The South American Expat Thread

[Caractacus Potts]

This round of posts reminds me of the old travel data sheets from RVF. I've traveled quite a bit around Central and South America- I've made numerous trips to Mexico, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica. Those trips were for vacations as well as to scout out potential real estate purchases.

My last trip was three years ago. Even then, I noticed social media had gained a strong presence and things were noticeably changing. The Gringo Effect, White God Factor, whatever you want to call it was fading. If you are going to be traveling for work or pleasure I cannot stress enough that you need to be conversationally fluent in Spanish.

When I first started traveling I would stay in tourist areas. Later on I grew bolder and ventured outside usual places and stayed in some grittier/local estratos. A couple of suggestions if you are traveling south of the border:

1. Be conversationally fluent in Spanish!
2. Be conversationally fluent in Spanish!
3. Do NOT wear cargo shorts.
4. Do NOT wear a baseball cap.
5. Blue jeans - depends on where you are going.
6. Understand the exchange rate and understand the currency.
   1. This is complicated in Panama since they use US currency and other currencies as well.
7. Know something about the country and region you are in.
   1. Although, I have to admit, one time in Colombia, my waitress did not know that Alvaro Uribe was the president.
8. Be polite.
   1. I have seen Americans and Europeans talking down to staff. I know that there is an unspoken caste system in many of these countries but don't exacerbate the "Ugly American" stereotype.

If you don't mix with high society in the United States or your own county don't expect to down there. The indigenous looking peasants are more numerous than the Peninsulares. Fun story, I was buying groceries in Exito in Laureles in Medellin. There was an older couple in line behind me. I was not wearing blue jeans or gym shoes. One of the items I bought was bottled water. The old man asked "Are you American?" I told him yes and he told me that the tap water was okay to drink there.

A few days later I ran into him and his wife and their daughter and son-in-law at an Argentinian steak house. He insisted I sit with them. He was enjoying his night and was throwing back aguardiente. He was a retired lawyer. He told me that he wanted to become a policeman during the Narco era but his parents fobade it. He went to school in the US and eventually came home to practice. I could see that his wife and daughter were not happy with his drinking with me. At one point his daughter said something in rapid fire Spanish that I didn't catch. He slammed the table with his hand and proclaimed loudly "Es una falto de respecto!" Immediately they all looked down at the table. lol

Good memories.

 

[LoveBug]

"once you start hitting late 30s on up every bit helps."

Very true.

Fact of game, numerically if your ever going to find a miss right

Though, to distinguish:

As much as gringo factor is a plus factor to where Im seeking to live, I don't mean that you should become a supplicant to the local girls energy by needing their attention.

The girls sense that neediness and its repellant, and is disrespect/imposition to the local culture. And its also giving the girls power in the dynamic, by subconsciously seeking their approval. I remember the old RVF Philippine/Thailand data sheets where guys would show up walking down malls expecting White God Factor and going home with their tails between their legs

Its just a fact of the mating game, guys a lot of times go where their rating is the highest etc.

the less girls are on your mind, the better. Gringo factor is just a plus/minus on a data sheet

 

[Coja Petrus Uscan]

The girls sense that neediness and its repellant, and is disrespect/imposition to the local culture. And its also giving the girls power in the dynamic, by subconsciously seeking their approval. I remember the old RVF Philippine/Thailand data sheets where guys would show up walking down malls expecting White God Factor and going home with their tails between their legs

Little secret I learned from Bobby Fischer.

Turn up in The Phillippines and shout "It's the Jews!"

10 minutes later -

 

[lonetraveler]

This round of posts reminds me of the old travel data sheets from RVF. I've traveled quite a bit around Central and South America- I've made numerous trips to Mexico, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica. Those trips were for vacations as well as to scout out potential real estate purchases.

My last trip was three years ago. Even then, I noticed social media had gained a strong presence and things were noticeably changing. The Gringo Effect, White God Factor, whatever you want to call it was fading. If you are going to be traveling for work or pleasure I cannot stress enough that you need to be conversationally fluent in Spanish.

When I first started traveling I would stay in tourist areas. Later on I grew bolder and ventured outside usual places and stayed in some grittier/local estratos. A couple of suggestions if you are traveling south of the border:

1. Be conversationally fluent in Spanish!
2. Be conversationally fluent in Spanish!
3. Do NOT wear cargo shorts.
4. Do NOT wear a baseball cap.
5. Blue jeans - depends on where you are going.
6. Understand the exchange rate and understand the currency.
   1. This is complicated in Panama since they use US currency and other currencies as well.
7. Know something about the country and region you are in.
   1. Although, I have to admit, one time in Colombia, my waitress did not know that Alvaro Uribe was the president.
8. Be polite.
   1. I have seen Americans and Europeans talking down to staff. I know that there is an unspoken caste system in many of these countries but don't exacerbate the "Ugly American" stereotype.

If you don't mix with high society in the United States or your own county don't expect to down there. The indigenous looking peasants are more numerous than the Peninsulares. Fun story, I was buying groceries in Exito in Laureles in Medellin. There was an older couple in line behind me. I was not wearing blue jeans or gym shoes. One of the items I bought was bottled water. The old man asked "Are you American?" I told him yes and he told me that the tap water was okay to drink there.

A few days later I ran into him and his wife and their daughter and son-in-law at an Argentinian steak house. He insisted I sit with them. He was enjoying his night and was throwing back aguardiente. He was a retired lawyer. He told me that he wanted to become a policeman during the Narco era but his parents fobade it. He went to school in the US and eventually came home to practice. I could see that his wife and daughter were not happy with his drinking with me. At one point his daughter said something in rapid fire Spanish that I didn't catch. He slammed the table with his hand and proclaimed loudly "Es una falto de respecto!" Immediately they all looked down at the table. lol

Good memories.

Believe it or not but there are plenty of people that wear cargo shorts, baseball caps, and jeans south of the border. Also the whole "nobody wears shorts in Mexico" thing is a load of shit. Following advice like that is not going to help you not look like a tourist.

 

[DrCotard]

Lol, as a Mexican i'm not offended or upset the least. That's mexico city nowadays, a globohomo third world shithole full of coward people. You described pretty much everything about the metropolitan area of CDMX. People tend to be very patriotic but in a hypocritical way. They get very butthurt when foreigners criticize them but don't do nothing to improve their country a bit.

Bogota is exactly the same globohomo shithole of Colombia, but recently this city and its people have become the laughing stock of Colombia, along with Cali (the colombian city, not the american state, BTW).

 

[La Águila Negra]

Good luck moving to Colombia 'to try to avoid Trotskyist degeneracy in the West'

The only difference between Anglo America and Latin America is that in Latin America they started 40 years later, but are currently moving at 5 times the speed towards the same direction

On the foto above is the Bogotan mayor in front of the municipal building. On the foto below are some of the Rainbow Warrior nutjobs that have by now completely hijacked the previously legitimate anti-government protests

 

[NoMoreTO]

Good luck moving to Colombia 'to try to avoid Trotskyist degeneracy in the West'

The only difference between Anglo America and Latin America is that in Latin America they started 40 years later, but are currently moving at 5 times the speed towards the same direction

There's something to be said about 'kicking the can'. While Marxism is pretty rampant in Colombia, the right wing is pretty strong and people are a little sensible about things.

Simply put, they can't push degeneration 5x faster, although it will come to Colombia. But if the situation is resolved in the West, Colombia will move away. They tend to mimic the culture war in the West, but are way behind.

Bogota politically is very different than the rest of the country.

 

[JoeyB]

After spending time in both Mexico and Colombia this year, I have come to the conclusion that these places are changing for the worse faster than I imagined. They are both awesome places to visit, hell even live in the right situation, but if you think you are going to go there and absolutely slay just for being a gringo, you're dead wrong. Although this has always been the case, I was a bit taken aback by how challenging it has become in such a short period of time (my last trip to Colombia was in 2016). I don't expect at all to be worshipped for being foreign or something, and I totally understand you need to have some game/style anywhere, but I'm sorry, if I'm in 3rd tier middle of nowhere Merida Mexico and the average local dude looks like a Mayan midget, I guess I expect a bit more curiosity and welcoming vibes from the ladies? I managed to get lucky and meet some high-quality girls, but it required work on par with the U.S. Perhaps I'm entitled and my expectations are too high, it's just my opinion. The reality is that the majority of the most desirable women in these countries open their phones every day to an entire global audience of men showering them with attention. Unless you are bringing some solid value to the table, you will be a ghost to them. I highly recommend traveling in this environment for the total package and adventure, and have women be a complete afterthought, or else you will get a bit frustrated.

 

[InGodweTrust38]

After spending time in both Mexico and Colombia this year, I have come to the conclusion that these places are changing for the worse faster than I imagined. They are both awesome places to visit, hell even live in the right situation, but if you think you are going to go there and absolutely slay just for being a gringo, you're dead wrong. Although this has always been the case, I was a bit taken aback by how challenging it has become in such a short period of time (my last trip to Colombia was in 2016). I don't expect at all to be worshipped for being foreign or something, and I totally understand you need to have some game/style anywhere, but I'm sorry, if I'm in 3rd tier middle of nowhere Merida Mexico and the average local dude looks like a Mayan midget, I guess I expect a bit more curiosity and welcoming vibes from the ladies? I managed to get lucky and meet some high-quality girls, but it required work on par with the U.S. Perhaps I'm entitled and my expectations are too high, it's just my opinion. The reality is that the majority of the most desirable women in these countries open their phones every day to an entire global audience of men showering them with attention. Unless you are bringing some solid value to the table, you will be a ghost to them. I highly recommend traveling in this environment for the total package and adventure, and have women be a complete afterthought, or else you will get a bit frustrated.

I highly recommend traveling in this environment for the total package and adventure, and have women be a complete afterthought, or else you will get a bit frustrated.

If Mexico made you feel that way, you would get depressed in any European country.
The struggle is real - in many countries of the world.

After spending time in both Mexico and Colombia this year, I have come to the conclusion that these places are changing for the worse faster than I imagined. They are both awesome places to visit, hell even live in the right situation, but if you think you are going to go there and absolutely slay just for being a gringo, you're dead wrong. Although this has always been the case, I was a bit taken aback by how challenging it has become in such a short period of time (my last trip to Colombia was in 2016). I don't expect at all to be worshipped for being foreign or something, and I totally understand you need to have some game/style anywhere, but I'm sorry, if I'm in 3rd tier middle of nowhere Merida Mexico and the average local dude looks like a Mayan midget, I guess I expect a bit more curiosity and welcoming vibes from the ladies? I managed to get lucky and meet some high-quality girls, but it required work on par with the U.S. Perhaps I'm entitled and my expectations are too high, it's just my opinion. The reality is that the majority of the most desirable women in these countries open their phones every day to an entire global audience of men showering them with attention. Unless you are bringing some solid value to the table, you will be a ghost to them. I highly recommend traveling in this environment for the total package and adventure, and have women be a complete afterthought, or else you will get a bit frustrated.

There is lots of truth in your comment.
Overall, Mexico it's still a great country to visit and Mexican people are very decent for the most part.

However, when it comes to finding a good Christian wife : it isn’t any easier in Mexico then it is anywhere else in the Americas.

 

[Cortés]

I highly recommend traveling in this environment for the total package and adventure, and have women be a complete afterthought, or else you will get a bit frustrated.

If Mexico made you feel that way, you would get depressed in any European country.
The struggle is real - in many countries of the world.

There is lots of truth in your comment.
Overall, Mexico it's still a great country to visit and Mexican people are very decent for the most part.

However, when it comes to finding a good Christian wife : it isn’t any easier in Mexico then it is anywhere else in the Americas.

I haven't spent any significant time in mexico not around Mexicans, but im sure Brazil is just as good in regards to finding a christian wife. I spent a lot of time in Catholic churches in Brazil and i came into contact with a number of women who would make good wives for a man of his 30s (most of the girls i am thinking of were in the 24-30 range, I'm young 20s but look about 30). Right off the top of my head I recall three different beautiful girls from good families who came up to me at various church prayer groups very enthusiastically looking to practice their English until I told them my age lol. There's a number of prayer groups at each church I've been to, and one organization in particular with adoration retreats that has presence in most of the cities. Unfortunately at the moment, this organization is solely doing zoom meetings. But i had a great time before corona growing in faith while socializing with young Catholics. While in general Brazilians aren't really committed to chastity, avoiding sin and really living the faith- groups like these have a lot of people who take it seriously. Outside of this group, I remember being in a small town one Lenten Friday night a few months back, and there was a table of girls getting pizza specifically talking about not being able to eat meat on Fridays.

 

[Blade Runner]

This continues to be a very interesting thread, as I foresee things getting progressively worse in Central and South America (pun intended), with the outside chance of it being a goldmine if you actually just wanna have fun and nothing serious. The sad part is that I like a lot of the culture and can speak the language. The issue is that these societies have dysfunction that is borderline mentally retarded, compared to european dysfunction in better places like eastern europe where globohomo is much harder to pull off and thus wife and family formation is on average, better.

 

[Rubin]

This continues to be a very interesting thread, as I foresee things getting progressively worse in Central and South America (pun intended), with the outside chance of it being a goldmine if you actually just wanna have fun and nothing serious. The sad part is that I like a lot of the culture and can speak the language. The issue is that these societies have dysfunction that is borderline mentally retarded, compared to european dysfunction in better places like eastern europe where globohomo is much harder to pull off and thus wife and family formation is on average, better.

I totally agree!
I also see that there is more ((private owned media outlets)) pushing propaganda in their local language, even though countries in EE like Poland are the first ones to crumble under globohomo expansion too.

I think that family formation for the people, who are planning it, needs to happen within the next 5 years as most places will eventually end up being the same, due to smartphone brainwashing.

 

[InGodweTrust38]

This continues to be a very interesting thread, as I foresee things getting progressively worse in Central and South America (pun intended), with the outside chance of it being a goldmine if you actually just wanna have fun and nothing serious. The sad part is that I like a lot of the culture and can speak the language. The issue is that these societies have dysfunction that is borderline mentally retarded, compared to european dysfunction in better places like eastern europe where globohomo is much harder to pull off and thus wife and family formation is on average, better.

I am not sure if that's entirely true.
At least, when it comes to birthrates , Central and South America still have a great advantage over Eastern Europe.
I believe countries of Eastern Europe that are already members of the EU are affected by modern degeneracy as Western countries.
A large percentage of (mostly poorer) young ladies in the Americas are more likely to be feminine, conservative and wanting marriage and children compared to your average Eastern European girl.

 

[Wode]

A large percentage of (mostly poorer) young ladies in the Americas are more likely to be feminine, conservative and wanting marriage and children

I guess they don't go abroad because as a non-US person it's not the kind of women from the USA that I've encountered while traveling. The majority of them had a disgusting personality and a lot of them were fat.

In terms of behavior and entitlement, here's how I would rank white women from best to worst :

Eastern Europe > Scandinavia > Western Europe > Anglosaxon countries (apart from USA) > ............ > rich white latinas (Mexico, Colombia, etc...) > USA

Only rich white latinas had an attitude almost as bad as American women. These girls you find in upper neighborhoods in Mexican big cities, Medellin, etc.

 

[Cr33pin]

Just had a 7.0 earthquake here in Panama. It happened just off the coast of David. My couch started shaking a bit... then my apartment started shaking a bit... then the building started ROCKING for 5 seconds or so. Pretty wild

PS I made it to Panama

 

[Brother Abdul Majeed]

Just had a 7.0 earthquake here in Panama. It happened just off the coast of David. My couch started shaking a bit... then my apartment started shaking a bit... then the building started ROCKING for 5 seconds or so. Pretty wild

PS I made it to Panama

Why didn't you give me a head's up bro? We've been waiting for your arrival with baited breath. I warned the authorities that there's a mad gringo coming soon.

We felt it here too, but on the Atlantic side the tremors aren't as bad. The fault line is on the Pacific side and the mountains act like shock absorbers. There was a bit of rumbling, but nothing serious happened.

Hope we can meet up soon.

 

[LoveBug]

Sucks but Im going to have to cancel my Honduras/El Salvador trip and come back to the states. What we non vaccinated have to deal with.. Had my ticket and the places I was going to stay for the next couple months, but with covid raging cant take the chance of getting sick in those particular nations (Honduras at its peak)

 

[Wode]

Covid doesn't exist wtf are you talking about

 

[LoveBug]

Covid doesn't exist wtf are you talking about

lol. Im not here for that (although I know some of the forum is).

I can see it being non threatening for a guy my age who supplements like I do (hence the non vaccination). Still its a perfect shitstorm when you have an undermanned, overwhelmed, developing country and you might need assistance. I can at least wait til its not overwhelmed and undermanned and their peak passes.

though, if this continues I will be vaxxed, as much as I don’t want to be. Not paying to stick a swab up my nose as a traveler every other week/month. Need to see some concrete facts on it’s ill effects, my patience is thin

 

[thetruewhitenorth]

B

Do you intend to buy real estate a Latin American country?

I lived in Colombia for several years myself in my early 20s.. Back then the adventure and the disgust for the sterile and docile back home made the disadvantages worth it.

Couldn't do that anymore. The visible poverty, the unsafetyness. Constantly having to have your guard up. The throughly corrupted state representatives. Locals trying to scam you all the frigging time.

You are probably in a different age and income bracket. So that could diminish those factors.

Being able to both be part of an expat community (I don't mean the transient English teachers /digital nomad crowd) and being in a country where the locals look/think like you is important too. Wouldn't want to be the only perpetually sunburnt white face in town

Hi there,

Could you please if possible tell which parts of Colombia you lived in? Im considering this country for a permanent move.

I visited it a few times and noticed a big contrast in coastal towns/people and the mainland.

Overall, I didnt like the coast, felt like in Africa, lots of poverty, as a white person you're being approached A LOT, lack of safety.

However, in the lower, "plain" parts of Colombia, it was way nicer.