up which is a half an ounce Which is just a little bigger than a US quarter and that'll set your back about eight hundred dollars But remember that's not eight hundred dollars lost that piece of gold will always maintain that value and most experts predict
[22:58] It's gonna get much more valuable as time goes on and yes I will admit I have my own little gold piece stashed on my person and I've had it for years And I'm not gonna tell you where I hide mine That's my secret and thankfully I've never been in such bad straights that I've had to cash it in But it certainly gives me a lot of peace of mind knowing that I can if I have to oh And by the way another good place to hide one of those little gold pieces It's behind one of those cloth ankle bands or you can buy one of those New Age wristbands for a couple of bucks Make a little cut in it from behind and slip your little piece of gold in there And if you wear that thing all the time You might not increase your life force energy like they promise in that New Age pamphlet But if there's a worst-case scenario you'll certainly increase your chances for survival, and there's nothing like being prepared
[23:48] That's for sure and while I'm at it. I want to talk about a few emails. I've received Asking me how they deal with recycling down here now when I first read these emails I just wanted to laugh because down here in Latin America the locals idea of recycling is to open up a window and just toss Your garbage outside, and if there happens to be a body of water around the Latin seem to go into zombie mode and start throwing Their garbage in there, too Now I'm not saying there haven't been some good efforts at recycling down here in fact every once in a while in the big national Papers you'll see a story about some brand new recycling center That's just open for business And if you go there and check one of these places out like I have you'll see that they have giant dumpsters Just like they do in the first world one designated for paper
[24:34] One for plastics one for glass and one for cans and other metals and the funny thing is that nearly every one of these? Recycling centers has been set up Funded and it's being operated by foreigners because as far as the locals are concerned the word recycling Just doesn't exist in their vocabulary so as far as I can see all these startup Recycling operations are nothing but wishful thinking and complete losing propositions not only are none of them making money They're not even breaking even in fact one first world expert in the garbage business down here Told me that most of these recycling places don't last a year because the fact is the common man Just doesn't have the will to do it, but there is a big market of course for tossed cans and bottles There always will be and the poor people are all over that
[25:22] But as far as hauling or driving your garbage down to a recycling center to have them separate this stuff You're just not gonna see that happen, especially when there's so many clandestine garbage dumps all over Latin America Where the locals only have to walk a few blocks from their houses and toss their garbage into a pit legal or not So once again leave it to the good-hearted foreigners to come down here with great ideas and with first world NGO and donated money only to fail because they've really misjudged the market and the people and There's another funny thing about Latins and recycling now You know that up in the first world when you drive through certain neighborhoods many people already have their garbage Separated in different colored bins well down here when you drive through some of the wealthier neighborhoods
[26:08] You see a tiny little bit of that, too I mean once in a while you'll see a short stretch of block or two where people actually have their garbage separated But the funny thing is when the garbage man actually comes for a pickup He doesn't care that it's separated out when he gets to the dump All that nicely separated garbage gets mixed right back in again and goes into the same landfill hole It's that first world feel-good notion again. It's got to be I mean don't you feel good when you're separating your garbage Helping the planet and all yeah, right I've seen this kind of thing a hundred times the first world do-gooders arrive in mass the Mormons the Evangelicals and a Jimmy Carter types. They've got their mission. They accomplish it. They go back home all smiles and grins
[26:53] They leave the project in charge of the locals and within a year's time. They're back to square one again But if it makes these first world people feel a little less guilty about the poverty and squalor and the rest of the world Who am I to rain on their parade? Maybe if I'm a little less outspoken they'll give me a grant someday so I can start my own failed recycling center Hey now that's an idea Oh, and I should tell you this little story 20 years ago when I first landed in Costa Rica I was on a bus and there was a big sign up front that said please throw all your garbage out the windows If you don't believe me, I've got a photo of it, and I'll take a polygraph on that You've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America
[27:39] And don't forget you can email me on anything at all about Latin America the expat files at gmail.com That's the expat files at gmail.com See you next time. Nos vemos