Matt Chambers Connects
Navigating Chaos and Living Large in Latin America
Ever wondered what it's really like navigating the legal landscape in Latin America? My guest takes us on a rollercoaster ride through his frequent encounters with the law across Latin America. Expect humorous and chilling tales of close shaves with brothel raids and the sobering recount of arrests during political upheaval. These stories paint a vivid picture of life in Latin America, showcasing the vibrant, albeit sometimes chaotic, everyday reality.
From mouth-watering local dishes to high-quality, affordable healthcare, we dissect the allure of Latin American living. Discover why many successful Americans yearn for the relaxed, enjoyable lifestyle south of the border, and how misconceptions about countries like Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia often miss the mark. We also delve into crucial safety advice for foreigners, especially in bustling dangerous cities like Medellin, Colombia. Personal anecdotes and practical tips offer a comprehensive guide to embracing the expat lifestyle while staying wary and wise. So tune in and enrich your understanding of life with a Latin American twist!
Ever wondered what it's really like navigating the legal landscape in Latin America? My guest takes us on a rollercoaster ride through his frequent encounters with the law across Latin America. Expect humorous and chilling tales of close shaves with brothel raids and the sobering recount of arrests during political upheaval. These stories paint a vivid picture of life in Latin America, showcasing the vibrant, albeit sometimes chaotic, everyday reality.
From mouth-watering local dishes to high-quality, affordable healthcare, we dissect the allure of Latin American living. Discover why many successful Americans yearn for the relaxed, enjoyable lifestyle south of the border, and how misconceptions about countries like Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia often miss the mark. We also delve into crucial safety advice for foreigners, especially in bustling dangerous cities like Medellin, Colombia. Personal anecdotes and practical tips offer a comprehensive guide to embracing the expat lifestyle while staying wary and wise. So tune in and enrich your understanding of life with a Latin American twist!
Hello and welcome to Matt Chambers Connects, a podcast hosted by Matt Chambers. This is the podcast that transcends boundaries, empowers cross-cultural connections and fosters a more connected world. I'm your host, matt Chambers, and I invite you to join us on this quest to expand our understanding and build bridges between my two favorite places on the planet Latin America and the United States. I've been traveling, living and doing business in Latin America for nearly two decades. What's up?
Speaker 2:with you, man. How's everything? Well, man, it's a full house, matt. Totally different. I used to live alone for my whole life. Now it's me, my girl, two, the baby, the three-year-old, the 13-year-old that we adopted. Oh, I didn't know, you adopted one, well she's the daughter of her half-sister. Okay, real pretty girl, actually looks like a model. She's been with us for about three years. She came here just to visit and I told her you know, after she's here a couple, I go. I want to just have her stay.
Speaker 1:We can give her a better life.
Speaker 2:You know she was in venezuela. So yeah, in venezuela. Yeah, her mom lives here. She goes back and forth a few times a year, obviously, and then we have three dogs. So you can imagine I think I counted we're like 10 of us.
Speaker 1:The brother was here forever 10 people in your house right now no with the dogs, you know, they're like people for me well, it's the same thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely yeah, they all eat this. They're all eat. This is chaos, this place, man, I mean I want to get myself. I want to get myself the next house I want. This is a nice size house. I need a mansion, I mean my own wing.
Speaker 1:You went like. You did like a 180 man and you know total, total, total, crazy shit. Total crazy. I'm seeing your life and one day, because you were single, having a good time for the longest time and then boom always always, always, and a loner, single living it up.
Speaker 2:It's just me and my dog, you know, and you know, and I enjoyed it. Yeah, you know, this just happened and it is what it is now. We roll with it.
Speaker 1:No, man, I, I feel the same. I I've enjoyed my single life, for sure, there's no doubt and I I'm gonna get to a point and be like what the hell? I want that back, I'm sure at some point. But you know, my uh, all my married friends are like dude, don't do it, don't fucking do it like yeah, it's different, it's different yeah, yeah. So hey, man, let's talk about you a little bit. I know you're born in panama and you were an immediate dual resident of the us, is that right?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, yeah, my mom's from the States, so automatically I was Panamanian and American right away. So, yeah, I learned both languages at the same time. I speak good English, obviously perfect, as perfect as you can speak these days, and Spanish I have no accent, nothing. You've heard me speak Spanish. People freak out because not only do I speak Spanish, I speak Panamanian Spanish, which is, you know, not like the Colombians. Well, you know, you know, panamanians we speak like, like men, you know, and sort of the chicks speak that way also.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, you know. I mean if you want to torture somebody, just put them to listen to Dominicans or Panamanians speak all day day like on a loudspeaker. Holy shit, it's like, uh, you know what do they say? The on the chalkboard just passing your nails, man. I remember, just off the topic, I remember one time I was in my 20s and I met this beautiful stripper in a real high-end strip club in panama Real high-end, yeah, real high-end.
Speaker 2:It was owned by Russians and this girl looked like a Barbie doll Blonde, white, dominican, beautiful, beautiful, perfect everything, until she opened that mouth. Man, oh my God, oh, it's horrible, horrible, horrible, but I sucked it up for long enough. You know what I mean. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I can't do it man you know as much as I. I love the venezuelan people, right, I mean they're, they're incredible people. But there's something and I'm dating a girl right now from venezuela, but there's something about that accent that I hear and I'm just like damn it, dude.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can't do it venezuela isn't as bad, depends what part of the country you're in. Remember it's a huge country. You're like you speak to a rolo here in Bogota and you speak to. You know, here are people in Antioquia which most people recognize, Totally different.
Speaker 2:No, absolutely Totally different, it's just so, you know, the people, generally speaking, in Bogota are dry this that they have. No, you know, while here it's, you know, just totally different. Panama is the same crap all over the place. You know, it's a small country. You know what was it like?
Speaker 1:growing up in Panama, yeah, that Dominican girl?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, it was great. Well, imagine I'm 53. So I mean, I grew up as a kid in the 70s, like before. You know, in 1980, I turned 10 years old. So in the 70s, you know you're talking about a third world country had everything you wanted. People used to think that we lived in huts or something. You know, my dad was already a millionaire in the 70s in panama. Imagine, I mean, my dad used to make about 50 grand a month. Can you imagine in 1975, 1970, when an empanada yeah, he, you know, he had the largest auto parts store. You know that's how. He didn't share much of it with us, but you know, but he had a yacht, since we had a 40-foot yacht, since I was, he was, he had the largest yacht in the country at that time. He was, uh, what? In 1971 he bought it, you know, for like 200 grand. That's a lot of money those days. And you know, in three bedrooms, the whole thing, we'd go away all the time, three, four days. No, I loved, I love growing up there. It was just simple times, you know, uh, the 80, 80s were awesome there. Now they got divorced in the 80s I went to the States for a few years, but then as a young guy, it was awesome there.
Speaker 2:It was awesome All the way to 2000, is a great place to live. I mean, matt, you would have loved it. I mean, it was just party party. I mean, the people in those days, there's no rules. You could park on the street, on the like, the main street, 50th street, and there would be just hundreds of cars parked on each side of the street at night, all night long, people with their, you know, with the music on and the drinking and everything, and I don't really remember fights and problems or any other like that. You know, everybody's going from car to car messing around. It's just awesome. When I used to go on the, you know, we had money so we had the boat and we go on the weekends, weekends, to Isla Taoga. You just, you know, just, uh, you know, uh, bring your boat out there and put on the music as loud as you can imagine and just party it up, you know uh you know, obviously there are no laws on drinking or any of that crap.
Speaker 1:Well, are there more levels there now on drinking stuff? Well, there are no more. There's so much more.
Speaker 2:Americanized now right, well, it's not the Americanized thing, it's a world thing, you know. I mean, they didn't know what a DUI was or this, that and other, that type of crap. I started Not crap because it's a problem, but that type of stuff you'd start hearing about in Panama. I think the beginning was like a $500 or $200, fine, I don't know. That was maybe in 2000.
Speaker 1:$500. Fine, that's it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but only tomorrow. When we get a fine, you give them $20 and roll out man.
Speaker 1:Of course it's.
Speaker 2:Latin America. I used to keep always in the old days in the 80s, I always had $10 right under my air conditioner vent in the car and I'd go through a couple of those bills a week, man, and I'd go just keep going.
Speaker 2:Or the old one was if it was just a cop on the. You know there's a lot of foot cops there, so you know, especially on the transito. So I tell you to stop like this and you go, I'll be back in a bit, you just keep going. They'd be so pissed, you know, on their radio trying to get somebody else. But you know, screw that.
Speaker 1:I go. I'll be back in a little while. You know I always all over Latin America, right Like I I've loved. I love watching the cops cause they they clearly just don't know what they're doing, don't care, I mean people just, especially the criminals, like real criminals. They just troll the cops all the time they know it's almost a joke.
Speaker 2:I used to drive. I'll give you a quick story. I remember one time I guess it would have been 87 or 88. I was probably 17 or 18. Man, I'm speeding Cop, just you know, tells me to stop. I just kept going. You know, by the time he jumped in the car and I was in my neighborhood driving around, I forgot about it. It was like 10 minutes later All of a sudden this guy didn't let go. He fucking found me. He starts running, going after me and, just like in the movies, finally he stops me and he comes running up to my door. I'll piss, I go. Yeah, I go in English, in Spanish, but did you have a good time? And he goes, yeah, then he starts laughing there. I mean, he was running after me for like 20 minutes. You know, that's that. You know. I have a hundred stories like that.
Speaker 2:I remember another time I was in the middle of the night, three in the morning, just drunk, going home. I mean I'm flying, nobody was like a Tuesday night, nobody was out, and I see a cop in the middle of the street and I got that Damn and I slam on the brakes, I go like this. I stopped right next to him. The guy was pushing this car, he had no gas and I'm like what the fuck? He goes, hey, and I go, what's up? I mean I'm just buzzed off by it. He's just looking at me, I look at me. I actually scared him, you know. And I go. What's the problem? He goes I don't have gas and I go, ok, come, yeah, I'm the, I'm a, I go, what do you do? That's a typical thing in Panama.
Speaker 2:Oh, my dad owns Motorell. He goes oh really, motorell was actually a big auto parts store. We used to attend their fleet, okay, of the police. And he says, all right, and you know, we're sitting there talking, I have a good time. And he gave me all these coupons right in the middle of noriega. Noria was taken out about two months ago because you're not sad, he's still sorry because I go. No, I love him, you know. And he gave me all these coupons because they used to have coupons for gas, this, that all type of shit. Okay, I didn't have to pay for the gas because he had coupons for it and he gave me all the stuff I went to but that's another story when I oh, it was just. I have so much, I have so many experience with cops I could give you 50 stories, you know. But it was just good days. I mean good times, you know, very innocent.
Speaker 1:One of the things that always made me laugh, and still makes me laugh, is, you know, I have 18 years of experience in Latin America myself. I lived in Venezuela and, you know, been back and forth for years and now several years, colombia, brazil, all those places and so I don't know it as well as you do, but I know it very, very well compared to, compared to the traditional Americans, and I've had so many friends that call me and they're like they'll say, oh, columbia is really safe. I felt so safe. There were cops everywhere when I was down there and I'm like, yeah, yeah, like, if that's your gauge, on Columbia being safe.
Speaker 1:That doesn't work that way. Right Like the cops don't really run this way Absolutely, and half of them are you know for the, for the gangs, oh absolutely Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:If somebody wants to take your cell phone, they're just going to pay off the cop the cops oh, they're gonna take it, oh, yeah, yeah, or he's telling them hey, look at that guy, because they're all in cahoots. You know, I was one time but I've, generally speaking, I have good experience with cops, but I know how to deal with them already. I grew up in latin america. I remember one time in salvador, um, I went to an auto parts association for my. All the auto parts store owners of the big ones in all central america went just real quick. And I'll give you a story. And I remember, uh, you know, I was the youngest guy my dad sent me there.
Speaker 2:Everybody's so much old guys, we're partying for days, all this. When I said I'm tired of these old guys. And I went, you know, to do all my mischievous stuff. And I remember being in some brothel somewhere and, oh my god, all of a sudden I'm like I'm ready to walk in and I'm seeing all this commotion. All this is just you know, those car, um, cop cars with where all the cops are and they're just raiding everywhere and I, the cab driver just left me I'm like, oh fuck, I'm not gonna get screwed here in salvador I'm talking 1993 to a 20 something year old, but I take off running the other way, everybody's running everywhere.
Speaker 2:I mean I ran after that effing cop I'm not a cop the cab. I mean I took like it was like an eighth, I don't know, a quarter of a mile and I finally grabbed, jumped in the car, go go. You know, I got out of that one at just a million times another. I mean it's not that I seem to have a lot of uh, uh strip club in place, uh stories, but it's just man, it's just. Latin america is so much fun. And I didn't only have fun in panama, I had in salvador and colombia once we um, I was with a friend of mine who afterwards was the minister of uh, he's a minister in panama and he was the where we got caught in a raid in a strip club illegal strip club in bogota once, and they just came in raided the place that they let us go, because we were yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, it was because they had the lace on audio, or lace on audio, where everything closes, or something. You know the yeah and we were it was like three because we're like, hey, where we go, lace or whatever.
Speaker 2:I think they call it, lace on audio in those things, or maybe that's what they call in panama. But yeah, we had a bunch of times. Oh man, I was arrested once in panama, for example, after the nor Noriega thing. I didn't even do anything. We went out when we're burning out all the hot tires with the flags and stuff. I was with my friend. A few days later we met up to drink and we he goes over double yellow line.
Speaker 2:This is the middle of that black. It was that Friday of that black Friday weekend was the worst of the worst. I don't know what we were doing on the streets, we didn't care. And the cop stops us and we're like, hey, what's up? Like nothing. And the cop looks and sees he left all the flags with the pineapple drawn and all this stuff in the back and they grabbed the rest of us. And this guy's an idiot. He turned 18 the day before. Maybe that's why we went out and I'm like, hey, I'm menor de edad, you don't see him in a cell or anything. He goes. Nobody want to be. Have a big dick. Okay, you need to tell him and notice, you go to jail. My dad that my I'd ask my dad to get him out there. People weren't getting out of jail. He was there like three days so my father pulled some strings to get him out, you know. But yeah, I was some. There's some good times in panama, man. See the states for me is all just generic bs, you know.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's terrible. The States is terrible, man, you know I.
Speaker 2:Can't be more bored than ever.
Speaker 1:You know it is and you know I think we've talked about this over beers before. But you look back and I have so many buddies in the States, man, multiple millions of dollars, and I mean successful, super successful businesses. I'm telling you right now, man, 75% of those people are calling me wanting to know when they can come visit. They're like, they're miserable.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, if you want, to anybody who, yeah, to the folks who are listening here. I mean I love the States. I'm half American. I love it. Good place to make money. I make most of my money there. But if you want to have a good time and good quality of life I'm not talking about Columbia. Latin America is the place.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Pick and choose your flavor Pick and choose your flavor.
Speaker 2:They're all different, you know, it's just like. You might be a beach guy, I might be a mountain guy, you know. Or you want a little bit of everything. You might want Smaller countries, you know, just, there's just, it's just. People live, you know they might be poor, most of the people here, but they have a lot. They sure as hell have a lot more fun when you know, when those like me I'm in my 50s already. How much longer do I have? I don't know. Maybe 30 years, maybe 30 minutes, I don't know Right.
Speaker 2:You know, but I certainly enjoy. I don't miss the States when I'm here. Do I miss a good bagel? Yeah you know, and do it's a good slice of pizza, which, by the way, you can't get in Colombia, or at least anywhere I've been it sucks man, it sucks in Colombia.
Speaker 2:I mean, they try to change everything, man. That's one thing about Colombians. You go to restaurants now they just try to. That's happened in a lot of places Everything they try to gourmet it up. God damn it. If it's not broke, don't fix it. You know, yeah, man, I jump around all the time. I remember I went to this new high-end restaurant here and I look on the menu and it said a bandeja paisa. You know what a bandeja paisa is? Your rice, your dish, your dad on a big plate? You know what that is? It's a descontruido. I go descontruido. What the F is that? I and he's like, ah, give it to me. All it was was the bandeja paisa and little things like this here's the chicharrón, here's the rice, here's the, this here's the. You know, like all gourmet, I mean, what's the point, man? You know what's the point?
Speaker 1:It's the same shit, not to mention they didn't serve it. It's separate, I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they just put them in little tiny tapa plates, all separate, and you grab a little bit of each.
Speaker 1:So for anyone listening, monday Hot Pies is the typical food from Medellin and it's just all this crap in one plate. I don't know really why they love that plate really, but it's sausages and eggs and blood sauce, you name it.
Speaker 2:It's a bunch of trash on one plate, yeah, rice, yeah, yeah, yeah, and that ground beef that's like uh powder, which I don't even know how they make that happen.
Speaker 1:I've eaten it one one time in my life. You know, one time in my life I've eaten that and I get it like once a year.
Speaker 2:I get it, yeah, yeah, no, I like it. But I'll get it like once a year and break it down into two meals, like once a year. But now, and you know, in venezuela they have the similar one, which is the bandeja.
Speaker 1:It's much better than that.
Speaker 2:No, it's pabellón criombe, pabellón, pabellón, yeah, which is what we normally have here, but once again, only once in a while, because it's just too much man. It takes you out of commission. But the Venezuelan one's at least a hundred times better than Colombian.
Speaker 1:It's not even close.
Speaker 2:There's no comparison. The arepa is better. You know probably have some Colombian people telling you F you Panamanian, but you know it's just. I mean, my family here is Venezuelan and I never liked arepas. I always thought it tasted like cardboard until I saw people make homemade ones. And then, man, it's totally different.
Speaker 1:Yeah it's totally different. Yeah, it's like a big, huge, thick biscuit and they stuff it with all this stuff and and the colombian ones literally taste like cardboard. I'd rather chew on my arm than eat that thing.
Speaker 2:It's awful, that's right. And then most restaurants they don't even make their own. They're so damn lazy that you know, they just buy it in these bags and oh my god, they're just. I mean, it's absolute garbage, garbage, garbage yeah colombian food is not.
Speaker 2:Uh, colombian food is not great, just like Panamanian food is not great, but like, for example, panama has world-class restaurants. Now, I mean of everything you can imagine. It's like a city Medellin, I'd say, has some decent and some good restaurants, or whatever, but Colombian food is not. Colombia is not known for, should not be known for, their food.
Speaker 1:They're not known at all. What I do love about Medellin and many parts of Colombia, though, is what you just said. There's some really high-end restaurants coming, and you can get some really high-end food. Basically, to eat something you're really going to enjoy, it has to be something high-end, and high-end is like $15 here, right? $20?
Speaker 2:Exactly, exactly. That's the one thing. And they're nice, modern, different type of restaurants. You know they're really going at making really cool type places and yeah, and it's nothing. Fifteen dollars a plate, that'd be a lot, and that's these days.
Speaker 1:A few years ago would have been ten dollars.
Speaker 2:You know, I mean.
Speaker 1:I feel like you're in Miami. Local right for, like in many of these restaurants in Medellin, you feel like you're in Miami, maybe even better than Miami.
Speaker 2:In many of these restaurants in medellin, you feel like you're miami, maybe even better than miami, in many cases for 15, I think better because, a the price, yeah, and b the way they tend you and serve you. I'm not a fan of us service and the restaurants and things is very generic. I feel like I'm going through glorified mcdonald's. All those people are there just to pay 99 percent, whatever percent, just to pay this through college or whatever. All they care about is how much I made that day. They don't care about the business. But most of these people are employees of these businesses here in Latin America. So they do care more. You know what I mean. They do care more. I mean I remember one time I'll give you an example and I know a lot of people that don't think Columbia has the greatest service. I don't think. But for what you're paying and what they paid, yes, I remember I was in. Actually, I think it was in Bogota. It was in the early 90s. I was there for business.
Speaker 2:I was in this horrible area. It's all factories and all stuff. You just have to go there and buy stuff and you know I was hungry and they were packing up all my shit. So I said where's there to eat, you know? And they said yeah, around the corner man hole in the wall. You know the comida del dia. These guys were dressed up with a bow tie. It was a hole in the water and they served me like a king. And I remember going back to panama. It's like three bucks or something and I'm like this is just nuts man, because panama service is horrible is it really okay?
Speaker 2:I mean if they could tell you the fu in your face? Horrible. I don't know if the last few years has changed. No, they're horrible're horrible. You could be in a restaurant. It's empty. Five employees are all in the corner. They're talking with their back to you. You know what I mean. You know. It's just horrible, horrible, horrible. It's the worst service in Latin America that I've ever seen, bar none period, and I've been to a ton of countries.
Speaker 1:I would have to put Argentina up there, buenos, aires, argentina up there, with the worst I've ever experienced. I don't know if you've been there. My God, really that surprised me. The food's incredible, right, the food is. Everything you sit down to eat is absolutely incredible, clean, amazing. But man, they pretty much throw it at you. I mean they come, hey, what do you want? Right, you give them the order, they run back, they make it, they come back yeah yeah, that's it's. It's brutal.
Speaker 2:I didn't even want the food can you imagine you go to a restaurant? Can you imagine you go to a restaurant in panama? They go que quieres. I mean literally.
Speaker 2:That's how they speak to you, you know yeah, I mean it's just yeah, but you know, with their shit accent, you know, and um, yeah, panama's horrible. Costa rica, very good service. Costa Rica is so similar to Antioquia, very similar, very similar. It's just like I've told you before, it's so expensive. I mean you'll go to a. It's not $15 for a plate at a high end, there it's going to be $35, you know. And now you're talking about crazy prices. I think I told you once I used to like a just a regular American sports bar. Okay, they didn't charge more than other places, okay, and I would go out. Like when I go to a States like um, flanagan's or any of these sports bars, I usually normally spend about a hundred bucks myself in a sit down where where's the a hundred bucks?
Speaker 2:come say about $25 in food and the rest in drinks $4, $5 a drink. So I just drink rum. I'm not a beer guy About $100 a night. In Costa Rica, same exact thing about $100 a night, because the drinks were like $4, $5. The food you get an appetizer for $10, maybe get the burger was $14. I go, what the hell? After three years I got tired of their know and sometimes it was more expensive.
Speaker 2:I remember going to a birthday party once. Just I'll give you one example. And I'm like man, I got to get a cake, you know, for my buddy. He passed away, he's an older guy and I'm going to get, I'm going to get the cake. I go buy just a regular cake store, you know, and I get a cake. It was 50 bucks. I told her later I go hey, espérate, espérate. I told her I go hold on a segundito. I go, and I already live in there for you. I go no tienes un revólver, no tienes una pistola. She goes una pistola. Por lo menos, sácame una pistola cuando me estás robando. You know what I mean. At least pull out a gun while I'm being stolen from you know what I mean, please. You know I had a lot of money.
Speaker 2:I had a lot of money then and I, you know, I take it to my friend he goes. How much do you think this is? He was a mega millionaire, the oil guy from Texas. He goes. I don't know, randy, he really didn't pay attention to anything. This guy was a character. He used to drink and he'd go to one or two bars around the corner from my house. Pay him a hundred dollars a day, just sit there with him. Is that crazy? A hundred bucks a day, every day, kind of so. But anyway, he said, what 10 bucks? I got no, 40. So it's a very expensive place, but great place. If they had, if their, if it wasn't their economy um, you know, everything's so expensive I would live there still yeah, you know, it's so funny you're saying this.
Speaker 1:I was just on instagram earlier and there's all these travel people going around now talking, acting like they know everything about.
Speaker 2:Latin America.
Speaker 1:This girl went through the top 10 countries in the world to live in the top cheapest country.
Speaker 2:Sorry, the top cheapest country to live in Costa Rica always pops up.
Speaker 1:Costa Rica was number one. I'm like this chick doesn't know shit about Latin America. Bro, whenever I'm online and I see I don't spend time with this crap but whenever I'm on YouTube and I run into anything man, I just blast them, man, I go, you don't know your ass from that lady.
Speaker 2:That shit, costa Rica number one. She didn't even mention Colombia at all. Yeah, panama, when they also come in with Panama, I go. Are you kidding me, man? You know Panama 25 years ago.
Speaker 1:Yes, now Panama today was number four when on her list and I'm like this lady's crazy man, like you're dollar for dollar over there, I mean it's not look at these morons who travel around and people watch them and they don't know anything.
Speaker 1:I don't know if they travel. I think some of them might just google and find some articles that you know from 1980 or something, because nothing they put up now is true well, a lot of us are paid by countries also, and by, uh, the the minister of tourism, not the little chichipato ones, but the bigger ones.
Speaker 2:You know, when you see, like on new york times or some, they're just paid, you know that's just part of their, they, they send a couple people down just to have a good time on. You know, that's all it's. Nobody who lives in costa rica would would say that, especially now their, their, their colones, even hit harder. You used to get 650 colones for dollars at 500 or something in the last couple of years. I mean, who would even say that 650 is a ripoff? But great country, otherwise man, great country.
Speaker 1:You know going away, you know the food and going back away from the food, I guess. And talking about health care, you know that's something that Americans that have never been to Latin America always say oh my God, you get your teeth cleaned in Columbia. I'm like hell, yeah, it's the best service I've ever had. Like Columbia, columbia has its problems, right, but, god bless, I don't think there's a better place in in all of maybe the world to live in terms of services like healthcare. Um, healthcare is incredible Rappy, freaking rappy, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, rap is awesome, but healthcare, I got to tell you, you know. I'll give you just a few quick examples. And let me also give you an example. Like my mom looks like I'm going to be bringing. She's 80, going to be 81 years old. Okay, obviously her Medicare doesn't cover her here, so I'm going to bring her down, hopefully the next few months, and, uh, for 160, you know, we get her her, her residency. I'm a resident, so it doesn't matter, I can get it through that or I can do it as a retirement, doesn't matter. Boom, boom, boom trevor residency in a month. Okay, that's another thing. Just hit it on residencies. They're so easy to get here. You know you have the new. Uh, what's the one for virtual?
Speaker 2:digital nomads, yeah, the digital nomads. I don't know where that name, where that uh, that funky name came in, so that's such a dorky name. But anyway, if you can get that you know virtually anybody can get a visa here okay, not to mention you can stay six months. But otherwise my mom, when she has a thing for 165 000 pesos, say 45 a month, she'll have the government insurance. Okay, I'm finding if I can buy private insurance on top of that with my insurance guy. I think she missed the cutoff, which is 78 it's 70.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like 75, 70 or 75 yeah yeah, it's something like that is what he said, but he's trying to find with another company to be able to add that later on. But otherwise she'll have the government insurance. She hasn't gone. She doesn't like going to hospitals doctors anyways but for an emergency, for like 40 something dollars a month, any medications to cover hospital, this, that and the other. I think I told you last time I have private insurance, I pay the government one which is $165,000, like 40 something for my family. Then I pay. Basically I'm paying about $200 for a huge family with private insurance. Go to any hospital, all that. The baby was just born a few weeks ago zero, nothing.
Speaker 1:You paid nothing to have a baby.
Speaker 2:Nothing, nothing, okay On that $200 a month policy. His own room, beautiful big room with all, I mean just first class, best hospital. A few weeks before that, I think I'd mentioned my son was having to be hospitalized I think it was two days because he had an infection. That cost us a total of 82,000 pesos, which is what 22 bucks yeah $22.
Speaker 2:I'm a health insurance guy. You know you're having a baby. You're paying 8,000, $9,000. Your Obamacare is 9,000 out of pocket. You're going to meet it unless you have some cost sharing thing. That that's. That's something else. But it's Dental. I have some very good dentists but basically my cleanings I go to the best one in the area. Always Now a cleaning is about it's gone up again. It's jumped up in the last few years but it's still about $32.
Speaker 1:What's it about? 130,000 pesos.
Speaker 2:About 130,000 pesos exactly. About 130,000. But I go to like when I was Exactly About 130,000. You know, but I go to like when I was a million, I used to go right there and those days he was 110, but the change was different, so it was about 30 bucks. So I'm still paying around 30, you know. You know at the best but you can go for 20 or 25, the very good place, no.
Speaker 1:I do it every, every six months in Colombia. How much did you?
Speaker 2:pay.
Speaker 1:The last time, I think I paid $125, but that was six months ago, something like that. It's time for me to go now. The thing is a lot of people think you're going into chop shops when you say $30 to an American highest-end equipment most professional.
Speaker 2:Everything when I used to live in Meyino Tesoro this guy's on the 20th floor overlooking may he spoke english. He went to college in english. Oh, and one other thing here. Talk about just cleanings. I don't know if you've ever had uh cleaning in the states. There's cleanings and there's deep cleanings and for everything they throw you the deep cleaning there's like four or five hundred bucks. I've never I've been. I've gone three years, sometimes not proud of it, and they still charge me the 30 something. None of this deep cleaning bullshit.
Speaker 1:You get what I'm saying. They're there now. They have a deep cleaning.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's called deep clean. If you don't go like every six months or whatever, they know that you haven't been like. It's a deep cleaning and it's dependent on regular clean. Takes 25 to 30 minutes. This one takes 30 to an hour. Doesn't make any sense to go all the way to five 600. It's just a ripoff. I've had dental in the States where I get a couple of things done. It's a few thousand dollars here. I would say dental here for the medium and big things is 15 cents on the dollar for the same exact thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean I've had incredible experiences and outside of the dental I've had a lot of regular health issues. Here I mean not issues issues, but I've gotten sick on salmon. I got sick on my own salmon. I just want to make that clear that it wasn't the food in the streets, it was my own, so no one thinks oh, you know, I like to see where they sell salmon on the streets, man, where Salmon?
Speaker 2:lollipops you know hot dogs, salmon, you know.
Speaker 1:No, no. But the point is, you know, when you say that you got sick in a foreign country to a lot of people in the States you're like, oh God, that's food made him sick. You know.
Speaker 2:Let me give you. Can I give you an example, matt? One more on health care. My mom was here when I had the bars in Medellin and there's a hospital called El Rosario in El Tesoro the best hospital that one and another, the two best hospitals and her blood pressure went up, bottom line. This hospital is like a resort. It's half two blocks from where I live. My mom went there. She was there for like eight hours in the emergency, or say, six hours in the middle of the night. She was all worried. You know how much it was going to cost? It's $23. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, three. She couldn't believe it. I think she almost had a heart attack and they had to put her back in when they gave her the bill. I mean, it was just so ridiculous she could not believe. Since randy, this would have been well. I'll give you an example.
Speaker 2:I once got bit by a dog. No broken bones, they. All they did was clean me up. An emergency room in naples, florida. Clean me up. I had a fracture, but they didn't do they. They cleaned, wrapped it. I was there for like two hours waiting in naples, two hours, and it was at the discounted rate cash. It was almost $1,500.
Speaker 1:For sure. Yeah, no, I got sick on salmon, my own salmon and my buddy. I caught up my buddy. That's when I first moved to Columbia. He says, man, you don't go to the doctor here, you go straight to the emergency room. When those things happen. And I was like what Emergency room? Had just signed up for Sorda private insurance. He said, no, absolutely Go. Go now. I go there, go up to the window. I swear to you, dude, there's six, seven people in the line, something like that. I flashed my Sorda card at the window. She says, oh, go over there and pay 50,000 pesos, which at the time was about $14, right, I literally did my ass hat and hit the seat and I said, mr Chambers, come on back, because you have the private insurance, you skip the whole line.
Speaker 2:Exactly. I just went a few times. I told you I get my check up all this. I just did my check up all these things. What's the copay was three thousand pesos, I go. Well, that's like seventy five.
Speaker 2:And then I had like three or four. I did all my blood work, a bunch of shit because I'm done. Everything came out to twelve thousand pesos, you know, and they attended me. It was very professional, very, I have. No, I mean, this is just, this is uh, it's just awesome, there's nothing to talk about. But if you're from out of the country, I mean, for example, I mean what a business to market, really market the people to come do, forget about just getting your tits done and things like that, great. But dental work, I mean you can come down here, party your ass off, stay in the dan hotel or stay in intercontinental, party your ass off.
Speaker 1:Get 10 or 15 000 of dental work over there done for 1500, say 1500 of the party, and have it for three grand and keep the rest and it's going to be world class, absolutely, you know yeah, I mean when, when I'm in miami you know you start doing the math and if, if I fly from, I can buy the flight, come down, stay for a week, get all the services I need to get done dental health, all that stuff and it's cheaper than me just doing the service in Miami Way cheaper.
Speaker 2:Well, that's way cheaper and you have a blast. That's what I'm saying. I mean, you make a vacation out of it. Absolutely, you know. So yeah, and there are plenty. Costa Rica is more expensive, but a lot of people go there. But really, colombia for plastic surgery for dental Any kind of health care Any type of really anything.
Speaker 2:I mean, geez, I should probably and we'll just move on to another topic just real quick, my girl's mom, I should probably start with this. A few years ago, the day the baby was born, they came back from the hospital she had this heart. I mean she almost died, literally speaking. She has this heart shit. Just I mean she almost died, literally speaking. She has this cheap government insurance that her husband bought years ago.
Speaker 2:Okay, this woman had like triple valve surgery, had all this. I mean she got attended. She got so lucky. She got attended by the, the best surgeon in the country here in maine for that, because he's the teacher of that problem she had with her vessels. I mean the, the, if she, if we had to pay for it would have been really cheap actually, and compared to states like 35 000 I think it was 160, 60 million pesos. We didn't pay anything. They've attended all those years. She survived and that I mean I'm insurance kind of states that would have been a million dollar problem in the state yeah, your health, that you sell health insurance in the states.
Speaker 1:Right is that?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, for 25 years, wow, yeah. Anybody who's self-employed, all type of insurance. I have health insurance for anybody who needs it, or Medicare, but the insurance here kicks the ass of the ones in the States. I personally go back and forth. I have an international insurance policy above the one I have here, so I'm covered if I'm going to the States, if I hear they're just a high deductible plan, just to have that blanket. But, man, matt, people don't realize the quality of life that you can live in this country. Forget about not in this country, only Latin America.
Speaker 2:But you you know, and there's different levels. Yeah, you could be the guy who makes $1,200 a month and, you know, just wants to run after tail and this, that another, you're an old guy, whatever, that's fine. You can be the guy who wants to live a multi-million dollar lifestyle. That would cost you Multi-billion, yeah. Or if let's say you're a single guy, what's a good apartment going to cost in the States? Now, one bedroom, not in the States, but even in Atlanta, but let's say Miami, you're looking at five grand a month just for a decent one bedroom three, three grand's average rent in miami yeah, that's yeah.
Speaker 2:But I'm saying, if you want to live in a nice building five grand, absolutely five grand five grand where you want to live in sunny halls or whatever it is, in a brand name type building, not, you know, not that the three grand doesn't suck, but not in on some apartment community, whatever you're looking. Five grand, you know. Then start adding the shit up. You know you're gonna go to 15 to 20 grand. You know, if you go out to eat a few times a week and you, you party the man, I tell you with five thousand dollars. I lived like a king when I was single here, but I lived well, you, you, you never went to my apartment, but you knew how I remember.
Speaker 1:You could tell how I lived I had a nice car.
Speaker 2:I had, you know, I got any restaurant. You know, half a chick, half a dozen chicks at a time going out, you know just, and I, you know, and so forth, I live good, you will live like a king. Do you need five grand? Of course not. You can live like a king for three grand.
Speaker 2:But if you want to live like in a private building and the this and the that of the best and the best, and take it across the country, even the Cartagena, the Bogota, wherever you want, and you can go to the better restaurants and the thing of these type places, they're going to get to know you real quick and they're going to treat you like a king. You go to those type of level restaurants. They'll treat you like a king, even at other types. If they see you all the time, they're going to treat you very well, absolutely well. You know you're not a number here. You become a man or a woman, you know, but in the male thing you become your, you know your somebody, while in the States you really have to have a lot of money to be Well and even then, right.
Speaker 1:I mean, I say it all the time. I'm like I honestly don't think a professional athlete lives as well as we live here. I really don't. I mean, I really don't. There's a lot of you know, a lot of stress, a lot of you know it's just a lot of stuff involved in this bullshit involved in the States that you just don't experience here.
Speaker 2:No, there's a, it's a lifestyle. It's just great.
Speaker 1:And again.
Speaker 2:I know your favorite is Columbia.
Speaker 1:Well, I don't know. I think my, I think my favorite is Brazil, but Brazil's not that cheap. I'll say I would really put, I would really put like Rio and Sao Paulo, really in the first world for sure. I mean, everybody in Brazil is driving a nice car, you know, they're not driving a Mercedes all the time. There's plenty of them down there, but but they're also not, you know, riding a moped around. You don't see that ever, you know. So it's seriously pretty much for it's the first, we got our share of mopeds here don't we?
Speaker 2:yeah, I see five wrecks a day, you know I remember this is not latin america thing, but I remember when I was in taiwan in 1999, I've never seen so many damn mopeds ever. You could even walk on a sidewalk, it was just everywhere. And you get to like the red light and there's like 50 mopeds and women, girls, just waiting there. If you think they have here, it's crazy in the Orient, man, I mean it's crazy. It's crazy and they're so annoying though that sound, I mean I know people need them because they're more affordable.
Speaker 2:But yeah, latin America, you know, dominican Republic's totally blown up in the sense that everybody, tons of people, are going there. I think I told you recently that I think it was 13 million people flew into the Dominican Republic last year and they're already on track to beat that this year. Why? Why is that? Well, dominican Republic, they're marking the ass out of the place. But the beaches, you know, punta Cana is like a Miami already. I mean geez.
Speaker 2:But then we got the north of Dominican Republic. I always forget some of those beaches, so Sua, which is like a dump of whores and stuff. But there're some nice other beaches where there's well, the beaches are nice, but that's just a dump and they're cleaning it up. But you go a little north and they got where all these people, all these hippie type europeans go there to. You know what's that? Paragliding and all that bullshit, you know. But um, yeah, dominican, you know, it just depends.
Speaker 2:Let me ask you this are you more a mountain guy or beach guy? You like living in in the nice weather with that, or would you rather live on a gorgeous beach? What's that's always, because I come from the trop, from Panama, that that's where I was around the ocean. That's one thing I missed lately. The cool thing here is you can pay $75 round trip and be in any. You know, there's not many really nice beaches here in my opinion, but you know, san Andres is, yeah, san andres just dropped. Um, I, I would say that's so cool that you could just spend 70. Or you go to cartagena, to the beaches out there. You know, not in cartagena right, yeah.
Speaker 1:But the thing I, the thing I hate about cartagena is like cartagena itself sucks. I mean, the people are pain in the ass and the beaches are ugly right in cartagena, so you have to get a boat out to the nice beaches. I mean, historically I I used to think I was a beach guy. Medellin's the only mountain place I've ever been that I really loved. But then when I went to Brazil, there's something cool about that Brazilian beach culture. That's just pretty awesome, you know. But I think, more than anything, I think I'm a city guy, I think I like to be in the city.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, I've always been a city guy. Now guy now in my situation and getting older, now I like, I don't like being in all the hustle and bustle. You know. You know things change, things change. But if I had to guess, like retirees or people 50s and up now, I think most would rather mountain type places, nice climb oh for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, I'm not saying there's not a ton who would run the beaches. I'm sure there's plenty, but I think most people I know in costa rica there's a big thing. A lot of people would move to Costa Rica and go straight to the beaches after a year, whatever six months or whatever it was. They would just have that heat all day and the humidity and they would move to the nice climate areas. But that's why I like Costa Rica so much. I used to live in a place like Mejin, which is called Escazú, outside of the city, which is part of the city, but the high end it's like Santa del Poblado, okay, I mean, and I loved it. And if I wanted to go to beach, which I never did, only once in three years and it was a shitty beach, you know. I mean, you know it's an hour and a half or whatever. You know, super cool, super cool, you know. But you can live very well, very well.
Speaker 1:I think if you're making dollars and you can do that virtually, you're stupid not to check out Latin America at some point, because If you're working, virtually you're right. Yeah, you're an idiot, you'd be an idiot not to try it, because you're money tripled.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and actually more to that, because, first of all, I mentioned that earlier, especially with the whole virtual thing. Now You're in San Francisco, screw going to Iowa or Idaho or whatever these people are doing to um lower their costs. Okay, not only is it a third the price here, I actually always say it's 40 cents on the dollar. Okay, but remember you have the. If you're out of the country 10 months of the year, you got the foreign exclusion that's right, 110 grand, 100 man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100, 110 grand is that a 110?
Speaker 2:that, if it's 110, if you're single, so imagine that saves you right away easily 20 grand.
Speaker 1:It's easy more than more than that. It's it's. It's more than that because you're you're in the 20s 20s? No, but remember it's a 20, 20, 24, so that's a 24 bracket.
Speaker 2:So I mean you go up to 35, but it starts at 12 or whatever. But easily is our number 20, 25 grand. Okay, it's easily. 20, 25 grand. Okay, easily, easily, okay, easily. So imagine if you're a single guy, you know I mean that's two grand a month, it goes right away.
Speaker 1:Not to mention live on that. You could live on just that, here and everything else is saved.
Speaker 2:You could exactly, yeah, you could. So it's just, it's just awesome, you know. And then you grab your spirit or whatever, once in a while back to the states and get your your fix. Like me, when I go there, it's all about getting me like. When I'm in florida, I want to get my new york slices of pie, I want to get my bagels and I want to go to Publix and get their sub sandwiches, which are the best.
Speaker 1:Have you ever been to Publix and their sub sandwiches Dude, every day $6.50. They are the $6.00.
Speaker 2:I mean they're subbing. You get the boards. That aren't. I mean, man. They're better than the sub places, except those damn ladies. I don't know what their deal is. They have all these Jamaicans there and you have to wait an hour to get a sub. But you know just three or four things that I like over there, and you know, obviously I like going by the beaches in Florida. But here you live, here you take a flight to San Andres Island, get your fix every couple months if you want three, four days, you know, and then come back to the mountains here All the time. It's in the 70s. It's great, man, it's great. The whole country's not like that, but you know I love it, man.
Speaker 1:I love it. What's your business experience been down here? You told me one story about the bar. You had a bar in, I believe, rio Negro and there was a guy that was your best employee and he left one weekend. He got drunk and he texted you like Monday and said, boss, I'm not going to be in today. I'm still drinking.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's well-paid. He was a chef, which is a glorified word here. You know what I mean. I've seen line cooks in the States who can dish out more plates than these guys. You just say any nine cook who can dish out more plates than I mean these guys are. I mean the word chef or bartenders, used very loosely in the restaurant business here. But honestly, you pay somebody X amount here. You say, oh, it's way less in the States, but you need three of them to do the job compared to America, and they're not going to do it right.
Speaker 2:I've seen bartenders in the States swear to God they're behind the the bar. It's a 20 person bar and they're the one, yeah, here the only five people that tend that and they're gonna fuck it up at least I'm sorry, seen it a million times.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're gonna need it. I remember I had a girlfriend of mine in costa rica. She wasn't american. I spoke perfect america. She's totally americanized, full of tattoos, all this. The blonde you know. She was at the American sports bar. She would be the only person there from 12 o'clock to five through lunch hour. She'd run the bar and anybody would come to eat and she would just dish the shit out of it alone. You know what I mean. You can't get that here. You can't get that here. You need an army of people. You know it's, it's, it's, it's. Uh. Think you really have to think what you're paying for.
Speaker 1:If you're new coming to Latin America, right. I mean, you see all the stuff in the news happening in Medellin right now, killing foreigners, drugging foreigners, all this stuff and if I'm in the US and I've never left the US, my thought is, oh my God, that place is a war zone right now and I wouldn't really recommend Medellin at this point. I'm not recommending it to people right now, I really don't. If you don't know it, right, you and I are a little bit different because we know the streets here, but what's your thought on safety, you know, in Medellin and in Latin America as a whole?
Speaker 2:Yeah, as a whole Latin America. You know, obviously you know you're not going to go to Venezuela tomorrow, but generally speaking, maine is not a place I would recommend people. It just seems to me that and again, when I use americans, I mean europeans, canadians, whatever right people from the north.
Speaker 2:They're very naive, yeah, they're very naive, man. I mean when they're in their travels. I mean very, very naive who? Who, just you know, just starts talking to people and go to their house in some barrio? I mean your common sense, you know. The problem is their wiener is thinking more than their head. I mean, you know so nobody pays attention to you at any bar ever in the States. And now you got this sweet piece of ass who's 18 years old and you're 50. Just falls in love with you. You're 50. It's just falls in love with you and a half sec. Nah, nothing wrong with that that sounds normal.
Speaker 2:Don't get me wrong, that type of shit happens all day long. There are plenty of good people, but you know, you just, man, that's probably something you should. You know not, do you know? Um, but, but otherwise I mean if you're a normal person. But most of these guys are coming down here and I know because I own bars down here and I got to tell you, matt, you see the most clean cut guys like you, right, and they come into the bar. I was behind the bar, what's up, let me get a drink. And first thing they'd ask me was where can I get some Coke? And I was like whoa, because I don't move. I don't move in that world.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:And I own the bar After a while, it wouldn't even surprise me I go. I can't help you with that but just walk out the door.
Speaker 2:Somebody's going to stop you, somebody's going to offer you because they offer me and I'm one of the owners. These idiots still don't realize. I mean, I still have these dummies in there. You see me here every day. I own a couple of bars around the corner, you dumb ass. You know I mean and um, and that was the first thing. It wasn't even the chicks. Chicks was number two or maybe three or four. Number one was they come down here to do that. So imagine, if you're high end, you know you do whatever you want in your life. I guess you're probably. I have a friend of mine who's a business guy in Indiana Remember, I was in Indiana last year Very successful guy. He's been here quite a few times. This guy has been drugged and robbed three times.
Speaker 1:Are you serious Three times? How do you do that?
Speaker 2:He brings. He brought. Okay, yeah, how can he be so stupid? And he's a smart guy and because he's, you know, he wants to, I guess, show off and all he brings one of his employees who's making good money. He also gets drugged and robbed. I go. They drugged and robbed. I go. They're telling me this when I was up there. What are you guys dumb? You know, why would you? I go first. You're stupid. Second, why are you telling me this? That's embarrassing. It's like if somebody caught you whacking off in a corner or something you're gonna go tell somebody you know I mean it just makes no sense the first time, okay, second time.
Speaker 2:You know they're just, it's just you who does who they think like they're immune. It's like if it's like other people get, don't get cancer. You know, it's just so. Yeah. So going back to your safety no, maine sucks. Bogota actually is better. You know, cartagena sucks, but if you just be normal, it's really not a big deal.
Speaker 1:Even in Medellin, I was going to say that the biggest things are I think you said it without saying it, but just for somebody who just doesn't know this area like you and I do, keep for somebody who just doesn't know this area like you and I do keep your cell phone in your pocket, and what I mean by that is don't freaking, bring it out and check a text message, don't check your Google Maps, don't make a phone call in the middle of the street and don't show that you have money. Another thing that drives me crazy is I've seen this a thousand times these guys get robbed because they had a Rolex on.
Speaker 2:I'm like if you need it number one.
Speaker 1:If you need a Rolex to get laid in Latin America, you got a serious problem.
Speaker 2:Man, your problems are deeper than you know you know what should be carried. If you want to carry a lot of money, keep 200,000 pesos in cash and one card and that's it. That's right. You know one card, so that you don't need more than that. On the, you get a photocopy of your passport because you don't need the original. If you have a photocopy, the rest, leave it over there. You don't need to lose everything and all that. People aren't coming in. If you want to talk about danger, people aren't coming into the intercontinental or into your hotel and knocking your door down and stealing everything. The shit's happened on the streets where you're doing dumb stuff. That's right. That that's right. That's right. That's it? Just stuff that you would not do. I would not go to Hialeah, florida, and just start walking around.
Speaker 1:At two in the morning.
Speaker 2:With my cell phone out in the road at two in the morning. I just wouldn't do that. I wouldn't go down to Atlanta. I lived in Georgia. I wouldn't go to Atlanta or anywhere and just walk around like a moron at two in the morning, you know. So that's my take.
Speaker 1:In fact, I'm never going to the south side of Atlanta, or, you know, in a bad part of Atlanta.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's right, you used to live there too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, daytime, nighttime, anytime right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I probably wouldn't even walk down Roswell or Marietta. I wouldn't be walking around at 2 in the morning, anywhere you know. And there's these people that just do these dumb things, but they're all you know. People are probably going to hate me for this, but I'd give the tourist 70% of the fault, 30 to the client.
Speaker 1:I agree, no, I agree, and I might even go 80, 20, 90, 10, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure, I mean. I will say there's one thing, though, is these guys dating online? Right, that's normal everywhere else in the world. You can go any country in the world almost that I know of, hop on Tinder, hop on Facebook, hop on Instagram. Meet girls, go out for a drink, get to know them, whatever, meet men, whatever you're doing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but maybe, if you're in a third world country, go to Hard Rock Cafe and meet them yeah, you can't do that here, that's something you just get on. That's what I'm saying, go to Hard Rock Cafe, go to Hooters or whatever, and meet there. Go to Hooters or whatever, and meet there. Then don't leave with the person right away and think you're the sexiest, you're Brad Pitt or whatever.
Speaker 1:Exactly. The interesting thing is when you really get to know Colombian culture and most Latin American cultures that I know. At least people don't just meet someone tonight at a bar, get a drink and then go hang out with them immediately after you might meet someone you think you like and you get their number and you start getting to know each other.
Speaker 2:And they rarely take you home. They rarely go to home because normally they live with their parents.
Speaker 1:No good girl in Colombia or Venezuela is going to go home with you night one. Most of the time.
Speaker 2:Neither Panama neither Costa Rica, much less to their house. If they're going home with you early.
Speaker 1:You need to run right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. But yeah, safety If you're, if you're a street smart, you know, like they always say that you're there's intellectually smart and street smart. Most of these guys are just naive, as can be, you know. They're just so excited I guess I get excited. They see people dancing and music and people talking with them. You know, not only women, but guys.
Speaker 2:People will normally sit in a bar somewhere alone, you know, and nobody would speak to them, or you know they just. You know that's how the States is. You know, hey, I'm a unless I go. That's why when I'm in States or Florida, I only go to Latin bars and stuff. He's you go to a damn sport. I mean you're just. You know this is boring man. Yeah, you know, you might as well sit home.
Speaker 1:No, absolutely, you know, might sit home. I've had, you know, all the guys that have come down to visit me down here, and there have been several over the years. They all go crazy and honestly I feel like a couple of them if it wasn't for me knowing the ropes and the streets down here have gotten in some serious trouble. You know they come down, they go crazy. Like you just said you, you get more attention from people than you've ever had in your life girls and all type.
Speaker 2:But we're not only talking sexual, just people happy want to talk to you this that the other, they're excited. Let's talk about this is that you know they combine, that combined with everything is given away, not to mention that the the money doesn't look like real money. You know it's like monopoly money. You remember when you first go to places, what the hell you know?
Speaker 2:But and then everything costs nothing, you know so and then it's all you know. You got some beautiful chicks and this you know. People just go nuts, I guess. Yeah, you know, but that that's not an excuse.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, you know, afford whatever you want, no matter what, no questions asked. And then they just start throwing money around and and drawing attention.
Speaker 2:Yeah, can you imagine going to bars or restaurants here and nice ones and you know you're spending what it would cost you a third or half of what it would cost in any local sports bar and you're in a high end place and they're treating you like a King instead of you could be at nice places and stay, so you're begging for another $18 drink.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you could be at nice places in the States and you're begging for another $18 drink, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, the other day, not the other day, when I was in Indiana, these guys I didn't go that day, they went down to Nashville, right the party. And my friend actually lives here in Maine, a Canadian guy. He told me, randy, you know what the? I guess it was, you know scotch or I guess it was you know like a scotch and coke, or let's say, uh, take maybe the vodka. He said double vodkas were 30, a drink of vodka 28 or 30. Can you imagine paying 30 in some in fucking nashville and tennessee, which is like going to disney world? I'm sure it's nice and all that, but it's just this generic place. Can you imagine going out and living there and each drink costs you 2828 on the strip there?
Speaker 2:Not only that but you know you just begging and they're just throwing.
Speaker 1:Exactly. You buy a five, six, maybe 10 of those drinks a night If you're buying for your buddies and get out of there 300 bucks and you end up getting nowhere. You know the next day you're like why did I just do that?
Speaker 2:Nowhere nothing, nothing. And here you go there and you know, and then like people are just all excited, you know, you have somebody, somebody coming to my bar and spend a couple hundred thousand pesos in a few minutes. I'd be, wow, great client. You know you don't get that in the States. It's just, and again, you just don't get it. You don't get it. It's very generic. The employees don't give a shit. All they want to know is what their tip is.
Speaker 2:I would encourage anybody who wants to live here in Latin America Great. I would encourage anybody who wants to do business here. Yes, there's businesses, but don't think it's going to run automatically. Do not think you're going to put it on autopilot and go back and forth and all that You'll show up't exist. It will not happen.
Speaker 2:I've owned 30 businesses in latin america, at least, okay, over a 30 year span, more than 30 years, not happening. But is there good money to be made? Yeah, of course. There are a lot of wealthy people here and all that. Columbia is not a great place, probably to open most businesses, or any. You know, with this president and shit. Too much laws, too much stuff with employees. Now, it's just. It's just. You know, there's so many countries that are great, like nicaragua, it's still like the old west. That's one of the great things about latin america, that old west feel that you could still. You know the party that is that that the other, not every single darn rule like the states, you know. I mean I think in the states they don't give you a ticket for jaywalking across the street the wrong way, or something I mean it's just nuts.
Speaker 1:I was back there, Randy.
Speaker 2:I mean, it would sound like I don't.
Speaker 1:Me too. I love the States and I never want to say anything bad about that. We're just talking realities here. There's nothing Overall, there's no better place to live than the United States. But I was back there recently visiting some family and my you know, my brother-in-law is really high up in the state police and he's also a very successful entrepreneur and does very, very well outside of that Super smart, super awesome guy. But we were talking at dinner and he said that they had done a sting, a speeding sting in West Virginia, like the day before, and he alone wrote like 16 tickets. And I'm just like in my head, I'm like see, that, that's.
Speaker 1:Those are the things that add stress to an American's life. Right, You're driving down the road, you know, like 55 miles an hour. If you go up to 62 and the speed limit's 55, there's potentially some dude sitting in a bush hiding a mile away and he's going to get you for a $200 ticket. You know that's the bullshit you don't have in Latin America, Cause you're never going to get that here. It's just so you, you know, in most ways I feel like I truly have freedom here. If you fuck up, no one cares that much. They understand that humans are humans.
Speaker 2:They're going to fuck yeah, and if you do, it's for five or $10 bribe, you know for them to go get a beer and you might go with them.
Speaker 1:Exactly, exactly. You might go with them, you know, Exactly, exactly. They're not trying to act like they love you.
Speaker 2:I have many times, you know not, you know not. No, no, no, no, no. As a matter of fact, they want to go hang out and stuff. Like I said, I've I've had so many. I had so many cop friends in Panama that became friends with most of them because they stopped me Even here in Colombia.
Speaker 2:You know, just a couple days ago I was at the bar and I went to the local little bar. I was going to meet up with you. The police captain of Llano Grande was there and I'm sitting there gabbing for like 15 minutes. You know he's the one who has. You know, uribe has his garita right here. That's where he is, right around the corner from my house. I hadn't met him before. Actually I think I did, like a year ago. But super nice guy, he's a captain. He's been captain for 30 years. Old guy, what's up. You know, right away he could see you're a person of a certain. Right away he wanted to. You know we started talking. You think somebody in the States, you see a cop there they're all, I mean everything.
Speaker 2:If you're just a retiree with a simple income to a businessman, if you're working or what you call nomads, or a business guy who can do his stuff mostly virtually, or if, even if you're very wealthy, you know there's, just there's, you can live the life in Latin America. You know, I bet Brazil, I mean if you're like really wealthy, like you said I mean doesn't Brazil have like a bunch of billionaires and stuff, just very high end neighborhoods. Everything's not. Everybody thinks Latin America, we still live in huts.
Speaker 1:No, you know go to Panama, brazil's super high class, you'll see buildings that are nicer than ones in Miami. I would imagine Brazil's crazy Imagine that buildings that are better than Miami right.
Speaker 1:You know, what's interesting about Brazil is the women there also want to show you that they're independent. And what I mean by that is I. You know I went on several I lived there for a while, so went on many dates there and plenty of times that a girl say she's going to the bathroom, she'll go up and pay the tab and you don't even know she did it, you know, and it was weird. It was weird. I don't like that, that's not my thing. But they do it just to show you that they're independent. And you know a lot of American countries. You know they're trying to. You know they're trying to like suck money out of you every way they can. But in Brazil they have money they don't need it.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah yeah, most Latin Americans countries. It's funny how women are that you know. You know that they want women's rights till. It comes to the tab, which is fine, I'm not into that I'm a man, I make my own money. I don't need anybody to buy it it actually makes me uncomfortable to somebody anybody, a friend or anybody to buy something. It just makes me uncomfortable. I'm the guy who pays for stuff. It's just very weird to me.
Speaker 2:If it did. Okay, I'll okay, but I'm getting the next one, and I mean it. And guys are like that in Latin America too. They'll generally speak, they. You know they'll just go somewhere else when the bill comes. It's hilarious.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've had more guys ask me for money in Latin America than women.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh yeah yeah, they don't give a shit. But I have a friend which you know. This or his pockets are sewn together. You know this guy wouldn't put out a. I know him for 30 years he's. I've never seen pull his wallet out. I don't know if he knows what they look like or how that works, you know but that's how they are. You know, they, just, you know, they just. They don't even go to the bathroom when it's a tab. They're just not paying.
Speaker 1:I like, and the shit works too. You don't see as many divorces. Women are happy being women. That's all they want to be, is a feminine woman that they're born to be, and men want to be men and it just freaking works, or at least men, you know we want to be men, I think.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no-transcript. You know you know, just just, I feel I always tell girls I feel so bad for you and I've been saying this for 20 years. Actually, I used to say even 25, 30, it's part of my pitch.
Speaker 2:The, you know, the pickup chicks was like oh man, I feel so bad for you and they go well, there's just no guys, real guys, out there anymore. You know what I mean. You know I wouldn't say I was, you know. I just go hey, it's just a little bit bad, there's no real guys and I'm like, yeah, I know this, that and the other but what'm with you?
Speaker 1:I can't tell you how many I would say a high percentage of the couples that I know here the women are paying for the guys, right, and you know I just can't do that shit, man, I can't do it.
Speaker 2:No, I have no interest in it.
Speaker 1:I have no interest in it If I can't work hard enough, or be smart enough, or whatever it is, to pay a damn bar bill, I mean, well, who am I?
Speaker 2:you know what I mean, especially in latin america. Especially in latin america, I mean, geez, you know, it's just, it's just ridiculous. But man, I know, you've got man, we gotta, we gotta meet up one of these days. But what are the topics? You think the um, some of your guys, how you know again, just go over a few healthcare, I think.
Speaker 1:I think the. I think the next yeah, there, nothing to talk about. That's so much better here, but no, I think the last thing is I'd like to know your opinion on where you would if you were moving here tomorrow. Right, you're retiring in the States, or you got your money, you're making virtually, and you want to move to Latin America and take advantage of this In Colombia. What do you think is the next next big thing? And uh, and in latin america, maybe shoot off some places that you'd recommend people to uh to check out yeah, okay, so I wouldn't.
Speaker 2:Even though I'm from panama, I wouldn't go to panama. It's that was 30 years ago. 25 years ago I wouldn't go to costa rica, I would. I would places you could look at. Now believe it or not, is salvador with that, the new president I mean it's totally safe.
Speaker 2:I've been to Salvador many times Very affordable, very affordable, matt, and it's really nice. It has real high-end areas. Remember, you can live in high-end areas for the price that you can live in any place in the States. Okay, I think we were speaking recently. Just to give you an example, a year or or a year ago, I had an apartment in lantana, florida. What lantana? What? Okay, it's in palm beach county. Beautiful apartment, one bedroom, whatever, it's just an apartment community. I was paying twenty one hundred and thirty dollars a month for one bedroom plus cable a hundred dollars was twenty four hundred dollars a month for one bedroom.
Speaker 2:Okay, in nowhere. Florida, all right. I mean, it wasn't an aventura which I've lived in before, which, ironically, just so you can get an idea I had a one bedroom on the water in aventura in 2014 and I was paying. Don't hold me to it. I think it was 1650 for one bedroom.
Speaker 2:Gated community the whole thing, that's 10 years look how much prices have gone up and that's an. Yeah, but that's an aventura. Florida, on the water, okay, yeah, so where I was at now, beautiful place, but I'm looking at a parking lot for my balcony. Not the water, okay, but anyway, you can live in any of these places in high and secure areas, okay. So salvador is a place.
Speaker 2:Nicaragua, even though it's a little dumpy, you know, there's some nice areas there. Problem there it's hot as hell. I'm going. It's hot as hell. I'm going to repeat it Hot as hell. You walk around, literally.
Speaker 2:I used to say, you know, your shoes are going to melt off your feet. You know it is hot, but the beaches and this and that, but it is affordable as hell, safe as it can be as well. That's Central America, but coming, you know, obviously. You know Ecuador is a mess right now. You know, obviously, you know Ecuador is a mess right now. You know, total craziness going on. There's a war zone, but Colombia really is.
Speaker 2:Where would I go to Colombia? Well, I can tell you I'm probably going to the coffee region, very similar to Medellin. It's going to be the next thing, I'm sure. Coffee regions, three medium-sized cities, very nice weather, mountains, beautiful, probably. I'm calculating my cost of life for my family. Listen to this. It's not expensive here, even though up here it's gone up like crazy. 40% less than here. 40% less. I'd say it's going to be 35% less than Maying. Okay, when you put in the rent and this, that and the other. I just saw a beautiful home in a gated community in Los Cerritos for rent. Beautiful, four bedrooms, four and a half baths, gorgeous pool. Looks like a Miami place. Seven million pesos, okay.
Speaker 1:Which is not even two grand. It's not even two grand 1,800 a month.
Speaker 2:So I'm going to pay $1,800 a month for that beautiful place in a gated community with a pool and all this.
Speaker 1:My own private pool, the whole thing, or I'm gonna pay 2100 dollars and damn lantana florida. No, thank you. I'm telling you right now you're gonna have more fun and the coffee reason in columbia than your guy paying 15 grand a month living in miami agreed.
Speaker 2:Now let's just talk about me, since you know you live. You're there now a lot of people. So, yeah, I think that's still a fine place to live. But you got to choose your area and when they like, for example, everybody talks about poblado. Poblado is a big area, man. You got to move up to el tesoro. You got to go to alto de palmas. You need to go, or even go, to um, um, the real alto del palma, which I used to live there as well. But yeah, I would not. I would not recommend many of the people. I think it's, it's expensive. There's actually areas outside of Bogota that I'd go first. Honestly, I wouldn't go to Cartagena, santander, bucaramanga. I've never been there, done a lot of research on it. Great little city of about 400,000. Have you been there?
Speaker 1:No, I haven't, but I'm starting to hear, though, that the safety up there has gotten a little out of hand, really.
Speaker 2:I've heard it's really safe. Really I've heard it's really safe, but things change here. You know what I mean, me yin. We know the safety's effed up. I mean it is just a. I mean you can be in the best place and they'll grab you. And yeah, I don't, you know, but there's a lot of smaller places, like Bucaramanga, you know, and probably going even there's real high-end areas in Cali.
Speaker 1:The problem is Cali's so darn hot man Cali, it's kind of so darn hot man you know for me if I'm going to live in a place that's hot, matt?
Speaker 2:well no, but there's some nice areas. Now it's changed a little bit. But the problem with me if I'm going to live in a place that's hot, you better have a beach next door, you got to have water.
Speaker 1:I agree. Does that make sense?
Speaker 2:I agree, absolutely you got to have water, Otherwise there's no. So if you're in Miami and you're going to suck up those six months, you better be able to pass by water all the time. But I'm not going to sit there and live in Atlanta at this point. That's just my take on how it is.
Speaker 2:But yeah, there's a lot of good living man to be done here. I mean, there's a lot of living, it's a lot of fun. Maybe people will start shooting down here even more. And in the States I got to be honest with you. I've gone back and forth for many years and I'll wrap my part, my spiel, up with this. It's kind of depressing, you know absolutely.
Speaker 1:And I'm a, you're a sociable guy.
Speaker 2:I'm a sociable guy, but I don't enjoy myself. I become a loner. Yeah, I don't know if that's your experience. I become a little bit of a loner over there well, the us is just, you don't.
Speaker 1:You don't have, um, you don't have any real friends in the states like you. Everybody thinks you do, but you don't have a guy. You can just go kick it with right. I mean if you, if you do, then you go to a bar and he has 90 minutes and, okay, we can have 1.5 beers and I have to go correct, correct, because I got to get back home all right, let me give you an example like, for example, you have, you could have married.
Speaker 2:you could have married. Yeah, you could have married. It's so funny. You said that it's happened to me many times, but here even Latins. They change over there, but here you can have somebody who's married. Well, they're married. No, they can still go out and have fun. They're still going to go out and party and have some fun and enjoy themselves and not put a time limit on it, even if they're to go out and have fun.
Speaker 2:I'm not talking anything weird, or or? You know they might, they might not, you know, but you know they'll come in and hang out and have a great time and then go back home.
Speaker 1:Or, if they need to, they'll bring their wife with you, right? If they want to keep hanging out there.
Speaker 2:Bring your wife Exactly there's, a wife wants to go out too or they'll invite you to the house Exactlyer. I don't like it, but I've had exactly that happen. I have an hour, hour and a half. It's so funny. You said that.
Speaker 1:Well, I think most of the time though, randy, that an American or maybe a Westerner that's been living especially in the States, I know this. I don't think you know that you actually want that type of friendship because you've never had it, so you don't even know that that's abnormal. What's going on back there? Right, like you think that going and sitting down with your best friend at six and leaving at exactly seven is normal there, and it's really not. You know, we've seen each other one time in six months. That's not normal, you know. But once you experience this, like we have, then you recognize oh shit, you know what I was doing before. Is it normal?
Speaker 2:yeah, and then also the like. You know. You know I got. I love the states, I like america. I just don't feel I have anything in common with most of them. You know, we just live totally different and I work hard. I wake up every day. I did so. It's not like, oh, I'm just some latin who just likes to party. You know, like right now we're talking, I'm having my rum man.
Speaker 1:You know, hey, best rum, romay man oh yeah, you love that stuff, you know I love it.
Speaker 2:But yeah, yeah, yeah. But you know you have your drinks, shoot the shit. You know, the day before yesterday I'm sitting down to my little bar that I want you to come to one day and you know, this guy shows up with his dog there, orders his half of whiskey. He owns a business, and another guy who owns a food distribution thing. Then one of my old buddies who's 67 years old, who goes there a few times with a businessman Awesome, we're shooting the shit and bothering everybody.
Speaker 2:You know, and these are wealthy people. One of them was just in Miami for the marathon that he paid to go to do the marathon and all stuff. These aren't poor people, you know. You know. You know what he was telling me, Randy, you know how much. Because we're teasing the bar owner. He goes oh, it was more expensive than the burbuja where we go. We're teasing him. You know much of the beers, just any place where he was at says we're twelve dollars, but he forgets to add tipping on. So it's like fifty thousand pesos a beer, while here a beer is even imported one of the same heineken that he was talking about, or american beer would be ten thousand pesos. You know, fifty thousand pesos for a I don't care when I go there, it is what it is. They're not having the time we are.
Speaker 1:When I look back on my experience prior to Latin America and then my experience in Latin America, I can comfortably say that there are a lot of things that I've experienced here that I didn't even realize I wanted because I had never had those things given to me or shown to me. Wanted because I had never had those things given to me or shown to me. So once you get here, I think you experience a lot of things that you know human beings in general really just need and want, and at least that's been my experience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know we're men. In our case we're men. We want to be treated like men, not like a number, not like a wuss. We want to, you know, provide for our families. If you have some, you want to provide for yourself. If we want to, you know, provide for our families If you have some, you want to provide for yourself. If you, I would recommend anybody if they can make money and live in a Latin American country. Generally speaking, you know you will never regret it. I agree.
Speaker 1:Hey, man, I think we've covered it. This was incredible. I appreciate your time. I knew it was going to be great. With your experience, I knew it was going to be incredible. But let me ask you if somebody wanted to reach out to you for any of your services, how would you suggest they do that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, just go to my website, randythehealthinsuranceguycom. If you need health insurance help in the States, I can do that. If you need international, great. Otherwise, I hope people keep following you because I'm sure you can't wait to see all the interviews you do. There's just so much more than just USA, man. And that doesn't mean we don't want to go back and get our fix. You know we love our USA, but man, can you really get? Man, look, I'm 53. You're, you're what in your early forties? Now it goes. So I'll close with this. It goes so fast and nobody goes to is on their deathbed saying I wish I worked more, or just under. That doesn't mean that you have to be some loser. You know we're not losers and if you can find a way to make the type of income that you want in another country or back and forth, do it, man, absolutely.
Speaker 1:All right, brother. Thanks so much and I appreciate you, Appreciate you coming on. Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of Matt Chambers Connects. Stay tuned for upcoming episodes where we'll dive deeper into these two fascinating worlds. If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe to our YouTube channel, Matt Chambers Connects. You can also find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music and many other major podcast platforms so you don't miss a show. Also, please join us on our social media channels so you can connect with other listeners and ask your most pressing questions and also tell us what types of guests you'd like to see on the show. Thanks again and I'll see you next time. Thank you.