Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller dives into the practical challenges expats face in Latin America, covering a range of topics from phone service providers to privacy and real estate strategies. He begins by introducing the podcast and discussing the major phone service providers in the region: Claro, Tigo, and Movistar. Johnny highlights the strengths of each provider, such as Claro's coverage in cities and Tigo's better rural service, while noting Movistar's popularity among lower-income groups due to its affordable rates. He also recommends dual SIM phones as a way for expats to take advantage of cheaper rates and free calls within the same service provider.
The segment then shifts to an email from an expat named the Altiplano Drifter, who is struggling with a dead phone and the need for a new SIM card or phone without revealing his identity. Johnny offers advice on maintaining anonymity and privacy while living in Latin America, emphasizing the importance of planning ahead to avoid a digital footprint. He discusses the challenges expats face when trying to activate a phone or SIM card, noting that large corporate offices often require a passport or DPI (national ID) for verification, while small kiosks typically do not. Johnny explains that expats can bypass these requirements by using a simple hack—inputting a random 13-digit number as a DPI code, which activates the phone without needing a passport. He also mentions that some kiosk owners may unknowingly assist expats by entering their own DPI numbers.
Johnny further advises expats to carry a photoshopped copy of their passport for situations where a passport might be required, such as hotel check-ins, while being cautious about sharing real passport information with commercial entities. He then discusses strategies for expats and gringos to protect their personal information and privacy while living abroad. He highlights the importance of minimizing the exposure of personal data, such as names and addresses, and suggests various methods to achieve this, including using copies and encrypted backups of important documents. Johnny recommends using secure email services like Proton Mail and Start Mail to create alias emails and avoid spam. He also emphasizes the importance of using a lawyer's address for official documents and services that require a real address.
In a more critical tone, Johnny critiques the mindset of expats and gringos living in Latin America, particularly those who are influenced by mainstream media and social programs. He expresses frustration with the lack of understanding about privacy and government overreach among certain groups, such as public school teachers and retired government workers. He also discusses the real estate market, highlighting the overbuilding of high-end properties and the affordability of constructing a first-world-style home for expats. Johnny suggests that many expats are drawn to the idea of building their own homes but face challenges due to high land prices in desirable areas.
He then shifts to a discussion on the challenges faced by Latin developers who build high-end projects, highlighting the difficulty in selling such properties and the financial burden of maintaining them. In contrast, developers with raw, unimproved land benefit from low property taxes and minimal maintenance needs, allowing them to hold onto their land at high prices for years. Johnny explains how proximity to major highways like the Pan-American highway significantly affects land prices, with land closer to the highway commanding much higher prices. He provides a real-life example of a gringo friend who purchased a wooded lot at a reasonable price, far from the highway, and emphasizes the importance of visiting sites in person to find good deals and ensure construction quality.
The segment concludes with Johnny discussing the working conditions and attitudes of laborers in Latin America, particularly focusing on construction workers. He highlights the use of makeshift ladders made from two-by-fours, which are more durable and cost-effective than commercial ladders. Johnny also addresses the lack of safety measures and insurance for workers, contrasting their contentment with work to the dissatisfaction of first-world workers. He then shifts to a conversation with a Latin American psychologist, who notes that job dissatisfaction is less common in the region, suggesting a cultural difference in job satisfaction and contentment. The segment ends with an invitation to an expat seminar in Guatemala, emphasizing the unique experiences available there.
Finally, Johnny promotes his seminar and related services, encouraging listeners to sign up for early bird discounts and a free one-hour Skype or phone consultation. He emphasizes the value of the seminar as a 'greatest boots on the ground expat experience possible' and highlights the benefits of getting a head start on a plan B. He also invites listeners to download a free plan B questionnaire and sign up for his Expat Essentials course.
Topics
Expat experiences in Latin America, Phone service providers in Latin America, Privacy and anonymity for expats, Dual SIM phone usage, Digital footprint and online privacy, Phone activation in Latin America, Expats and passport requirements, Kiosks vs. corporate offices, Data privacy and personal information, Photoshopped passports for expats, Privacy and security for expats, Identity theft prevention
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:06 Johnny Mueller's Introduction and Overview of the Podcast's Content 00:00:11 Discussion of Phone Service Providers in Latin America 00:00:14 Explanation of Dual SIM Phones and Their Benefits for Expats 00:00:16 Email from the Altiplano Drifter and His Struggles with Phone Service 00:00:20 Advice on Maintaining Privacy and Anonymity for Expats 00:05:49 The Passport Requirement and Its Workarounds 00:07:57 The Hack: Using a Random 13-Digit Number 00:08:50 Photoshopped Passports for Expats 00:09:43 The Passport Name Game 00:10:17 Avoiding Data Harvesting 00:11:34 Encrypted Backups and Secure Communication 00:13:51 The Mainstream Media Fantasy and Expats' Mindset 00:15:15 Affordability of First-World-Style Homes for Expats 00:16:15 The Real Estate Bubble in Latin America 00:18:04 Challenges of High-End Development in Latin America 00:18:27 Advantages of Raw Land Development 00:19:06 Impact of Proximity to Major Highways on Land Prices 00:19:54 Real-Life Example of a Successful Land Purchase 00:20:45 Importance of Oversight in Construction Projects 00:22:08 The Use of Homemade Ladders in Construction Work 00:23:13 Safety Concerns and Lack of Insurance for Workers 00:24:18 Cultural Differences in Job Satisfaction and Contentment 00:26:26 Invitation to an Expat Seminar in Guatemala 00:26:50 Call to Action for Seminar Sign-Up 00:27:09 Free Consultation Offer 00:27:52 Expat Essentials Course Promotion
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 out to play And now as I wander 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 Alright, let's start out with an email from none other than the Altiplano Drifter himself Yeah, he's drifting up here in Central America in the Altiplano As advertised, he's a repeat offender at my Expat Insider Seminars Decided to supercharge his Plan B and now he's living down here for good
[00:48] And he sends me this email He says, dear Johnny, the telephone I got at your seminar just died It bit the dust Alright, Johnny here again, you know me, I have to comment here and there and set up the context of these emails Whether it's necessary or not Anyway, he talks about the phone he got at the seminar You know, everybody who comes to my Expat Insider Seminars gets a free burner cell phone Now, there's a variety of telephone and internet companies to choose from At least lately we've been buying phones from Fatboy Carlos Simms phone company Claro, C-L-A-R-O Why? Because they've got the best coverage in cities here in Latin America The other, neck and neck competitor, T-GO, also with phone service in every Latin country And some European countries too, runs neck and neck with Claro
[01:34] But T-GO phone service has a little bit better coverage If you live slightly outside the city or in the Bonies Because they have more cell tower coverage out in the sticks than Claro Then there's a third, ubiquitous, also ran phone company throughout Latin America called Movistar There are a few more too, but those are the big three And Movistar, telephone and IT service, as M-O-V-I-S-T-A-R Seems to be the choice of lower middle class and poor people throughout Latin America Because it's got the cheapest rate per minute phone calls And offers the best deals on free minutes when they're running a special By the way, all the phone service providers down here have free minute specials That they run once or twice a week That would be two, three, four, five, even six times your minutes for the usual price
[02:20] And Movistar has the best deals And naturally, with the lower middle class and poor people, it's all about the money So that's why you'll see the shoeshine boy and the lady carrying the tortillas on her head Carrying a phone with a Movistar SIM chip in it Oh, and by the way, I did mention this some time ago But you have to know that the newest rage here in Latin America Especially with the middle and lower middle class and poor folks Is to have a cell phone with a dual chip option That way you can put, for example, a Movistar chip in there And get really cheap phone calls and stick a Claro or Tigo chip in the other slide So what's the advantage of that? You see, all the phone companies, Tigo, Claro, Movistar, and there's a few others Allow you to call other people who are using the same phone company service For example, Tigo to Tigo or Claro to Claro, free of charge Which is why a phone with two SIM card slots in it
[03:14] So for example, if you have a dual chip phone and you want to call someone And you don't know what kind of service they're using Tigo, Movistar, Claro, whatever You call out using the Movistar chip because it's the cheapest per minute cost Meanwhile, you've got your Claro or Tigo chip on standby To call friends who you know have the same service That way the calls are free Which begs the question, then why don't they have phones that have triple slots in them Well, that would get kind of ridiculous, I guess But certainly, people in the lower socioeconomic rungs would buy them Then they could juggle between all the different services And get free unlimited phone calls all the time Of course, the phone companies would not like that, would they? Confused yet? Well, don't be It's one of those things you pick up on fast when you have boots on the ground down here So anyway, our email from the Altiplano Drifter goes on to say
[03:59] Johnny, the phone you gave us at the seminar died I'm badly in need of a new phone or SIM card But I went to a Claro phone store in one of the malls And they wouldn't sell me one without a national ID or a passport And I don't want my name and real debts all over the place So what should I do? Aha, Altiplano Drifter is a man after my own heart He wants to stay under the radar and remain as anonymous as he possibly can However, he ran into a typical gringo catch 22 Which is easy to overcome Of course, we all know if you use Google, Twitter, Yahoo, Twaddle, Fakebook Any of the big email services and anti-social networks You lost your privacy a long time ago and have a gigantic footprint You're all over the net whether you know it or not
[04:46] And there are some million advertisers targeting you And you also know that when you come down to Latin America If you plan things right, you can start off fresh Get most of your privacy and anonymity back And then when you buy things like internet or phone service You've already planned a nice disinformation program To beat them at their own game Alright, let's get into this Remember, the Altiplano Drifter is in a catch 22 position He went to a clado office in a mall and they wanted his DPI or passport Now, I assume he was in a good size mall and went to one of the main clado offices All the big cell phone and internet providers have main offices in big malls And the setup is usually like this When you walk in, you'll see they have a lot of employees, a lot of service counter desks In fact, they're pretty well organized, at least for Latin America
[05:34] But you know what, I stay away from those places when I'm going to buy a sim chip Or a phone, if I go to one of the little kiosks that are in smaller malls and on the streets practically everywhere Why? Because they don't ask for your passport And if they do, they don't copy it because they don't have a copy machine Nor do they scan it, they just write your name and passport number down for their records But there's one or two more steps as follows You buy a sim chip from them, let's say it's five bucks Load it up with some extra minutes You know, when you buy them, you usually get a hundred minutes free But to get those free minutes, you have to pay a couple bucks And add a few extra minutes of your own, that kind of initializes it Anyway, after you've done that, you'll get a text message So these phone companies have worked out a method So as not to put these little kiosks out of business who are selling their phones
[06:19] I mean, look, they don't have a machine to make a copy of your passport By the way, in the past, when you'd buy a telephone or sim card They never asked you for your national ID or passport That's part of a new ruling by most Latin governments To stop extortions over the telephone by bad guys At least that's the premise, and it sounds good on paper But, you see, large-ass government, poop-for-brains bureaucrats Figure that if there's a database of IDs and passports and such of people buying phones If there's an extortion attempt, they could track it back to the original buyer and nab him Yeah, right In a second, you'll see why that's a stupid assumption Especially since any one of us can do the hack and get around it in about three minutes Alright, where were we? Oh yeah, we were at the little kiosk, we bought a phone
[07:05] They did not ask for a DPI ID or passport Because these are little independent guys running these kiosks They sell all the available phones and phone services And aren't representatives for any one company So anyway, you got the phone, you try to initialize it You get a text message in Spanish And it says, in order to complete the initialization process Please enter your DPI code, which is a 13-digit code in most Latin countries A DPI is your national ID card And the thing is, you see, if you haven't got temporary or permanent residency You won't have a DPI card, only a passport But they're not asking you for your passport because that's not part of this system Why would they? Since 99.9% of the people who want to buy a phone Are citizens of that country with a DPI A national ID card
[07:51] So, what to do, what to do? Well, here's the hack The trick is just to stick in any old 13-digit number Press send and voila, your phone is activated Talk about one of the easiest hacks available, huh? Better yet, if you feel funny punching in some random 13-digit number You could play the dumb gringo act and ask the guy to help you out And chances are, he'll stick his own DPI number in there I've witnessed that more than a few times Because, you know, he's an independent And he wants to make that sale He's not on salary from any phone company So if you need a phone or sim chip, if you go to one of the main offices They'll ask for your passport But in the small phone kiosks you see everywhere, they won't Now, about carrying your passport in Latin America Once in a while you'll be asked to show it You know, when you're checking into a hotel or renting a place
[08:38] Which is why many astute gringos and expats who prefer to remain way under the radar Small footprint and all that Carry with them a copy of their passport Only that passport has been photoshopped Now I've seen some of the results and they can be pretty creative Remember, in the case of phone companies All they want is a copy of your passport Not a certified copy? Nothing formal Just something for their files Now remember, any phone, utility company, department store, whatever Any commercial outfit that has your dads is going to sell them to marketers Just like Google, Yahoo, Twaddle, LinkedIn, and Fakebook Of course, when you're dealing with governments and bureaucrats You want to give them your correct passport, dads Or else you could get yourself in trouble if things don't match But when it comes to department store purchases
[09:24] Phone companies, utility companies, rental contracts Or any time someone asks you for a copy of your passport Your choice if you want to give them the real one And have your dads once again spread all over the map Or you can do something that some gringos and expats do They photoshop out their last name on that passport Hell, a lot of people have just two names Suppose your name on your passport is Johnny Martin Zidanoitz So just eliminate the last name Now you're Johnny Martin Hey, and I'm not telling you to do anything illegal Though it would be illegal if you're dealing with a government office And you did something like that so I don't recommend it However, when you're forced to give it up to some non-governmental jerks Like at the phone company or utility company I'm all for flipping them the virtual bird I don't want my dads floating out there in the ether
[10:10] That's why I never do searches through Google Nor do I have a Fakebook, Instagram, or Twitter account Nor do I have a LinkedIn account either That's one place where they really vacuum up your dads And sell them off to the highest bidder Even the lowest bidder By the way, if you're hanging around or staying in any particular Latin country You really never have to carry your original passport around with you Only a copy Even if you're driving and get pulled over by the cops They're only going to ask you for the car registration And your driver's license I don't know why people get the idea They have to carry their passport around with them everywhere they go That's nuts And dangerous Because if you ever lose it or it somehow goes through the laundry It's a huge hassle to go down to the nearest US consulate and get a replacement Although I have what's called a passport pouch
[10:56] A concealed pouch that's very stealthy Still, I never put my passport in there unless I'm traveling across country borders Then you'll need it So in mine I have my driver's license and a photocopy of my passport Debit card actually two debit cards One ounce gold Canadian maple leaf And a quarter ounce gold maple leaf And a very tiny little flash drive With a very high resolution scan of my passport Totally encrypted, of course Scans of other pertinent papers and documents Also encrypted, in fact, the whole damn flash drive is encrypted Oh, and I have a scan of my address book and my secret numbers Everybody's got secret numbers, right? Passwords, codes, etc. Encrypted on that flash drive, too So that flash drive is a backup that has most of your life in it Oh, and I should mention if you're buying a phone, SIM card, mobile, internet service, whatever
[11:45] They're going to ask you for your DPI, your national ID, and if you don't have residency you won't have one So they'll ask you for your passport And they'll always ask you for your email and home address Well, again, you don't want to give me a real email Which is why I like proton mail and start mail so much Because you can create alias emails With start mail you can make ten of them Which is a very cool foil Because whoever you give it to, you know they're going to sell that email address to all the marketers And you'll start getting junk mail And when you receive it at your start mail or proton mail inbox It'll be flagged with that alias address So you can watch as you start accumulating junk mail in the alias address and just delete it Voila, it does not exist anymore No more junk mail from that account And to me, just that one feature
[12:32] The ability to have ten alias email addresses to eliminate and add to Is worth the thirty or forty bucks a year I pay for the service But what about when you're forced to give up your address? Well, as I've mentioned many times before Give them your lawyer's office address Only make sure you cleared it with your lawyer first Because they will be getting your mail then Now suppose you bought a car and your paid cash Certainly they're going to ask you for your email address and your home address Their paperwork demands all that So you won't be able to get out the door without giving up some kind of address So give your lawyer's address Generally if you're a repeat client he'll be glad to do it Of course you have to remember if it's a utility hookup like electric power Or satellite TV or cable internet service You have to give your real address
[13:18] Because they have to be able to come out to your house and install it, right? But for everything else Many expats and gringos I know say Screw them and play the disinformation game as much as they can get away with Then again if you're one of the clueless gringos You often meet on the gringo tourist trail down here Especially in expat bars and discos and such The ones that carry their passports around with them all the time And say, if they want my passport, no problem, it's right here I've got nothing to hide Then, you know, there's no use arguing or explaining the world to them Because they're living in a mainstream media fantasy Yet another reason I don't like living or hanging out on the gringo tourist trail Way too many do-gooders? Public school teachers on social security? Hanging around with other public school teachers on social security?
[14:06] Who in turn are hanging around and clubbing up with retired US government workers and bureaucrats? Seems like they're always the ones People who never worked a day in the private sector Nor ever had a business themselves They're the ones who'll say when you're in a conversation about privacy or big brother They'll say, what are you so paranoid about? You got something to hide? I don't, my life's an open book I never did anything illegal Of course they never read three felonies a day, but that's to be expected And sometimes if I haven't tuned them out completely by then I'll say, so the government's your friend, huh? So then why are you retired down here and not spending your money in the good old US of A? And the usual comeback is, why? It's the cost of living It's so cheap and easy to live down here And sometimes, but not often, my comeback might be You ever think about why a social security check will get you a month of hamburger helper and cat food dinners up in the States
[14:58] But down here it'll get you steak and just about anything else you want Don't you wonder how that happened? Ah, but they don't get it Alright, changing gears a bit You know, I was on a construction site the other day Gringo building a house, that happens down here, you know? Why not? If you're on the job site checking things out regularly You can get a beautiful first world style house for around 30 to 40 bucks a square foot You know what that means, don't you? 2,000 square foot house? 60 to 80 grand First world all the way That'd be the proper anti-seismic design too Concrete concrete block Rebar Rainforest hardwood doors and details And really excellent Spanish tile First world kitchen and bathroom fixtures too Now, I just picked that 2,000 square foot thing out of my hat
[15:44] Because that seems to be a nice round, spacious number that people are familiar with Of course, a lot of people are used to living in smaller houses up in the States 1,000 to 1,200 square feet You could do that too or go extremely spacious From 3, 4, 5 or even 6,000 square feet if you like But generally the main trajectory for a Plan B is to scale down Simplify Less is more and all that And the bigger the house you have The more complicated your life becomes because you have to fill those rooms The more things you own, the more they start owning you Now you've heard me mention over and over again about the gigantic real estate bubble here That's in new already completed housing Meaning there are tens of thousands of upscale units that are completely empty No one's ever lived in them yet, they're brand new But still it can be 2 or 3 years old
[16:30] You see what I mean? So there's a huge supply and very little demand Because you see, 95% of all the buildings and projects built Or are under construction now are in the so-called upper-middle class to wealthy segment And only about 5 to 10% of Latins could ever afford the mortgage Even so, the majority of the people that can afford those places Are tied down with big mortgages and houses already So contractors and developers don't do any market research at all They've got no understanding of markets Though they will tell you there's very little profit in building low-end track homes All the profit is in the high-end sector Their thinking is they could build a really nice place for 50 or 60 grand And sell it for $200,000 or $300,000 Now, Ex Pederi, the armchair philosopher says
[17:16] That's because these developers, who obviously have more money than brains Watched way too many gringo house hunting reality shows Yep, the same shows you have up in the states are down here too Translated into Spanish And you know, every time there's an episode There's a buyer out there somewhere Well, that's not happening down here So you've got all these high-end properties that no one can afford Tens of thousands of brand new empty units That's why it's a golden opportunity for gringos to rent But you know, a lot of gringos and expats have it as their dream To build exactly the house they want And you just heard me explain in numbers What a great deal it is to build your own place All you need is the land, right? Well, not so fast If you're in or near any big Latin city In one of the desirable zones for gringos and expats to live
[18:01] Land ain't cheap There's a good reason why too If you're a Latin developer who is stupid enough to build a high-end project You're having a terrible time selling it In fact, no one even comes and looks at it Still, you have to have a full maintenance staff Or the place will deteriorate And you won't get anybody to come through at all So as the months tick by, you're paying out and paying out And it's killing you However, if you're a person or Latin developer With raw, unimproved land Your yearly property taxes are zilch to negligible Not to mention, raw land needs no guards or maintenance Except for the occasional guy with a machete Trimming the weeds back from the street So a lot of these guys put their land up for sale at a very steep price And just sit on it Years and years go by and they don't budge on the price They're just not desperate enough to sell it
[18:48] Why should they sell if it's not costing them anything to sit on it? So it's the guys that are land-rich Who keep the prices near the cities, etc. Propped up so very high Of course, the farther you get away from a tourist area Or a medium or large-sized Latin city The more land prices drop dramatically Good example If you're anywhere near the Pan-American highway Which runs all the way from Alaska to Panama, you know That's the main artery of Mexico and Central America, too Where most of the big cities and building action is So if you're planning on buying any land Say within a quarter to a half mile on a side road Branching off from the Pan-American highway You'll be paying three, four, five, even ten times as much for that land As you would if that land was a mile or two or ten From the Pan-American, or what they call, highway Inter Americano
[19:36] Here's a boots on the ground example I was visiting a real nice gated garden community An ecological gated garden community Loaded with trees, a river going through it If your idea of paradise is looking out your window And seeing woods, mountains, streams, exotic birds, etc. This is it And this gringo friend of mine who found the place Paid around 25,000 bucks for a third of an acre These are fully developed wooded lots, utilities provided This development is around a ten or fifteen mile drive From the Pan-American highway So it's a nice meandering fifteen to twenty minute ride from the main drag Now there are some other subdivisions, pretty much just like it In the same basic area, but much closer to the Pan-American highway Maybe just a two or three minute drive away
[20:21] And there, a quarter to a third of an acre is going for a hundred grand See what I'm saying? That's why you really need to get boots on the ground here And check out all that stuff so you can get a good idea Exactly where you want to live and where the deals are So anyway I was visiting my gringo friend And by the way, this is the first house he's ever built Of course he's not the contractor He's not actually supervising the construction of it But as recommended, he's heard me talk about this He shows up at the site at least every other day To make sure the construction guys aren't skimping And doing it all according to the architect's print So he shows up with the architect And they go over what's been done since the last time they've been there He keeps the contractor and the workers honest, you know They know when the gringo comes If he gets mad, they got to tear something out and redo it
[21:06] Do that a couple times and they know exactly what kind of guy you are And what kind of details you expect So anyway, I went over to the building site with this gringo buddy mine And the project had been underway for around two months They poured the footings and the workers were laying out the black courses For the first floor Now I know why he wanted me over there He wanted me to give him some feedback, check things out a bit By the way, that's why I don't always answer my phone And why I change my sim chip number about every six months So I checked it out and things looked good for a couple months since the project It was moving along nicely However, my buddy had a kind of a scowl on his face He said, Johnny, I want you to see something So he walked around the back where the cement block and cement guys Were putting a few rows down about eight or ten feet in the air
[21:52] He said, Johnny, look at those ladders they're using, is that normal? Looked like right out of the flintstones He said, I can't believe it, they made their own ladders Not a single store bought ladder on the site They made them with two by fours He said, if that's normal, it can't be safe I said, are you kidding, they always make their own ladders And after the job, they'll end up in your garage You won't be able to lift them though because they're so damn heavy I said, look, you think your contractor is going to go to Costco or Ace Hardware And drop 300 bucks in a nice aluminum or fiberglass ladder, forget about it Not when he can take 20 bucks worth of your two by fours And knock together four or five ladders in a half an hour He said, yeah, but I wouldn't go up on one of those things, they look dangerous I said, man, if you want to go out and buy some nice ladders for these guys, be my guest
[22:38] But these cement and block workers are rough on equipment Man, you hand over a couple of aluminum ladders to those guys, they'll destroy them in a week I said, check out the flintstone models they built, they're practically indestructible Heavy as hell, they're made out of that dense, reinforced pine, but indestructible I said, compare that with an aluminum ladder Then I pointed to the far ladder, I said, look, there's two guys in that ladder Each of them has two cement blocks You know how long an aluminum ladder would last under that load? Uh-uh, mark my words, you'll see three or four guys at a time on those wooden ladders Nothing to worry about Then he said, Johnny, you know, every time I come out to the job site, I see something that scares me My contractor, I found out he's not bonded In fact, he never even heard of insurance coverage for contractors on the job site
[23:24] He said, I'm worried, I'm not good with that He said, what if someone falls and breaks his neck? I said, man, sooner or later you're going to realize you're not in Kansas, Dorothy You see, these guys complain and know they're happy and they're only making 15 bucks a day Nobody's bonded, no job site insurance, no workman's comp Yet, no one's forcing these guys to work, they're glad to be here, glad to have a steady job And you know what, they actually like their jobs Look at them, they're goofing around, laughing, having a good old time But still, working their asses off Then, look at us gringos Have you ever done or had a job where you had that much fun? I doubt it, up in the first world, that almost never happens when you're working for the man It might happen once in a while, if you're your own boss and you can make all the decisions and control things But, as for me, I've never been happy working for somebody else, how about you?
[24:12] Though, down here in Latin America, it seems most people are happy just to be working, whether it's for the man or for themselves In fact, just recently I was talking to a Latin psychologist, little pint-sized guy, about 5 foot tall Body of a Roman gladiator, though, I met him at a health club And he's one of those guys who works out like a maniac Yet, his diet consists almost entirely of Coca-Cola and pizza How'd that happen, huh? There's no doubt you could look good on the outside and be a mess on the inside Anyway, he's a trained psychologist, got a degree at a Latin American university, for what that's worth And he says, it's not the practice of psychology that's completely different between the first world and the third world It's the clients or the patients that you have He said he was surprised to learn that, up in the States, a huge percentage of the clients that go to a psychiatrist or psychologist are there
[24:59] Because they're depressed, they hate their jobs, and feel like they're on a kind of a treadmill and their lives are meaningless He says his practice, here in Latin America, he works as a psychologist at a government hospital, by the way Because, like he said, you basically can't earn a living and move by the house if you're in private practice Hey, maybe that's a good thing, huh? Anyway, he lives with his mom and his two sisters, and he's 28 years old Typical, huh? Anyway, the point is, he said he's never had a client complain that they were sad and depressed Because they were in an unfulfilling dead-end job Oh, he's had clients that were sad and depressed, but not about their jobs So it really boils down to the fact that no matter how mundane a job a Latin person might have They smile, laugh, have fun, and try to make the best of it There have been some Latin universities that have taken polls on job satisfaction
[25:47] And the answers bear out that Latinos are much more satisfied and happier with their jobs than first world people are with theirs Though that might be a double-edged sword And why? The third world remains the third world The fact is, if you're happy and content with your job What's the point of studying or working harder to get to the next level? Hey, now, there's a conundrum for you Is it better to be happy and third world with a minimum lifestyle? Or be first world, have all the toys and goodies, and a lot of times be depressed and unhappy It's a question for the ages, but it does allow a lot of wiggle room for the gringo advantage So how about you get some boots on the ground and see some of that for yourself? Find out firsthand what I'm talking about The best and fastest way to do that, of course, is come down to my expat insider seminar Next one will be this summer, July 2018
[26:34] Beginning Saturday, July 7th, and ending on Thursday, July 12th Once again, we'll be in and around Guatemala Central America Way off the gringo tourist trail Right smack dab in the middle of that famous altiplano region That means spring-like weather all year round So to get all the info and sign up information, just go to www.thenewexpat.com And click on Johnny's seminar link If you sign up soon, you'll get in on those early bird discounts And if you're a repeat offender, we always have repeat offenders Remember, you get $1,000 off the early bird discount price And everyone who signs up gets a free one hour Skype or phone consultation with yours truly So why not get in on what some people are calling the greatest boots on the ground expat experience possible
[27:20] Again, just go to www.thenewexpat.com Find out how you can drink from the fire hose too In other words, get yourself a two to five year head start on your own plan B You've been listening to The Expat Files living in Latin America If you need some help with your own plan B, you can schedule a one-on-one phone call with me But first, download my free plan B questionnaire at www.thenewexpat.com Better yet, if you want to get your plan B going from right up there in the States Just sign up for my 9-hour Expat Essentials course Get the perfect plan B blueprint by going to www.theexpatfiles.com slash academy Los Famos!