Expat Files – 12.20.15

– Which Latin currencies are the strongest and most stable? Which are apparently good risks to hold, and why?

-More news on the very high interest rates Latin banks are offering in both US dollar funny money and local funny money accounts too.

-What Latin banks are conservative, strong and worth dealing with? How do clueless gringos search them out?

-How to take advantage of subtle local variations in currency exchange rates.

-Which Latin countries have the fastest growing fat-ass government bureaucracies, and why?

-A sad but true Latin holiday story..

Expat Files – 12.11.15

– When a few Latins have small casual business meetings they often meet up in the local greasy spoon or McDonalds. However, when a first-world person is involved in a meeting suddenly the climate changes. The Latin contingent will do a ridiculous “upscale” shift to Starbucks or the I-Hop. Why might that be? Could it be the “gringo advantage” or I-Hop disadvantage?

– Authorities might close down an airport for a few hours during a crisis or emergency. Last week such a shutdown happened at Tucuman airport in Panama (Central America’s busiest airport). You’ll never guess why, not in a million years…

-More on the teetering Latin real estate house of cards. Concerning Central America: it looks like the coming collapse will start with Panama…

-Argentina’s got a new President, and the old thieving one (Kirchner) is being a very bad sport about turning over the reins. Meanwhile the currency is collapsing and many Airlines are no longer accepting their steadily devaluing peso.

-There are 100 reasons why Chicken bus drivers have the most dangerous jobs in Latin America.

-What happens to gringos and expats when they get issued parking tickets and/or moving violations? Naturally the transit fine system is on manana time too, even so, should you be worried?

-What happens when Latin businesses try to copy first world businesses?

Expat Files – 11.29.15

– Some things you never knew regarding Latin American beaches and beachfront properties…

-An update on the Latin real estate bubble. Looks like the first place it’s going to pop in is Panama so get ready to scout out the deals..

-A discussion of Latin Airport departure fees. There seems to be a frantic race by Latin government pin-heads to gouge foreign air travellers

-In Latin Countries virtually no one has clean municipal tap water. 50% of the population has water pressure only part of the day and another 15% of Latins have no running water in their houses at all(they bathe and pull water from a river or lake). So what does all that mean for Expats living down here expecting flawless first-world water delivery systems? Should we be worried?

For example: Panama is #5 in the world for total yearly rainfall (out of 200 countries) yet half the population doesn’t have 24/7 access to water. Why? It’s just normal Latin lazy-ass corrupt government again: what else is new?
-Is Costa Rica the next Greece? Sure looks like…

-Ecuador has decided it wants to be a Big Brother state just like the USA.
You won’t believe what kind tough of BB surveillance laws they have been passing lately. But can or will they be enforced?
Well… this is Latin America, and technology and cameras do need maintenance. And the “M” word is not yet in the Latin vocabulary. So at first maybe there’ll be a kind of crack down while everything works, but after some months it may just revert to Latin business as usual. We’ll see…

Expat Files – 11.22.15

-The scoop on how lazy, corrupt, fat-ass Latin politicians and their malignant Latin Governments are now trying to levy a new kind of tax on high earners. It’s meant to finance a new “public security” bureaucracy that “promises” to make citizens more secure and safer.
Such a law has just been passed in El Salvador. Its a 5% tax on high earners ostensibly to shore up the country’s failed law enforcement branch and broken judicial system. Well now…even an idiot could predict where those new tax dollars will end up… in SUV’s, private planes, yachts, beach houses, mistresses and trips to Mijami.
But don’t worry, as you’ll see, Expats will not be paying that tax.

-Though fluoride’s being touted by pinheads and clueless government talking heads, it has not been added to Latin water supplies. True, have been a few failed experiments and they were abandoned.
But look out! Certain clueless food companies have stepped up to the plate. They’re not only putting fluoride in table salt, they’re spiking milk and dairy products with it too…buyer beware!

-More on doing business and the high cost of opening bank accounts in Chile

-Today an email from a Canadian expat (non-US citizen) explaining how the long sweaty arm of the USA tax system and the IRS is making his life miserable even though he has no US bank or brokerage accounts and has nothing to do with the USA at all.

Expat Files – 11.20.15

-Police road blocks with cops stopping certain vehicles are a common site in Latin America. Today we have a roadblock story you just won’t believe. In this story those pesky first-world “do gooders”are at it again.

-By the way, don’t be afraid or be worried if you get pulled over at a roadblock. The cops are generally nice… nice and lazy and nonthreatening, especially “off the tourist trail”. Cops really do like to bond and talk to gringos. You might even get asked nicely to a buy them coke or a gallon or two of gas. Note: none of that niceness is certain if you’re stopped in Mexico.

-A road trip story and some driving tips for gringos and expats who chance driving their car through Mexico and/or parts further south.

-The nuances of the famous “altiplano” areas explained. Yes, there are many more altiplano regions than you might think- and some are much better suited for Expat living than others. You really need to know these details…

-Today an email from a Canadian expat explaining why he can no longer live in his own corrupt first-world country… and why he much prefers the ever so predictable small-time corruption of Mexico to the big time corruption of first-world states like his.

Expat Files – 11.15.15

-Answers to many questions that Expat Gringa gonnabees and wannabees have been asking over the years regarding beauty treatments, beauty salons, first world cosmetics, pricing and cosmetology in general as well as possible business opportunities for Expats in the field. YOU’LL SEE THAT THIS IS NOT FLUFF!!

-How “lag time” affects the Latin fashion and beauty industry.

-More lies and misinformation coming out of yet another Costa Rican government agency. Did you know that the Costa Rican public is now poised to pay the highest electric (kwh) rates of all the 20 Latin American countries? How is that possible when the CR government’s been bragging in the last year the country is totally energy self-sufficient and now operating 100% on “clean” renewable energy? Yes, you’ll find it’s the same old thing again… government corruption, nepotism, cronyism and extreme mismanagement.

-Visit me Johnny (and Expat super-blogger John Galt) at our new joint website www.TheNewExpat.com . Its where you’ll get real “boots on the ground” info, experienced expat blogs and reports. It’s a work in progress so please be patient. We’re continually improving and expanding the format.

Expat Files – 11.13.15

-Thinking of exploring or travelling long-term through Latin America? If you’re moving around, how can you get your snail- mail and packages from friends, family delivered as well as stuff from outfits like Amazon.com? Can you get that stuff shipped from up north? Yes, and it’s easy secure and inexpensive, that is, if you know the ropes ahead of time.

-Coming down to Latin America affords you a second lease on life in more ways than you can imagine. For one, if you plan correctly (and from the beginning) you can start your life in your new Latin country with a very small, nearly anonymous, footprint as well as a clean slate. Yes, you do have a chance to start fresh, so don’t blow it…

-With regular gasoline prices in the states averaging about $2.30 a gallon, how does that translate to local gas prices in Latin America?

-More about the most recent barrage of hotel-salon, one-day seminars promising slick diplomas, guaranteed to make attendees experts in something or other: though really designed to part gullible Latins from their hard-earned pesos.

-Today an email from a former Mormon asking for a few of my own weird Latin American Mormon tales. Of course I will oblige…

Spring coming earlier in US because of climate change, scientists say

Study predicts plants will start budding three weeks sooner by end of century as climate change exerts direct effect on seasonal calendar Scientists have confirmed what gardeners have long suspected: spring is coming much earlier in the US, with plants projected to bud three weeks earlier by the end of the century because of climate change. By 2100 plants will …

Mysterious disease may be tied to climate change, says CU Anschutz researcher

AURORA, Colo. (Oct. 8, 2015) – A mysterious kidney disease that has killed over 20,000 people in Central America, most of them sugar cane workers, may be caused by chronic, severe dehydration linked to global climate change, according to a new study by Richard J. Johnson, MD, of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. “This could be the first …

Expat Files – 10.02.15

-A discussion on how over the years things in Latin American have changed so much for the better regarding Expat gringos. But still there are so many new Expats that just don’t listen to good advice. Many continue to spin their wheels for a year or two (or five). They keep making the same mistakes I did when I first came down 25 years ago.

-Not only is there a lot of bad advice out there: lots of it is coming from part-time expats and bloggers with little “boots on the ground” experience and almost none have explored much “off the gringo tourist trail”. Much of the bad stuff is coming from people who are just trying to sell you stuff. That’s why today I’m suggesting you check out a valuable expat website www.thenewexpat.com
Its run by John Galt? Who is John (Juan )Galt? I know him personally. He’s the gringo Expat running, blogging and posting on that site (among others). John was one of my original Latin American seminar attendees who ended up moving down permanently a few years ago and since has become an absolute wealth of practical expat information. Do check it out. Note the site is not glitzy or polished but for content comes highly recommended. In fact, its popular enough to have been hacked recently by Russians, Ovomitoids, or who knows?

-More tips, tales and crazy stories that can only happen in Latin America