Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller explores the unique experiences of expats living in Latin America, highlighting the cultural and practical differences they encounter. He discusses the prevalence of Chinese-made SUVs and other vehicles that are clones of popular models, noting their affordability and popularity in the region. Johnny also touches on the differences in safety standards and the use of gas-powered weed whackers over lawnmowers due to the fast-growing vegetation in the region. He shares personal anecdotes and observations about the local lifestyle and the challenges expats face.
Johnny reflects on the historical use of manual push lawnmowers in the 60s and 70s, the challenges of maintaining them, and the prevalence of weed whackers in the region. He contrasts this with the typical American approach to lawn care, noting the differences in climate and maintenance habits. Johnny also discusses the popularity of Chinese and Indian SUVs in Latin America, highlighting their affordability, lack of import taxes, and the absence of safety features like airbags in some models. He concludes with a mention of the rarity of hybrid vehicles like the Toyota Prius in the region due to a lack of parts and expertise.
Johnny delves into the quality and reliability of Chinese and Indian cars, particularly SUVs and pickups, in the context of Latin America and Australia. He highlights that while these cars are often marketed with misleading claims about their engineering and design, they generally lack the quality and attention to detail seen in first-world vehicles. He references a 2016 Car and Driver review of the Mahindra XUV 500, which criticized the car for poor fit-and-finish, uncomfortable seats, and subpar performance. Johnny draws parallels between these vehicles and the early Japanese cars of the 1960s and 70s, which faced similar criticism but eventually improved. He warns about the risks of buying Chinese cars, especially in countries with lax regulations, and notes that many models have disappeared from the market, leaving owners with 'orphan' cars that are difficult to maintain.
Johnny discusses the peculiarities of Chinese cars in Australia and the cultural dynamics of Latin American communities. He highlights the prevalence of broken appliances in upscale Latin neighborhoods due to poor maintenance and the influence of neighbors on purchasing decisions. He then shifts to a critique of Latin American healthcare systems, citing a public hospital audit that reveals widespread corruption, including inflated costs for basic supplies and a high percentage of ghost jobs. Johnny concludes by emphasizing the entrenched nature of political patronage in these systems and the lack of accountability.
Finally, Johnny shares his experiences of the Latin American tour of classic rock bands, highlighting the opportunity for expats and rock enthusiasts to experience these performances in various countries. He mentions the tour dates, the cultural phenomenon of Latin Americans embracing classic rock, and the potential for expats to feel like celebrities due to the low number of gringos in the audience. Johnny also shares anecdotes about the experience of attending these concerts and the unexpected cultural observations, such as a gringo tattoo artist in a Salvadoran prison.
Topics
Expats in Latin America, Cultural observations, Vehicle clones in Latin America, Safety standards and product availability, Lawn care practices in Latin America, Lawn care in Latin America, Vehicle ownership and maintenance in Latin America, Cultural differences in lawn and vehicle care, Affordability and availability of Chinese and Indian SUVs in Latin America, Quality of Chinese and Indian cars, Marketing claims vs. reality, Car reviews and reliability
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:06 Expats and the Gringo Advantage 00:00:14 The Expat Experience in Latin America 00:00:20 The Mix of Experiences in Latin America 00:00:26 Introduction to the Segment 00:00:32 Quick Observations from Expats 00:00:34 The Gringo Advantage and Blind Spots 00:00:40 The Blind Spots of Expats 00:05:54 The History of Manual Lawnmowers in the 60s and 70s 00:06:51 Why Lawnmowers Are Less Common in Latin America 00:09:22 The Rise of Chinese and Indian SUVs in Latin America 00:12:04 Importance of Airbags in New Cars 00:12:16 Questions About the Quality of Chinese and Indian Cars 00:13:26 Lack of Regulation in Latin America 00:13:38 Review of the Mahindra XUV 500 00:16:14 Comparison to Early Japanese Cars 00:17:50 Orphan Cars and Parts Availability 00:19:19 Upscale Latin Communities and Their Appliances 00:20:58 Corruption in Latin American Healthcare Systems 00:23:52 Introduction to the Latin American Tour of Classic Rock Bands 00:24:09 Opportunity for Rock Enthusiasts in Latin America 00:24:52 Johnny's Personal Experience with Concert Attendance 00:26:49 Unexpected Cultural Observations in a Salvadoran Prison
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, just a couple of quick things here Gringos who come down here and get their boots on the ground for a while start noticing things that they never noticed before Though it takes a while. It's as if for the first six months to a year We have blinders on a good example of this is how so many Gringos never even realized they have the so-called
[00:52] Gringo advantage till someone points out a certain situation to him a case where it could be nothing But the fact that some odd thing happened because you were a gringo Then after you pick up on it, you start noticing it all the time Like for example suppose you bought a green Honda then all of a sudden for the rest of the next couple of months You see a lot of green Honda's around don't you something you never really noticed before until you bought one yourself Now speaking of cars down here in Latin America soon enough a lot of fresh green gringos start noticing a lot of SUV Pick up trucks and cars that they know aren't the usual suspects. You can buy up in the states They see a lot of makes and models that they've never seen before but by the lettering in the way They're pronounced they must be coming from India and China yet in a way
[01:39] They look so familiar some of them from a distance even up close look just like those Kia Sportages and Sorrento's others are copies and near clones of Toyota raves Honda pilots High on day two sons in Santa Fe's by the way down here Latin's call high on day two sons Took sons almost like to con and they call a Kia Sportage Sportage and they call high on day Santa Fe's. Well, they're closer with that when they say Santa Fe So next time you're up in Arizona and someone says I'm going to Tucson Yeah, I can bet they were probably born in Latin America Anyway, when you're in Latin America, especially in the big Latin America cities You will see a lot of SUVs in the high-end parts of town along with the pretentious Latin jerks that owned them and their bodyguards
[02:26] Etc. But again, if you're in a parking lot and up close and personal to a brand new SUV You just might see it's a funky name. You've never seen like Sun young China Mahindra or any but dozen more mostly Chinese names and believe me It's true. These things are almost perfect clones of the usual suspect SUVs You see up in the states though, the Chinese haven't cloned a Mercedes or an Audi or a BMW SUV yet, I understand they're coming probably next year But as is with the nature of clones, there are always some deficiencies and details that just aren't perfect And since Latin society never was big on details Anyway, that doesn't seem to matter. All that really does matter is that they're vastly cheaper than the models They're intending to clone. For example, looking at one right now in the newspaper. It's called a chain gang
[03:15] Sounds like chain gang, huh? Anyway, it's brand new and looks just like a Kia Sportage And the price tag brand new now with a three-year unlimited warranty Exactly 15 grand US at the Kia dealership You can buy a brand new Sportage for around 22 grand and the brand new high on date Dukes on for around 22 grand now, of course, you're not gonna see these Chinese brands in the US. Why? Like those three wheel tuk-tucks. I mentioned in a past show. They just won't pass US safety standards Oh, by the way, speaking of cars motors and safety standards I've been down 27 plus years now and I think I've seen three gas lawnmowers I mean actually being pushed around and in use and It's not that you don't see them on sale at certain first world franchise stores that have landed here like Sears Costco or Ace Hardware
[04:07] You almost always see one on the display for but no one's buying why because you hire a machete wielding gardener for 10 or 15 bucks a day and he cuts the shrubs trims the trees does the gardening and yes Cuts the grass with that machete. That's right And if you're watching this on YouTube right now, you'll see a guy doing just that. So you'll see almost no lawnmowers However, you'll see lots and lots of those gas weed whackers those have become very popular down here So why weed whackers and not lawnmowers? Well because the grass and the brush grow so fast and thick that lawnmowers Just can't get through it unless you're keeping up with it every couple of days like they do on golf courses But as for the regular guy living on a private lot or a gated guarded community or whatever forget about having a lawnmower
[04:53] So please don't ship your lawnmower or riding mower down unless it's a sentimental old relic or antique from grandpa Let me put it this way you guys out there know what it was like At least you guys who cut lawns as a kid I doubt too many you gringo ladies out there everyone in for any of that was always a boy kid thing to do I'm talking about old-school 60s and 70 lawn cutting kid jobs I guess those became the jobs that Americans no longer wanted to do and were displaced by illegal aliens. Hmm Though some of us moved on to paperouts and others just dipped into grandma's purse when she wasn't looking I know I did I don't mean dipping into grandma's purse that singular honor or I should say dishonor Went to my buddy Paul whose grandma was always leaving her purse around
[05:38] But we'll save that story for another day now when I was a kid I made my dough somewhat the honest way by cutting lawns around the neighborhood, too And I hated it But it was two or three bucks earned the honest way worse yet. I had a couple of customers who were purists now again I'm showing my age here when I say there was a time back in the 60s and 70s when Scott's push lawnmowers You know ones without motors were all the rage especially in high-end neighborhoods those expensive Scott's manual pushmores were considered an Elegant man's way to trim a lawn on a Saturday morning. Yes. He'd even dressed the part of a genteel country squire However, after the elegant man that bought that more tried it and sweated his ass off after about three minutes He died a dopey kid like me to do it now if in your past life up in Cleveland or Seattle
[06:25] Whatever if you ever used a lawnmower whether manual push gas or electric Yes, there once were electric ones too with extremely long stupid cords ruined a few of those myself ran over the cord What else anyway those of you who've done so you know that if you don't cut a lawn in two or three weeks up In the states even a powerful gas lawnmower a clog up install sending out big wet clumps of matted organic junk Well, that's the major reason why people don't have lawnmowers down here in Latin America since they've got no frost or snow the grass just keeps growing like crazy four times as fast and as thick as your grass and brush grows in the states not to mention the Sun is much stronger plants get more rain and Do realize that down here most of us are really living in the tamed jungle
[07:13] Which is why you have to keep at it or it'll tame you and that stuff just eats up and ruins lawnmowers But weed whackers will they're generally used you can put them into service anywhere However, since latin's don't know the first thing about maintenance or they just don't care Mostly because it was someone else meaning the boss who bought the weed whacker Then most of those things routinely end up in the shop after a couple of months of use and they really take a beating down here because things go fast and thick so who's buying all those weed whackers that are in The shop all the time why it's local governments Of course who have guys out whacking weeds in the boulevards and stuff taxpayer dollars down the toilet as usual though Latins are diehard gringo wannabes and many have tested the weed whacker waters Well every upper class and wealthy guy I've ever spoken to about yard work has told me he's had a weed whacker or two
[08:03] And they always just end up breaking been repaired so many times They just give up on him So in effect the gardener always ends up breaking his new toy Just like the cleaning lady or maid always ends up destroying the dishwasher as well as the electric or gas dryer if you have one Now I know some upper middle class and wealthy ladies who do have gas or electric dryers And they've gotten to the point where they tell their cleaning ladies or maids Hey, listen, you wash the clothes, but don't put them in the dryer I'll do that and you know upper middle class and wealthy families are switching to dryers slowly But surely because they feel a little funny that they're betting lingerie and Unmentionables are flapping in the breeze for all the neighbors to see to them That's low-class and gauche but to us gringos and expats well
[08:50] Nothing like the smell and feel of clothes that have been dried out in the air and Sun When's the last time you had that experience, but I digress as usual. Where were we? Oh, yeah talking about Chinese SUVs that have invaded Latin America and it really doesn't matter if the SUVs any good or not If it's rated the best or even worst in class because Latins don't care about those things They don't even bother to check or read up on just what people say is often the second biggest purchase of their lives As long as you got one sitting in your driveway the newer the shinier the better Which is why SUVs from China and India are making a big mark here in Latin America Not to mention zero money down. In fact cash back offers have hit down here now, too, and that's a first oh, by the way, the prices I quoted are for buying those cars in most of
[09:37] Central America and note in South America often those prices could be double Especially in Brazil and Argentina in other South American countries like Colombia. There's about a 35% import tax on new cars So in the end you'll find cars in Central America much cheaper than they are in South America By the way, the prices I quoted earlier include the VAT tax that would be equivalent to your state taxes up in the US So bottom line you could buy a Chinese or Indian SUV They'll run about two-thirds to three quarters of the price of the equivalent clone the low-end SUV models You're used to buying up in the states. However, you won't find those clones up in the states for one simple reason They won't pass US EPA and safety tests
[10:24] For example, the Chang'an SUV. I mentioned that's a 15,000 bucks complete that Kia Sportage clone That 15k price tag does not come with airbags. Yes, they do sell cars down here without airbags Those are options and as for me, I kind of think airbags at least in the front are necessary So I'm looking at the air here. It says they sell version one. That's the cheap version 15 grand It's called the comfort version and that would be in Spanish the version comfort and they don't spell comfort With an M. They call it C-O-N-F-O-R-T comfort And it says this version has ABS brakes and sensors when you go in reverse and it has Luxury wheel rims and a rear seat for the baby Oh and for all you green vehicle lovers in case you want to know on my 27 years down here
[11:11] I've only seen three Toyota Prius vehicles Nope, you can't give them away down here because no one's got parts and no one outside the Toyota dealership knows how to fix them But before I so rudely interrupted myself, where were we? Oh, yeah, we're talking about the new Changgan SUV, hope I pronounced that right for all you Chinese listeners out there now the fully equipped version which runs around 18 grand complete That would be tax included that model comes with leather front seats. So then what about the back seats? Well, it doesn't say and it says it's got a sunroof and four airbags So there you have it you buy the version with fully keep boy That would be full equipment and you get airbags And by the way, even if you buy a brand new car pickup truck
[11:57] Whatever of a well-known brand like Ford or Honda or Toyota You can buy the basic stripped-down models without airbags And like I said, if you're buying a brand new car, you want to have airbags at least in the front anyway So do ask because Latins don't and by now I'm sure some of you are thinking well Are these cars any good these Chinese and Indian cars like the Mahindra or Sanyang? Well, I can tell you this when you see the ads on billboards and such for these cars They always seem to stress or stretch two points because they can get away with it They say number one the motor or transmission or drivetrain Whatever has been engineered not by Chinese but by some first world design team from Germany The US Japan any place but China hmm
[12:45] And secondly, they always seem to claim it's been stylized or designed by a firm That's located in a first world country. That's very stylish like France or Italy again. They never mentioned China Hmm. So can you believe that stuff? Well, maybe maybe part of the transmission or drivetrain was engineered in Germany or the US or maybe it was the gas cap or ashtray Who knows maybe they hired an Italian guy to design the interior who knows? But remember those no proof-or-truth and advertising here in Latin America You can pretty much see what you want and get away with it as well as you can in China I'm sure at least when it comes to products that are for export because in short nobody checks those things as for Latin American Countries, they don't have an EPA that's measuring tailpipe exhaust or doing crash tests. Nothing like that
[13:32] So for anyone who's curious as to what it's really like to get into the cab of one of these Indian or Chinese Suv clones. Here's a recent 2016 car and driver review from a well-known Automotive magazine and internet site called drive calm listen to this guy He says when climbing into the Mahindra SUV model XUV 500. It's like a blast from the past It's got mismatched plastics dated designs and would look plastic. That's as fake as we've ever seen There are also some shiny surfaces, which in the wrong light or in a tunnel can reflect annoyingly towards the eyes of the driver overall the fit-and-finish on both the exterior and Interior is poor at best with bits of plastic not lining up properly and some oversized gaps where there should be none
[14:25] And it doesn't take much to push and prod a few of the plastic components to elicit an annoying creek or two Then he says in an era when even budget well-known brands have managed to sharpen their interior presentations the Mahindra Style cars and trucks look and feel cheap and some things just don't work Not at all or at least not how they're supposed to work opening the upper glove box for example sometimes takes a couple of pokes and hits and If you strike the button just right it'll come open while the seat controllers are clunky in short the overall Integrity of this brand is not great and the seats themselves uncomfortable and flat Then he says it's a shame because Mahindra has the right idea on some fronts, but the execution is appalling
[15:14] Oh, and how about this he says also the Mahindra manages to thunder Unceremoniously into bumps and generally lumbers and wallows about the road. It's very inelegant and an awfully uncomfortable way to get around and Finally he says for the verdict any amount of excessive glitzy techno equipment can't make up for the lack of detail and attention to the basics and This car and the Mahindras in general have plenty of the latter He finishes by saying my verdict substandard driving dynamics poor attention to detail and gruff Underwhelming engines combined with less than stellar performance should take any Mahindra off the discriminating buyers Shopping list Wow that makes me want to go down and buy one right away. How about you?
[16:03] Okay, so that's what most all first world car reviewers are saying about these vehicles by the way I can't help but be reminded of the parallels between these Chinese and Indian vehicles today Versus the Japanese vehicles that started trickling into the states back in the 1960s and 70s They were getting crushed by the same type of critical reviews saying they were poorly designed tinny ugly rust buckets Yes, I remember those first Datsun's Honda's and Toyota's and Nissan's well Yeah, they were crap All right at first but boy it didn't take long for the whole thing to change if you were around back then you didn't notice That by the mid 80s, they were winning car of the year awards took the Japanese around 10 years But they really pulled it off. Meanwhile, they killed heavy-metal Detroit in the process
[16:50] So the Chinese and Indian manufacturers are still climbing up that learning curve as the Japanese did 35 years ago, by the way an Australian expat I know says he recognizes quite a few of the Chinese SUV brands he sees down here though He gave another word of warning these cars show up in Australia first It's very close to China and he says because the Australian government has very loose pollution laws, etc Many of the cars that would never pass US CPA regulations enter Australia with no problem at all But he warned that he's seen at least five Chinese car brands SUVs and pickups come and go in the last few years He was living down under and he said that makes it very difficult if something goes wrong with your car
[17:36] He had friends who bought Chinese cars and were pretty much satisfied overall Except when the dealers went out of business or dropped the model line. Why because they just didn't sell many of them So as a result many people bought an orphan Which is why you see so many oddly named Chinese cars for sale in the Australian newspapers and Australian version of the internet By the way, he said you can probably get all the parts from China if you can speak Mandarin or Chinese Good luck with that, huh? But where were we? Oh, yeah back to that article where the reviewers said the Mahindra should be scratched off any Discriminating car buyers list because you see that word Discriminating says volumes. It's funny because you see no matter how much money a Latin person has he's definitely not a
[18:24] Discriminating buyer. However, you might not notice that until you've been down here a while had some boots on the ground Learned a little Spanish and have met a few upscale Latin friends who you'd think would be a little discriminating with their money Well, they're not like I said in past shows. Latins don't buy what reviewers and critics say our best They buy what their neighbors are buying or what they think Latin people Conde Nero are buying Conde Nero means with money In fact, I can't tell you how many times I've heard a Latin person describe another Latin person as a person Conde Nero Conde Nero meaning with money it seems to slip out of the mouths of Latin people all the time and it always colors the Conversation by making that person seem more important than they really are
[19:10] Hey, guess what? So-and-so the one with money just bought you get the idea now up in the States Gringos might be thinking that way, but they sure don't say it out loud But lands do which is why getting back to what we were talking about before if you're in an upscale gated guarded community you'll see that there's a broken weed whacker stuffed in almost every Latin person's garage a Dishwasher in the kitchen that doesn't work anymore and a vacuum cleaner in the closet somewhere whose motor has long since burnt out Because the maid or cleaning lady either never changed the bag She didn't even know it had one to change or she tried to use it to suck up some water dog poop vomit or worse So then how did all those upscale Latins in your community end up accumulating all that first world junk that once worked fine
[19:56] Well, it all starts something like this one day in that upscale development some Latin neighbor who's seen a weed whacker on a u.s. Cable TV show or spotted some gardener using one in a high-class development He sees they're now stocking them at Costco buys one for his gardener who gets a couple of good months out of it And soon enough the neighbors hear the racket saw that he was using this new contraption And they just have to have one too and because of harsh conditions and lack of maintenance soon enough It's back and forth to the repair shop and the gardener gives up on it and goes back to his machete And it ends up with the cobwebs and the spiders in the corner of the garage along with the ad master and the melted power Juicer that the maid packed with coffee beans because she thought it could grind them So for the gardener it's back to the tried-and-true machete and for the family back to instant coffee
[20:47] Yuck. Alright now I'd like to read from an article in Spanish. I'll translate here It says why are Latin American national health care systems so crappy? It says they're well funded they get plenty of money from their own governments from the World Bank and the United Nations and such Plus continuous donations from charity and do-gooder groups yet. There are shortages of everything Disposables medicines you name it well this article goes on to say that governments Just don't do any audits not at all and when private organizations come in to help and offer that help money Supplies, etc on condition that they get to do their own audits government hospital officials actually refuse They don't want to get audited Hmm sound familiar like maybe when Ron Paul got stonewalled when he wanted to audit the Fed
[21:35] However on the rare occasion audits do happen at government institutions in Latin America And here's the results of one such public hospital audit it was discovered that out of a hundred and eighty two hospital employees a 104 of them about fifty eight percent of them were wives husbands daughters brothers Uncles, aunts cousins and in-laws of the very same family and of those hundred eighty two employees 47 of them what's that more than 25% were plazas Fantasmas that would be ghost jobs jobs that exist but no one actually goes to work though someone collects a paycheck Oh, and by the way, this is a fairly new hospital So they went over the construction records of the hospital and here's what they found the 59 toilets
[22:24] They bought that would cost around $50 each at a local hardware store We're bought through a politically connected contracting company for $500 each a cool thousand percent markup and a hundred and seven doors made out of press wood That's MDF. That would be real cheap crap. We're bought at around $550 each and at the local hardware store right down the street the same doors cost $60 another nearly 1000% markup hmm sounds a lot like a purchase order for a $500 toilet seat for the US Defense Department You might remember that from the Grace Commission report in Reagan's day So then after this corrosive public hospital audit, what's gonna change?
[23:11] Absolutely nothing as one employee set off the record nothing will happen because almost all of these hospital jobs are patronage jobs They always go to the helpers and sympathizers of a particular political party So we can say in some instances anyway that lands have achieved some of their first-world objectives quite admirably and They confirm over and over again government workers and government contractors are nothing but big slimy Malignant pus bags and I do mean that in the most heartfelt Christian way while I'm at it on the same page of this newspaper There's a big ad for you'll never guess guns and roses with the overweight and oversensitive Axle rose himself So if you've got boots on the ground down here, you can catch their Latin American tour
[23:57] Starting on the 27th October in Peru working their way around Brazil where they're gonna do five cities and then Argentina Chile Colombia and on through Central America ending on the 26th of November in Costa Rica So for all of you 80s and 90s rockophiles and hairband affixianatas if you don't think there's anything to do here in Latin America Well think again. Yes, the lag time effect for classic rock has kicked in You'll no longer have to hang out at the oldies stage at the Ohio State Fair You can see old axle rolls and the other Gandalf's of rock in pretty much any large Latin American city near you Only problem is for you discriminating rockers out there If you go to see one of your favorite US dinosaur rock bands You have to get over the fact that all the Latin folks around you are tremendous gringo wannabes
[24:42] They'll all be wearing first world clothes first world t-shirts and singing along to all the oldie moldy hits in English with bad Spanish accents By the way I find it difficult to attend those concerts myself because Latin's just love to sing along to every single song at high volume Too and what are you there for to hear the original group sing and perform it the way it's supposed to be done You're not there to see some neo-gothic Spanish dweeb with a spiked hairdo sing his version of Mark Knopfler's walk of life or Clapton's Layla or how about the wall by Pink Floyd worse yet McCartney's live and let die How'd you like to hear that in a bad Spanish accent at the time? That was so wrong. The guy really needed to get tased sadly
[25:28] I didn't have one on me at the time by the way It never fails guys and groups of guys like that always end up sitting next to me However, if you can put up with the audience, there are some very distinct advantages for gringos who attend concerts in Latin America You'll find that 95% of the places that these former super groups will be touring are Way off the gringo tourist trail and that's a very good thing because chances are there will be so few gringos In the audience, you just might be taken for a celebrity gringo yourself. Don't laugh I've seen it happen and if it happens to you just roll with it And if they ask who you are, tell them you're Ted Nugent or meatloaf on a diet Whatever works for you better yet If you want to see old axle rose up close and bulbous Photoshop yourself an international press ID a press pass and work your way backstage
[26:18] Expat Eddie got away with it at both a Jethro tell and an Aerosmith concert And finally the other day I had one of the biggest laughs. I think I had in a long long time I was watching the nightly news Latin American nightly news in Spanish, of course, and they were showing a prison in El Salvador And the camera crew went to a certain spot in the prison where people were lined up to get prison tats And what did you know it the guy doing the tats was a 40 something blonde haired gringo This guy was a real artist turns out he explained in Spanish, of course He was one of three gringos in the place to infer big-time drug charges and he was in for killing his girlfriend And he said nearly 100% of his client base. Yeah, right his client base Wanted tattoos in English turns out even Latin gang members and convicts are gringo wannabes
[27:08] How about that and he had in the back wall some photos and illustrations of some of the weirdest and best tats that he'd done Then he said no the huge mean-looking muscular guy to come over In fact, he was missing a finger and part of his ear too on his back was the terminator and on the front of his chest Get this it said world's greatest mom Not kidding who's gonna argue with that? 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 if you want me to help you sort out your own Latin American plans schedule a one-on-one consult with me Just send an email and let me know at the expat files at gmail.com. No spamos