Episode Summary
In this episode, Johnny Mueller dives into the world of expat health, discussing his strategies for avoiding illness in Latin America, the dangers of microplastics in bottled water, and the broader implications of plastic use. He also touches on the cultural and economic impact of expats in the region and shares listener stories about health, relocation, and wellness.
Johnny begins by introducing himself and the show, The Expat Files, which focuses on the experiences of living, working, playing, and retiring in Latin America. He discusses his personal approach to avoiding 'Montezuma's revenge,' a common illness among expats, by avoiding street food, salads, and ice. He also talks about his preference for making his own purified water and his skepticism about plastic bottles, citing health concerns and environmental issues. Johnny shares his views on the unnaturalness of processed foods like tofu and veggie burgers, and his preference for glass bottles for storing water, despite the inconvenience of carrying them while traveling.
Next, Johnny discusses the dangers of microplastics in bottled water and plastic containers, referencing a study from the State University of New York that found 93% of bottled water samples contained microplastics. He criticizes the bottled water industry's response, which claims there's no scientific consensus on the health impacts of microplastics. Johnny also highlights the broader issue of microplastics in the environment, including their presence in fish and human bodies, and warns against using plastic containers in microwaves or dishwashers. He suggests using stainless steel and glass instead and recommends carbon block filters for removing microplastics from water.
Johnny then shifts to discussing the importance of carbon block filters in water purification, explaining how they remove organic contaminants and chlorine. He emphasizes that carbon block filters are more effective than activated charcoal filters and recommends them for under-the-counter water filters. He also mentions the cost and longevity of these filters. Johnny then discusses BPA (bisphenol A), highlighting its presence in canned foods and its potential health effects, such as lowering sperm count. He also touches on the prevalence of BPA in plastic bottles and other products, despite labeling claims. Johnny admits to having a head cold while recording the episode and shares his approach to managing it through vitamins and supplements, which he takes daily. He expresses concern about the use of plastic in supplements and other products, linking it to potential health risks. He also comments on the influence of big pharma and the spread of flu shots among expats in Latin America, suggesting a cultural shift. Finally, he responds to an email from Rex, who shared his experience with stem cell treatments and kidney cysts, encouraging Rex to continue monitoring his condition.
In this segment, Johnny Mueller discusses the potential benefits of stem cell therapy for various ailments, such as arthritis, muscular injuries, and heart muscle problems, highlighting its appeal to professional athletes. He contrasts this with the high cost of traditional surgeries, like hip or joint replacements, which he believes are irreversible and less desirable. Johnny then shifts to a story about a young medical professional whose father is a renowned cockfight trainer, revealing how the father's profession, which generates significant income, supports the daughter's education. He comments on the cultural and economic impact of gringos (foreigners) in Latin America, noting how their presence often leads to the commercialization of local areas and the rise of tourist traps. The segment concludes with an email from Dave, who shares his recent experience in Panama City, describing the city's rapid development and the exorbitant prices of real estate, which are out of reach for local residents.
In this segment of the podcast, Johnny Mueller responds to listener emails and engages in a conversation about expat life, health, and relocation. A listener named Pam shares her experience with using organic decaf green tea to alleviate a severe migraine and inflammation in her brain, noting that she believes aluminum in tea is a neurotoxin. Johnny acknowledges her point, explaining the history of aluminum use and its potential link to Alzheimer's. He also discusses the challenges of selling property and relocating, mentioning his own thoughts on the safety of Europe versus Latin America. Johnny concludes by promoting his upcoming expat seminar and encouraging listeners to sign up.
Topics
Living in Latin America, Health and hygiene, Water safety, Processed foods and health, Environmental concerns, Microplastics in bottled water, Industry response to microplastic research, Health and environmental impact of microplastics, Safe alternatives to plastic containers, Water filtration methods, Water filtration, BPA and health
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:14 Introduction to The Expat Files and Johnny Mueller's Experience in Latin America 00:01:15 Johnny's Record of Avoiding Montezuma's Revenge 00:02:04 Johnny's Skepticism About Plastic Bottles and Water Safety 00:05:44 Study on Microplastics in Bottled Water 00:05:57 Industry Response to Microplastic Research 00:06:47 Microplastics in Human and Animal Bodies 00:06:56 Dangers of Microwaving Plastic Containers 00:09:02 Recommendations for Safe Water Storage and Use 00:11:35 The Role of Carbon Block Filters in Water Purification 00:12:28 BPA and Its Health Implications 00:13:09 Johnny's Health and Management of a Head Cold 00:14:09 Concerns About Plastic in Supplements and Products 00:15:18 The Influence of Big Pharma on Health Practices 00:17:15 Encouragement for Rex's Stem Cell Treatment Journey 00:17:24 Stem Cell Therapy and Its Benefits for Ailments 00:18:38 The Cockfighting Story and Its Cultural Impact 00:21:18 The Impact of Gringos on Local Economies 00:22:40 Pam's Health Experience and Green Tea Use 00:24:12 Aluminum and Alzheimer's Link 00:26:37 Safety Concerns in Europe vs. Latin America 00:27:10 Promotion of Expat Insider Seminar
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 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 now You longtime listeners have heard me say over and over again that I've been had Montezuma's revenge or an attack of such in at least 10 years Probably more and I attribute that to the fact that when I'm out at a restaurant or somebody's house
[00:45] I don't eat salads I don't order anything with ice cubes in it and I don't eat any street food and what's the definition of street food? well, those are the little food stands and food carts you see set up everywhere and I mean everywhere sometimes you'll see a half dozen of Them on a single block and if you notice closely you'll see none of them have a connected water supply So they have a couple of buckets and are always Recycling the water yuck that gives you an idea of how sanitary those little food setups are. So anyway I'm still holding to that record of not having Montezuma's revenge or anything like it for at least 10 years for all I know I've got the world's record for gringo is continuously living in Latin America without Montezuma's revenge that is if anyone's keeping track I mean there are none of your things on the internet, right? Actually, you know, I think Montezuma's revenge is a bad handle for it
[01:35] I think it should be called backpackers revenge because it seems every single backpacker will tell you it's an occupational hazard They get it all the time as if it's normal. Well to them it is but really it's not how could it be now? Obviously if you've got a good hygienic technique You could eat salads all day long if you prepare them yourself at home After all when people talk about Montezuma's revenge many times you could trace it right back to a salad or some kind of dish That's cool. Then it's been sitting on a counter a long time for that matter If you make your own ice, you can use ice to your heart's content. But the problem is here in Latin America Well, let's just say in most cases You don't want to know how the ice is made or how they store it But then again, that's true for many restaurants and hotels up in the States to just read a kind of a sickening article about that recently
[02:22] Oh and another thing people ask me all the time. Do I drink bottled water in Latin America? Why sure I do The bottled water I make with my own purifier and I almost always have a bottle of pure water the stuff that I made up myself in a glass bottle in the backseat of my car Oh and I've tried those stainless steel bottles that some joggers and fitness guys use to me They've got kind of an aftertaste. So I quit using glass I found is the only way to go for me Anyway, now as far as drinking bottled water that I haven't made up myself Yes, I'll drink it sometimes but only if I run out of my own water look it's like anything I haven't had a hamburger or a hot dog at a fast food joint in 30 years But when someone invites me to a backyard barbecue and all they've got is hamburgers and hot dogs I will eat a hamburger never a hot dog
[03:09] Hey, I'm not gonna be the inflexible anal a-hole at the party who says I don't eat that crap Don't you have any tofu burgers? Oh, and by the way, I think people who eat tofu and veggie burgers things that look like real hamburgers And hot dogs, whatever they've got some kind of mental problem, too Why do you have to make some kind of textured protein look like a hamburger? Just the thought of it kind of kills the appetite, you know Not to mention they never talk about the processing at the plant that goes into making a plant substance Look like a hot dog or a hamburger. There's something really unnatural about that. Maybe that's why people who eat those things don't talk about it Yep, no doubt about it. There are a lot of vegan and veggie food snobs out there Anyway, when I'm traveling on the road, I always have my little mini water purifier with me So I'm always ready
[03:56] All I have to do is run back to my room and make up a bottle or two and I'm set again But one of the problems with that is when you're traveling you don't want to take glass with you everywhere Of course, you know by now water is best transported and stored in glass Fact is I used to use those glass Snapple bottles all the time and refill them with water till one leaked and saturated my luggage and after that I had to think of a new option now I know there's lots of plastic bottles out there But I still don't trust any kind of plastic even if they say oh, don't worry. They're not BPA bisphenol a well You know, it doesn't matter to me I don't trust them because I know any plastic bottle when exposed to sunlight or when it gets warm is gonna leach out some Micro-molecules of plastic into the water that's true of any kind of drink you have in a plastic bottle
[04:41] Like for example Gatorade and its cheaper competitor power aid Which I also consider sort of a toxin ever read the ingredients on a Gatorade or power aid bottle Yep, like my mother used to say if you can't pronounce the ingredients and or it has high fructose corn syrup Don't drink or eat it She also would say if a chemical in a food did not exist naturally in other words It was a synthesized chemical that's now used throughout the food industry. It's something your body looks at as foreign So if you introduce a chemical into your body that didn't exist in nature before till some dickhead I mean egghead at DuPont or Monsanto synthesized it then how's your body supposed to know how to break it down? And what to do with the thing more disgusting yet is a study published in the Journal of Environmental Pollution
[05:28] Indicating that plastic water bottles continuously leach chemicals when stored at any temperature. That's higher than room temperature So think about that next time you get back in your hot car and look at that water or Gatorade bottle rolling around on the floor Worse yet We've got that big study coming out of the State University of New York where they found that 93% of all bottled water samples in plastic bottles have dissolved detectable Microplastics floating around in the water. In fact that study released just in March so pissed off the bottle water industry They retaliated with a huge publicity campaign The main drive and point they're making is as you may have figured that there is no scientific consensus on the testing methodology or the potential health impacts of
[06:18] Microplastic particles in water. So they're saying it's alright that practically all living organisms are loaded up with microscopic plastic bits I'm okay with that. How about you? Yeah, right Man, we are fucked Reminds me of the old Philip Morris campaigns where doctors were smoking cigarettes and saying they're good for your health Meanwhile the bottled water association also says the study's findings do nothing more than unnecessarily scare consumers Meanwhile every single human tested has levels of microplastics throughout their bodies It's even found throughout mother's breast milk But worst of all is putting plastic food containers in a microwave oven That's the absolute worst thing you could do and just think about the millions of people every day who buy those little pre-packaged ramen soup cups
[07:08] Made mostly out of styrofoam type plastic now that stuff's known to really outgas when you heat it up But what can you do when the world's addicted to that stuff and it's dirt cheap? Not to mention when you read the ingredient list. It's like downing a Gilbert chemistry set Wow, I guess I'm showing my age there. You remember Gilbert chemistry sets. I Had one did you I'm sure they don't sell them anymore way too dangerous for those plastic little mines Hmm plastic mines pun intended maybe now down here in Latin America Most everyone has a microwave even some of the poorest of indigenous folks. That's one of the main appliances They have TV refrigerator microwave. Oh and in every room There's a stark bear curly Q fluorescent light bulb you can count on that man. Do those things give off some awful light
[08:00] I don't know how people stand it, but man I'll tell you awful curly Q fluorescent bulbs have invaded Latin America Even in the houses of the upper middle class and very wealthy lots of stark fluorescent bulbs just screwed into sockets there, too Man, I'll tell you down here in Latin America money certainly goes hand-in-hand with bad taste It's as if most wealthy families here went to the Graceland school of interior design You know hunka hunka burning love and all that anyway every single time I've been invited to dinner at a Latin Americans house whether rich or poor they're nuking foods in Plastic and worse you see him nuking infant formula in plastic, too And you want to say something, but you just don't they wouldn't know what the hell you're talking about anyway Chemistry less than anyone no way the fact is it doesn't matter if your plastic dinnerware or cookware says microwave safe
[08:51] The only thing that really means is that the container won't melt in the microwave It's got nothing to do with what's happening at the microscopic level where the food in the container is touching the plastic In fact I just got done reading a study that said it's not recommended at all to even put your plastic food or drink containers in The dishwasher because the detergents in the heat degrade the outer surface where the food touches the container Microscopically causing a huge increase in the surface area where the food touches the plastic picture a very smooth surface like a glass Tabletop versus the rough and bumpy surface of a dish towel That's pretty much what happens at the microscopic level when you put plastic containers through a dishwasher a number of times Worse yet, I just read a study that said every fish that's been tested has microplastic particles throughout its tissue man
[09:41] What a revolt and development, huh? Oh and by the way when you buy bottled water, which almost always comes in plastic, right when you're done Where do you think it goes in a landfill or sometimes in the ocean somehow the whole idea doesn't make sense You're drinking bottled water because you're aware that tap water is not that pure So you're drinking it to stay healthy or get healthier and then the bottle ends up in a landfill or in the ocean somewhere Leaching plastic into the environment and eventually into animal tissues by the way It's never recommended to refill empty bottled water containers made of plastic because plastic ages you ever look at worn plastic bowls or Tupperware Have a look at some older worn plastic plates and cups. They look discolored That means the protective barrier the part of the plastic that touches the food. Well, in theory, they're supposed to be a protective barrier
[10:32] Anyway, that's what plastic container manufacturers try to infer The problem is the more you refill or wash a plastic material. It's continuously developing micro etching or micro scratches Kind of like how my voice is pooping out right now Got a cold, you know, so then what are you supposed to do? Well, you use stainless steel and glass, right? That's a good start except almost all houses these days in the first and third world. They're plumbed with PVC Plastic pipe it's bad enough running cold water through them But now imagine the hot water lines in your house always heating up the pipe and the warmer the pipe the more micro leaching Now if you have a good water filtration system with a ceramic filter, that'll get out most of the plastic But the plastic that's dissolved on the molecular level
[11:18] The only way to filter that stuff out is with a carbon block filter or reverse osmosis Of course RO works, but for me, it's too complicated for the average person lots of things to go wrong lots of replacement parts It's much cheaper and much less complicated to just use a very nice carbon block filter That's the stage of a good filter that pulls out the organic contaminations and plastics are Organics and the definition of organic is a molecule that's based on the carbon atom And that's what activated charcoal and carbon block filters do they pull out the organics So if you're using water filters and you really should make sure it's got a stage with an activated charcoal or a carbon block filter With the carbon block filter being better than the equivalent activated charcoal filter Now if you set up an under the counter water filter your final stage will be the carbon block filter
[12:07] They only cost around 10 bucks or so on Amazon and should last a family of four or around six months or so Now almost all city water in the world is chlorinated and your carbon block filter will pull the chlorine right out And that's also a way you can tell when your carbon filter is getting depleted You'll start getting the taste and smell of a chlorine again. That means replace the filter Oh, and I forgot to mention when talking about BPA that's his phenol a found in the so-called bad plastics They no longer put in water bottles turns out it's an endocrine mimicking agent that drastically lowers the sperm count in males Personally, I'm all for it when applied to politicians Well, the fact is you'll find it turns up in most canned products too because whether you know it or not Every can has a thin plastic lining. So the food in the can doesn't actually touch pure metal instead
[12:58] It's in contact with a very thin plastic layer and in many cases It's BPA plastic, but you'll never know because it's not mentioned on the label Now I started out this little rant today talking about Montezuma's revenge and how I almost never get it, but still once or twice a year I'll get a head cold and some of you have probably figured out already by the quality of my voice today That I'm doing this show with a head cold and a sore throat Luckily, these things only last a day or two for me. So what do I do when I have a cold? I don't take anything. I just write it out. Well, I shouldn't say I don't take anything I take my usual daily quote of vitamins and supplements the shortlist being vitamin C curcumin cayenne pepper capsules Coenzyme q10 whereas veratrol Selenium vitamin B and D and zinc magnesium citrate and a few others and sometimes
[13:47] You know when I look at the counter and see all the junk that I'm taking which doesn't include any prescription garbage at all I think to myself people who see this must think I'm nuts or really a sick bastard Well, I may be a little nuts, but I'm not sick not in the conventional sense Anyway, of course, that's my opinion and I could be wrong though You know oddly enough something really bugs me about vitamins and supplements They all or at least 95% of them come in plastic bottles and somehow that doesn't make sense Not to mention you see this all the time little kids sucking on plastic toys and pacifiers 24 7 Oh, but they're labeled non BPA, right? Yeah, right Oh, and let's not forget the sealants and the white resin fillings in everyone's teeth
[14:32] Remember that stuff's plastic and it's bathed in your slightly acidic saliva 24 7 now Why isn't anyone but me talking about it? Oh and about saliva, isn't it funny? Everyone else's saliva is gross. Yeah, but yours is a okay Never could quite wrap my mind around that one Hmm ain't humans weird. Oh, and did I mention regarding colds and flu? I've never taken a flu shot and never will and you know The funny thing is when I first got here to Latin America some 30 years ago now No one had ever even heard of a flu shot. And now hey, thanks to the gringos and expats who demand such things Doctors offices here in Latin America are starting to offer flu shots, too. Yeah, it's what you might call part of the gringo Disadvantage and with that you can only come to the conclusion that gringos have been brainwashed by big pharma
[15:24] I mean look for the past 10 years or so You've had every third commercial on TV about some prescription drug that's supposed to help procure some particular disease That wasn't even on the radar when you were a kid Meanwhile here in Latin America when you watch TV, you'll see no ads for prescription drugs at all Which brings me back to that 100% American joke that Latinos don't get because it's just not in their cultural sphere It goes like this. What's the difference between a doctor and God answer God doesn't think he's a doctor Not that funny more sad than funny, huh? And since we're talking about health and health care here. Here's an email from Rex He says hey Johnny Rex here with a kind of interesting update after listening to your podcast about stem cells
[16:09] I made an appointment at the dream clinic in Puerto Vallarta for an IV of 3 million cells They started out with a blood panel a four-page blood test. It showed something rather off with my kidneys They recommended a sonogram. I did it and it cost 70 bucks, which is incredible itself The results said I had cysts on my kidneys and they recommended when I got back to the states to see a specialist So back in the states, I had another sonogram and a CAT scan lots of time and lots of stress later They phoned yesterday with results surprise be nine cysts. What a relief However, as for the stem cells after five weeks and ten grand I feel exactly the same though still hanging in there hoping for some improvements with some of my ailments
[16:55] Actually hoping to become Superman, but so far now one last thing Johnny in my somewhat wayward youth I was into fighting chickens about three months ago in a podcast You said you had a great chicken fighting story that you'd tell next time still waiting for that one Johnny signed Rex Okay, Rex about stem cell thing I say hang in there give it a little more time and then report back maybe in another month or two Let us know how you're doing like anything results are highly variable and Rex You know, you said you were hoping for improvements with some of your ailments What ailments are that you didn't tell us because you know stem cells are good for a lot of things and really are showing Tremendous results for arthritis skeletal muscular injuries ligament and cartilage tears heart muscle problems, etc, etc
[17:40] And that's why so many professional athletes are getting it done these days So anyway, do keep us posted and look on the bright side You could go to an emergency room in the States and drop ten grand in one day In my mind if I had an ailment that required some kind of surgery or for example, hip or joint replacement There's no doubt I'd beg borrow and steal to get to ten grand and try the stem cells first Because once you've gone under the knife for something like that man It's irreversible and that's why it always blows my mind when people say yeah, Johnny that stem cell things looks awful good But my insurance won't cover it. Yeah, but I'll cover a $30,000 hip replacement and that's no insignificant surgery And I'll tell you what if you want to get dissuaded from that kind of surgery Just go on YouTube and watch how the surgeon does it that as opposed to an IV drip of stem cells
[18:29] That's a no-brainer on top of a no-brainer And if it doesn't work for some reason you can always go for the surgery and I'll leave it at that except to say Rex It's lit my mind about telling that fighting chicken story. Actually, it's cock fights. Alright, so here it is about a year ago I met this young lady MD. She's around 27 years old Graduated top for class has a bunch of medical Professionals on her mother's side and I met some of those family members including her mom a couple of times But she never did talk about her father She said her parents split up many years ago and her dad lives way out in the boonies somewhere and one day She said out of the blue was her dad's 50th birthday and she was gonna go out and visit him for a couple of days So she hopped on a bus and three or four hours later She was in this little town of the boonies hanging with her dad the guy she rarely saw but was responsible
[19:18] For sending her to private school all her life and footing the bill for her private medical school education And though here in Latin America, it's mighty cheap compared to medical school up in the States is still Comparatively adjusted for Latin American salaries a big hit So anyway while she's up visiting daddy She took a little video of his place and sent it to me first There was a scene of the backyard big wide open backyard I mean we're talking about out in the boonies now with oddly enough around 10 or 15 very strange structures They look like nose cones from a rocket on stilts All of them painted a different color each around 10 foot tall and 6 feet wide spaced around 20 feet from each other Now in that little video, I only saw those things for a very short time It seems like she was panning the countryside and caught those things for three or four seconds
[20:05] And a couple days later when she got back, I said what were those things? Well, she hemmed in she hard She really wasn't forthcoming at all. She just said it's part of my father's job And I said which is and finally she said my father happens to be the country's Champion cock trainer breeder and caretaker of prized birds She said he works for this big rich think owner whose stable of cocks are always the big money winners Then naturally I said is that legal she said sorta kinda the real revelation being that her dad This is famous cock fight trainer who put his daughter through medical school on the profits and proceeds of cock fights And when she was telling me that story I could understand perfectly why her dad's name was never mentioned around the house
[20:51] Not with all those professionals on her mother's side of the family Anyway, it's obvious. He was treated as kind of the trailer trash of the family You know, you can't imagine anything like that ever happening up in the first world So Harry, what's your dad do? Oh, he's a professional cock breeder. They don't hear that one often So anyway Rex that's part one of the cock fight story I'll tell the rest of it part two in an upcoming show. So stay tuned for that All right shifting gears a bit You've heard me say so many times that the more the gringos pile in the more the place becomes a tourist trap The more the locals catch on to the fact that you have money the more gringo start demanding gringo products Then soon enough there goes the gringo advantage price wise Anyway, in fact, you heard early in the show I mentioned the flu shots which never existed before here in Latin America till the gringo start coming in in matter of fact
[21:41] You know who I think needs about a hundred flu shots at once Bill Gates Wouldn't that be fun to watch put it up on YouTube hog tying Bill Gates and shooting him up with a nice big batch of his Own medicine, but I digress we're talking about gringos ruining a good thing here in Latin America Which is why I stay almost exclusively off the gringo tourist trail though That's not to say I'm not near the trail once in a while I don't take advantage of one of those cheap all-inclusive package deals to a tourist town like Playa del Carmen or Panama Which brings us full circle to this email. It's from Dave. Yes yet another Dave I got so many days listening. I can't keep track of him He says hi John just returned yesterday from a week in Panama City Panama And I couldn't help thinking about you the whole time. I was there fact is Panama has gotten ridiculous
[22:29] It's way beyond gringo pricing I can vouch for the fact there are dozens of high-rise apartment buildings going up all over the city ranging in price from 450 to 600,000 US dollars and beyond my god who can afford that in a place where the average wages are around 600 bucks a month. Well Johnny I just wanted to let you know about that and to let you know that I'm hooked on your podcast and listen to each one Numerous times to absorb as much as I can I wish I could afford to attend your expat insider get together seminar But at this time it's not possible sometime in the future though for sure. Oh and Johnny I'd like to make one little observation Did anyone ever tell you that you sound a lot like the late great Casey case some warm regards?
[23:16] David well Dave thanks for that and yes people have said I sound like the late great Casey case I'm I only hope I don't look like him. He's one of the reasons someone coined that phrase. He's got a perfect face for radio But he really was a great personality and great announcer though I may be wrong and it sounds very on PC. I'd like to think I'm slightly better looking than old case All right now keeping with the health care theme. Here's an interesting email. It's from Pam She says hi, Johnny. I really enjoy your show and here's my situation I had inflammation in my brain and a bad one week long migraine recently Oddly enough it got much better and actually went away when I started taking organic decaf green tea every morning
[24:02] But Johnny you have to get tea with no aluminum in it because as you know, aluminum is a neurotoxin Alright me Johnny here. Let's stop for a second. Pam. You're absolutely right aluminum is a neurotoxin It does not belong in the human body yet. They find it in the brains of Alzheimer's patients So then where's it coming from? Well, it's everywhere. But you see it's only been used and processed by humans for the last 150 years before that almost nothing contained aluminum except you know, the raw earth and the soil and such in fact until the year 1855 when they found a better way to process it. It was more expensive than gold. In fact pre 1855 Napoleon the third had dinnerware made out of aluminum forks knives plates and all that Why because they were a strange odd rarity strong and so very light yet more expensive than gold
[24:51] So then why do you think forks and knives are still called silverware? Because for hundreds of years they were made out of silver 92 percent silver and seven and a half percent copper It's just too bad that back then there was really no reliable scientific data on Alzheimer's But today we know that every Alzheimer patient has a high level of aluminum in his brain And it seems most everything these days has aluminum in it even things we eat Anyway, pam in her email talks about the benefits of green tea saying you have to get the tea with no aluminum in it Well, I could be wrong, but i'm not expecting aluminum to be in my green tea Are you saying there are brands of green tea that actually say on the label aluminum free or as the Brits would say? aluminum free Hmm. Well, I guess you learned something new every day
[25:37] Then pam says in her email johnny I want to go to southwest portugal again and see if I want to get a place there permanently But as for now i'm trying to pack up and sell my place in Newark, New Jersey and get a place in north central florida It's true. She says banking and selling your stuff is the longest the hardest thing you'll have to do But I do want out of here now In any case johnny, thanks for all your info and humorous show signed pam from new joysey By the way, you know when you're down here in Latin America When people talk about cities and states in the united states anything that's got a new in its name They pronounce nueva so latinos will say nueva, york Nueva, jersey nueva mexico nueva brunswick, etc Anyway, as far as pam saying she'd like to move to southwest portugal. Hey, I know it well
[26:25] It's called the algarve. It is very nice and inexpensive for europe But still twice as expensive or more than in latin america off the tourist trail Oh, and by the way, as far as having a plan b in europe personally I think it's a bad idea for one thing They've got a muslim invasion going on there and secondly if there's one place that nuclear bombs are going to fly first It'll be an arab israeli territory So if you're anywhere in europe, you're at risk because really most everything is strategic in europe Whereas there's only one particular place in latin america That's strategic and that's the panama canal and the rest of latin america. Nobody really gives a And for your plan b, that's a very good thing. All right, one last thing Remember you can still sign up for my january 2020 expat insider seminar Just go to the expat files calm and click on johnny's seminar link once there
[27:15] You'll get the full details and sign up info Plus the information on how to kill two birds with one stone that is come to the seminar And apply for your guadamal and residency at the same time quite a few people have done that, you know And you can't do but the window of opportunity is closing So it's time to get cracking You've been listening to the expat files living in latin america If you need some help with your own plan b we can schedule a one-on-one phone or skype consult Just send me an email the expat files at gmail.com And if you want to get on the waiting list for my next week-long expat insider seminar in central america Where you're guaranteed to get a two to five year head start on your plan b Send me an email the expat files at gmail.com