Summary: -Latin folks can have a very different take on USA first-world history as we know it (or history as we have been taught in stateside schools). Take the Kennedy assassination for example. Its been 50 years since it happened and its still an unsolved mystery to us gringos, yet Latins (the scant 5% who actually read and pay attention to world events) are quite certain who was behind it all. Yup, they think they’ve solved it all right! Its interesting stuff to be sure, but who are we to pummel their illusions. -Latins are genuinely friendly to us gringos (part of the “off the tourist trail” gringo advantage).Occasionally a gringo standing in a line to pay bills or waiting to get some idiotic government stamp, will strike up a conversation with a nearby Latin person(a friendly stranger). And even though only barely acquainted, surprisingly enough the Latin person may actually invite said gringo for dinner at the house or to an upcoming family get together. It does happen so don't be shocked. I bet if that happened in Jersey or Cleveland one would suspect the person making the gesture had dark ulterior motives or is at least a little unbalanced..or maybe a pervert, or just recruiting for Jesus. Yes, your new Latin friend will have ulterior motives for invitng you over too, but 99% of the time they are not dark motives at all. -Now a few facts about Fidel Castro’s “Oil for Doctors Program.” First of all. I bet you didn’t know such thing existed. But here it is: for each Doctor sent to oil rich Venezuela the Cuban govt gets paid 3 barrels of oil per day. So at $100 a barrel, that’s $300 per day for each doctor. Now with over 30000 Cuban doctors in Venezuela, the Castro boys get over 3 Billion dollars a year for their capitalistic trade of docs for oil.. the docs by the way are ever so eager to get the hell out of Cuba and get that extravagant $185 per month salary...(7 times a doc’s monthly salary in Cuba... plus extra ration cards). -Do follow the link on the main page at www.ExpatWisdom.com to schedule a private consultation with me. If you want to discuss the details of living, working, playing, doing business and/or retiring in Latin America, now you and I can talk about your situation one on one.
