Episode Details

• Johnny announces his week-long Latin American Insider seminar in Guatemala and El Salvador (November 13–20, 2026).Go toExpatplanb.com for signup details: NOTE the early-bird discount deadline for the  seminar has been moved up to September 20. Earlybird signups get $1,000 off the regular price (plus another $1,000 for repeat attendees).
• Early Spanish learners usually master nouns first but struggle with verbs, making real sentences difficult. The advice is not to fear “murdering” the language—Latinos are generally very tolerant of foreigners’ clumsy attempts.
• Many expats hit a language plateau where their Spanish works well with a Latino partner (who adapts to their particular errors) but is still hard for outsiders to fully understand.
• A 2025 Latino Barómetro poll showed very high percentages of people in several Latin American countries view immigration to their own countries as dangerous and harmful (Peru 80.4%, Ecuador 80.2%, Panama 76.7%, Colombia 76.3%). Argentina was the most accepting of immigrants at only 27% of people polled having negative feelings toward immigrants. The strong general negative views are largely driven by the huge Venezuelan migrant wave that began around 2017.
• A 12 year Yale study of thousands of adults over 50 yrs found that reading books for 30+ minutes a day was linked to living about two years longer than non book readers (the benefit did not apply to reading newspapers, magazines, or online articles).
• According to trans-national corporation Siemens, the Latin American countries with the worst power grids (25–35% transmission losses, frequent outages and  brownouts) are Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Brazil. Chile has the strongest grid, largely due to its foreign maintained and financed mining industry.
• Nicaraguan president/dictator Daniel Ortega recently stated there will be no more elections and that he and his wife will continue to rule.
• The top IMF world debtors include Argentina (#1 at ~$42.5 billion), Ukraine, Pakistan, and surprisingly Ecuador (#4), a popular retirement destination for expats.

 Be sure to pick up my newly updated, "2026 - LATIN AMERICAN HEALTHCARE REPORT":

The new edition for 2026 (and beyond) is available now, including the latest "Stem Cell Clinic" info and data and my top picks for the best treatment centers for expats and gringos. Just go to www.ExpatPlanB.com