-A few words about those famous Latin “Quince Anos” parties. You should know that every Latin 15 year old girl has one of those “quince anos” parties and its a real big deal… a major shindig. Every expat off the tourist trail (who doesn’t hang exclusively with other expats) will surely get invited to more than a few of these boring events... especially if you have a Latin significant other. And if you don’t show up you’ll catch hell and if you do show you’ll probably be the only gringo there.
-A local Latin pharmacist’s take on the Mormon penetration in Latin America.. his pharmacy is down the block from a big Mormon church and he sees the occasional walk-in.
-Deported Latins are everywhere down here. Expats run into them all the time. And after having been ingloriously booted out of Uncle Sam land (some many times.) these guys want to bond with expats and be our friends. Why? Because they feel displaced and embarrassed and not quite at home back in Salvador or Nicaragua… the places they escaped from. They found out quickly that only in the US could a guy with a 6th grade education, no skills, poor hygiene and homemade tattoos have his own a car, apartment, flat screen TV, A/C, hot running water and such. Many male deportees feel they are a notch above their local brethren in the home country and take every opportunity to warm up to gringo expats to try to be their friends. What should you do when that happens to you? Just be polite, but don’t ever give them your address, email, or real phone number or you’ll have a pest on your hands. Yes they do speak some English, so what about hiring them for your Latin business? Er…generally not a good idea. I assure you, most deportees have picked up some very bad habits in the barrios of Los Angeles and/or on the streets of Cleveland.
-A short primer on crude Latin American street slang
-Every long term expat must be prepared for the eventuality that he/she will be tapped as a godparent to a Latin child.
Can, or should, you turn it down? Well, here’s that story..
-Don’t laugh, but some have postulated that gringos are genetically predisposed to succeed in Latin America. Could that be possible? Let’s talk about it…..
-The upcoming Expat Wisdom “Latin American Insider Seminar” (well off the gringo tourist trail of course) will be Sunday, June 23, thru Friday, June 28… a full six days. Its over half filled now so be be sure to go to ExpatWisdom.com and click on the seminar link for full details and the earlybird signup bonus…
-Follow the link on the main page at www.ExpatWisdom.com to schedule a private consultation with me. If you want to discuss the details of living, working, playing, doing business and/or retiring in Latin America, now you and I can talk about your situation one on one
