@brazillover:

Im in the same situation.traveling the world for many many years just confirmed that I wanna live in brazil ;-) .I wish it would be easier, but at least its not impossible, and more importantly, there arent sick penalties like going to jail or getting banned from the country.

Right now im trying to get a student visa, dont see why this wouldnt work out (Signed up for Portuguese classes). During that time Ill try to pass vestibular (at a private uni, heard of people passing who managed to answere more than half of the questions wrong), and ill already look for future opportunities.
I could imagine becoming a german/english/spanish/whatever teacher for brazilians. This can get me a work visa and (imo) teaching is a great thing to do in life.

Another way could be opening up a restaurant, but this is quite a big thing to do and I wont rely on "just doing it one day".
I had already quit poker but working my way up from 0 one more time, this whole brazil thing will be easier with a lot of money. Gave me more motivation to do poker the right way than ever before.

I guess a big part of going to ilha grande or buzios is the weather; check this before anything else.
Considering good weather in both locations:
Ilha grande is a beautiful place and i recommend to visit Lopes Mendes beach if you go.. and there are a lot of traking to do.. if its your stuff..
Tho it can be very boring imo.. there are always a lot of foreigners on the island and its easy to meet people

Buzios is also very beautiful.. there is much more things to do in terms of nightlife.. restaurants and this stuff.. Im sure there will be action during the weekend, but not sure during the week..

i suggest you to try to dig in more about those places.. they are very different in a lot of aspects.. and its very hard to recommend, since you may totally hate or love one or the other

Hi there

I've made a thread yesterday: im depressed where should i go to escape france ****ty winter? and Brazil was mentionned

Obv it was on the top of my list but i wonder how cheap it is compared to thailand...

Besides a friend of my sister went there and she told me it really didnt smell good at all I remember that about barcelona, is it something real?

Are you talking about Rio ?
Rio is very expensive compared to thailand, as far as i know.

Not too much more expensive actually. I have been alternating between Rio and Thailand for martial arts reasons, and I spend $1200/month in Chiang Mai (which is actually a cheap city by Thai standards) and $1500/month in Rio. Granted I am a huge stoner in Chiang Mai and don't smoke in Rio, so that's one huge cost difference, but I like Rio so much more that I feel it's worth the extra 25%.

Maybe i was not so precise.
But to live (alone) in a good area (that worth moving to Rio), like Ipanema, Leblon.. you will spend, if you get lucky, 1000usd just with rent.
Imo, if you are willing to come to Rio to be in a bad area.. dont even bother about it..

I'm living on Rua Santa Clara in Copa for $700/month. I actually prefer it to Ipanema, where I lived before, because there are a lot more food options, and it's way easier to get everything north of Zona Sul. Only downside is the beach is worse, but I can walk to Ipanema in 15 min or take the bus.

Oh, I'm not living alone though.

Yes.. im affraid that for 700usd is not possible to live alone.. even in copacabana

its just sick what happened to the city in the last few years.. the prices went so high so quick..
it doesnt even worth to live here anymore

ty for the replies guys

@the don, did you love chang mai? I wanna come for getting back in shape and martial art reasons. I love grappling and bjj but i'd like to learn some muay thai or box thai also.
Is there a dojo and a gym around where you lived in chiang may?

Atm i was more going to Ko Chang for the easy life but i dont konw if there is a gym

Yeah, I would suggest Chai Yai gym in Chiang Mai if you are a beginner and want to learn Muay Thai. I picked up some nice techniques and they got me some easy fights to get experience.

If you want to learn western boxing there is an amazing coach in Chiang Mai named Michael Bonita who teaches at the Golden Triangle Martial Arts center near the train station. This guy is the best striking coach I ever had by far, and amazingly his services are 1200 baht/month for pretty much personalized training. I improved exponentially under his tutelage, and he is highly recommended.

Yeah, unfortunately I can't imagine the World cup/Olympics will reverse this trend. For poker players the saving grace is the 2:1 ratio to the dollar at the moment.

The ratio is good. But dont count on that. The usd will go down.. and it will be bad !

About the world cup and the olympic games... i cant even imagine then happening..
the only international airport in Rio looks like a bus station..
there is no effient metro or any kind of transport.. the violence is still a problem.. and well.. i could stay here all day..

i just dont understand how 3rd world countries are so overrated here in 2+2
it looks like its all wonderfull.. no one talks anything bad about the threads they start..

i started this thread to help people.. and i believe the best way to help is telling the truth.. weather is a bad thing or a good thing

Yup I agree about bad things. I am going to Brazil the third year now and for me its still great (pocket full of money can get u great stuff). I fell in love with brazil (people,cutlrue,places etc) and I am also consider moving there in like 2 years or less. But more and more I talk with my girl about situation in brazil (she lives in belo horizonte) I see more and more bad stuff. The big thing that people in brazil dont have is freedom. and with freedom I mean like that u cant have a house without a wall around it like we have in europe. If u go through the city and u take a look around nice houses u see big walls and electricity thing on it. It feels like a prison... Unless u have big amount of money its not all that perfect. For me its still great... womens, clubs, beaches.. it makes my vacations awesome. But to live there I am considering it hard if its worth it.

Yes.. most people dont see it..
And even if you have huge ammount of money, you cant enjoy as much as if you were in other places with safety and etc.
I must say that my biggest issue in Brazil is exactly the freedom (in many ways)

Thanks 40s for your response earlier. ///

I've been to Rio 2 years ago, but only for 10 days. Prices are quite sick. They look unbelievable at first, but it looks to me similar like Ukraine for example.

In Kiev you can't rly have a nice place + good area for short term deals without paying 3k + monthly (not even mentioning the extraordinary courtage).

I think that is because there are looots of super rich people who pay anything and don't give a damn and then other people who can't afford more than $500. So the market seems to be polarized.

Yes. Rio became a business city. Many people coming from other places to make money here and they pay what they have to pay.. in Rio there is no option to live in the suburbs.. if you come to the city to make 200k+ per year, you live in Ipanema or Leblon.. there arent many options..

and what i said before.. 500usd is very very optmistic on your side. Its almost impossible to get something less than 1000usd.

Hey, I'm in Rio at the moment. Staying for one more month. Would be fun to meet up if and get some drinks or whatever if some other 2+2ers are down here.

Why not ? I live near this wonderful town and each end of week I'm in !

Yeah, I was sick this weekend but I'm definitely in for next.

Looking to head to Brazil for 2-3 months. Can someone get me some info on places to rent in a nicer area in RIO near the beach? Prices, contact info etc... Going to be looking for a 2-3 bedroom place.

Just giving my opinion about living in Brazil:

If you really wanna go to the beach, see nice places for a decent price, then you should probably go to the Northeast of Brazil(Porto seguro, natal, Ilhéus, Porto de Galinhas),
usually prices are cheaper, beaches are much better/less movement, less people messng around, also in some places you will have the beach all by yourself and your friends, which is awesome.

i've traveled to the northeast with my family since i was 2 years old and i've seen almost all beach cities of that part of Brazil, and i enjoyed a lot, it's much more calm/cheaper than some big cities such as Rio.

Of course you want to do that if you want "less action", but if you really enjoy party and night life, i think that going to florianópolis is the best thing you can do, life is more expensive there, but girls are awesome, the problem is that the beach there is colder(it's more in the south of Brazil), but it's ok for people that come from europe, it will look like a warm day on your country ahaha =D

Rio is fine to visit in a vacation and see some places, but living there isn't so good because violence is higher there than in other places and it's crowded.

also if you don't mind going to the beach and really want only to pick-up girls, then Belo horizonte and Goiânia are the places to go, it's a consensus among the brazillians(most people i know at least) that goiania, belo horizonte and florianópolis are the cities with the most pretty girls,
also the ratio between girls/man is pretty high in Goiânia, since there are a lot of gays there, so more women for us, right? haha
Most of my friends from São Paulo that came to Goiânia became surprised with the girls, also violence is lower and i think that it has one of the cheapest living costs,you can rent a good apartment for 500 dollars a month with 3 bedrooms, big swimming pool in the best place of the city,
but i prefer belo horizonte because it's closer to São Paulo which has a lot of big college parties which happens though the year which are super badass =)

Six Myths Associated with the Brazil Business Investor Permanent Visa

According to this recent article, you just need 75k USD to wire into a business account to get the investor visa, and they approve all applications as long as the forms are filled out properly. You don't have to do anything you say on the business plan, and you just need something to show the auditors when you have to reapply for it in 5 years. It looks like it wouldn't be too hard to set up a company, route some poker money through it to make it profitable, and hire a personal assistant. It is a bit more complicated to access the 75k though, as you can't just pile up personal receipts and say they are business expenses. Still, it is probably not too hard to find a way for the business to spend the 75k to get it back under your control. Having the business rent some of the house you live in as an office seems like an obvious play. Brazilian accountants probably have all kinds of tricks for this.

If there are any grinders looking to rent an apartment in Rio for 3 months starting in March, I am trying to find 2 roommates for a huge 3 bedroom/3 bathroom place in Copacabana located here (check out the street view... it's a nice area and solid location). Rent is $1.1k/month for everything.

As for the internet, I've only been disconnected twice in 6 months and it has 1 mb/s downloads. Just PM me some basic info (age, where you're from, interests, what games you play, etc) and your email and I'll send you the pics of the apt. I know the city really well at this point so feel free to ask me any Qs.

Thank you for the great thread and asnwers, 40s.

I'll spend 10 days in Rio during the carnival, and being a football fan would like to watch a football game. I found that Maracana is about to reopen in February, do you have any additional info? Are there scheduled any events? If no, are there any others stadiums where I could watch the game?