3 things.. 1)WOW, the economy is very strong (stock market currently in a double top from all time highs in 2008).. family here has real estate rental empire and foreigners are flooding the market renting Br Real 10-20K/month condos, petro industry is booming. Its a gold rush, think San Francisco circa 1847. Industry insiders say Rio is the final frontier for Oil. 2)High end restaurants are amazing, shopping is excellent. In last two years the city has cleaned up ALOT. There will always be the grimy areas in any city, but the hot spots here are world class. It appears the job market is booming, the nominal wages are higher than comparable USA position. Real wage comes out to 2-3x more, sorry its almost impossible to get a job without being Brazilian/ and speak Portuguese or having you company move you. 3)prostitution is completely decriminalized in Brazil, if you have never been to Amesterdam.. Rio de Janeiro has high end brothels i doubt most Americans know about that have a line up that would close down Holland. I have been to a few "termas" and the some of the girls are playboy/playmate, 10s, dimes unrealz! check out Centaurus, L'uomo, or Monte Carlo or all three_ the "accompanhates or escorts" are actually a better deal, but the experience at the termas is worth the visit.
Now that is what I call living.... I was in SP a few years ago for the F1 a few years ago and it was probably the best time of my life...... Enjoy!
i took that picture because the thermometer was obv broken, notice how the beach was empty, maybe 9am. as a practical reason people flood the beach to cool off. the water temperature is more like California over Miami in that it is colder and actually cools you off. People from Florida can't understand this concept. 40C is very rare on the beach and happens only a few times per year, 32C or 85-90F is more like a normal summer high. The overall climate is overall a bit cooler than miami. Still very hot, but manageable with the beach and AC.
sick bro. how long you been living there? how old are you? do you fala portugues? post some links to the places that people are supposedly paying 10-20k reais a month for, i'm curious about the quality and location.
i found this good rental website.. there is an english version on the site.. search for listings max price. http://www.pebcorretores.com.br/locacao/leasing.aspx 24, had a mickey mouse wall st operations job paying 40k and after two years with no raise or bonus i said f**k it and moved down here for good. in process of getting CPF, already have BR passport. i can read/speak portuguese.. no writing skills. dual nationality, USA/BR ive pulled a few thousand dollars from the market trading but i would still like to find a job so i can build some real capital.
unless your parents are brazilian, or you have a child with a brazilian woman.. i dont thinks its possible.
as an analogy, think of living in NYC, is there ever a reason to go to harlem, south bronx or jamaica queens? i lived in the lower east side and rarely ever ventured north of south central park YES, new york is much safer than Rio but you still hear about the occasional mugging in every neighborhood. the overall crime rate is high in brazil, because the slums or favelas which have huge drug wars but are basically contained within the communities. in Rio you just need to pay extra attention to your surroundings and know which areas to avoid. as long as you leave the gold chains, rolex watches at home and dress casually, there is nothing to worry about. ipanema is the safer neighborhood and i see girls walking around with huge LV/gucci bags all the time with the occasional porsche driving by.