Monday, September 21, 2009
Attention!
Hi there!
Because this blog involves my life in Fortaleza including Thieny's band, Musa do Forro and other odds and ends, I have begun a new...new...blog that will be just for Fortaleza Adventure.
Here is the link to that blog: Fortaleza Adventure.
It's at a site called Wordpress.com and it's just started today. You can visit the site and add any comments or questions, but only about Fortaleza. If you have other comments about me, the band or anything else pertaining to my life here, please attach them to this blog.
I'm looking forward to much more communication in the future.
Tchau for now!
P.S. You can also interact...in fact I WANT you to, at my Fortaleza Adventure twitter site
Because this blog involves my life in Fortaleza including Thieny's band, Musa do Forro and other odds and ends, I have begun a new...new...blog that will be just for Fortaleza Adventure.
Here is the link to that blog: Fortaleza Adventure.
It's at a site called Wordpress.com and it's just started today. You can visit the site and add any comments or questions, but only about Fortaleza. If you have other comments about me, the band or anything else pertaining to my life here, please attach them to this blog.
I'm looking forward to much more communication in the future.
Tchau for now!
P.S. You can also interact...in fact I WANT you to, at my Fortaleza Adventure twitter site
Saturday, September 19, 2009
What? Another Update? Absolutely!
Thieny & her dancers as she sings on a local TV showHi there!
Back again so soon, you say?
Well, yes! I'm trying to turn over a new stone!
A couple of things are interesting.
First of all, the hits to Fortaleza Adventure just keep coming. They mostly seem to be from North America, mainly the US, but also from the Scandanavian countries.
I can pass along one tip for anyone reading this who has a thought for coming to visit Fortaleza and that is that accomodation HAS to be booked as far in advance as possible.
Even though there are many building going up in the area, there are still way too few apartments and flats available in the best area, Meireles.
I tend to discount both Iracema and Mucuripe (either end of the city beach) as not desirable because of security issues.
For instance, I have people contacting me about coming here over the period of Natal and revillion, Christmas and New Year's.
It is already almost impossible to find a flat or apartment of reasonable price in Meireles or close to the beach.
It's still to be determined if the influx of new units that will take place when the current crop of condos has been constructed will change the vacancy rate.
The rate of real estate inflation continues as well so if you DO have intentions of having Fortaleza as part of your real estate investigation, I would advise speed.
One flat I know of in a good building went from the buying price of R$70,000 to the selling price of R$90,000 in 1 year! Nothing was changed in the unit so it is still available to be added to the hotel/condo building's "pool" if desired.
The other thing I have found important to mention is that the streets in the city have really gone downhill since the rainy season. The combination of the cool rain and the tropical heat before and after really played havoc with the surfaces.
This is not to mention the quality of contruction in the first place, which was not great.
If you notice, they don't use crushed rock for the roadbed but rock broken into pieces! This, in time, creates the horribly bumpy streets! Plus the fact the surface laid down is remarkably thin. Also the city takes absolutely no time to start ripping up the pavement to either fix or replace or install water or waste pipes.
Anyway, another election is always the time when the political machine running the city decides to appease the populace by re-surfacing.
Until next time, take care!
P.S. By the way, why not visit the forum on the BrazilAmerica.com site and check out the post on Fortaleza real estate I just added.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Hi there!
Time for another update!
I am getting many more hits to the Fortaleza Adventure web page than, for instance, last year.
I think the main reason is that many more people are doing searches on Google and other engines for real estate here in Fortaleza.
I was thinking today how the world's perception of this country has changed since I first came here in 2004.
Then, when I said I was moving to Fortaleza, Brazil, the first question was..."where?" They simply had never heard of it.
Now, many more people are aware of Fortaleza. Much as I hesitate to compliment "International Living" and their newsletters for this, I think their marketing efforts on their own behalf have made a big eifference in the number of people coming here, mainly looking for real estate bargains.
The word is still getting out in North America, but I have seen more Canadians and americans here in the past year or so. The current clients Fortaleza Adventure has here are a Canadian couple who have purchased a pousada in Cumbuco, along with other investors. It's called Club Santa fe, but that may change as the ownership progesses.
The economy in Brazil is doing better than most in the world right now, assisted by the fact that this country is self-sufficient in almost all the things a modern economy needs like oil and food!
Seems to me i read somewhere that the growth rate was in the area of 4%. That's good.
The prices of real estate are going up and particularly as the World Cup gets closer in 2014.
There is also the possibility that Rio de Janeiro might get the summer Olympics in 2012, and there might be some positive fallout from it in that people get so see some of Brazil and might want to explore the coast.
I see Brazil now as THE place to be if you want to consider becoming an ex-pat.
The foto below is Thieny, her cousin Annete and your truly, in Pedra Branca, the small city in Ceara where Thieny's family are from originally.
Time for another update!
I am getting many more hits to the Fortaleza Adventure web page than, for instance, last year.
I think the main reason is that many more people are doing searches on Google and other engines for real estate here in Fortaleza.
I was thinking today how the world's perception of this country has changed since I first came here in 2004.
Then, when I said I was moving to Fortaleza, Brazil, the first question was..."where?" They simply had never heard of it.
Now, many more people are aware of Fortaleza. Much as I hesitate to compliment "International Living" and their newsletters for this, I think their marketing efforts on their own behalf have made a big eifference in the number of people coming here, mainly looking for real estate bargains.
The word is still getting out in North America, but I have seen more Canadians and americans here in the past year or so. The current clients Fortaleza Adventure has here are a Canadian couple who have purchased a pousada in Cumbuco, along with other investors. It's called Club Santa fe, but that may change as the ownership progesses.
The economy in Brazil is doing better than most in the world right now, assisted by the fact that this country is self-sufficient in almost all the things a modern economy needs like oil and food!
Seems to me i read somewhere that the growth rate was in the area of 4%. That's good.
The prices of real estate are going up and particularly as the World Cup gets closer in 2014.
There is also the possibility that Rio de Janeiro might get the summer Olympics in 2012, and there might be some positive fallout from it in that people get so see some of Brazil and might want to explore the coast.
I see Brazil now as THE place to be if you want to consider becoming an ex-pat.
The foto below is Thieny, her cousin Annete and your truly, in Pedra Branca, the small city in Ceara where Thieny's family are from originally.
