| PARAIBA
up to now has been relatively unknown but this is changing rapidly.
The prices
for apartments here are a good 30-40% LESS than in the south of Brasil.
You can find
nice modern 2 br. 600 sf. apartments here within a 2 block walk to one
of the most beautiful beaches for around USD $17,000. There are larger
3 br. 1100sf. apartments closer to the oceanfront (50 meters) for around
USD $44,000., with an annual tax of USD $120! A new Miami style oceanfront
5 building complex with an array of pools is being built as we speak. It
has apartments with approximately 2,000sf and starting at USD $150,000.
Brasilians don’t believe in painting their apartment buildings, they cover
them with TILE! YES, even a 15 story apartment building is covered with
ceramic tile! The buildings NEVER need painting, what a great idea!
What do
you need to buy a place here? You need a CPF (Brasilian SS card). It
takes about a month and you need a certified copy of your birth certificate
with BOTH parents names listed, an address in Brasil (temporary or otherwise)
and a certified copy of your marriage certificate/ or certified copy of
your divorce decree, or if single you just state SINGLE. Costs about $3.00.
With a CPF you can buy anything like real estate, cars, etc. CONNECTICUT
is actually our sister state in ”Partners of the Americas”.
Joao Pessoa
has many POUSADAS (small hotels) in front of the beach. Their prices range
from $25.00/night and up. The nicer hotels will probably cost you $40.00/night
up to $100. Renting by the month (temporada) can be remarkably inexpensive
- something like $250-400/month. Most everything is rented in the summer
months so don’t come here expecting to find anything then.
Would you mind
paying $4.00 for a haircut, 25 cents for a can of Coke-Cola, 50 cents for
a pineapple, 25 cents for drink mix, $2.60 for a kilo of ground beef, 70
cents a liter for long life milk, $100/month for your electricity bill
with the A/C running?? Gasoline is 89 cents per liter. My DR. visit costs
me $34.00 and once I had to go see a Neurologist, I paid $64.00 and a CATSCAN
was $105.00. Of course you can buy health insurance for around $30.00
/ month for medical and dental. Brasil’s doctors are well trained and many
speak English. Some have had special training in Europe and the USA. The
dentists here in Brasil are well trained and specialize in crowns and implants.
MANY restaurants
here are ‘POR KILO’ which means you pile up your plate with food and they
weigh it. You pay by weight. You can easily eat OUT everyday for $6.00
and have your choice of chicken, beef, fish, Italian such as Lasagna and
other local dishes. We have some excellent bar-bq restaurants too, they
come to your table with meat and chicken and it includes a buffet of other
things. Japanese and Chinese POR KILO restaurants can be found as well.
When you visit
you will have the chance to enjoy Brasilian fruits. My favorite is mouse
de Maracuja (whipped fruit mousse). We also have drinkable yogurt which
is now hitting the markets in the US. We have grocery stores like HIPER
BOM PRECO (like a SUPERWALMART, owned by Walmart), Sam’s club, CAREFOUR
(another big chain), Pau de Acucar and others.
MANY of our
cars are built in Brasil to European design. You can buy a new Mercedes
Benz Class A minivan (built in Sao Paulo) for $21,000 or a 2000 model for
$11,000. Many of the models have 1.0 liter engines but the trend is moving
to 1.3 liter engines for more power. We also have Peugeot, Renault, Citroen,
Alfa Romeo, Audi, VW, Fiat, Chevrolet, Ford.
The banking
system in Brasil is far superior to other countires in South America. Most
people never see a paycheck; their money is deposited directly into their
bank account A lot of transfers are done electronically. Did you
know that many banks here have funds that pay from .8 to 1.2% per MONTH
with NO minimum time limit for keeping your money in an account?? You MUST
have a permenent visa and a Brasilian ID card (RNE) to open a bank account.
Looking
for a safe place to anchor your yacht – the river at Jacare is perfect.
Do
you like living close to the beach at a great low price? You can find nice
apartments only 10 minutes from your boat! WHY buy a timeshare when you
can OWN here and LIVE here for less! With just a tourist visa you can live
here for 6 months per calendar year.
The culture
shock will be minimal. Brasilians watch many of the same TV shows you do
in the States, listen to the same music you do, watch the same movies.
GETTING
THERE………….
AMERICAN AIRLINES
probably has the most flights to Sao Paulo from the States - Guarulhos
Int’l (GRU) or RIO de Janeiro (GIG) Galeão (Antonio Carlos Jobim
International Airport). They have many night flights (8 hours) that leave
Miami just before midnight and arrive in Sao Paulo around 6:00 AM or try
their flights out of Miami before noontime that arrive around 5:30PM. I
personally like these flights better because you arrive the same day.
American flys out of Miami, New York, Dallas, Los Angeles to Brazil. American
Airlines is a partner with another Brasilian airline – TAM. You can
go all the way to Joao Pessoa via American and TAM and the ticket price
sometimes is not much more than a flight just to Sao Paulo even though
its 3 hours longer. Once you arrive in Sao Paulo (GIG), you have the option
of flying out of GIG or taking a bus ($10) to the regional airport CONGONHAS,
and then flying out of there.
The biggest
problem flying into Sao Paulo is that once you arrive, you need to fly
back to the north 3 hours to Recife and then Joao Pessoa. Before 9/11 there
used to be flights from Miami with VARIG (Brasil’s first airline) into
Manaus in the Amazon (4.5 hours). From there you could fly east to Recife
then Joao Pessoa. These flights no longer exist but there is some talk
that they will come back soon.
There is however
the Bolivian airline Lloyd Aero Bolivar LAB that does fly into Manaus from
Miami. It’s a little pricey but not bad if you want to cut your flying
time by 3 or 4 hours.
The newly
remodeled International Airport in Recife is very nice. It’s only a
2 hour drive to Joao Pessoa or a 20 minute flight. They receive many flights
from Europe with VARIG, AIR PORTUGAL and others. Have even seen MARTIN
AIR there.
Flying inside
Brasil is inexpensive. VARIG and TAM have specials; something like $135-190
Sao Paulo to Joao Pessoa. TAM has all new Airbus airplanes and they are
very nice. Another regional airline is GOL, “The Intelligent Airline”.
They are our cut rate airline but they don’t go to all Brazilian cities.
BRASIL is really
a great place to live, and the ONLY Portugese speaking country in South
America. The people are the friendliest in the world.
IF you are
tired of being just another RAT in the RAT RACE, GET A LIFE! GET
a NEW life for you and your family before it’s too late. The quality of
life here is so fantastic, doing anything else won’t ever make sense to
you again!
I had talked
about returning to Brasil for 10 years and it was just talk. What did it
take for me to make the move: September 11th. I was on a plane to RIO in
November 2001. I spent 3 months here then, and when I returned the next
time I decided to stay for good. What will it take for YOU to change your
way of life?
Interesting
Websites On Paraiba
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