The Expat Files: Living in Latin America

#1-  The best and worst case scenarios when one attempts to build or remodel a house or property in Latin America: Today we cite examples at both ends of the spectrum… a gringo house building project that went very smoothly and a project that became a complete disaster…   #2- When your Latino neighbors have bodyguards: How might it affect you and what are you to make of it? #3- Crazy Latin American floor patterns and abrupt staircase height changes are common: Be extra careful or someday you will surely trip and fall on your ass… #4- When a building contractor's verbal and implied warranties,

Descriptions - EXPAT FILES SHOW #1490, FRI, JAN 16 (01-16-26):    #1- What Latin American Spanish rags are saying about the Maduro capture: Here’s what 1st world captured media won’t tell you…   #2- The “macho” culture restaurant effect- in reverse: Why does the lone gringo at the table so often get guilted into picking up the check?   #3- Crazy Latin American relationship facts- PART 2: A continued rant on why so many beautiful Latina women have unattractive, low-value husbands, boyfriends and errant kids…   #4- How to kill a formerly nice, popular gringo tourist spot: Might decapitating five or six locals and mounting their heads on poles at the beach do the trick?   #5- Our own Expat Captain Mango has developed a unique one-on-one Crypto consulting and training service (he’s been deep into crypto since 2013). To get started, email him at: bewarecaptainmango@gmail.com 

#1- The Maduro capture and after effects in a few words:   #2- Gringos looking for love in Latin America:   #3- Why do so many beautiful Latina women have unattractive, low-value husbands and boyfriends?   #4- How to lose 2 points on your gringo attractiveness scale:     #5- Those ultra, ultra, super cheap gringos and expats who make all of us look bad:    #6- Our own Expat Captain Mango has developed a unique one-on-one Crypto consulting and training service (he’s been deep into crypto since 2013). To get started, email him at: bewarecaptainmango@gmail.com 

Descriptions - EXPAT FILES SHOW #1488, FRI, JAN 02 (01-02-26):    #1- What expats need to know about Chat GPT and other AI platforms:   #2- Expat Insider seminar stories that will amaze you:   #3- When the will to “get out of dodge” diminishes with time:   #4- Will your wife or significant other thwarts your Plan B efforts:     #5- No good deed goes unpunished (that goes for Latin America too):    #6- 10 most dangerous jobs:   #7- Our own Expat Captain Mango has developed a unique one-on-one Crypto consulting and training service (he’s been deep into crypto since 2013). To get started, email him at: bewarecaptainmango@gmail.com 

#1- The ins and outs and proper steps to having your SS check deposited in your Latin American Bank Account:   #2- Why despite your natural resistance and repusion to brain numbing USA buerocracy …you really need to set up a personal account on the US Social Security website: Setting up a personal account on the SS  website will eliminate a lot of headaches when things go wrong (and they will go wrong eventually)   #3- DYK that in order to get residency in certain Latin American countries, there are multiple dreaded vaccine requirements? Yes, this is bad news, but some countries like Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador don’t enforce those rules at all….   #4- Disgusting Latin American culinary surprises you will encounter:     #5- Tips for gringos and expats who are able to buy Latin American properties with CASH:    #6- Our own Expat Captain Mango has developed a unique one-on-one Crypto consulting and training service (he’s been deep into crypto since 2013). To get started, email him at:

#1- 3rd world optimism versus reality:   #2- Why 3rd world countries remain 3rd world as 1st world countries slwly slip into 3rd world status:   #3- How Latinos score on the big 5 personality traits as compared to gringos and expats:     #4- Getting the Nobel piece (of shit) prize:     #5- Latin Americans have a certain idea of what your previous life in the USA was like…. and it is all wrong:   #6- Latin American party etiquite:       #7- Our own Expat Captain Mango has developed a unique one-on-one Crypto consulting and training service (he’s been deep into crypto since 2013). To get started, email him at: bewarecaptainmango@gmail.com   

#1- Expat landlords in Latin America: Is being a landlord worth the hassle? #2- 3rd world landlord rental property dilemmas you won’t encounter in the 1st world:   #3- Why Latin American real estate deals don’t seem to make sense to gingos and expats: You need to look beyond the obvious. Chances are you're not analyzing the secondary factors...   #4- Yo must get it into your head that Latin America is a “renter’s” market:     #5- How smart Latin American real estate owner’s low-ball their property tax bills:   #6- Why it's true that for most Latinos owning a home is practically the only way to beat inflation:       #7- Our own Expat Captain Mango has developed a unique one-on-one Crypto consulting and training service (he’s been deep into crypto since 2013). To get started, email him at: bewarecaptainmango@gmail.com   

#1- Latina eating habits that bug gringos and expats: Should you mention them or hold your tongue?   #2- Poor food safety and bad hygiene habits in Latino markets:   #3- The foolish dating app traps gringos and expats routinely fall for:     #4- Guilty pleasures -Part 2:     #5- The Latin American minimum wage battles:   #6- Data shows we are about 20% worse looking and less handsome than we think we are: Is that good or bad news?        #7- Our own Expat Captain Mango has developed a unique one-on-one Crypto consulting and training service (he’s been deep into crypto since 2013). To get started, email him at: bewarecaptainmango@gmail.com 

#1- The downside of being bilingual: Yes, it's true, some people say there is a downside… #2- The 3rd world inferiority complex: #3- The “not so obvious’ signs that you are experiencing a 3rd world country: By the way, the USA is moving along on that fast track path… #4- Driving self-defense tips when on the road in Latin America:   #5- A word about gringo fashion sense or lack of it, sometimes referred to as the Gringo / Latino  “bling” gap: #6- Latin American “Acts of God”(or not); #7- Our own Expat Captain Mango has developed a unique one-on-one Crypto consulting and training service (he’s been deep into crypto since 2013). To get started, email him at: bewarecaptainmango@gmail.com 

#1- DYK there groups of expat gringos holding no kings protesters in Latin America? WTF? #2- Travel… the best education in the world: #3- The things your cleaning lady gets away with behind your back:   #4- No one likes a gringo “know it all”:   #5- Why is it so many fakebook expat groups seem to be made up of vocal, cringy,anti-capitalist, anti-trump wokesters? Thankfully though, they're found almost exclusively on the gringo tourist trail…      #6- Our own Expat Captain Mango has developed a unique one-on-one Crypto consulting and training service (he’s been deep into crypto since 2013). To get started, email him at: bewarecaptainmango@gmail.com 

#1- Guilty pleasures: I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours… #2- The dark side of love and romance in Latin America: #3- TEN more good reasons to get the hell out of Dodge:   #4- Do Latina women lie when they openly compliment average gringo men on their looks and tell them that they are sooo handsome… #5- How Latinas classify and rate other Latinas: Often times Latinas are their own worst critics… #6- comparing Latin American Junk food versus typical American junk food: #7- Our own Expat Captain Mango has developed a unique one-on-one Crypto consulting and training service (he’s been deep into crypto since 2013). To get started, email him at: bewarecaptainmango@gmail.com 

#1- The cost of dying in Latin America:   #2- What about wills, testaments and powers of attorney in Latin America:   #3- You won’t believe the crazy differences between Latino funerals held in the campo (out in boonies) versus a typical funerals held in the city:     #4- Being a weekday Catholic in Latin America: Its awful confusing and definitely not logical…   #5- Our own Expat Captain Mango has developed a unique one-on-one Crypto consulting and training service (he’s been deep into crypto since 2013). To get started, email him at: bewarecaptainmango@gmail.com 

#1- Nagging tax problems certain expats have long after they get out of dodge: #2- The real cost of being middle class in Latin America: #3- Why gringoized enclaves in Latin America can often be so disappointing to certain types of expats:   #4- Living in Latin America means you eventually will get passed counterfeit money: It's not a matter of if, but when…  #5- How I can easily spot a counterfeit funny money bill:  My personal trick… #6- Our own Expat Captain Mango has developed a unique one-on-one Crypto consulting and training service (he’s been deep into crypto since 2013). To get started, email him at: bewarecaptainmango@gmail.com 

#1- When your taxi or uber driver smells like booze.. what then?  #2- A listener reports on his first robo-taxi trip: Is it even possible for them to transition to Latin America? #3- TEN more good reasons NOT to sign on to a Latin American national healthcare plan:  #4- You need to know about a foreigner's tough monetary requirements for Mexican permanent residency:  #5- Behind the scenes at an average Latin American restaurant: You might want to skip this rant…  #6- Our own Expat Captain Mango has developed a unique one-on-one Crypto consulting and training service (he’s been deep into crypto since 2013). To get started, email him at: bewarecaptainmango@gmail.com 

#1- Why I don’t recommend Nicaragua- PART 3:  #2- What you need to know about Latin American banks:  #3- The odd and strange sentences and fines Latin American courts hand down to guilty parties:    #4- The best and worst airlines for you to fly: According to me, my retired air traffic controller relative and simple logic…  #5- A toxic plastic lesson you won’t soon forget:  #6- comparing Latin American Junk food versus typical American junk food:  #7- Our own Expat Captain Mango has developed a unique one-on-one Crypto consulting and training service (he’s been deep into crypto since 2013). To get started, email him at: bewarecaptainmango@gmail.com 

#1- When is it safe to take a Moto-Uber? How about never…    #2- Now for a bit of real estate “boots on the ground” craziness:   #3- Racism in Latin America- Part 3: Most Latin Americans don't even know they are racists...   #4- Unchangable things that will continually baffle you in Latin America:  #5- Those certain harsh things you really want to say to the locals but don’t…. Because you’re an uninvited guest in their country (and that would be rude):  #6- Our own Expat Captain Mango has developed a unique one-on-one Crypto consulting and training service (he’s been deep into crypto since 2013). To get started, email him at: bewarecaptainmango@gmail.com 

#1- When stupid "show off" gringos get robbed: Are they asking for it or is it just bad luck?    #2- Why do so many young adult Black American tourists wear gaudy, stupid bling: Duh... Don’t they know its an idiot’s invitation to get robbed?    #3- The Gringo “tourist” uniform and look: Why Latinos can spot us a mile away…   #4- Is Guatemala still a good choice for your Plan-B or is the bloom off the rose?     #5- The ins-and-outs of buying prescription drugs in a Latin American pharmacy and flying back home with the stuff: Will US customs mess with you or not?    #6- A listener does 6 weeks in a Mexican jail and buys his way out: Just another “boots on the ground” story…  #7- Our own Expat Captain Mango has developed a unique one-on-one Crypto consulting and training service (he’s been deep into crypto since 2013). To get started, email him at: bewarecaptainmango@gmail.com 

#1- Everything you did and didn’t want to know about Latino penis size: Including variations by country and culture…  #2- Informal and gray market jobs in Latin America:    #3- DYK that 50% of Latinos have side hustles: What’s yours?  #4- WTF happened to all those thousands of little guys on every street corner selling CDs?  #5- Cellphone use and car accidents in Latin America: #6- Our own Expat Captain Mango has developed a unique one-on-one Crypto consulting and training service (he’s been deep into crypto since 2013). To get started, email him at: bewarecaptainmango@gmail.com