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PARAIBA has many attractions for the adventurous tourist: Joao Pessoa’s downtown CENTRO historico area, pre-historic Dinosour valley and foot prints (Sousa), natural swimming pools created by low tide between the beach and the reefs, let’s not forget the first nude beach in the north of Brasil - Tambaba in the south of the state - and the beautiful riverfront village of Jacare with it’s lively restaurants and music and bay which is home to many international yachts; there is also the historic church of San Francisco founded in 1589, which took another 190 years to complete. It would take plenty of time to tour all of the attractions and interesting places Paraiba has to offer. The capital city of Joao Pessoa, named for it’s governor who was assassinated in 1930 is centrally located along the coast with a population of about 600,000 people. In fact, Ponta de Seixas is the furthest EASTERN point in all of the Americas. It has a huge coastal farol (light beacon) to mark the spot. The city is also the 3rd oldest city in Brasil; it was founded in 1585. Joao Pessoa is recognized as being the GREENEST city in South America, having the 2nd largest forest in Brasil. It is situated almost half way between the tourist cities of Natal to the north in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, and Recife to the south in the state of Pernambuco. Either can be driven to in less than 3 hours. Paraiba does not have the crime associated with other cities in Brazil; it’s a calm and laid back place where you can enjoy your holiday without constant worries. It is normal to see license plates from other parts of Brazil in Joao Pessoa during the height of the tourist season. The city’s airport Castro Pinto is only 20 minutes from the beachfront and is earmarked to receive a R$38 (USD $16 mil) million reals upgrade in order to make it an international airport by 2005. The new, more modern airport will recieve flights directly from Europe. PARAIBA is truly an unspoiled paradise that has just recently been discovered by foreign tourists and investors. Recently there have been many people from Portugal and other parts of Europe making investments and constructing apartment buildings here. You won’t find
a crunch of concrete high rises along OUR beachfront, the limit is 4 stories.
Most of the taller buildings and condos are further inland away from the
beachfront. This makes for a feeling of a SMALL city. Further up the coast
from Joao Pessoa you will find new barrios that are attracting new construction
and expansion extending from Bessa to Intermares to Ponta de Campina to
Cabedelo (where our port terminal is located for shipment of petroleum
products and concrete). There is even a move across the river Paraiba to
Lucena, where many new summer homes are being built right on the ocean.
From there north are unspoiled beachfront villages just waiting to be explored.
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. http://portal.varig.com.br/us/varig/index_html
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 http://www.paraiba.com.br/
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