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Seven years has passed since Colina do Sol opened its gates near the small rural city of Taquara in Brazil’s beautiful, southern State of Rio Grande do Sul. From the beginning Colina do Sol was an innovative enterprise evolving from the idea to build a small Naturist community where people may live and work without the compulsory need to wear clothing. The ideal was to have people, and visitors, living in harmony, making use of their leisure, and participating in Nude Recreation according to their personal desires.  Many doubted that the idea would ever materialize. Who, on earth, let alone in Brazil, would take the initiative? But, the doubters overlooked the idealists: Celso Rossi and Paula Andreazza. This Naturist couple with a family that includes two well adjusted, elementary aged Naturist children had already acquired many years of experience establishing Naturist and Nude Recreation oriented clubs, resorts and beaches within Brazil. They were instrumental in the start-up of Praia do Pinho (Beach of the Pines) located in Brazil’s coastal State of Santa Catarina. “Condé Nast Traveler”, the magazine made famous for telling the truth in travel, lists Praia do Pinho, Brazil’s first Official Naturist Beach established for Nude Recreation as one of the World’s Top-Ten Beaches.  The prospect of the Nude Beach signaled Brazil’s acceptance for Naturism and Nude Recreation, and it became apparent that similar like-minded organizations would be established. This required a guiding institution with an acceptable Code of Conduct. This led Celso and Paula to pioneer the founding of the Federação Brasileira de Naturismo (Federation of Brazilian Naturism), FBrN.  Today, the scenery of Colina do Sol matches the vision for the terrestrial contribution that Celso and Paula imagined.  It is the paradise that they longed for. Together, they built a crystalline lake with a waterfall, and a white sand beach that serves as a hub for the more than one hundred permanent homes, summer vacation cabins, necessary stores, parks and camping areas. With purpose, these structures harmonize with the exuberant natural surroundings providing opportunity for people to go about their shopping, dining and socializing without concern for what clothing they wear.

Dois Amigos is located in the Forest of Aracuãs. Aracuãs are beautiful wild birds.

Retired US Naval Aviator and Fighter Pilot, Fritz Louderback, from Southern California, USA was the first North American to receive the Brazilian Retirement Visa permitting United States Citizens the opportunity to live fulltime in Brazil. A mid-generation member of three generations of Naturists, he became interested in visiting Brazil through an advertisement that he read in “The Bulletin”, the official publication of the American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR). There he picked up several copies of “Naturis” Brazil’s foremost Naturism and Nude Recreation magazine. Reading articles in these magazines, he made up his mind to visit Colina do Sol. “I fell in love immediately! Not only for the place, but, as well for the people. I knew instantly that I would return to Colina do Sol to live the rest of my life!” 
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His friend, companion, and associate Barbara Anner, past President of Olive Dell Ranch in Colton, California, USA, and a retired member of the Board of Directors of the Western United States Region of the American Association for Nude Recreation, known familiarly as “AANR West”, also a Permanent Visa holder is of the same opinion: “I adore Colina do Sol and the people. This is the first place where I saw Fritz relax from his professional life as an aerospace consultant. This along with Colina’s many amenities and the availability of the same level of furnishings and technology found in my home in Southern California make me feel extremely comfortable.  In no time at all, we have made new friends. Colina’s natives began to learn and speak English, and I, at a rather slower pace am learning Portuguese. We joke that we speak a new language, Por-English.  I am happy that I have returned and plan to live here for the rest of life.”  After buying a house, Fritz invited his Uncle Barney, a former resident of Deanza Springs Resort in Jacumba, California, USA to come for a visit. “I planned for my vacation to last two weeks, but I liked Colina so much that I stayed for the duration of my tourist Visa, six months!” Before returning to the United States to acquire a Retired Visa permitting permanent residency in Brazil, Barney contracted for the construction of a home. Here he plans to live the rest of his life. Why? Barney says: “This is the best place on Earth for an 86 year-old Naturist on a fixed retirement income to live. Inexpensive housing, my brand new house with a million dollar view that brings to mind visions of Yosemite Park, cost me about fourteen thousand US Dollars, comprehensive medical and pharmaceutical insurance where I choose my own doctors cost about US$50.00 per month. I gave up drinking alcohol years ago, but it is comforting to see that a six-pack of Budweiser cost less than two US dollars! Last time that I went to the bank I received $2.76 of Brazilian money for one US Dollar. The exchange rate really favors living here. Add all my new friends to the sum of the equation, and now you see why I love Colina do Sol!”

Other North Americans that decided not only to move to Colina do Sol, but as well, to invest in the company that is building Colina’s new Naturist Hotel, OCARA Hotéis e Restaurantes S/A are Bonnie and Wayne Harbour. Wayne was the founder of Nirvana Sun Resort in Tabor City, North Carolina, USA. According to Wayne: “My first day at Colina do Sol was as a fairy tale. I found so many nice, beautiful, and friendly people, that I believed that they had arranged something special just to impress me. With the passing of the week’s visit, I noticed that the people of Colina were legitimate; saw the Sun as healthy, and wanting to become friends. I was so impressed with everything that before departing, I arranged for the construction of a house and I went back to the USA to make my sweetheart my wife, and to make plans to return to Colina for a life of what impresses me the most, people living together, day by day, in harmony!” 
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Bonnie Harbour, a retired nurse, a longtime Naturist and participant in nude recreation, could not find a more perfect location to retire. Bonnie adds: “My grandchildren’s visits will make everything ideal”. As a new bride, she could not be happier building, alongside Wayne, a beautiful new home with a million-dollar-view, and architectural lines reminiscent to the Southern Hemisphere’s coastal pousadas (small inns). Van and Diane Berry from North Carolina, USA, read about Colina do Sol in the American Association for Nude Recreation’s publication “The Bulletin”. They read about naturist resorts in other countries and planned to visit them, but there was something different about Colina do Sol.  “We had never visited Brazil and we knew very little about it.  We bought some videos about Colina do Sol, became curious about it and decided that this was a trip we had to take. We spent 20 days in November 2000 at Colina and at the end of our trip we knew why Colina was different.  The mountains and countryside are beautiful. It is a true Naturist Community with the most wonderful, easy-going people.  We were shown true Southern hospitality.  Everyone was sincerely kind and very friendly.  They were very tolerant of two strangers who could not speak their language.  We made a lot of friends and we knew one trip was not going to be enough, we had to come back…we just had to. We started to make plans to go back a week after we got home.  The urge was that strong.  Not only did we find a wonderful family naturist community, we had also found a new country, new language, new customs, new food and warm friendly people. We went back to Colina in February during Carnival Time and it was a blast.  This trip was better than the first.  We learned a lot more during this trip and we decided that Colina do Sol is where we want to retire.  To an American, the living expenses are very low without sacrificing any of the necessities and comforts of home.  The cost of building a house in Colina is very reasonable and you can’t beat the weather and the views.  Colina had become a part of us and we wanted to become a part of Colina.  The people of Colina invited us to do just that.  We have built a small casa on Friendship Street with a million dollar view of the valley below.  Our lives have been forever changed. We now have a home in paradise.  It will be a vacation home for others and us until we retire.  It will then become our permanent home.

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If you are a Naturist or just becoming interested in the lifestyle, Colina do Sol is a Family Naturist Community you must experience…And don’t leave your children at home.  Colina is a wonderful, safe environment and the experience is something they will never forget.  At Colina, It is the kind of person that you are that counts and not what you look like.  The Naturists of Colina are from many parts of the world. They are all very open, honest and eager to get to know you.  Age, race, color or nationality does not matter.  You and your family have a lot of friends in Colina.  You just haven’t met them!”

A French resident of Colina, Raymond Ruffin says: “Those that love to be in complete contact with nature, come to Colina do Sol to recharge their batteries!”  Does each person have their own, special reason to find their terrestrial paradise? Can this be why Argentinean Pablo Lauscher moved to Colina? Pablo says that: “it is simple – friends, nature, sports, and nude recreation all in one place”; or as my North American friend, Barney, says: When you live month to month on a Social Security check where else can you afford heaven on Earth?

If you are in touch with Naturism and Nude Recreation, if you are looking for a pleasant intercultural experience in the presence of people that love being with North Americans, if you are planning an affordable vacation, please consider Colina do sol. 
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If you would like assistance from English speaking residents of Colina, please feel free to contact Dois Amigos (more than one friend) Bed and Breakfast at Colina do Sol.  Our telephone number in Brazil is: 55 51 501-1515 Extension: 219. Not at home, or at the beach: try our cellular telephone: 55-51-912-8096. Dois Amigos is a not-for-profit Bed and Breakfast established especially to assist English-speaking guests to feel at home and to ease into Brazilian life, Brazilian Family Naturism, and Brazilian Nude Recreation. See us on the Web at: www.DoisAmigosBandB.com or E-mail us: DoisAmigosBandB@aol.com

About the author: Barbara Anner is a great grandmother, retired after serving the Pacific Bell Telephone Company in California, USA for over 30 years. Barbara decided to find some adventure and Escape From America sometime after her husband’s early death to cancer. She needed a new start on life and she found it all, adventure and the new start at the Colina do Sol Naturist Community in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. She invites you to contact her at DoisAmigosBandB@aol.com

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