#966 – The Expat Files: Life in Latin America During the Pandemic and Beyond

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:00] South of the border down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came up to play and now 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 Got a feeling we're gonna have a pretty good show today as opposed to shows that may or may not kind of suck You never know can't win them. All right Let's start out today with something that a lot of people have been wondering about Traveling right now in the age of Covid virus between the US and Latin America with this show going out on June 21st

[00:52] Let's talk a little bit about what you can expect if you're flying to Central America, let's say from the US I know I know you've heard a million stories end up at the airport stuck there for extended periods of time Sometimes even shoved into a hotel or a holding center for a certain quarantine period I know people have heard those stories and yes early on a couple of months ago People and governments were panicking and there was massive overreaction But now that things are starting to open up seems like more level heads are prevailing So today we'll talk about just what it's like to get on a plane in the States and come down to Latin America And we'll combine that boots on the ground story with an update coming from a previous expat insider's seminar alumni Who just take advantage of medical procedure? I've been talking about for a long long time stem cell injections here in Latin America

[01:44] So let's get right into it starts with an email that just came in a couple days ago from mr. C up in Montana He says Johnny. I just got back from dream body stem cell clinic in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico I had stem cells in my shoulders wrists left hand left hip and gums Also, I had whole body IV stem cells to at that particular clinic There are four levels of stem cell treatments and I had level two They also inject placenta cells in your belly in conjunction with the whole body IV They gave me a discount because I had several procedures done at once. Oh and Johnny. I met another patient there, too He was an American professional poker player that lives in Budapest, Hungary Naturally, I spoke to him about your show and gave him your info just read some background information Johnny

[02:32] I've had prolotherapy and PRP therapy in the States Alright me Johnny here for those of you who don't know what he's talking about Prolotherapy is an alternative medicine treatment where they inject the solution into your tendons and joints it's used to treat arthritis and certain muscle and skeletal problems and PRP therapy involves platelet enriched plasma injections It's alternative medicine stuff to use to treat pretty much the same thing Alright, then mr. C says anyway Johnny the stem cell injections Were much less painful than the prolotherapy and PRP therapy. I got in the States this time It went very easy as a matter of fact Afterwards my left wrist and hand hurt a lot, but I took a Vicodin

[03:18] But only needed that for the first night Otherwise I had minimal to no pain the doctor was very good and everything was very clean and new too He spoke English, but not great now the gum injections I had were done by an oral surgeon and he spoke perfect English Oh and another thing when you land there and get to your hotel They drive you to and from your hotel to the clinic now as for the good bad and the ugly the worst part of the day Was that before my injections I had to have MRIs on my shoulders wrists and hip that meant spending a lot of time in That damn machine in fact, I had to take a Xanax to get me through it later They gave me all my paperwork in English and Spanish for all the blood work and MRI reports by the way I heard at this clinic. They're very busy before Covid. They were seeing 40 patients a month, man

[04:06] They must make a crap load of money. Then he says here's my advice Remember to ask for a discount if you got multiple family members coming or you're having multiple parts in your body treated I did and worked for me as for now at this point I need to wait maybe three months or so to see what kind of results I get Keep you posted Johnny more to come. All right meet Johnny here again. That was mr. C's email that came on June 14th That'd be about a week ago as this show is first going out on the 21st Now let's talk about the problems and or difficulties. Mr. C had in his travels by plane to Latin America during this Covid virus thing Alright, so here's mr. C's comments on that. He says Johnny

[04:52] Amazingly enough the flights were fine It was overall easier to fly than normal with much shorter check-in and screening lines The only thing that sucked was coming from Montana I had to spend the night in Dallas both ways so I had four fly days There wasn't any problem at the airports though Both my flights to and from Dallas to Mexico were about a third full In fact, I had an entire row to myself both ways and the two flights I took back and forth from Montana to Dallas were almost full Though it does seem like airports have less gates open for flights Even so most flights were full when I checked the huge flight status board at the Dallas airport with like a hundred flights on there

[05:38] I didn't see a single flight that was delayed They were all on time except the very few that were canceled and Johnny in addition to the immigration forms You had to fill out a covid form and they checked your temperature, but the form was simple You just check the boxes. No fever. No cough Etc, etc And when I got back to Montana, they just gave you the option to get your temperature checked But you could just leave to oddly enough between a number of airports and going through different countries I saw no signs of coronavirus whatsoever. Oh and sometimes passengers on the flights pulled down their masks altogether Or remove them to eat, of course, etc Hmm does that make sense? Oh and I asked several people in Mexico and nobody had any personal virus related problems or stories

[06:25] I even asked an uber driver in Dallas who goes to the airport every day and she said her uncle's friend had the virus But that's the only person she knew of who had it and about the stem cell clinic It's in a small hospital and I didn't feel concerned about the virus even in that hospital in Porta Vallarta At least half of the businesses were closed and some were opened But you had to wear a mask the small coffee shops I found were all closed But there were several Starbucks that were open and although a lot of restaurants were closed There were certainly enough open to find good places to eat in the airports Most of the shops and restaurants were closed But there always were enough of them open in the Dallas Airport I noticed Starbucks McDonald's and a few more restaurants were open though most boutiques clothing stores and neck cushion pillow stores, etc

[07:11] We're closed. Oh and another thing Johnny just for your information in case you didn't know this already They have a driving service in Porta Vallarta called in drive that a waiter there recommended. I never used it Evidently, it's significantly cheaper than uber and you put in the amount you're willing to pay ahead of time Then it hooks you up with a driver that will accept that particular amount Now the hotel manager recommended against it He said some of the drivers are shady and their cars can be in terrible condition I believe there's a similar one called echo drive. Anyhow, that's it for now. Johnny more to come in my next report Signed Mr. C. All right, Mr. C And there you have it an excellent boots on the ground report regarding travel from the u.s

[07:58] To Latin America and another boots on the ground report on alternative medicine and stem cells By the way, when it comes to getting stem cells done here in Latin America I get emails from people all the time saying Johnny, but is it really sanitary? Are they using up-to-date equipment? I have my doubts being that it's in the third world of Latin America aren't the standards kind of loose Well, let me assure you and you heard it here from mr C to once you get there You're really amazed at all the spanking new equipment and the friendliness and professionalism of the people too Fact is almost all the recommended stem cell clinics I'm talking about the ones that have been vetted and recommended by yours truly and others were originally set up By doctors from the USA who could not do the procedures routinely in the states because they're considered

[08:47] Experimental that also means that insurance won't pay for it mostly because getting FDA approval Can take a half dozen years and millions of dollars not to mention There's tons of resistance from the usual suspects like big pharma and the us industrial health care and hospital complex They're pushing hard against it because it hurts their bottom line, which just goes to show it's really all about the money You know the old saying or maybe it's not old at all. And I just made it up A patient cured is a patient lost Or is it a patient cured as a Ferrari lost something like that? And big pharma and hospitals doctors and clinics in the states need a steady flow of chronically sick people To keep that huge health care industrial complex rolling Just imagine how many hundreds of thousands of hip joint knee replacements traditional medicine would lose out on

[09:38] If everyone with those problems said F*** it I don't want an artificial joint a big operation that carries risks much less a six-figure hospital bill that could wipe out my savings Imagine if most everyone with said condition opted for simple stem cell injections That's not to say that stem cells will work for everyone or that the results are predictable every time But look what kind of idiot when looking at irreversible joint replacement surgery? Wouldn't absolutely prefer popping off for a day or two south of the border for some simple injections. What have you got to lose? Especially since so many of the reports coming in lately are nothing short of spectacular And if it doesn't work, hey you give it your best shot

[10:23] You can always make that appointment and go under the knife you Anyway, if you want my latest greatest up-to-date report on stem cell clinics here in latin america Send me an email the expat files at gmail.com. And remember I make nothing from this I've got no involvement or stake in these clinics. I'm not friends with any of the owners or the doctors I just don't like seeing people hurt and bankrupted when there's viable non-invasive options like stem cells Enough said about that except to say that we'll continue to talk about this and keep giving you updates. So stay tuned for more Oh and about what mr C says regarding alternatives to uber. Yep. I've seen and used many of them myself These days all latin countries have uber alternatives Though most of them are pretty scruffy and low rent and it's true some are operated by some very shady characters

[11:11] Then again, they are a hell of a lot cheaper So at least uber's got one thing going for it The cars themselves people drive are vetted so they can't be pieces of junk shit boxes And man, it seems like every third or fourth car here in latin america is a definite shit box It's amazing governments let those things on the road But you know this is latin america now about taxis and alternatives to uber if you don't mind sitting in a smelly Sweaty rattle trap of a jalopy You can save a lot of dough and the amazing thing is that often on fridays and saturday nights One of those rusted out rattle traps will pull up close by and miss columbia venezuela or panama will step out Along with a few of her equally decked out friends Not the real miss panama columbia or venezuela, but you get the point

[11:57] We're talking about young ladies dressed to the nines Looking like they're ready to step in front of the camera and grab that crown because you know, it seems for young latinas Anyway, there's no shame in riding in a car or a taxi that to a first world lady would never fly It would be beyond embarrassing. That's why every latino guy knows the day He gets a car no matter what kind of piece of crap it is Suddenly he's jumped a few social notches. He's become a chick magnet That's why young latin guys are forever posting their cars and their newly acquired toys on social media down here It's understood. You are what you drive and what you wear meaning bling, etc Now, of course most intelligent discriminating young gringos understand that when a guy has an adequate penis There's really no need to show his cars or newly purchased toys on social media

[12:45] Though I guess there's always some of that going around and the scientific term for that I think is penis minimus Though I could be wrong about that. Anyway, if you're looking for cheap taxis other than uber Here's my advice when you're in the plane flying into your latin destination It'll always turn out that sitting around you and next to you are natives from that country coming in from the states or whatever So the thing to do is turn to the person in the seat next to you or behind you and tell them right out You're a stranger and you'd like to know Which are the cheapest and safest uber like services in the country because you know Every local knows which services they are and they've got their numbers stored in their phones Of course, you could use uber too their app works practically everywhere, but there are cheaper alternatives in every country

[13:32] So talk to a local or when you land and you're in the airport You could shag down a backpacker. They always know where to find the cheapest lodging and transportation But remember if you go cheap don't count on the ac or the shocks working Or even the headlights and tail lights Speaking of springs shocks and the lack thereof personally i've had many nasty jolts to my tailbone riding in those things myself Sometimes, you know You have to take one of those junk taxis because it's the only thing around Not to mention the fact the driver is almost always blasting that revolting infantile reggaethorn music at painfully distorted levels But the ride will be cheap Oh, and by the way, it never bothers me to tell the driver to turn the music off completely not simply turn it down

[14:18] Turn the damn thing off, please Though sometimes and you long-time listeners heard me mention this in a past show When a taxi driver sees a gringo picks him up, they'll switch to a putrid gringoized classic rock station You know the ones that are always playing in the dentist office when you're getting a root canal and here's the thing I've been in many taxis filled with other passengers Sometimes with people you don't even know that's one way to get a cheap fare You know that is hook up with one of those communal taxi drivers that'll pick up a couple of fares at once Though that could be a recipe even a setup for getting robbed I've heard that story a few times from various backpackers You get in one of those communal taxis with your backpack a bunch of people pile in ear hole to a hole And get on and off at different stops and suddenly you realize something's missing

[15:05] Obviously, you know the driver's in on it though. You'll never be able to prove it The thing is i've ridden in hundreds of taxis here in latin america many times with other passengers and i've never heard anyone Tell the driver to turn the radio down Except me And i've noticed when I do that everyone in the car kind of gives me the evil eye. So the driver always complies The customer is always right Maybe oh and one final thing about taxi drivers in latin america They love their cell phones and they're on them all the time Which can drive you nuts considering the fact that latin americans are some of the worst drivers in the world Constantly breaking traffic laws while on their cell phones too many times i've been in a taxi where the drivers run red lights Stop signs and pass on curves

[15:51] With the driver never once missing a beat while talking to his wife and or girlfriend So then you might ask have I ever been in an accident while in a taxi? No, but i've been in hundreds of near misses though three separate times i've been in a taxi that's had a flat tire Now get this two of those times the taxi driver's spares were flat third guy didn't have a spare at all Welcome to latin america All right. Now here's something you'll never read in the lame stream media You've heard me mention the fact that the chinese are coming into latin america and buying up all kinds of tracts of land Including mineral and mining rights bits and pieces of corporations and utility companies, too But did you know that there are five latin american countries that have passed laws allowing chinese banks to operate in their country?

[16:42] The latest one being panama. Let me excerpt this article from june 16th. This one comes from panama's largest newspaper Let me translate it says Panamanian authorities announced that chinese banks are now approved for general license to operate in the local system The first of those banks the industrial and commercial bank of china limited Commencing operations with an authorized capital of 50 million bucks with the other four countries in latin america that have authorized chinese banking institutions being argentina puru Mexico and brazil So chew on that for a while and now a very interesting email from mr. Sullivan from ohio He says dear johnny long time listener first time scribe The 25 trillion dollar question is what's wrong with the world?

[17:32] Personally, i've raised my limit and there really is no option but to get out of dodge Johnny yet, they say we're lucky to live in this age of progress But unfortunately all progress seems to be based on a universal innate desire on the part of everyone Man woman snowflake and all 61 genders and counting to live beyond their income Including every single government. How many people do you know who don't? Can you come up with a grand that's free and clear yourself in an hour's notice? Maybe your listeners could johnny but the majority of the adult members of my family can't I remember how they all laughed at me one christmas some 15 years ago when I told them to buy gold when it was only 250 bucks an ounce none of them did they said they didn't have the extra cash

[18:21] But they all bought new iPhones that christmas So johnny the straw has finally broke the camel's back for me at least and i'm getting out of dodge I held out way too long and thought things had a chance to get better under trump. But man was I wrong I'm not a trump supporter Though I did vote for him as a lesser of two evils, but it didn't take long He completely lost me when he selected his big bank big pharma big military cabinet But then so did obama daddy bush bush the infant dan clinton ad nauseam If I had to label myself, i'm a libertarian johnny who started out as a socialist in high school I morphed into a democrat in college became a republican after I got in business when I saw my tax bill escalate under massive debt Massive military and never-ending trillion dollar undeclared wars. I watched my state bureaucracy grow like cancer, too

[19:11] Then at the ripe old age of 40, I had my come to jesus moment and became a libertarian Speaking of trump johnny Have you noticed that every single photo of the guy? Whether you see him on the six o'clock news on google cnn or yahoo news Including twitter and the rest of social media doesn't matter Every single media photo of that guy has him with an angry or foolish look Check it out. They post photos that make him look aggravated dumb clueless. Just plain ridiculous Anything but presidential or they have him hacking away at the golf course like the world's problems are nothing to him In fact, I counted out 40 trump pictures in the news stories this past week and 35 of those photos were terribly unflattering

[19:57] That compared to the 20 most recent obama pictures i've seen online All of them showing him serious gallant thoughtful and statesman-like now I don't like trump myself, but the media absolutely hates the guy and they won't let up They never did that to obama or bush even infant bush who was a hopeless cloud and horse's ass They always appear as calm collected perennial iconic statesmen with trump's pictures always portraying him as an ass or an idiot madman On top of that everything he says they continuously dump on him hell tomorrow If he said everyone should drink more water if trump said h2o was good for you The media would twist it and say he was somehow in bed with the water companies That he stands to make a fortune from all those ice and water machines at the trump resorts

[20:47] Johnny again, I asked the question What the hell's wrong with this world? Seriously i'm worried this will not end well I'm convinced there is no hope for america if you're above average and you live there, you know, there's a great chance All will be lost. Oh and about that straw that broke the camel's back for me. It was more than one really Starting with the public health officials here in ohio Who were recently forced to issue a public apology after their guidance on face masks told black americans not to wear Gang colors or symbols on homemade masks. What the Why are they apologizing is the world crazy is common sense so uncommon Why do citizen idiots continue to slam and attack and hate people who deliver facts that go against their biases?

[21:40] We're living in a new age johnny the age of kill the messenger Meanwhile my brother who lives in chicago a place, you know Well says kids get shot around there for wearing the wrong colored shoelaces in their jordans That was well before the virus came along Now with the virus kids are being shot and assaulted for wearing the wrong colored masks Yes, the world is crazy, but you don't hear the mainstream media reporting on that Oh and my brother who's a teacher in a private school also tells me scared parents there have actually made What they call a safe passage program? Where hundreds of adults are present and voluntarily stationed on designated school routes?

[22:28] Just so kids can walk to school Somewhat safely and not get accosted by street thugs and gang members Who's skin color? I won't mention here lest i be labeled a racist imagine that A safe passage program started not by government or police but by concerned parents Something that the media does not want to report on too sensitive a topic. I wager Though logically the only reasons parents have set up such programs is because of the high rate of neighborhood gang affiliation That's just a reality But you never ever hear lame street media report on this huge story because for one there'll be pushback from antifa and blm johnny What the

[23:14] Is wrong with the world I know you hear about gangs and drugs in the third world But you don't hear about killing children for having the wrong colored mask so I'm out of here Hope to see you at the august seminar if not the next one if my boss gives me the time off Yes, I work in an essential industry medical gas products like oxygen and anesthetic gases Hope to get out before I get chipped and waxed signed Sullivan from ohio All right. Thanks for that. Sullivan. Hope to see you at the seminar speaking of my august 2020 seminar You know, you can get in on the early bird discounts for just about two more weeks now because on july 1st We're back to regular pricing

[23:59] So by all means head to the seminar web page and have a look get the sign up sheet Just go to expat plan b dot com Oh, and i'm still looking for a guy in a gal Hoping to share double occupancy instead of coming down as a single Because if you room with someone same gender, of course You'll be saving 750 bucks off of the single price I can offer such a big discount because as you know, or maybe you don't the seminar fee includes seven nights at our first world hotels So if you room with someone I could kick that back to you Anyway, you've got two weeks to get in on those early bird discounts So chop chop. All right yank in the wheel again Remember a couple of weeks ago. We were talking about a big fraud exposé in ecuador where a crooked past president

[24:46] Are there any other kind and some of his cronies had heavily gouged the public health care system by selling covid mask gloves and other products? At a thousand percent plus markup. Well, there's new breaking news out of ecuador Three more fugitives involved in the case are living. Guess where in my jammy Remember there is a question i've been asking over and over again. Why are so many latin american narcos convicted criminals? Fugitive politicians and just generally bad people living the life of riley in my jammy How is that possible though? It does give us reason? 2426 why it's time to get the hell out of dodge. In fact, it's getting so bad up there by you You may have missed the boat already. Anyway in the last few days as ecuadorian authorities

[25:32] Are peeling back the layers of this organized crime business and the government public sector With the massive theft of funds intended to fight the covid 19 thing More than a dozen arrests have already been made after discovering multi-million dollar contracts for covid supplies showing markups of over a thousand percent over pre covid prices Now the latest news is that there are two former national assemblymen that would be senators in our terms And the wife of one of these guys holed up In luxury my jammy neighborhoods and to show you just how bizarre things can get turns out When contacted in my jammy by phone and email all three fugitives said they will be pursuing Political asylum in the u.s. Claiming the charges against them amount to political persecution

[26:24] Oh lord, not bad adding that they're just victims of a corrupt political system And will not be able to get a fair trial of the extradited back to ecuador This coming from a bunch of magnetist snakes who made a thousand plus percent profit off of the covid virus thing They're saying that their government is corrupt Problem is u.s government will most likely buy that claim Since that is one of the bucket list items immigrants can check off when they enter the country legally or not That will almost always guarantee. They won't get deported In other words saying that they're fleeing because their government is corrupt and therefore they can't get true justice in the court systems You longtime listeners probably remember me doing a show on that

[27:11] How latinos in mexico trying to sneak into the us illegally are coached on which boxes to check As they get processed through immigration up in the states and that claiming political asylum is one of the best ways to put the brakes on Deportation proceedings allowing a person to remain in the us indefinitely. Yep. Everyone's got an angle 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 vamos