Ouch I was thinking of moving to NZ, too. Is that why all the drunken, druggo kiwi's come to oz? Met a bunch of maori fellas aorund the place over time, they seem alright-its them pakeha's ya gotta watch.
I only spent a week total between Florianopolis and Curitiba, so some of my impressions might be wrong but I'll give it a shot. Between the two I preferred Florianopolis. The city is sort of split up into two parts, with half of it on the mainland, and half of it on the island of Santa Catarina. Most of the industry is on the mainland part, so on the island you only have residential areas, some shopping areas, and the most amazing beaches I've ever seen. The infrastructure is good, but there's only a few small roads on the eastern half of the island. If you live there you have the impression of living in some kind of tropical paradise, while being only a 20 minute drive from a large, modern city. If Curitiba was on the ocean I might have liked it more than Florianopolis. For a small city it seemed like they had a really good arts scene, and the architecture/city design was very nice. Three days wasn't much time, so I mostly just walked around and visited the botanical gardens and a few other sights. It was in my third month in Brazil (my last month) that I visited these places, and I immediately wished I had spent less time in Rio and more time down there. Even for those who aren't gun-toting expats, these cities are really nice. If anybody's planning a trip to Brazil I would highly recommend visiting them.
Do you really think it will matter where you are if WWIII breaks out and nukes are used? Besides, Dubai has no taxes on income if you are a resident. Perfect for trading and business....guess you're not really a trader? It meets the OP's criteria. Fatrat made no mention of the weather
Yes, and soon to be exporter of significant amount of Alcohol fuel and has about 1/3 of world's liquid fresh water. Brazil has a strong comodities based economy (world leader in exports of soybean, beef, iron ore, etc. resulting in the Real having more than doubled against the dollar in last 3 years. IMHO, the destine of Brazil in about a decade is to be an "economic colony" of China (and decade later of all the "Asian tigers") Some industries have shut down (called "de-industralization") with the strong real, but others with higher value added products, such as cars and airplanes are doing well despite the strong Real. (Embaraer, is now third largest and most rapidly growing maker of airplane, has one crop-duster that runs on alcohol. Last year its corporate jet collided with big jet, braking it up in mid air with all154 on board dying, but Embaraer's much smaller jet flew on half hour and landed safely. Orders surged for it - several years of backlog to get one now. Now has joint owned factor in China producing their main mid size, 80 to 130 seats, very efficient jets. As motors etc are imported, the strong Real is sort of a wash on their exports.) A closing note. I have live in Brazil for 14 years now. (A retired American "expat.") Most uper class urbanites can can speak some English. A friend, owner of an "international bar" 4 minute walk from my house, calls when one of his customers wants to practice his English. I only go when convient for me to drink beers for free. I.e. there can be advantage to non-English country that is learning English.
Unfortunately, in Sao Paulo, a few blocks from Ave. Paulista. I do get to lake site near Jacarei, where I am slowing building a house by myself (good exercise and fresh air) for two days every week if rain not forecasted. (I use bus and leave 4 wheel drive car in motel where I spend one night. Sleep 40 minutes on it on return to SP trip as very tired. )
is this a joke?...seriously asking...thanks for the serious reply...explain more...I think this is another joke thread?