Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller shares a variety of experiences and insights from his time living and traveling in Latin America. The episode begins with a discussion on auto hotels, which are often mistaken for standard motels but are actually designed for discreet, short-term stays. Johnny describes the unique setup of these hotels, including the lack of a traditional front desk and the use of a slot for transactions. He also shares a personal anecdote from Nicaragua where he mistakenly believed he had found a standard motel, only to discover it was an auto hotel with a very different purpose.
The episode then moves on to Johnny's experience staying at a cheap, questionable hostel in Latin America. He describes the hostel's unique features, such as a sliding glass window for paying, a heart-shaped bed, and a vibrating bed, which he found to be a safe and affordable option. He also discusses the language barrier and the misunderstanding about the cost of staying for the night, which led to a humorous exchange with the hostel staff. Johnny also talks about private detective agencies in Latin America that specialize in tracking down cheating spouses, noting that these agencies often have high success rates due to the lack of discretion among locals.
The segment shifts to a discussion about yellow fever shots, with Johnny noting that while some countries require them, many expats have not encountered mandatory vaccination requirements in practice. He recounts his recent experience with the yellow fever vaccination requirement, highlighting the bureaucratic challenges and the eventual necessity to get vaccinated. He discusses the process of obtaining the vaccine in a clinic in Peru, the cost, and the effectiveness of the vaccine. Johnny also shares his general skepticism about vaccinations, noting that he has never encountered yellow fever in his travels and that he avoids areas with high mosquito populations.
In the final segment, Johnny questions the CDC's report on yellow fever in South America, suggesting that the risk is much lower than claimed. He also provides information on obtaining a yellow fever vaccine waiver for those who refuse the vaccine. The episode then shifts to discussing gun violence in Latin America, highlighting that most victims are gang members or individuals with criminal records, suggesting that the majority of violent incidents involve bad actors. Finally, Johnny warns about the increasing risk of personal information theft by Latin Americans from expats, particularly when interacting with large franchises and businesses.
The episode concludes with Johnny discussing the growing trend of receiving unsolicited text messages from businesses in Latin America, particularly from Sherwin-Williams and Toyota, after expats start using their smartphones for purchases. He shares a story about a friend who now prefers paying with cash to avoid these messages. Johnny also comments on the increasing regulation in the U.S. regarding cash transactions and personal data, suggesting that expats should be cautious about sharing their information. He then shifts to a more critical tone, expressing frustration with the U.S. government's regulations, such as banning wood-burning in fireplaces and restricting water collection, which he sees as an attempt to control citizens. He concludes by encouraging listeners to consider leaving the U.S. and planning for alternative living arrangements, while promoting his upcoming seminars in Latin America and Southeast Asia.
Topics
Auto hotels in Latin America, Cultural differences in accommodation, Expatriate experiences in Latin America, Private detective agencies and infidelity, Yellow fever vaccination requirements, Travel experiences in Latin America, CDC reports on yellow fever, Bureaucratic challenges for expats, Skepticism about vaccinations, Yellow fever risk in South America, Yellow fever vaccine waiver, Gun violence in Latin America
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:01:20 The Hidden Purpose of Auto Hotels in Latin America 00:02:20 The Setup of Auto Hotels and Their Intended Use 00:04:16 Johnny's Personal Experience with Auto Hotels in Nicaragua 00:06:03 The Hostel Experience 00:07:24 Private Detective Agencies and Infidelity 00:10:24 Yellow Fever Shots and Vaccination Requirements 00:12:10 Yellow Fever Vaccination Requirement at the Airport 00:13:07 Vaccine Administration and Clinic Details 00:17:36 CDC Report on Yellow Fever Cases 00:17:58 Yellow Fever Risk in South America 00:19:11 Johnny's Skepticism of CDC Yellow Fever Statistics 00:21:04 Gun Violence in Latin America 00:22:27 Most Gun Violence Involves Bad Guys Shooting Bad Guys 00:23:03 Personal Information Theft by Latin Americans 00:23:57 The Story of a Friend's Experience with Text Messages from Businesses 00:24:34 Expats Turning to Cash Payments to Avoid Unsolicited Messages 00:25:30 Johnny's Frustration with U.S. Regulations and Government Control
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. Now here's a little trapped and a lot of gringos and expats fall into gringos and expats who rent cars down here in Latin America that is now up in the station Oh, we've got hotels and motels and so-called auto hotels and down here
[00:46] They've got hotels no motels They don't exist but they have things called auto hotels which to us look exactly like motels that we're used to seeing From the outside looking in the only difference is that they're usually surrounded by a big wall So you can't actually see the cars parked in front of the individual units. They're all behind that big wall So because the name says it all auto as in car dash hotel H0t el we obviously think these are your standard motels only Latin style But what no one tells you is down here in Latin America These auto hotels no matter how beautiful nice and safe they look are nothing more than momentary sexual rendezvous points And you know, it's not hard to figure that out once you're in there when you find out that they rent the places by the hour
[01:33] Yep, I'm serious. They rent the places by the hour So in fact, those are the places where husbands cheat on wives and wives cheat on husbands and bosses take their secretaries for a special lunch of the touchy feely type and you know another telltale sign is that when you drive into the place there's really no Lobby and you're never really over a counter face to face with Front desk clerk because what happens is when you drive your car in and you walk up to the door There's a little slot like a speakeasy and you put your money in and well do the transaction with whoever behind that screen And usually you can only see their hand or their head through the little sliding door or tinted glass Then you get your key and some instructions and you're on your way for however long it takes an hour half hour three minutes
[02:20] All depends right with Latin customers. That's the setup. They're used to now note There's lots of road weary gringos who've rented a car A lot of us just take to the road in Latin America wandering hither and yon Sometimes just meandering not really knowing where we're going just exploring in a general direction I've been there I've done that a lot and as the clock strikes four or so you start realizing you have to find a place to Stay overnight and since these so-called auto hotels are everywhere and like I said even in the worst neighborhoods They look nice and safe even quite inviting sometimes especially the new ones nice garden high walls good security Now the funny thing is often you'll be driving way out in the boonies Just fresh air mountains valleys jungle almost nothing around but farms in nature and suddenly you'll spot
[03:07] Out-of-the-blue one of these brand-new auto hotels meaning there's a hundred kilometers of nothing in either direction Except this nice auto hotel that looks kind of inviting especially at four or five o'clock in the afternoon and you're bum tired And I remember when you're in Central America or the top half of South America the Sun goes down around six o'clock every night That's how it is as you get closer to the equator that said when the average clueless gringo and his girlfriend or family Whatever drives in and notices. There is no front desk no lobby and in fact. There's no pool. That's another telltale sign I mean under those circumstances when time is of the essence who needs a pool right well The fact is these auto hotels like I said some of them look pretty nice from the outside anyway are specifically set up
[03:53] So you never really run into anyone you know the security of not getting caught and really as it turns out The only person you might run into physically and see face-to-face is a cleaning lady because you know when rooms are being rented by the hour There's a hell of a fresh linen turnover if you know what I mean, so then you might ask Johnny How do you know about all this stuff? That's because in my early days as a clueless gringo I had rented a car had just gone from Costa Rica into Nicaragua Didn't know anyone or anything the terrain totally unfamiliar and once on that trip I was driving through a lower middle class small town noticing there weren't any hotels that looked fit for a gringo I mean unless we're backpackers We do have our standards and for me my minimum level of hotel comfort is a private clean room with a nice private clean bathroom
[04:41] now you can generally tell by the outside of a place what it's gonna be like in the inside and In this little Nicaraguan town. I just passed through all the hotels I noticed looked the same the signs were rotting burnt out broken bulbs and obvious water damage paint peeling off the wall Mangy dogs sleeping in the doorways, etc. No place. I'd recommend a gringo stay But lo and behold as I drove out to the edge of town and hit the wide open spaces I suddenly saw a gigantic sign that said primavera auto hotel suites five kilometers ahead and sure enough five kilometers ahead In the middle of nowhere. There was a relatively new kind of nice-looking auto hotel Which I immediately mistook as a Latin American version of a motel six
[05:27] And as it turned out once I parked in one of the garage spots I realized that every room or unit had been isolated from the others Once you were in your car park, you couldn't see any of the other units and by the way These places are so privacy conscious that when you pull into one of the designated spots and get out of your car You'll notice there are instructions on the plaque on the wall for each of these little spaces that said please press the button to close The garage door then proceed to the check-in window and believe me back then my Spanish really sucks So I had a hard time making that out and when I did proceed to the check-in window Which was really nothing more than a ledge and a hole in the wall about as big as a shoe box With a sliding opaque glass window to hand your money to whoever was behind that wall
[06:13] And I remember the girl behind the window somehow got it through to me that I had to pay her Five bucks in the local funny money and I thought man that's awful cheap This is a pretty nice place new and everything and when in my very bad Spanish I said just five dollars She said una ora which means for one hour and I said wait a minute one hour. I want the whole night She said ah como no estas gringo, huh, which means ah, yeah, why not? You're a gringo I get it and remember I'm dead tired from driving all day It's almost black outside and I'm thinking I gotta stay in this place and then she told me it was something like 25 bucks for the whole night and I settled in to a heart-shaped King-sized bed a TV that had something like three regular channels and five porno channels and a big tacky
[07:01] Velvet poster over the bed not of Elvis but about Don Juan Spanish type kissing a half-naked peasant girl Oh, and by the way, it was one of those old-time Vegas vibrating beds You know you pump your quarters in and it starts jiggling Anyway, it was obvious the lady behind the window had experienced a few clueless gringos Stumbling on through to rent the place for the whole night and actually sleep now. Don't get me wrong These places are all about sexual rendezvous for an hour or less, but they are not prostitute palaces In other words, there are no skanky looking girls hanging around You're expected to bring your own skanky or otherwise and while I'm on the subject I might as well talk about what's been popping up in the yellow pages and big Latin American papers lately That is ads by so-called Latin private eyes or detective agencies
[07:47] If that's what you could call them where for a fee They'll follow your spouse around and catch him in the act usually it's a him of course So you could absolutely have undeniable proof from a third party that there was a whole lot of cheating going on now about a year Ago, I happen to run into one of these guys at one of expat Eddie's restaurants in El Salvador You see Eddie's got a lot of employees now and he was thinking of hiring a service to do polygraphs on his employees both preliminarily before he hired him and When things went missing and he had to find out who the bad seed or bad seeds were Oh and remind me to tell you the latest expat Eddie story about his new camera surveillance system that he's put in all his Restaurants, that's a good one, but we'll save that one for another time So I was at expat Eddie's restaurant and this polygraph guy was sitting at the table going over some details with Eddie
[08:38] And he told us that his agency did all kind of investigation work But the most profitable besides the polygraph thing was following spouses of suspected cheaters And like the guy said it's nearly a 100% certainty that if they get hired They'll find a cheater and he said if you think it's like that TV program cheaters You know that reality show where private investigators are hired to follow an alleged cheating spouse He says it doesn't quite work like that in Latin America. In fact down here It's much easier to catch someone because like he said guys Just don't put that much time and effort into covering their tracks They're just pretty blatant about it. And by the way, that program is big down here in Latin America Everyone down here knows about it because I think it's on Nat Geo or the nature channel or something
[09:26] Yeah, how ironic down here. It's on the nature channel because it's totally natural to cheat down here So that polygraph guy told Eddie and I that it was the easiest thing in the world to catch a guy cheating on his wife All they have to do is know the guy's car because remember these are upscale Latins who hire these agencies So all of them do have cars then stake out the nearest two or three auto hotels and film the guy when he's driving in Because Latins know auto hotels are built for a certain clientele Which is why those hotel managers never expect a gringo is gonna pop in with his wife and three kids So for gringos, is it definitely a no-no? Well, if you're in a place, you don't know when you're totally wiped out from driving at the end of the day It is an option But don't bother checking the trip advisor because these places are not listed. So then what have they got going for them?
[10:15] Well, they're cheap safe and secure, but don't walk on that carpet barefoot. That said well I think I'll quit while I'm ahead. So let's move on now If you remember in last week's show or maybe it was the one before we've had some questions pop up about yellow fever shots in South America because as it turns out so many of our listeners out there are very well educated and our anti vaccine They've done their research and know the story on vaccinations. That said two of my favorite expat wisdom seminar attendees I think they came down in 2013 they have chimed in on the subject to since their world travelers of sorts had just been to South America And can give us some up-to-date info on that yellow fever crap That said let me read this email and I'll paraphrase this a bit as usual
[11:02] It says dear Johnny about that so-called mandatory yellow fever vaccine. So many people are talking about according to the CDC Several South American countries require it now in the last five years. We've been to Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil Colombia Paraguay and Peru without being asked to show proof of vaccination upon entering even though they all Officially require it not to mention so do Ecuador Panama Venezuela Trinidad and Tobago and three other small South American countries now My better half Roberto says that when we flew from Colombia to El Salvador in Central America last year They asked us about the vaccine as we were leaving Colombia
[11:48] I assume that would have been at the airport then she goes on Roberto claimed we'd had them He said the proof was buried deep in his bag somewhere Really just a stall tactic and that was plenty good enough for the Colombians We didn't have to show it and we were passed right through But when we were attempting to leave Peru two months ago The airline would not give us our boarding passes without proof of the yellow fever vaccination It didn't matter that we'd only been in the highlands where yellow fever isn't present and the vaccine is not required at the airport They claimed that El Salvador our destination would insist that we have it now El Salvador's Not on the CDC's list and we've been there before without proof of that vaccine
[12:36] Showing them our previous El Salvador stamps in our passport didn't persuade them. It wasn't necessary We still needed it. So in our ekipa They finally gave us our boarding passes for the flight to Lima and said we'd need to check in again once we arrived So in Lima, it was the same story. No proof of vaccine No boarding pass So we went to a little health clinic tucked in the corner near the ticket encounters Paid about 14 bucks each and got our shots By the way, the nurse used individually wrapped disposable syringes and the vaccines were in single-use vials stored in a refrigerator Now the card they give you the proof of vaccine card includes the brand name, which was Pasteur and the lot number
[13:24] Now Roberto had no side effects, but my joints ached for about a day Then when we went back to the airline check-in counter The clerk was still reluctant to give us our boarding passes claiming that we needed to have had those shots More than 10 days before actually traveling So eventually she called a supervisor who assured her that it was okay to let us on that plane I should have taken a photo of the sign listing the prices at the airport clinic if I remember right the vaccine was The most expensive thing on the list now get this a simple medical exam would have cost about two bucks Unless you also needed it your blood pressure taken in which case it might have been around three bucks So there you have our recent experiences with the yellow fever vaccine signed
[14:11] Not a fan of vaccinations either Kiki, okay. So there you have it first hand. Like I said in a recent past show It's all very spotty and sometimes they'll nail you with it and sometimes they won't When by the way just a year ago, I was in Venezuela Aruba, Curaçao Colombia Panama Dominican Republic and a few other countries throughout North and South America and I never once was asked to show a Vaccination card myself and I thought for sure they'd try to do it to me in Venezuela since the government there kind of hates gringos You know you've seen the news. They do make it tough on gringos whenever they can now Don't get me wrong. The people in Venezuela. Absolutely love gringos I'm talking about the individuals you meet in Venezuela. They're very nice people. It's the government in Venezuela that has it in for gringos
[14:59] Thank you, Bush Clinton and mr. O vomit for that But when I was there last year, I had no such problem even in a DR or I understand Sometimes I'll ask you for that vaccination card Even though the Dominican Republic is not on the CDC's list So then you might ask and a lot of people do what are the risks of not having that vaccination and actually getting yellow fever? Well, like I said before in my 25 years of being in and around all throughout Latin America I've never met a single foreigner gringo expat traveler or for that matter Latin person who has had yellow fever or knows anyone that's had it but then again That's just me and I don't usually hang around places where there are lots of bugs and mosquitoes Although I've seen a great number of jungle ruins and stuff
[15:45] I'm not one to go hacking my way through jungles Indiana Jones style and when I am hanging around wide open spaces Especially around waters rivers lakes, etc at night, especially I'll hit myself up with some bug spray I know I know that's not good. That stuff's toxic But even down here at some of the big grocery stores You can find bug sprays that are actually touted as organic and made out of all natural ingredients Then again cyanides and all natural ingredients. So go figure in the famous words of a Catholic priest I once knew back in Chicago. I Poop you nut in fact down here in Latin America where you find gringos You'll always find health food and so-called organic stores and they'll have some version of an organic and natural bug repond
[16:32] And of course, there are all kinds of do-it-yourself formulas on the internet for said product, too Yes, I've tried a few myself, but they're never as good as high-powered DEET. They don't come close, you know DEET DEET the stuff that induces cancer causes birth defects and the occasional pinheaded offspring That will only qualify for reality shows and politics. I don't have to point out any examples to you guys I know that but where was I? Oh, yeah, though Some people living at sea level down here in Latin America say better deed than drone-sized mosquitoes with harpoon stingers But again when you're in my favorite place the alti plano, you just don't have that Mosquitoes are not very bothersome In fact, you could go weeks without one ever even landing on you except of course at night
[17:20] or if you're in the woods or near a body of water, but as far as the actual occurrence of yellow fever as Far as traveling gringos and expats are concerned. That means you it says right here in black and white in a recent Center for Disease Control report CDC from 1970 through 2011 a period of 41 years now a total of four fo you are that's four cases of yellow fever were reported in unvaccinated Travelers from the US and Europe who traveled to South America hell of an epidemic. Yeah, right Four and get this one of those four which is 25 percent of the total had been vaccinated
[18:06] Then it says the risk of acquiring yellow fever in South America is much lower than one might think Because the mosquitoes that transmit the virus between monkeys in the forest canopy in South America Do not often come in contact with humans Then finally this CDC report says the risk of acquiring yellow fever is difficult to predict because of variations in Ecologic determinants of viral transmission by saying that after about five tequilas variations in Ecologic determinants of viral transmission and you thought Barry White was dead now Where were we? Oh, yeah Then it says if you're traveling and you're worried about yellow fever You can go by the following guidelines for a two-week stay in a wooded canopy jungle environment
[18:55] the risk of illness and death due to yellow fever for an unvaccinated traveler visiting Endemic areas in South America are approximately five Infections for 100,000 people in a two-week exposure period. Okay, so that's what it says but I don't believe a word of it because you know South America has millions of visitors and travelers from the first world every year and As that earlier data from the CDC pointed out There were only four cases in 40 years of unvaccinated travelers from the US and Europe That would mean your chances of visiting South America and getting yellow fever would be one in well Millions, so then where did they get that five and one hundred thousand bit? I don't get it. It's so far off
[19:40] It's ridiculous. Can't these government ass wipes do fourth grade math? I guess not Oh and just one more thing about yellow fever and people who don't want to get that vaccine and they still want to travel Well on the CDC website it says this This is for people who refuse to take vaccines and want a waiver According to the US CDC website you can get a yellow fever vaccine waiver Which you can show officials in Bolivia and other South American countries. This is the quote Most countries will accept a medical waiver for persons with a medical reason for not receiving the vaccination You can do this by getting written waivers from foreign country consular or embassy officials before your departure Travelers should contact the appropriate embassy or consulate for advice typically a
[20:26] physicians letter stating the reason for withholding the vaccination and written on the letterhead stationary of that doctor is required by the embassy or consulate to issue a waiver the letter must bear the stamp used by a Health department or official immunization center to validate the international certificate of vaccination Okay, so if you want to go through all that fine, and I guarantee if you go to a holistic doctor He'll readily give you a waiver like that However, if it's your standard Oh vomit care doctor all bets are off. Okay, that said here's something that will certainly be of interest to you I'm reading this now from a Latin American news source in Spanish. I'll translate this should make you feel really good or not now
[21:12] Concerning gun violence in Latin America. You probably heard a lot about it, especially in Mexico Not to mention you've probably read that Honduras El Salvador in Guatemala have horrendously high levels of gun violence Well, listen to these statistics according to police and hospital emergency room records when investigators studied 4050 gunshot wound victims that presented themselves at emergency room hospitals in Latin America whether they lived or died is not the issue as it turns out fully 83% of gunshot wound victims presenting in hospital emergency rooms 83% were either admitted gang members or had previous felony police records
[21:57] And we're not talking running red lights or jaywalking here because down here in Latin America Those are pretty much not considered crimes So then what does that say about violent crimes with guns in Latin America? The other 17% who you might say were innocent victims or not That is they did not have criminal records or we're not members of gangs those in fact are the real Statistics we should be focusing on when it comes to gringos and expats and gonna bees and wannabes Simply stated down here in Central America at least 83% of the time when there's a crime and someone gets shot. It's bad guys shooting bad guys And as I stated in previous shows 90% of the time violent crimes committed in Latin America are in certain high crime Neighborhoods gringos should stay well away from and we do know those spots
[22:46] Pick any city in Latin America all you have to do is ask a cab driver a Hotel captain or the guy behind the Hertz or Ava's rent a car booth at the airport he or she'll tell you Exactly which sections of town to stay out of and which ones are safe now said about that. Okay on another subject Here's something you have to look out for seems like just in the last maybe six months certain big gringo Franchises down here and there are thousands of them and some big progressive Latin companies have caught onto the fact that Latins are very easy touches for giving up all their personal information to anyone that's taller whiter Official looking in a uniform authoritative or dressed in a three-piece suit So then what do I mean by that? Well reports have been trickling in from long-term expats telling me that nowadays when they go into for example
[23:38] Sherwin-Williams or Toyota or Starbucks or McDonald's or any big outfit that takes credit cars Oftentimes when one does pay with a credit card these days They ask you for another form of ID and your phone number Latins always give that stuff up though smart gringo expats try to get around it anyway one gringo friend of mine told me that when he paid for some paint at Sherwin-Williams and When he went into Toyota just to get a replacement part a new filter for his air circulation system You know what I'm talking about the one you're supposed to change. It's behind your glove compartment Most people don't even know it's there and never change it But you should especially in Latin America because those things get filthy, but that's another subject anyway He told me just last week that he's now
[24:23] Starting to get text messages on his smartphone from Sherwin-Williams in Toyota telling him about the latest and greatest deals They're offering. Well, he's really pissed off. He does not want that garbage So he's become kind of like me and many other expats. He's decided to pay everything he can with cash I guess it's just the reverse up in the states paying with cash is getting harder and harder I hear now up in the states many places are requiring you to produce an ID to pay in cash How does that happen to you? Anyway up in the states if you give out your phone number because you're paying with a credit card Do you all of a sudden get all kinds of crazy text messages? Well down here it's happening and it's very annoying So be aware that you can take some countermeasures if they ask for it. Don't say no just give them someone else's use
[25:13] Disinformation anytime you can don't give out your personal information to anyone not to businesses or people you don't know I'm a person who's gonna attend my expect wisdom seminar July 11. He says Johnny. What's wrong with people? What are they waiting for? Why aren't they leaving the US? Don't people care aren't they paying attention? Did you know that in my state? There's a law going into effect shortly that in my state will be prohibited from using wood in our Fireplaces and even buying a wood-burning stove I know already in a lot of states out West you can't even collect your own water. It's outlawed What about all those states with mandatory vaccinations?
[25:59] And now I understand some of the big power company lobbyists are saying they're gonna push for get this and off the grid tax In other words, if you go off the grid get your own solar set up You'll pay an extra yearly tax for the privilege of being self-sufficient But you know in a kind of a twisted way It's that tiny percentage of enlightened people that will vote with their feet that I want to hang with That means when I do finally leave I won't be elbow to asshole with a bunch of mindless stupid drones for neighbors like the ones I'm looking out the window at right now So let them all stay in Fayetteville or Cleveland wherever and when the next big poop blizzard comes They'll be the ones without water to clean it off. See you in a few days. Can't wait
[26:46] Yep, Roy's got the right idea. And like he says when the next poop blizzard hits, what's your plan B? Well, I know you listeners out there are at least Contemplating a plan B or you wouldn't be tuned in to me in the alternative media But as for everyone else, maybe Roy's right We really don't want to have a bunch of brain dead pinhead gringo neighbors now, do we? Oh and one more thing This show is going out right before my latest Latin American seminar Or maybe even going out during or after the seminar depends on how you're downloading the show Anyway, don't forget anyone who's interested in going to Southeast Asia to experience Richard Martin's seminar in Penang Just send him an email RM at GFA WD calm. That's RM at GFA WD calm
[27:32] south of the border Down magical 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 expat wisdom calm To sign up for your free reports on Latin America. See you next time nos vemos