Expat Chronicles

Expat Chronicles is now on Substack 🌎 Real talk on the Expat Life: the wins, the headaches, & the raw truth to life in LATAM Link here: @expatchronicles" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">substack.com/@expatchronicl…

@Scotian82 Looks good! 👍

@ExpatChron I had ajiaco in 🇨🇦 last night 🇨🇴😛

One of my more popular blog posts is about how Colombian food SUCKS 🤢 During my early days in Colombia, I was not a fan of arepas, patacones and pandebono. Flavorless and bland 😴 And Colombian hot dogs with that fake ketchup? No thanks. But over the years, I’ve come around to realizing Colombia does have some good dishes 🇨🇴 Such as bandeja paisa, ajiaco, lechona, Pacific fish, and especially the fruit. Colombia is insanely biodiverse, so the exotic fruits are awesome. You have to try them all 👍 Overall? 🤔 It has some solid dishes but it’s still nowhere near the Latin American heavyweights like Peru or Mexico. I totally get why many expats find it too bland when compared to neighboring countries But when you spend enough time there, you'll find some decent food 💯

@TheLatamGuy Ridiculous Needs 3 planks at minimum!

Construction safety standards in Latin America: standing on two planks instead of just one

I enjoy a good ajiaco 😋 Ajiaco is Bogotá’s signature regional dish A hearty soup made with chicken, potatoes, and corn, traditionally accompanied by a side of rice and sliced avocado. Stir all the sides right into the soup for the full experience. My favorite places were those just a block away from Plaza Bolívar in the downtown area.

@ExpatChron I like the soups & chowders 😛🇨🇴🔥

@oublinkerbro @Iberianamerica So true Venezuelan Arepas > Colombian "arepas"

@ExpatChron @Iberianamerica Colombian arepas are mid, Venezuelan arepas are much better.

It's a heated debate 🔥 300 people have chimed in with comments on that article Most of them agree: Colombian food mostly SUCKS Do you agree? Here's the article expat-chronicles.com/2014/07/30/col…

@Scotian82 How things never change!

@ExpatChron I took this video at 3am from my hotel on calle 53 & 13 🤯🇨🇴🔪😂

Chapinero of Bogota, Colombia 🇨🇴 Over a decade ago, I used to spend time in this neighborhood Interesting to see how it is now Back in my day, Chapinero was a solid middle-class neighborhood. The buffer zone between the ghetto and money. It’s not really bad, but not great either. Just wildly diverse. In a few blocks you’d see gays, punks, metalheads, skinheads, hip-hoppers, skaters, suits, bums, drunks, and junkies. Every vice was right outside my door: bars, liquor stores, weed, coke, brothels, and casinos. I smelled weed daily Brothel flyers got shoved in my face along Caracas and Kr 13 And people drank in the streets, plazas, and Hippies Park nonstop. On top of that, it’s a big retail hub. The place to buy pretty much anything. Was an interesting place 💯

The Danger expats will put themselves in to get "content" while traveling 👇 Dude running for his life while filming in Santa Fe, Bogota 🇨🇴

"Stop calling yourself an expat. You're an Immigrant 😡" Having lived as an expat in Latin America for a decade, I've heard this argument countless time Especially as I run a blog called EXPAT Chronicles ✍️ One of my earliest thoughts was that the difference between expats and immigrants is economics Expats usually move from rich countries to poorer ones for lifestyle, retirement, or adventure while keeping a high standard of living 🤑 Immigrants move from poor countries to rich ones chasing better wages, often doing lower-skilled work👷‍♂️ Expats are basically a subset of immigrants. In contrast, critics who hate the word expat will say it's about race "Expats are White. Immigrants are Brown. Therefore, the word Expat is racist because expats don't want to be called immigrants" However, the “it’s racist” take is lazy 😴 Class and opportunity explain way more than skin color Think about it like this 👇 If a black American retires in South America, is he called an expat? Yes. Are the millions of Russians and Polish in the United States and England called expats? Or Ukranians escaping the war? No. In short, the difference is primarily economics 💯

It's always ironic when people get upset about Americans calling ourselves American 🇺🇸 In my years living in Latin America, locals have called me "American" or asked if I was from America. But I also get her point. Latin American countries are part of the Americas, so the term could technically apply to them too. But it's a pointless thing to police. Almost no Latin Americans without dual citizenship actually calls themselves "American" in that sense. And words can have multiple, context-specific meanings So by her own logic, US Americans are even more "American" than most Latin Americans are We fit both definitions We are Americans from the US AND Americans from the Americas While most Latin Americans are just "American" in that they're from the Americas 🌎

@Scotian82 Nice photos!

Chapinero Street Art Bogota, Colombia 🇨🇴

@ExpatChron If you haven’t been scope’d, have youbreally experienced 🇨🇴😆 J/k mucho ojo gringo bros 😬

Expats getting drugged in Colombia is a never-ending occurrence Gotta be safe out there 🇨🇴

The History of Peruvian Ceviche 🇵🇪

The Challenges of Moving your Kids back to the US 👇

One thing that's hard about living in a multicultural household between America and Peru: Teaching your kids both English and Spanish

PSA 👇 Stop saying latinx Nobody, not even Latinos, like that word

It's also interesting dating in one country and then dating in a different one You bring cultural things you learned in one place to the next Such as the Spanish you learn (accent, slang words, etc) Or foods also I spent most of my time in Colombia and Peru, eventually marrying a Peruvian woman after my time in Colombia ended. One day, I decided to make her sancocho. A hearty Colombian soup that I learned about previously. She took one bite, tasted the banana, and immediately spat it out. Horrified, she called her mother and exclaimed that I had made a soup with banana in it A dish from Colombia, of course. To many Latin American women, Colombia still means cocaine and hookers, so the family immediately began wondering if something was wrong with me. Was I going to leave her for Colombia? Her mother then hung up and promptly called her sisters to spread the news. I really don’t think it’s that serious.

Dating someone from a different culture will break every assumption you didn't know you had You think you're compatible because you like the same things Then you realize you have completely different frameworks for conflict, family, money, time, and what "being on time" even means It is definitely a challenge... But a very worthy one

Rio was a bit gritty for me but it has a lot of cool spots For me, Copa was like Chapinero at the beach due to all the vagrants laying around and kids panhandling But there were definitely cool things I enjoyed too Such as Tujica national park Nearby Petropolis was decent also Definitely an interesting place! 👍

🇧🇷 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 🇧🇷 Rio is one of the only popular tourist destinations that is actually... AWESOME + AMAZING - Truly "sin city" - Great beaches - Tons of tourism/things to do - Fun culture, insane energy - Hot women - Massive city, never get bored here - Can feel unsafe - Not cheap, especially for an Airbnb that isn't hideous Overall: Best beach city in the Americas by a mile, although northeastern Brazil may argue that point Every young man *MUST* spend at least one month of their life in Rio de Janeiro — NON-NEGOTIABLE