#851 – The Expat Files: Power, Grids, and Living in Latin America

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 wonder Hello there all you ex-pat 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 today We're gonna dive into part three of how to get off the power grid here in Latin America At least get self-sufficient enough power wise so you don't have to worry about those little annoying power outages That last for two or three seconds or even up to 30 seconds before it kicks back in again

[00:48] Or worst case if the power goes out for hours and hours Which rarely happens anymore at least in most Latin American countries and when it does It's usually during the rainy season because the rainy seasons are so severe. There's lots of lightning and trees falling So I'd say at least 90% of the power outages are not due to faulty grid or bad maintenance because as mentioned previously Most all electric companies here in Latin America are at least 50% owned by first world international power companies that know what the hell They're doing so maintenance at least with telephone and electrical utilities is pretty much up to snuff first world style For example suppose it is the rainy season then your power goes out it's been out for a half an hour now And you're getting worried. That's about the point where a gringo will call the electric company and say hey What the hell is happening you guys asleep at the wheel or something believe me after a huge rain and electrical storm

[01:38] They're not asleep at the wheel. They've just got so many calls and all their trucks are out They got plenty to do Here's a tip if you're living in a gated guarded community or subdivision when your power goes out for let's say more than a half An hour don't call the electric company first take a walk outside and see if the whole neighborhood's out if it is You definitely won't have to call the electric company. They'll know it for one thing your front entrance guards will call it in But if you're the only house in the neighborhood that's lost power because lightning hit the pole next door you have to call it in Yourself because no one else will you know there's always an emergency number on your electric pill if you call that can't get through That's probably because there's been big sections without power But believe me because most Latin power companies are at least 50% private You will get through eventually because private companies actually have customer service

[02:26] So normally after about a half an hour at least long-term gringos and expats down here We'll phone up the utility company and say what the hell is going on by the way Latinos might wait four times as long Because you know historically Latin societies are so used to having intermittent power outages It's just part of living down here and no one seems to panic except us gringos and expats, especially the newbies Oh and speaking of local Latinos and when they really do start to panic It's a kind of recent phenomena that no one really gets upset When the power is out for an hour or two until the battery and their smartphone poops out and when the grids down There's no way to charge it and very very few Latinos have an extra little battery backup for the cell phone sound familiar Well, maybe it doesn't because you don't have power outages up in states like they do down here

[03:14] But even up by you when you're out and about you're always keeping an eye out for a quick charge at a docking station Aren't you at least that seems to be an inbred concern with Millennials and anyone born after I'd say the year 1995 which in itself is rather odd I was talking to a char head the other day and he said Johnny, I don't get this we're taught in the military Situational awareness that means when you walk into a place The first thing you do is look for the exits right away. Then he shook his head and said Johnny. I have little hope for Millennials They're not into situational awareness for security reasons They're into it for smartphone battery top-off reasons and he says I hate to see what's gonna happen when a real crisis comes But I can tell you who's gonna survive not the Millennials or kids born after that their phones might but they won't oh and by

[04:02] The way that jarhead was talking about gender identity crap in the US military He said behind closed doors The regular grunts are up and arms about it But they're ordered not to say a thing about it while off base then he said, you know, Johnny today I woke up and I looked in the mirror and identified myself as an alpha male He said I do that every day since I was a tiny kid and my brain just started to function I identified as an alpha male. He said, you know up in the States Some people would say there's something wrong with me and then he said and I had to laugh today I wake up look in the mirror and decide I'm not an alpha male That's when I'm gonna hide the knives the ammo and the razor blades Then we had a little bit of a bittersweet discussion about all that's going wrong with the states And why when he musters out and he said he had seven years left till 20 and out

[04:50] he was Definitely gonna get out of Dodge and moved to Latin America and Dodge for him was none other than good old Kalamazoo Michigan by the way, he said he'd served two Latin tours of duty one at a US base in Panama another in Colombia That's how he got his taste of Latin America and why he's coming down permanently when he gets his 20 years in he'll be 39 men then I said, you know sergeant Tim I was just thinking if tomorrow I wake up me Johnny and I suddenly look in the mirror and I self identify as a 65 year old female ex-cop disabled war veteran Well, that means I should instantly be eligible for three government pensions, right? Not to mention all those senior discounts and handicapped parking privileges. Of course, he laughed

[05:35] It was just a stupid and ridiculous joke or was it but I digress you knew I would Okay, before we get deep into part three of how to get off the grid solar panels and those excellent lithium ion batteries That's exactly the kind of battery you want to use screw those old lead acid batteries Then there's chargers controllers cables solar panel mounting. They call it racking. There's lightning strike and EMP protection Yes, we'll be hitting on all that stuff. Just stay tuned But first we have some very late-breaking disturbing news out of Colombia now you longtime listeners know I haven't been recommending Colombia for a lot of reasons mostly because the gringles are piling in and it's getting more expensive It's a great country, but they've also got a really tight US connection and for military bases

[06:24] You see military US military when you're walking around in the big cities, which is not a good sign No, they're not everywhere. But if you keep your eyes open and you're in a big city, you probably will spot a few They're not hard to miss these days US military personnel They send overseas at least the grands are all buffed out thick in the chest like MMA Wrestlers and all of them about a half a head taller than Latin military guys. That's just the way it is A lot of light-skinned sandy and blonde haired blue and green-eyed military gringos, too Believe me, they just can't blend in and even when they're out in the town like civilians They've got that internal ooh, Rah macho marine boot camp thing going for them 24-7 They just can't shake that a lot of them are really nice guys, but they've got this club and we're not in it

[07:10] So again, the US has four military bases in Colombia probably more But that's all they're telling us about all in the name of the long-lost drug war, of course So if for you that's not enough to cross Columbia off your plan B list Here's a story that showed up in every major Columbia newspaper just a day or so ago Now get this all you Columbia files and let it sink in. There's a new law being discussed right now It's being proposed by the Colombian Congress to ban private gold ownership and sales Of course, it's meeting with some opposition. There's a lot of debate going on But you know just the fact that someone has been able to get a bill like this started in Columbia That it's even getting any traction at all as a pretty sad thing for freedom lovers

[07:55] So what's next a proposal to ban guns for sure? You want to hear more? Listen to this It says attorney general nester Martinez wants to ban private gold sales and mining operations and return the monopoly of Gold status to the Bank of the Republic of Colombia. All right me Johnny here This article was originally in Spanish. So there will be a few things lost in translation here. So bear with me Anyway, it says though some economists are saying it's a bad idea Doesn't matter turns out the Attorney General has many politicians on board Then it says Columbia's new anti-gold proposal is in an effort to fight the organized crime elements that are behind the illegal mining and sales of gold and Columbia and it says the Attorney General and

[08:41] anti-gold Advocates in Congress are saying that Columbia's Banco de Republica should have the only legal monopoly on the purchase and sales of gold However, if the law passes there will be exemptions for things like gold jewelry part of the exact wording of the proposed new law According to a minister of finance Alberto Carrasquilla the wording once again expressed the need for the government to enjoy the monopoly on purchase and sale of gold in order to Prevent the precious metal from being bought and sold on the black market and used for money laundering Again with the money laundering then there's a quote here from Columbia's Attorney General the nation's top prosecutor He says as me and other officials have often stated publicly current circumstances make it necessary to adopt these kinds of decisions

[09:28] That prevent the growth of illicit gold trading which in our understanding Necessarily involves the need to reestablish Monopoly on the purchase and sales of gold in this country by only allowing the Bank of the Republic to handle and monitor those Transactions, but here's what you didn't know though. You probably didn't know about the gold thing at all Martinez the nation's top attorney says for the last four years The prosecutor's office has been investigating the idea of outlawing the private sales and use of gold already He says they have prosecuted four international gold traders and more than 50 domestic suppliers who have allegedly laundered assets worth a total of three point four billion dollars using gold He said in a statement that private ownership of gold produces effects ranging from

[10:18] Environmental degradation if you're a minor to the financing of illegal groups through front companies taking advantage of commercial activity For the benefit of organized crime and to engage in extensive money laundering Saying that gold is the perfect anonymous exchange mechanism for these kind of illicit activities Alright me Johnny here though that law might never get past it might get shot down anywhere along the way to me Just the thought of that kind of talk scares the hell out of me yet another reason you should really think twice before Thinking about setting up your plan B in Colombia as for my two cents worth Colombia a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there. Alright now just for a minute I'd like to talk about Amazon. I get lots of emails from would-be expats wannabes gonna be zan expats living down here

[11:04] They want some tips on how to use Amazon once they land here in Latin America and get settled in now I have said a few things about Amazon in the past I use it all the time best way of course is to have a Miami based mailbox You have it all sent there and it's usually free shipping and then your mail service sends it to your Latin country Where they've got an office and you pick it up or have them deliver and it's usually a couple of bucks a pound and unlike some Of the older services like mailboxes, etc. You don't have to buy a box. It's free They make their money once the package arrives in Miami because you're paying the shipping in past shows I've gone into a lot of detail on the Amazon process for gringles and expats and today more news Since Latin America is the land of lag time. They're just starting to get in on the Amazon thing In fact, I can't tell you how many times someone said hey, would you get that thing?

[11:51] Whatever it is, and I said Amazon they say you buy stuff from Amazon Oh, I wish I could my cousin or my teal the rich guy in the family get stuff from Amazon But unfortunately, I don't have access even if I did I wouldn't know how to use it now I'm talking about middle-class Latinos who obviously don't speak English Nor do they have an Amazon account or access to one but man they all know about it and would just love to get on board But they don't know how or are too afraid. They'd miss order or make a mistake Maybe a fatal mistake for the average middle-class Latino too many obstacles number one They don't have a US dollar credit card number two They don't speak English which got me thinking man Would that be a great gringo money-making opportunity give little seminars on how to use? Amazon and even if you couldn't speak Spanish you could have someone translating it the whole time man

[12:40] You rent a salon 25 or 50 bucks ahead two or three hours You'd have them packed in balls to the wall like a Shakira concert The fact is only about two or three percent of upper-class Latinos have the ability to order from Amazon directly the rest are wannabes And that's your market and get this the two or three percent that are on Amazon already They're just now starting to discover that so-called five star customer review rating system And do remember almost all the Latinos that make Amazon purchases Go down to the local mail forwarding service and order from their computers not from their own homes So even within that small percentage of Latinos who order directly from Amazon. They don't use their own computers They go down to the mail forwarding service office and order through their computers That way they've got someone bilingual to help them and give them advice. It's not very good advice, but it is some help

[13:30] That's another reason if a gringo were to give an Amazon seminar. He would absolutely clean up I mean gringo is always know best right not to mention Amazons at 100% gringo operation in the meantime if you walk into one of the offices of one of the mail forwarding services Let's say you're in Panama Costa Rica, Guatemala, whatever You'll see there's one or two laptop computers open with the main page on Amazon So you go there you sit down with someone who can translate to Spanish to English you order that stuff through that person right there Get shipped to the Miami box and then ends up in your country about a week later I'm just running through this kind of fast cuz there's a point I want to make here and that is that small percentage Latinos who are starting to use Amazon and it's grown all the time. They're just starting to find out about the five-star review system Which we longtime Amazon users know is totally bogus

[14:16] That means Latinos are just like we were let's say five years ago or so and we first started using Amazon We'd say wow look at all those five-star reviews. It must be a great product The point is Latinos don't know that most of those are completely manipulated or even paid for in fact If you were to tell a Latino there were services you could contract to write five-star reviews for your product They wouldn't believe you but these days that's part of the marketing game though knowing that those reviews aren't entirely useless Here's what I've discovered. I actually know a gringo in the marketing software business He was recently involved with the marketing company that produced those kind of fake five-star reviews He said in truth the only product reviews that mean anything The only ones you should be looking at are the three-star reviews. What's that mean for example on Amazon for every product?

[15:06] You'll see a consumer review chart in a bar graph and an overall rating. Let's say it's 4.5 stars Well, you know you can click on the 1 2 3 4 or 5 star bar and see all those reviews What you should do is just go to the three-star reviews Those are ratings that are not bought and paid for the thing is the three-star ratings a neutral review And you'd never want to buy a neutral review You'd always want to buy four and five-star reviews Three-star ratings are almost always from real people who've used the product and bother to write in so then using that logic Why not click on the one or two star bar graphs? They should be totally honest, right? Well, here's the problem You know, there are chronic complainers in this world. I've got two sisters like that two out of three Not good, huh? And the ones that don't have much to do or have a lot of time on their hands will complain about anything and they'll write

[15:55] Into Amazon sure there are some valid ones in there too, but most of them are just kind of bitter complainers For example, they'll order a computer in the color black. It'll come dark brown or dark gray They'll complain about it Even if the computer itself is perfectly great or if the box comes with the corner crushed in a little bit Well, you know, they're all packed to handle that still they'll write in and complain and my friend says the worst complainers of all Women buying clothes because they'll buy the clothes based on how they look on a beautiful skinny or curvy model Who's 20 or 30 pounds lighter than they are and when they get the thing and put it on? They obviously don't look like the girl in the ad and many of those who've got a pretty crappy self-image anyway Or who may be having their time of month Well, there are plenty of peer-reviewed studies that show people who are depressed or having their time of month

[16:44] And we should include buyers remorse here often They're a bit testy irritable and pessimistic and that's how the reviews will come out And he said it's been shown that people who are sleep deprived will downgrade product ratings, too Hmm really think about how many people you know who are sleep deprived. Are you? Oh and one more thing about fake Amazon reviews You know two years or so ago Amazon was starting to figure out that buyers suspected There were a lot of fake four and five star reviews. So they added a little twist a verified purchase tag You see that a review is from a verified purchaser and you think hey, that's legit. He bought the product It wasn't a freebie. So the review must be real Well, not so fast when you see a verified purchase review these days. That's not even valid tell you why I

[17:33] Personally have been contacted by manufacturers who sell stuff on Amazon They say things like if you buy this item and give us a nice review We'll give you a 50% rebate off the Amazon price In fact, I actually bought some Bluetooth earbuds that way got the product got the rebate They were fine, but I never sent in a review Think about it. It was a verified purchase even though I paid half of the Amazon rate now you think after that I'm gonna write a bad review. Well, that's why it didn't write any so then how many hundreds if not thousands of people has that happened to Bottom line read those three star reviews and skip all the other ones. All right now said about that Let's talk solar and getting off the grid Remember on last week's show I was talking about meter tampering in Latin America

[18:19] And since smart meters are appearing on all new construction sites. It's almost impossible to tamper with them directly However, it was mentioned that even if you have a smart meter Power can be stolen if one of the 110 vote lines is bypassed in the wall Now if you've ever taken a look at your own meter There's a glass dome you read through on the old ones or a glass window protecting the digital readout on those smart meters Now if you look closely where the meters attached to its base on the wall You'll see a tiny wire loop a braided loop Like a small keychain thread it into a bright blue red or yellow plastic tag that looks kind of like a plastic tag Farmer puts through a cow's ear in the old analog days It used to be just a piece of lead that was crimped with a special tool joining the two ends of the wire

[19:07] that's the way a meter reader could tell if the meters been tampered with the seals broken because in order to get to the Guts of the meter you have to snip that wire then when you mount the meter again You have to put that wire back, but it can't be joined and sealed like before unless you have a special crimping tool Therefore the meter reader or anyone from the electric company could tell that the meters been tampered with but electrical engineers and techies No, you can buy those little crimpers online, too So way back in the old days one of my engineering school buddies bought one of those things from an electronics catalog Another one of my buddies found one at a rummage sale at a place called seven mile fair It was directly on the border of Wisconsin and Illinois. It was gigantic biggest weekly rummage sale in the Midwest man

[19:53] You could find everything including a lot of stuff that fell off a truck. Remember we're talking about Chicago now So way back when in the analog days before there were smart meters friend of mine could snip that wire Get into the guts of the meter. There are ways to slow it down You know, of course, I'm not suggesting you do anything illegal But the way to hack a meter is first you got to take that wire off and get into the guts of it And once you put it back on and the wires snipped You got to have a way to seal it up again And that's a huge deterrent for the average mischief maker because up in the states the power companies Don't have a sense of humor about such things But if the average mischief maker couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again, well engineering students with the right crimper No problem. So what's that got to do with anything? Why am I bringing this up? Well, that's because there's so much meter tampering going on here in Latin America

[20:39] You heard me mention that in the last show and in talking to a Latino Electrician who's actually performed some of these stunts here in Latin America He told me in most cases, it's not necessary to snip the wire You just take two big pliers and you pull on the crimp connector the wires detach Then you take the meter off do your dirty deed put it back on and slip That braided wire back into the hole that you pulled it from now with a cursory inspection It looks completely unviolated, but all one has to do is yank on that wire. It'll come right out and you'll see Something's not right. And when I said what about the crimper? He said you kidding there's so many meters that have been messed with and other ones that just don't work right at all Anyway, when the electric company finds a meter that's been screwed around with or damaged. They just replace it He said there's no point in investigating

[21:26] There are in some of the body oils and pueblos two three four even five houses getting power through one meter So how can you fix the blame on anyone? No one will admit it anyway Oh and speaking of electric bills and Latino meter readers, you know when you get your monthly bill You'll see that you have to pay it by a certain date or they'll assess some kind of late charge usually a buck or two It's very cheap So you usually have a whole month after the due date to pay before they add extra charges And if you don't pay in the next month, they'll cut your power disconnect you or so they say but this is Latin America But generally in most Latin countries that'll take three months of non-payment of your bill before you'll get cut off and sometimes Never same thing with your water utility bill That is if it's municipal water and the government's running it if you're in a private subdivision or a private residential colony

[22:15] They call it colonial residential It's not municipal water then it'll be a well run by your own subdivision And if you don't pay on time when they say they're gonna cut you off They'll do it or I should say they'll give you a monthly way past the due date Then they'll cut you off because the guy in charge of the well and the reservoir and the pipes in your subdivision The guy is called a fontanero like fountain His job is to keep the water in the pumps flowing and the tubes in good condition In fact, most of the time he'll be living in your subdivision Even if you have mansions in a luxurious subdivision He'll be in a little shack somewhere way off the beaten path with his wife kids dogs and driveway chickens on duty 24-7 That's why if you get behind and get a cutoff notice on that date

[23:01] He really will cut you off because he's not one of those lazy ass slugs working for the municipal government water supply He's a guy who's working for a private water service so he can actually get fired for doing a crap job Consequently, he's dependable and you can usually find him around when you spring a leak Alright speaking of electric company hacks that very smart astute gringos and expats use to get over on the electric company How about this not advocating this but it's being done if you live in a condo complex or Residential tower you'll find all the decent ones have an electrical Auxiliary generator usually a big-ass diesel one the kind they use in hospitals, etc They'll be outside sitting in some enclosed space in a parking lot somewhere and you'll hear it when it kicks in It's automatic when the grid power goes off for even 10 or 15 seconds

[23:49] It'll fire up and you'll hear it But you'll also notice especially if you're in a big residential complex of let's say 10 stories and 50 apartments Chances are if the grid power goes out and the generators caked in if you walk through your apartment You'll find in many cases if you flick on the light switch is not all of them will turn on but they'll be power to Your kitchen including your refrigerator Maybe one overhead light in the living room your hallway light and of course the elevators and your residential tower will be working The thing is you might have a huge hundred thousand watt generators sitting out in a parking lot But that's not enough to supply 50 apartments with all the electric needs They have so when that building was designed there was a secondary backup system wired to each Apartment that only allowed for a couple of outlets to have power with top priority being the elevator because in most Latin countries

[24:40] Now you cannot build a residential tower with an elevator without having a separate backup diesel generator So in other words at least in the past five years if an architect came in with a plan for a residential tower that had An elevator there has to be a diesel backup generator in the plan Makes good sense because many latin countries have momentary power outages Imagine being in an elevator and the power goes off for half an hour can't have that so this is really one of the oddball Cases where first world building codes are actually enforced and that's not because Latinos are forward thinkers It's because so many residential towers and condo complexes with elevators were built in the past without said Auxiliary generators and you can imagine living on the 10th or 14th floor and once in a while the elevator doesn't work

[25:26] So anyway, here's that little gringle power hack If you live in such a residential tower look behind your refrigerator where it's plugged in that'll usually be an outlet That's on that separate auxiliary supply. So it's not metered You get the idea that outlet for all intents and purposes has free electricity So go ahead splurge, but don't overdo it Oh and by the way, next time you're in Latin America and you get into an elevator look at the nameplate and see who made it Well, it won't take you long to figure out. It's all American European and Japanese names seems there's not a single homegrown Latin American elevator company Hmm. I wonder why probably the reason why there isn't a single Latin American passenger jet corporation either I know I know some of you smarties out there are gonna say no Johnny Brazil makes airplanes and jets

[26:14] Well, that's true. But you know the father of Brazil's aviation Industries name was Alberto Santos Dumont. Well, his dad was an extremely wealthy Frenchman Oh and funny enough the Brazilian history books say that he Dumont not the Wright brothers had the first flying machine Go ahead. Look it up. Anyway. Sorry. I digress so much off the solar power theme I promise next time for sure a whole show on it. But before we sign off for today, don't forget you can sign up for my July 2019 week-long expat insider seminar Just go to www.the new expat.com and click on Johnny's seminar link you know people are always saying it's the best way to get a two to five year head start on your own plan B and A big part of it is meeting a fantastic network of people to the fact is and this always happens

[27:03] Some of them will become your new best friends. Of course, we'll have repeat offenders We always do and for you first time attendees remember as soon as you sign up You're entitled to a one-hour phone call with me. That's part of the deal, too That would be your time to ask me Everything and anything you wanted to know about the seminar about your plan B or about anything having to do with Latin America So check out the info in a sign-up sheet. Just go to www.the new expat.com and click on Johnny's seminar link See you there 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.the new expat.com Better yet if you want to get your plan B going from right up there in the states

[27:49] Just sign up for my 9-hour expat essentials course get the perfect plan B blueprint by going to the expat files.com Academy