#920 – The Expat Files: Chile, Culture, and the Value of Plan B

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 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 second show of the new year now How about a little boots on the ground update coming out of Chile? We don't talk about Chile much or as South Americans call it Chile or Chile Alright, so I have a very current boots on the ground report courtesy of our famous and favorite Bitcoin and cryptocurrency miner

[00:50] He's been doing it since day one That is since day one of the crypto sphere some ten years ago now Quite a brilliant guy who gives a nice crypto mining overview at all my expat insider seminars So people who've been to my seminar know him well So anyway, this boots on the ground report out of Chile comes from our good friend and crypto guru Oscar miner aka Cat man do or the big O he answers to all of them Now you might already be keeping up with what's going on in some Latin American countries right now The roadblocks the street protests picketing the shutting down of public transportation, etc And you know, everybody wonders why in the hell's that happening since in the last 10 years or so Nearly every Latin American country has increased since GDP and in most cases poverty levels have dropped dramatically

[01:38] Of course the rich have gotten richer too. But you know as they say a rising tide lifts all boats Anyway, here's that boots on the ground report starts out After a month and a half of mayhem in Chile's more densely populated cities Last two weeks here have been much quieter with far fewer protests and violent incidents and a general return to normalcy Then he says the largest protests of all during the recent unrest occurred on the night of October 25th when an estimated 1.2 million Chileans took to the streets of Santiago's back in Daniel Metro subway station Demanding a number of social reforms and what started off as a relatively peaceful march ended with vandalism looting numerous bloody Confrontations with the police etc. Since then

[02:24] Protests outside that back and Daniel station have for the most part become smaller and less destructive every week However on December 13th, there was another larger gathering in the same location when a few of Chile's more famous rock bands Put on an unauthorized concert in support of the protest But the attitude of the crowd was not nearly as intense as it had been in previous weeks Then he says during the month of November There were dozens of roadblocks set up through Chile including on the main north-south highway the root that sink Oh, that's route five where protesters lit tires on fire to stop traffic And would then demand that people get out of their cars and dance with them to show support to their cause That's a new one. Well, I guess not in Latin America where they just love dancing But can you see that happening up in the states? I can see it now. Hey dickhead get out of that car and let's dance. I

[03:16] Don't think so only in Latin America Anyway, he says with the majority of the people setting up those temporary roadblocks Most of them only lasting an hour or two at a time where younger people including many college kids and high schoolers Luckily, it seems as if these hooligans began to share stories with their parents aunts and uncles, etc About what they've been doing and there was a pretty clear rejection of this as a legitimate form of protest So then during the month of December, there have been very few reports of these types of occurrences Alright so far so good Then he says between October 18th and November 30th of this year the Chilean peso fell from 715 pesos to the dollar to 857 nearly a 20% decrease primarily due to uncertainty over which direction the country was headed

[04:06] Then at the beginning of December Chile's Central Bank announced they would be using a portion of the country's 20 billion US dollar So called rainy day fund their US dollar reserves to help stabilize the currency over the course of the next few months by selling dollars and buying pesos and so far this month is talking about late in December the peso did recover to about 750 so it erased about three-quarters of its loss Then he says since the demonstrations in Chile began in mid-October I've lost count of how many times have been asked. Hey with all the chaos that's going down. Are you planning on leaving? Well considering he says this is the first time that Chile has experienced this level of protests and unrest in the last three or Four decades. I can definitely see why many people have been asking and even though the question is definitely

[04:57] Understandable the answer isn't so straightforward The truth is that these days I leave Chile all the time The original idea for me was when I first started spending time in Chile back in 2010 I wasn't just gonna move to the southern cone and spend the rest of my life here It was part of a lifelong diversification plan. I had plan B that included making new friends parking capital outside the US and learning about businesses and as many jurisdictions as possible and Let's face it. No place or plan B is perfect. Every single nation on the planet. Obviously has its own set of strengths and weaknesses It's also important to remember. He says the fact is during your own lifetime There's going to be a decent likelihood of your own home country experiencing instability economic depressions or even war or worse

[05:44] And that's not the time you want to be applying for a passport or starting your own research on foreign destinations and your plan B Fact is he says just recently I returned to Chile after a short visit to the states Which included visits with friends family and clients and a half dozen cities and towns across three different US states the result It's amazing. He says how spending just a few days on the ground somewhere else Usually lets you get a much better understanding of a place than a weeks or months of monitoring online news sources and blogs, etc Alright, meet Johnny again, man. Is he right about that? Especially since all the big news media outlets are owned by what five companies now not to mention fake news is everywhere Then he says even though many things are much more convenient in the US than in Chile or many other parts of the world

[06:32] There are definitely some very negative aspects of leaving every part of your life Ass and assets based in the so-called land of the free for me He says the things that first put Chile on my radar as a plan B was the country's low debt to GDP ratio Relatively high quality infrastructure and their 20 billion dollar economic stabilization fund and over the last few years I've noticed dozens of other advantages in Chile in my opinion At least that they have over not just the USA but many other countries in the world number one They've got food security due to their natural geographic boundaries and growing seasons to an abundance of fresh water and the southern parts Anyway three lack of a first-world style surveillance state. All right, me Johnny here after chiming on that one

[07:20] Yeah, that's true. But the US is in bed with Chile Fact is and you might have heard me say this on a show probably five years ago or so now Chile does have US basis and an agreement with the US that at any time they could proclaim martial law or Conditions of civil unrest all they have to do is phone up the US and the US military has a right to land in Country how's that? Oh and for all you O vomit defenders out there. Do you know in 2012? He instituted brand-new base in Chile in the port city of Kong Kong And that facility is run by the US Southern command operating out of my jammy And I have a quote here from Chile's Minister of Defense. He says the USA is Chile's most important security and defense partner Doesn't that make you feel all warm inside?

[08:09] Isn't it interesting those little things you never read about in the lame stream media that you find out when you've got boots on the ground Here in Latin America Anyway, he says another great advantage of living in Chile over many other countries like the US is number four their land use Practices and as a real estate investor He says I find that last point to be an extremely important one for me Then he says let me explain in the United States along with many other countries around the world Whether or not a property is so-called buildable is one of the very first questions Any raw land buyer needs to ask himself even if you're miles and miles away from population centers If you find a piece of land you have to ask yourself, is it buildable? During my most recent visits to the states He says I heard a number of horror stories in regards to neighborhood management restrictions and very odd

[08:59] Political posturing regarding land use in fact in one US city He says I heard about a local alderman that was far more concerned about alerting illegal immigrants about how to avoid being deported Then they were with fighting crime and gang violence in their district I guess you could see where the priorities lie there Then in yet another US city some of my friends told me about how most vacant lots there are Unbuildable because the local gopher population is protected and given priority over human property owners and property rights In cases like that you have to ask yourself whose property rights yours or the gophers Whereas in Chile he says the concept of a property being so called buildable is very different

[09:46] Turns out he said when you're out of the city limits of urban areas Chile has Surprisingly few restrictions as to what you can do with your own land However, if you're setting up an industrial operation that's gonna be directly affecting an established community Of course, you should expect a lengthy back-and-forth with the local building apartment, etc But if you're just planning on a residential construction project outside the city limits The likelihood of your property being considered unbuildable is very very low Then he says over the last couple of decades It seems as if the so-called first world developed nations have started to take the view that government Should not just be in charge of defending us from foreign and domestic threats But also in charge of monitoring and controlling the small details of our lives and protecting us from ourselves

[10:35] Whereas in Chile he says that kind of attitude just doesn't exist. There is definitely more of a sense of personal responsibility here in Chile which explains why the country is nowhere near as litigitists and As the US though, I have to admit he says I definitely found the actions of a subset of the Chilean population over the last couple of months the protesters etc to be Concerning and will admit that my outlook for this country is not quite as optimistic as it used to be He says, you know If the world was brimming with countries that valued freedom and privacy and maintained a low debt to GDP In other words, they weren't down the edge of bankruptcy and the politicians weren't spending like drunken sailors And if more countries were net food exporters and weren't suffering from immigration

[11:21] Crises or draconian zoning laws. I might actually say that Chile will have lost its appeal for me Unfortunately, however, that's not the world we live in So in the end if you personally have a significant amount of exposure to Chile right now I would still probably recommend taking some money off the table over the course of the next few weeks or months Then finally he says if you currently have some savings set aside But don't have any international diversification strategy in place yet a plan B I'd still say having a second home in Chile still might not be such a bad idea All right. There you have it a boots on the ground voice from a guy who's been living in Chile on and off for ten years now Just in case you've been wondering what's happening on the streets down there And you know when he mentioned that some of the local famous rock bands were giving free outdoor concerts during the protests

[12:12] That made me think of something that almost no one talks about and I've only talked about it just slightly quite a while back now That is the state of rock music here in Latin America. You know, there's a huge Latin rock scene They've even got all the various rock genres to like Latin punk rock Latin goth rock Latin metal Latin country rock Latin Christian rock, you know Latinos. They love everything gringo So they've made bad and mediocre copies of everything in the music genres, too And even though latin rock is pretty pathetic in all its offshoot genres. It's nothing more than reconstituted rehashed American rock and roll with Spanish lyrics, of course Nevertheless, it's still genius compared to the music they call ragga ton and ragga ton

[12:58] Most gringos and expats just cannot stomach it In fact, I've never met a single gringo or expat even gringas who obviously like to dance all girls Do who would admit to liking ragga ton or buying any of that crap? So then what's ragga ton music for the uninformed? It's an even more idiotic bad copy of that hideous genre up in the states called rap music. Did I say bad copy? Yeah, right. What do you get when you make a bad copy of something that already sucks? You get something that's redundant repetitive boring pointless Idiotic imbecilic utterly lacking in creativity and real talent. All right now, let's talk about the negatives I know I know a lot of you younger guys and gals out there are gonna disagree with my evaluation of rap music

[13:44] I get it. I get it That's why every one of us in our teenage and young adult years Grew up hearing a certain musical soundtrack to our lives the music that was played on the radio at parties and dances That was our musical soundtrack whether it sucked or not. I mean look if your formative years were in the 90s You listen to the spice girls britney spears michael jackson madonna That was the music of your time and you'll always be nostalgic for that the rest of your life No matter how technically good or bad the stuff was you'll always have a soft spot for it But you know, what really gets me when real musical mega talents like paul mccartney or jimmy page Start aging and losing their relevance and they know it and it hurts and no longer get air or media time Because their best and finest when they reach their peak was long ago

[14:31] They get old and creaky yet They don't want to end up on the oldie stage at the county fair or vegas circuit as most dinosaur rock ass bands do So some of them embarrassingly enough try to latch on to what they call the new talent with the likes of kanye Jay-z and snoop dog the masters of american music monotony And I gotta tell you to me and anyone who actually knows how to play an instrument and read music The whole damn music scene today is an embarrassment And when I hear people say there's lots of great music out there. My answer is always well, then why when honda ford nissan intel pepsi Mueller light all the big mega corporations when they put together their million dollar ad campaigns They don't take any chances. They always seem to pick the songs from the 60s and 70s same thing in movies

[15:20] I mean just look at those two guardians of the galaxy flicks There's a whole subplot revolving around a tape player and songs from the 70s So what you got is some really big players relying on songs that are 40 and 50 years old for their ad campaigns not current music Not today's throwaway garbage They pick songs from the beetles the who zeppelin the stones elton john pink floyd queen billy joe Did I say billy joel? And when you see guys like rod stewart jimmy page eric clepton paul mccartney sucking up to modern day So-called artists just to get their gray-haired wrinkled mugs back in the limelight to regain some relevance man It's embarrassing, but when you're a star you're surrounded by yes, man Maybe no one's leveling with these guys or perhaps their egos are so damn gigantic

[16:07] If someone actually did level with them, it wouldn't sink in anyway, but I digress I was talking about latin rock music Now the really strange thing about latin rock music is that it did not exist in the 50s 60s and 70s In other words till the 80s there was no original latin rock and roll Although young spanish speakers south of the border actually did listen to rock and roll But what they were listening to is re-recordings of american rock and roll done by latino rock bands Who simply played the same music and changed the words to spanish? So for example back in the 60s 70s and 80s You could go on any weekend night to a zona rosa or zona viva area of any medium or large sized city And here's some live music coming out of a bar music by the beatles rolling stones queen who same songs

[16:58] We know so well up in the states only the lyrics spanish With really bad translations, of course because you know You have to get the words to rhyme and when you do the direct translation from english to spanish The rhyming of the phrases almost never turns out correctly unless you change the meaning to get those words to rhyme It's really strange and as stringos and expats don't really figure that out until we learn enough spanish So that we can pick up on the words and we're thinking wait a minute. That sounds like hey jude But the words are all wrong. Wait a minute. That sounds like we are the champions But the words in spanish they've turned it into a love song. Oh, no All right, so that's the way it was till around 1980 then suddenly a bunch of latino rock bands started showing up south of the border

[17:45] Writing and creating their own rock songs not just copying first world songs anymore Except by first world standards They weren't very good at it and the earliest band that became kind of the godfathers of original latin rock and roll They were called mana mana and technically they weren't very good or very innovative They just rehashed first world rock and roll patterns and put spanish words to their compositions However, if they happen to have been a garage band in the states and spoke english and toured people would say uh Another holiday in band but because they were first out of a shoot with original latin rock songs. They became huge I mean really huge some people call them at least south of the border here The latino beetles, which is really a terrible insult to the beetles

[18:31] But hey, they were first and they are old guys now and they still tour and sell out huge stadiums It was pure luck right time right place A big niche was filled and other bands followed just like they did with the beetles soon enough There was a crappy neighborhood band on every porch By the way, no matter how b or c grade you think that group mana is don't ever say that in mixed latin company You might get your ass kicked So that's the story of mana how a bunch of mediocre latino musicians became superstars Though that's not to say there aren't a lot of us superstars that aren't mediocre, too I mean look at the punk rock scene We had 10 years of the clash the cure the pretenders the sex pistols Some of those guys couldn't play three chords and they'd admit as much But even that punk rock music as raw as it was was unique

[19:18] And it too became the soundtrack to a whole generation of kids kids I might add that hated disco though. The disco genre was just filled with fantastic talent Take for example earth wind and fire. So what was my point? Oh, yeah You long-time listeners have heard me say I played in quite a few rock bands throughout latin america I was in a very excellent little rock group. He played mostly american party rock songs For gringos expats and gringo wannabes both on and off the tourist trail I was always the only gringo in the band and the other latino players were fantastic better players than I was But you know every gringo party band needs a real gringo in it to keep things on track Now get this for a couple of years our lead singer a young girl

[20:03] Don't think I ever told you this before but she eventually went solo and went on to win a grammy award That's right a grammy award. In fact when she was 20 years old She won an international songwriting contest sponsored by yoko ono called the john letton songwriting contest You probably didn't know this and I didn't either but every year yoko ono gives three hundred thousand dollars with the prizes To the best up and coming unknown songwriter So anyway, the lady singer in my band won that contest and she got to hang with yoko Now if that would have happened to me I probably would have punched her in the kisser because you know That's just the way a lot of us were really into the beetle's feel about her even today But I digress man. Did I digress anyway? Turns out in every medium and large latin city where there's a first world hotel and convention district or

[20:48] Wherever the cruise ship stops and they have beachfront all inclusive hotels There's a big demand for live american rock and roll groups And the audiences they want 60s 70s and 80s music That's why so many of these dinosaur rock and roll bands from the states tour latin america Because you see after state fairs and holiday ends won't have them anymore They'll sweep through latin america and sell out even though probably 90 of the audience doesn't speak enough english to know what they're saying It's a kind of a gringo advantage for dinosaur musicians So in the 80s original latino rock music became a logical progression And here's what i've noticed being somewhat of a b grade musician myself and having toured through both central and south america There seems to be a definite kind of invisible wall right at panama separating central from south america

[21:40] Just like the northern and southern hemisphere are separated. So is the latino rock scene believe it or not and the bands that are hugely popular in places like mexico guatemala Panama coast erica dominican republic porta rico in all the latino countries in the northern hemisphere They're also very popular in south america But here's the rub it doesn't seem to work that way in reverse Meaning when I was touring through south america and when I visit south american cities to this day I hear all kinds of latino rock and roll performed by bands extremely popular in south america But almost unknown or not big at all in central america and mexico For example, there's this group called cara melos de cienuro roughly translated to cyanide candy

[22:25] It's a venezuelan group. That's hugely popular in south america They've been around since the 90s and in reality They really are something special their first class musicians and writers and you don't see much of that at all in central america or mexico They're hugely popular in south america and deserve it yet. They get almost no play north of columbia The fact is there seems to be only one south american artist that's ever broken through in central america and the rest of the world too And that would be shakira from columbia though It's true every once in a while a one-hit wonder will pop through from south america and through to mexico and central america and beyond But there really are no south american rock bands that have anywhere near the fame of the truly mediocre supergroup I mentioned before that just got lucky mana And the fact is it seems every time I go to a south american country, columbia, peru, venezuela, argentina, wherever

[23:15] It seems the latino rock bands you hear on the radio and on the internet, etc Are much more talented and creative than the bands coming out of central america and mexico that are much more popular and household names You know on this show we talk a lot about lag time in latin america. Well, really two kinds of lag time There's central american lag time that includes mexico and south american lag time For example, it took 15 years of lag time for the first prius to land in the toyota showrooms in central america And it took five more years for the prius to hit south america So in effect south america pretty much has its own version of lag time and it's slightly behind even central america In most cases for us gringos and expats. That's a good thing Problem is you know when it comes to music

[24:02] You could be in a fantastically creative rock group and have a lot of popularity in south america and never ever Get a chance to book a tour anywhere else The fact is it does seem to be a certain amount of resentment even jealousy when you talk to central american latinos about their counterparts in south america because it seems most everyone in latin america knows the rumor of course, it's based in fact Namely the most educated and cultured latinos come out of four countries columbia argentina Chile and venezuela. So then you might wonder how did venezuela end up in that little group? Well, many people say it's because venezuela never had much tourism at all was an oil rich country And thus the college age population would elect careers in science and technology whereas latin countries like mexico

[24:49] costa rica panaman belize and dominican republic countries whose economies depend on tourism most of the college age students select hospitality careers tourism food services and hotel management You know expat eddie likes to say There are not a lot of bright bulbs in tourism. So anyway bottom line It's well known throughout latin america that columbia venezuela and argentina and sometimes chile is thrown in that group Have the most highly educated and most cultured populations in latin america by the way, the known education level of a population in latin america Is directly related to the percentage of indigenous people in that country You'll see that latin countries with big indigenous populations have a lower educational level because they've been

[25:34] Discriminated against for centuries and they're the poorest group too That means almost all of their kids end up going to those really crappy public schools So countries like mexico guatemala honduras soledore valivia peru, etc Countries with big indigenous populations. They always rank low in education level and countries with tiny indigenous populations like columbia venezuela and argentina have much more highly educated populations In fact, all you have to do is have a look at some of their big cities and you'll see the direct effect They're a lot cleaner a lot more organized. They've got cultural and art centers opera houses world-class symphony orchestras And they've got really organized and vibrant art districts and artists colonies So anyway, the bottom line is central american latinos are a bit resentful and jealous

[26:21] That everyone in the world seems to know that argentina, columbia, venezuela and chile Have the most educated and cultured populations For example, if you live in any particular latin country and in casual conversation another latin country comes up Most all adult latinos will have a very strong be it Stereotypical opinion of that country and its people you could put it to the test yourself Even if you're up in the states next time you're at a party or if you have any latino friends Ask one of them what he thinks about people from venezuela or argentina or columbia I promise it won't take but 10 seconds to get a very definite answer out of and depending on where they're from It might not be too complimentary Then again, if you ask some gringo from illinois, what he thinks about people from california or washington dc

[27:07] Well, you get the idea. All right enough said about that I'd just like to remind you once again that i've done a complete revision on my latin american health care report for gringos and expats It's complete with a brand new stem cell update to pick up your copy Go to www the expat files calm and click on johnny's health care report If you're working on your plan b you'll definitely be concerned about health care. That's why I wrote the report 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

[27:57] nos vemos