Is It Better to be in Latin America During a Pandemic?

Over a year ago, I remember getting some messages on Messenger from my dad warning me to come back to the US because of the coronavirus shit.

At the time, I was living in a Mexican city known as Pachuca.

In the moment, nobody cared about the coronavirus.

You didn’t see anyone wearing masks outside and there was only one shop that self-closed because of it.

So, in the moment, the coronavirus looked as relevant to me as something like Zika.

Something that the media talks about but probably won’t impact my life in any meaningful way.

So I disregarded the warning.

Literally a few minutes later, my sister gets on the phone with me.

And becomes pissed off very quickly at me when she realized that she wasn’t going to convince me to come back home due to the coronavirus.

As a result, she stopped talking with me for like 9 months or so.

Anyway, I moved to Mexico City very soon afterwards.

It was like night and day difference.

In Pachuca, nobody really seemed to care about coronavirus during those early days of it.

But when I got to Mexico City, it felt like a ghost town almost.

Not literally but it did compared to Pachuca.

And when you consider how many people live in Mexico City.

Didn’t see nearly as many people outside…

Plenty of businesses closed.

So on and so on.

Granted, that was in Roma Norte.

When I moved to a less touristy neighborhood, there was more semblance of normalcy like in Pachuca.

You can read more about my experience with the coronavirus in Mexico in this article here.

And though I didn’t leave Mexico myself…

I’ve heard from others about how certain expats with years or over a decade even in Latin America were scared enough to go back home.

So it’s a thought to have perhaps – is it better to be in Latin America during a pandemic?

Granted, I know not everyone agrees on calling this a pandemic due to the survival rate but you get what I mean.

It is better to be in Latin America when some shit like the coronavirus or whatever pops up and scares society to the extent that the coronavirus did?

I’ll simply give you some of my observations about what life seems to be like in Latin America during this time period…

Some of the things that have changed.

Which I imagine would be noticeable in future incidents similar or worse than the coronavirus.

In that sense, giving you an idea of what to expect.

And also to help you make your own opinion about if it would be better to go back home during such a time in the future or stay in Latin America.

So let’s get to it.

Observation 1: Lockdowns?

The first topic has to do with lockdowns obviously.

Now not every Latin country is the same here nor is every region in Latin America the same.

There were various countries in Latin America that were much more severe than the US more broadly when it came to lockdowns or general restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus.

On top of my head, I’d say countries that fit that bill were El Salvador, Panama, Colombia, Argentina, etc.

Then you have some countries like Mexico where EVERYONE says has been so GREAT with not being too restrictive.

However, that’s not entirely true.

There were some parts of Mexico that were literally putting people in jail due to not complying with restrictions regarding coronavirus.

Then you have other places like Mexico City – a place that was relatively unrestrictive (in terms of not putting you in jail) but wasn’t really the most exciting place to be during this time.

Bars and clubs were often shut down for months on end at times before being let back open…

Then shut down again.

Then open again.

Back and forth, back and forth.

Plus, you’d find that, depending on your neighborhood, the locals would comply with the masks.

If that bothers you, then arguably some parts of the US or Canada would be better here.

I know one guy who went to a market without a mask on and ended up having an entire crowd of people berate him for not wearing a mask.

He then got into an argument with the whole crowd with his gringo Spanish and started convincing them that it is anti-Christian to wear a mask because “Jesus never wore a mask!”

Beyond all of that…

You’ve also had areas of Latin America – spots here and there – where basically none of this mattered.

That same guy told me about a trip he took to some beach area in Mexico and how basically nobody had a mask on.

Life felt normal again.

So while Latin America as a whole hasn’t been the most kind when it comes to this topic…

Your mileage will vary heavily.

And don’t think that a country like Mexico or Brazil not being as restrictive now during the coronavirus will mean they won’t be more restrictive in the future if another incident like this happens.

It was only a coincidence that a country like Brazil had a guy like Bolsonaro in office.

Or that Mexico had AMLO.

If AMLO never had ideological concerns with imposing restrictions…

Or if Bolsonaro wasn’t in office but someone like Lula or anyone else really….

I could see very strong restrictions being put in place due to the coronavirus on a federal level in either country.

Which is to say that you shouldn’t place faith in any particular country down here regarding how well they respond to another incident like the coronavirus in the future based on what they did during the last year.

Politics changes quite heavily.

Imagine if Clinton had won with Democrat control of both chambers of Congress in 2016 and that continued past the 2018 midterms…

Again, there would’ve been an outcome a little bit different than what we saw.

Which isn’t a statement meant to take sides here but simply to demonstrate that how a government would react to something like this depends heavily on, first and foremost, who is in office.

Finally, it’s my opinion that more rural or less touristy areas in general will have less restrictions than wealthier areas.

That isn’t always the case like what we saw with Mexico City being less restrictive than other parts of Mexico…

But it’s a generalization.

If you were to go to some far out place like El Chaco of Paraguay…

To be fair, I’m not sure what restrictions were put in place there.

But I’d imagine they were a bit lighter and also enforcement of such restrictions were less tight.

Like the guy I knew who went to that isolated beach community in Mexico that few tourists know about as I said way above…

To him, life felt very normal.

But let’s move on now.

Observation 2: Money

Obviously, for you to carve out a life down here during something like the coronavirus, you need money.

Some way to support yourself.

Unless you have a million dollars in the bank or retirement, you need to work somehow obviously.

So let’s cover that.

First, if I had to guess, most likely you’ll be doing some remote work.

You could try to start your own business but, like some have experienced, that business might be forced to close.

So it might not be the best call to start a business with a physical location.

Something remote then most likely.

Coming from someone who works remotely…

This is what I observed during this coronavirus episode.

For starters, you have more competition in “freelance” opportunities that don’t necessarily pay well for most people.

Think freelance writing articles for 5 dollars on Fiverr to starting an OnlyFans.

According to this article here from The Guardian, “everyone and their mum is on it” regarding all the people who joined OnlyFans during the coronavirus episode.

Here’s a quote from said article:

“Use of OnlyFans exploded during the pandemic, going from 7.5 million users last November to 85 million now.

This growth was spurred by celebrities. It got a 15% bump in traffic after Beyoncé referred to it in her remix of Savage in June – and while extra attention brought in consumers, it also attracted thousands of content creators.

“Once the pandemic came around and strip clubs started shutting, [OnlyFans] became so oversaturated because it was just every single sex worker, or just anyone in general, realising there was money to be made,” Rose says.

“It was hard to get people to pay attention to you because everyone and their mother was on this app.”

In that sense, what we saw was a huge growth in people doing low skill work online to make any money they could.

If another episode similar to the coronavirus were to happen where everyone is forced indoors…

I imagine that something similar would happen again.

Which means that, ideally, you aren’t shoving dildos up your ass for 5 dollars to pay rent.

But why not encourage people to shove dildos up their asses and make a commission from it?

That’s one of the things I do to support myself – promoting affiliate links to encourage people like Rose from the story above to make me money.

“Shut the fuck up bitch and get that dildo in your ass! Make me money hoe!”

*slap slap*

That's why they call me a Pimp Named Slickback....

Joking aside, it’s encouraged then that you actually find a skill that pays well.

Copywriting, affiliate marketing, etc.

Though, to be fair, if shoving dildos up your ass pays millions, then go for it!

Just please sign up with my link.

Because, to be fair, some folks do make a pretty penny doing that so no judgement there.

Anyway, that’s one thing.

Also, keep in mind that we saw a lot of jobs go remote.

Employers who needed to keep doing business but could have their employees work from home.

During a similar episode to the coronavirus in the future, I imagine that something like that would play out again.

So use it to your advantage.

But beyond job opportunities…

Second, I imagine that we’d see a dramatic increase in government spending again if something like this were to happen again.

According to this article here, the deficit for the Federal Year 2020 was at least 3.7 trillion dollars or 17.9% of projected GDP.

Then we have the case where Biden has proposed pushing US spending to 6 trillion dollars for fiscal year 2022 and where it’d be 8.2 trillion by 2031.

With this article here claiming that “US debt to surge past wartime record, deficit to quadruple.”

As we saw in the last year or so, unemployment benefits increased by quite a bit and also stimulus checks were cut.

And given concerns about how dramatic increases in spending could lead to consequences like inflation or lowering the value of the USD….

My recommendation here is to at least benefit from it.

You can’t control how other people vote or what the politicians want to spend money on.

You’re an individual that doesn’t control any of this.

So you might as well benefit from it.

In my opinion, this is where the benefits of living abroad during a coronavirus like episode comes to play.

Where maybe you can somehow legally use the unemployment benefits to give you a nice life in Latin America.

Or, if that isn’t possible, at least enjoy the stimulus checks however you prefer.

There’s always been talk during this year of cutting “2,000 a month” in stimulus checks for everyone.

That never passed and it won’t for the episode we are in now.

But given how far to the left the Democrats are getting and how far to the right the Republicans are getting…

With populism seemingly becoming more popular in the US (though maybe not on levels we’ve seen in Latin America anyhow)…

I can see a future in which, during a future episode similar to the coronavirus or during a deepened crisis from automation killing jobs…

That we reach a point where Andrew Yang’s Ultimate Wet Dream comes to light and we get full UBI…

Or, at the very least, we get stimulus checks on a reoccurring basis for a section of society.

If you are ever the beneficiary of any of this money printing, then enjoy it while living abroad.

The money will go much farther.

You have inflation concerns right now in the US as I’ve seen reporting on but it really hasn’t impacted me in any way since I live in Mexico.

I haven’t noticed anything like that.

Of course, there’s always concerns about how the value of the USD will go in the future because of stuff like this…

Another option is, while living abroad or back home, putting some of that money into crypto perhaps.

Wisely anyhow.

Not saying to invest it in dogecoin.

Though, as you see in this video here, it does look promising.

But as we saw in this article with this funny quote here….

“f You Invested Your $1,200 Stimulus Check You Now Have $450,000. If you had invested your $1,200 stimulus check in Dogecoin last March – when the cryptocurrency was worth just over one-sixth of a cent per coin – you would now have more than $450,000.”

Suffice to say, I’m a little bit concerned about my judgement skills given I didn’t see what a great opportunity Dogecoin was.

Motherfucker…..

Anyway, those who put some of their stimulus money into some crypto coins the last few months have seen pretty good outcomes.

At any rate, let’s move on!

Observation 3: Isolation

This is a topic that comes up about the current coronavirus episode.

Where some people argue that everyone needs to stay home and never go outside…

Then others argue that doing so hurts our immune systems due to lack of physical activity, exposure to sunlight, etc.

Which is true!

Still, I can understand why some folks, particularly those who are very old in their 70s or some shit, would want to stay home.

Or interact with people less.

Still, as we know, the death rate for the coronavirus was basically nothing for most people who got infected.

Having said that, we are talking about the future now – what if something like the coronavirus were to happen but have a much higher death rate?

Well, depending on how high it’d be, I’d imagine that such a disease or virus would have difficulty spreading if it killed its hosts too quickly.

After all, if someone dies a day after they get it, how many people would they have infected anyhow?

Still, this is for people who would be concerned about this and for those who are not.

An argument that could be made for individuals who want to isolate from others or isolate from government policy.

As I said before, you could argue that more rural areas like El Chaco or that beach area in Mexico might be more beneficial to those with concerns about government overreach.

Simply because government enforcement of regulations is less strong and also it’s quite possible that less people give a damn about it all.

In my opinion, it would make sense and is kiinda in line with what I saw during the coronavirus episode.

Not always because internal politics of whatever region of the world factors in also.

Still, what about those who want to isolate from others?

Well, there’s two ways to look at it for you guys in that camp as to why Latin America might be better for you.

First, I imagine having your own little home far away from others in some rural area would keep you fairly isolated from it all.

Granted, that’s not a guarantee as we saw reports of people dying from the coronavirus in rural areas of the Amazon in Brazil as you can see here.

But let’s say that, hypothetically, you had your own little house far away from anyone else in Patagonia.

No neighbors.

Nothing.

With your own little farm to be self-sustainable somehow.

In that case, I suppose your risk is fairly minimal.

Sounds like a pretty dreadful life though not interacting with anyone…

But if that’s what you prefer, well there you go!

Second, you could argue that the financial benefits to living abroad in Latin America would make it easier for you to isolate away from everyone.

Given that you work remotely and/or benefit from stimulus checks or unemployment benefits…

You don’t really need to go outside then for work, do you?

Pay rent online with Paypal to your landlord.

So you don’t have to say hi to him.

Maybe make an OnlyFans account and jerk off to pretty gals online…

So no need for sex.

Not like you were getting much anyhow…

And then you can walk to the nearest supermarket very early in the morning before anyone else shows up…

Buy everything and run back home to hide away.

Or have someone deliver it for you.

With a water filter system so you don’t have to go buy drinkable water outside.

This is all assuming anyhow that you live in a city.

Either way, sounds like a pretty dreadful life similar to the rural house in Patagonia idea.

At that point, you might as well call yourself dead.

But no judgement!

If that’s how you prefer to live, well then here’s an argument as to why Latin America might be better for you then back home during such an episode.

But let’s move on to cover one last benefit for those who aren’t hiding in a cave.

Observation 4: Sunny Climates & Pretty Ladies

We’ll keep this one simple.

Like I said, life down here has been fairly boring.

Nightlife opens and closes on repeat.

Lots of folks too scared to go outside.

Still, it’s warmer than Iowa.

Where I’m from.

Much better weather all around.

And plenty of guys prefer a life down here for dating reasons also.

More pussy for them.

So perhaps you can argue then that a life down here is more beneficial during an episode like this…

Because even if some new virus comes out that has a 99% death rate…

Well, shit…

I guess you can say you went down balls deep in 9000 Latina pussies all under the sun of a tropical paradise.

And that is the mindset of some.

Not necessarily that we are all going to die from coronavirus or whatever the next virus would be…

But that you might as well enjoy life while you can.

And if it kills you, it kills you.

“Enjoy your Latina pussy, tropical sun and cheap booze”

With all the experiences that come with it.

Or live however you want.

But enough of the positives of living in Latin America during such a time…

Let’s cover some of the negatives or concerns now that some might have.

Observation 5: Away from Family

As we all know, travel restrictions were put into place.

As a result, it was harder for folks to travel around and get to specific countries.

Hell, some countries even put limits on their own citizens coming back!

Like how, as you can read here, Australia basically told its citizens stuck in India to go fuck themselves!

“Australian citizen Mandeep Sharma has been deserted by his government. He is one of the 9,000 Australians stranded in India, left to fend for themselves after Canberra this week banned all flights from the Covid-ravaged nation until mid-May.”

And other restrictions could always exist in future episodes.

Where maybe the government requires you to be vaccinated before coming back?

But let’s say you live in a “third world country” where not as many vaccines exist and you don’t have access to take one to get back.

Or let’s just say you don’t want to take it in general.

So how you getting back?

This isn’t meant to be about the coronavirus necessarily but just future episodes like the coronavirus.

Either way, you get the idea.

Travel back home could be complicated.

And even if you could travel back home…

You might not be able to get there quickly enough in times of family emergency.

For example, my dad lost his dad a few months ago.

He was set to travel to either Virginia or West Virginia but couldn’t make it in time before his dad died.

Now imagine trying to get back in time internationally!

Quite possibly dealing with international restrictions on travel on top of it!

And even if you don’t have a family emergency…

You, for whatever reason, might decide not to travel back home during such a episode.

Maybe because of travel restrictions…

Or whatever the reason might be.

Therefore, you aren’t seeing your family again for an extended period of time beyond what you are accustomed to.

Whereas before, you might’ve seen them every 6 months…

Now it’s been a year or more since you have seen them.

That can cause stress for everyone involved.

Observation 6: Healthcare?

Look, if you take my recommendation and go live in some rural part of Paraguay or Nicaragua…

It is likely the case, from what I’d imagine, that you don’t have quality healthcare near you.

Shit, in my small town in Iowa, we have an alright hospital but it isn’t known for being the best.

We have a city close by that some folks prefer going to because it’s better.

And that’s in the US!

Now imagine trying to find quality healthcare if you need it in some rural part of some much poorer Latin American country.

Granted, there are plenty of areas in Latin America with private hospitals that have quality healthcare.

Though the question of if their healthcare systems are more likely to collapse than American hospitals from a future virus scenario is another topic to consider…

Not just the quality but also the availability.

I actually have no idea which is better.

In Mexico City, we have plenty of hospitals for example and many private ones are good quality.

 But, like I said, I imagine rural areas have obviously more limited resources to tackle these issues.

So a collapse might be more likely in the future with a worse virus to handle.

Still, as I said, I don’t want you thinking that you couldn’t get decent quality healthcare down here either.

Especially in a larger capital city like Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Santiago, etc.

But, depending on where you would live, the quality and accessibility is obviously going to vary quite heavy like it would in the US.

The only other thing to keep in mind is how much debt you’d get for getting emergency care for a virus in the US verus a good hospital in Latin America

I can’t comment on which is better here but, as an American, I’m inclined to believe hospitals down here would be much cheaper in the case of you being very sick from some future virus.

In one example I can think of, there’s a guy I know back in Indiana that got hit by the coronavirus and his bill (before insurance covered some of it) was literally over 70,000.

Granted, his insurance helped a bit but it still bit in the ass hard financially.

Here’s an interesting quote from an article here on this subject:

“Early estimates of the cost of intensive inpatient COVID-19 care range from $20,000 to over $70,000. Many people will be left with a sizable part of that bill, or all of it, possibly at the same time that they lose their jobs (3.3 million people already have filed for unemployment). Unless Congress acts, the costs of coronavirus medical care will cripple many American families.”

So just keep that in mind.

Observation 7: Social Unrest?

Next, we have the topic of social unrest.

Lock your citizens inside for a long time and some of them get tense.

Maybe mental health issues arise more sharply among more people.

And said people perhaps are more likely to lose their shit and protest in the streets over any social media cause of the day…

Burning down the neighborhoods in whatever city.

Or perhaps you simply have way too many people facing financial difficulty…

Lose their jobs.

No way to put food on the table.

Become homeless.

And maybe engage in crime to feed themselves.

Given that Latin America tends to be more unequal and poorer than the US…

Yes, I’d argue that the issue of increased crime and homelessness would be more noticeable down here.

Granted, I haven’t been in the  US in a while now so I might be wrong.

Not sure how bad it’s gotten up there when it comes to crime and homelessness spiking

I can only say, from my experience, that it’s gotten a little bit sharper down here.

In Mexico City, I’ve seen more homeless folks and some of them seem to be getting more aggressive compared to how I remember it when I first arrived here.

I’ve heard shit is getting more tense in other parts of Latin America like Cali, Colombia for example.

So on and so on…

Here’s a interesting quote from this article here:

“The World Bank expects a GDP contraction of more than 7 percent for 2020, worse than the Great Depression. The World Bank projects the recession in Latin America and the Caribbean will be the worst downturn since reliable data began in 1901, setting back progress on fighting inequality and poverty.”

Obviously, it’ll depend heavily on which part of Latin America we are talking about…

But the US isn’t clean either.

As I said, I’m sure this issue has gotten worse there also.

Along with major protests that, perhaps arguably, have been fuelled to a degree by people feeling tense about their life situation.

Among other influences obviously like politics, social media, etc.

Still, it’s something to think about for any future episodes similar to the coronavirus.

Finally, we have one last topic to consider that comes to mind….

Observation 8: The Politically Autistic

Finally, we have folks who can’t shut the fuck up about political issues like the coronavirus.

Especially those who make it their lives to run around patrolling everything…

Spying on their neighbors like you can see in this video here.

And other crazy shit.

It’s a question, isn’t it?

Which part of the world is going to have more politically autistic people who can’t leave you the fuck alone when something like the coronavirus happens?

Who feel the need to turn this into a moment where they can sit on their high horse and go full Karen on your ass about how you aren’t doing what they want you to do?

And just can’t leave you the fuck alone in general?

Well, as I said, I know one American guy who got into an argument with a whole mob in Mexico City about “would Jesus wear a mask?!?”

On the other hand, you do see crazy videos like this one below here of people going apeshit in the US about this also.

Equally so, you get other stories that show the opposite for both parts of the world.

Months ago, a guy I know about who lives in BC, Canada was saying how, in his part of the world, people are relatively chill when it comes to this compared to Mexico City.

Then the guy who got into the argument with the mob above?

He found parts of Mexico where people didn’t give a fuck about it.

So I can’t say which part of the world is more “politically autistic” about this.

As I said before…

I think it depends heavily on the local politics of the area in the now and also how touristy or populated is the area.

So let’s leave it at that.

Final Verdict

So is it better to escape the West and live in Latin America during a pandemic?

Eh, I don’t know.

I was here well before the coronavirus episode started.

Would I recommend anyone travel down here for a better life during this time?

Eh, things don’t seem that crazy fun right now as I hinted at before.

But I know plenty of folks who would do this…

Back when I lived in Roma Norte, there was some French guy who told me he left France because he thought life would be so much better in Mexico under coronavirus shit.

He even told me that he hopes his sister doesn’t get married this year so she doesn’t ask him to come back for the wedding.

He even said he would skip the wedding if she asked!

Now that’s politically autistic.

Skip your sister’s wedding?

What a fag.

Still, as we all know, plenty of folks have left to Mexico during these crazy times.

And, I assume anyway, they are happier for it.

So that’s really what it comes down to.

If you are happier down here than back home because, in part, of the coronavirus episode and its restrictions on life…

Good for you!

Then I guess the question is answered for you specifically – it is better to live in Latin America during these times and quite possibly in future virus episodes.

Still, I would ask these questions to you before you make a move down here now or in future virus episodes:

• What about life down here can you not get back home? Is there nowhere in your own country that offers what you think Latin America offers (relative freedom from restrictions, warmer climate, etc)?
• How to support yourself?
• Do you really hate your sister that much that you won’t go to her wedding, you fucking weirdo?
• Have you done your research? Remember, not every part of Latin America is the same and some parts down here are much more restrictive than life back home.
• Have you considered the negatives to life down here that don’t have anything to do with whatever pandemic (gringo pricing, inefficiency, crime, corrupt cops, etc)?
• Ready to quite possibly not see family for a while (a year or more)?
• Have you asked other gringos what life is like in whatever part of the world you are going? Nightlife might be closed down here also….
• How long you going to stay? Forever or until things are normal?
• What if they require a vaccine for you to get back into your home country? You might be like the Australians and be locked out of your country for whatever length of time.
• Are you confident that whatever sources told you life is better down here are legit? Not one of those “The West is Dooooomed” blogs that have affiliate programs and Gumroad courses to sell?

At any rate, if you do decide that life is better abroad during a future pandemic…

Then great!

My own thoughts?

I think life is better down here but for reasons that have nothing to do with the coronavirus episode or concerns about future ones.

So I’d say the answer is “yes” to myself but for various reasons.

Anyway, those are just some thoughts that come to mind.

But that’s all I got to say.

Drop any comments you have in the comment section below.

And follow my Twitter here.

Thanks for reading.

Best regards,

Matt