US Liquidity/BR Economy Firewall

Península de Maraú- The tip, Ponta do Mutá, Camamú Bay, top; Atlantic Ocean, bottom
http://www.acheiusa.com/acheiusa/arquivo/0176/materias/achei-brasil1.asp

"Crise imobiliária nos EUA não afetará o Brasil", diz Meirelles.

Presidente do Banco Central acredita numa taxa de inflação de 4,2% no ano que vem. O presidente do Banco Central brasileiro, Henrique Meirelles, não acredita que o país será afetado, em 2008, pela possível recessão norte-americana.

“Se isso acontecer, certamente terá efeito na economia mundial. Mas o Brasil está muito menos dependente da economia americana. Temos segurança de que o País vai crescer em taxas robustas no ano que vem, mesmo com os problemas nos Estados Unidos”, disseMeirelles.

Ele afirmou que as previsões de mercado mostram uma taxa de inflação de 4,2% para 2008, o que estaria dentro das metas fixadas pelo Conselho Monetário Nacional (CMN) para o BC, inclusive abaixo do teto da meta. Meirelles acrescentou que não se pode descartar intempéries na economia mundial, mesmo com o crescimento dos EUA em um ritmo forte. “Por um lado, a economia dá sinais de que está robusta, mas há o problema de crédito sério, que pode gerar diminuição do nível de atividade à frente. Não se sabe com certeza o que vai acontecer lá”, afirmou.

Itacaré in the NY Times

Itacaré: One of the 53 Places to Go in 2008

Itacaré well known among the in crowd, is a major gateway to the Península. Brazil's only 6 star hotel ended up on several “it” lists 18 months before it opens. But Warapuru (www.warapuru.com), a lavish eco-resort, is expected to finally open next year. Designed by London-based Anouska Hempel, the resort has brought attention to Itacaré, an under-the-radar beach town on Brazil's north coast that draws celebrities, surfers and the elite of Rio de Janeiro. One of Brazil's top boutique hotels, Txai Resorts is located nearby, plus an abundance of rare Atlantic Rain Forest, both expansive and cove like beaches, and ecotours and adventures like rafting, 4WD excursions, rapelling, etc. I would not want to live in the middle of a 'circus', which is why the laid back Peninsula- which stretches 50 km north- is just fine with me.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/travel/09where.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5087&em&en=5759e794ed852c18&ex=1197349200

Top Investment: Brazil

Península de Maraú- Bromeliads, other typical native plants

Interesting facts on the explosion of the Brazilian real estate investment market (Portuguese).

href="http://www.administradores.com.br/noticias/brasil_um_dos_grandes_paises_para_investimentos/12852/">Brasil:

"Brazil: One of the Top Investment Countries"

Brasil: um dos grandes países para investimentos
13 de novembro de 2007
Por Cristina Salvador e John Markunas - Vera Moreira Comunicação

É fato. O Brasil conseguiu se posicionar como um dos países que pode ser colocado no mesmo patamar dos grandes países para investimentos globais. Queremos aqui mencionar de uma só vez dois setores que dão lastro a tal afirmação: o imobiliário e o turístico.

Vários fatores contribuíram para esse aceleramento. É indiscutível mencionar a queda da inflação, acompanhada do incremento da renda familiar, das contas externas e do conceito de risco país, além da adoção de uma gestão de infra-estrutura, onde efetivamente são aplicados os conceitos de sustentabilidade e de responsabilidade sócio-ambiental. Mas, não podemos deixar de lado que efetivamente, a adoção de uma série de medidas tomadas ao final de 2005, voltadas ao parque da construção imobiliária, muito contribuíram neste sentido.

O Brasil tornou-se competitivo, pois, ao contrário de uma série de países, prevê poucas restrições para a aquisição de imóveis por estrangeiros. O processo de aquisição costuma levar apenas de 10 a 90 dias para ser concluído. Porém, encontra como seus maiores concorrentes os países em grande desenvolvimento econômico como China, Rússia e Índia.

Não sentimos nenhuma insegurança ao afirmar que o Brasil se coloca, ademais, no radar dos investidores estrangeiros no mercado imobiliário, ou seja, vislumbramos um painel altamente atrativo do ponto de vista macro-econômico.

Vale ressaltar, ainda, que recentes alterações na legislação e a conseqüente adoção de novos instrumentos jurídicos, passaram a dar mais segurança ao vendedor e ao comprador numa transação imobiliária. Nesse sentido, está em vigor desde 2004, a Lei nº. 10.931 - Patrimônio de Afetação, que determina a separação da contabilidade da obra, das contas da incorporadora ou construtora, protegendo, assim, os compradores de uma possível insolvência do incorporador. Também chamada de "Lei do Incontroverso", esta norma determina que o comprador continue a pagar o valor principal da parcela da compra, excluindo-se a parte correspondente a juros e correções, no caso de uma discussão judicial sobre valores relacionados ao financiamento ou parcelamento. Além disso, este valor que discutido deve estar discriminado na respectiva petição judicial.

Ainda no âmbito de reforma legislativa, a Lei nº. 11.382 de 2006, que alterou alguns pontos sobre a execução no Código de Processo Civil brasileiro, trata da "averbação premonitória", trazendo mecanismos que reduzem o risco de fraudes à execução. Isso porque, dispõe que qualquer dívida oposta ao proprietário do imóvel, discutida judicialmente, deverá ser averbada na matrícula do imóvel. Assim, o interessado na aquisição de um imóvel poderá ter ciência se o bem em questão tem algum ônus ou gravame.

Além das disposições legais, uma outra forma de proteção disponível é o seguro de bem imobiliário. Este seguro protege o comprador contra uma enorme variedade de riscos de título como fraude, ônus prévios, defeitos e gravames ocultos nos títulos legais. Sua apólice atenua estes riscos e assegura títulos negociáveis bons e desembaraçados, e proporciona proteção ao comprador e/ou credor contra uma gama de riscos e vícios potenciais.

Esta apólice protege o investidor contra riscos básicos de falta ou perda da propriedade, bem como cobre todos os custos de uma demanda judicial, a fim de se defender contra reivindicações sobre propriedade. Ela também assegura contra defeitos e gravames relacionados ao título, e contra problemas de cumprimento de zoneamento, códigos e permissões.

Outros benefícios conferidos por este tipo de seguro também têm facilitado as operações de aquisição de propriedade, tendo em vista a simplificação de alguns procedimentos burocráticos usualmente adotados, como due diligences e análise de vasta documentação, que acabam por protelar o fechamento da operação.

Antes disponível apenas nos EUA, o seguro de bens imobiliários está se tornando um instrumento financeiro muito bem estabelecido para atenuar riscos nas aquisições, financiamento e securitização de propriedade, em sentido global, incluindo o Brasil.

É aconselhável que especialistas de áreas diversas, incluindo advogado especializado no mercado mobiliário, estejam presentes para assessorar todo o processo de investimento. Além disso, este deve assessorar a compra de ações na bolsa, caso esta seja a opção desejada, ou então, partindo para outras opções de investimentos, como os fundos de investimentos em participação, os títulos como letras hipotecárias, e os próprios Certificados de Recebíveis Imobiliários (CRI's), dentre outros.

Na área do Turismo, é certo que uma nova classe de investidores está presente, tendo como cenário mundial uma liquidez bastante acentuada, o que justifica, ademais, tal setor já representar o quinto maior Item da balança comercial brasileira.

Encabeçando a lista dos grandes investidores em Turismo Imobiliário os portugueses colocam-se no topo, sendo que logo a seguir os espanhóis, os franceses, os ingleses e até mesmo os nórdicos.

A procura dos estrangeiros encontra-se principalmente no Nordeste do Brasil. As praias paradisíacas, o clima agradável, o baixo valor e a potencial possibilidade de valorização dos imóveis, atraíram em 2006 um grande número de europeus para a região. Muitos deles procuram por oportunidades para aquisição da segunda moradia ou até construção de grandes empreendimentos voltados ao lazer. Nos últimos anos, grandes empresas estrangeiras começaram a procura por terrenos e os adquiriram para tais construções.

Segundo especialistas do setor imobiliário brasileiro, no que se refere aos grandes centros metropolitanos, atualmente existem diversas tendências, porém, as mais promissoras estão no ramo dos imóveis comerciais. Para as construções residenciais, buscam-se as "green buildings", ou seja, construções que valorizam a proteção e preservação ao meio ambiente.

Estamos atentos ao que o mercado oferece e buscamos participar de entidades e organizações que já atuam, tanto na área de certificações, como na sólida capacitação, adquirida ao longo dos anos, para suprir os investidores em questões relacionadas ao tópico "Segurança Jurídica para Investimentos no Brasil", como também quanto a quaisquer esclarecimentos em relação às "Leis de Uso de Ocupação do Solo".

A questão que se coloca é o que o investidor quer receber? Rentabilidade e segurança. E o nosso papel, como um dos alicerces de orientação e implementação, balizados pela experiência consolidada, é de fornecer garantias que contribuam para que o investidor consiga realmente obter aquilo que almeja.


*Cristina Salvador é advogada do escritório Miguel Neto Advogados - www.miguelneto.com.br e *John Markunas é Executivo da LandAmerica Financial Group - www.landam.com

Transforming the Peninsula: 10 Easy Steps

Península de Maraú Tip- Continent & Bay/above, Ocean/below. (photo Juca)

Friend Neil in So Cal recently asked, "What about traffic (on the Peninsula)?"

"WHAT traffic?", I replied. There is none. Well, crabs, turtles, hawks, Land Rover® 'echo'-tours...

Until 2003, the Peninsula was populated mainly by fishermen, coconut farmers, basic small tradesmen, a few guest houses (pousadas), pioneer types, hermits, mavericks, ne'er-do-wells, outlaws. (There is still neither bank, post office, hospital nor much more...)


But the traffic is on its way. The local population has not a clue, whether good, bad or indifferent. But, "In the Kingdom of the Blind, the one-eyed man..."

Once both highways are completed (State of Bahia N-S Linha Verde ("Green Line") Tourism Highway BR-001 and Federal Peninsula Highway BR-030- watch out!

It will be interesting, at least academically, to watch the circus come to town. Who will lead the parade? Who will trail? Who will win? Who will lose?

Thanks to a privileged 'one-eyedness', an outline of the emerging development surge in Ten Easy Steps........


#1. First high-end developments led the parade:
Kiaroa Resort and federal government honcho Duda Mendonça's tropical palace.
(Completed, 2004)

#2. Developers, hotel chains, real estate investment groups position, bought up remaining large (several hundred to thousands of meters) beach front.
(Completed, 2006)

#3. Construction approvals (hotels, resorts, airport, marinas, ports, sewage treatment in Maraú, electricity, etc)
(2007- )

#4. Highways completed, advanced planning & bids in for new International Airport to be built an hour away
(By 1st quarter, 2008)

#5. Construction begins on #3. Land values soar, social displacement, the Península becomes a "destination"
(2008- )

#6. Highway traffic: Construction materials, surveyors, bureaucrats, workers' and public buses, real estate agents
(2008- )

#7. Construction completed and launch of vastly increased hotel and second home accommodation
(2008-2011)

#8. 'Camp followers' move in: Drug dealers, masseuses, whores, bandits, taxmen, government carpetbaggers
(2008, or the scent of money. Whichever comes first.)

#9. Infrastructure problems: groundwater, electricity, sewage issues, highway maintenance, crime, as local authorities struggle to keep up.
(2010- )

#10. Municipality struggling with the results of relatively unplanned development, environmental degradation, social issues. Corruption, an increasingly expensive 'solution'.
(2010- )



This will be first time I get to watch explosive development early in the cycle. But it can't be hard to guess what will happen, can it?

The Gringos Are Coming!

Península de Maraú- Coconut Paradise along Cassange Beach

So, what took them so long......?

Local anecdote: A Carioca buddy's US friend is currently investing on average US$50M/month, acquisition range US$10M-150M/property- on behalf of a US REIT....

CNN article on US real estate investment funds (REITS) moving into Brazil and Mexico.

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/IBD-0001-20341794.htm

U.S. Commercial Real Estate Bulls Run South Of The Border
October 18, 2007: 08:05 PM EST

Oct. 19, 2007 (Investor's Business Daily delivered by Newstex) --

U.S. real estate investors are staking claims in Latin American countries where growth has returned after years of economic struggle. Property yields have hit 9% to 15% a year there, compared with roughly 5% to 8% in the U.S.

Take Brazil. While foreign investors drizzled just $143 million into Brazilian property in the first half of 2006, they poured in more than 15 times that in the first half of 2007, about $2.2 billion, according to Chicago-based real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle. (NYSE:JLL)

U.S. real estate investment trusts, private equity funds and other backers are behind much of the activity, though European investors are showing increasing interest, says Steve Collins, managing director of international capital markets for Jones Lang LaSalle.

"We think over the next couple of years you're going to see a huge boom in Latin America," he said.

In Brazil and Mexico, disposable income is rising and pent-up demand is lifting real estate returns.

Internal growth, tourism and foreign investment in other industries are boosting Brazil's economy amid retreating inflation. Plus, analysts expect Standard & Poor's (NYSE:MHP) to upgrade the country's credit rating to investment grade next year.

Brazil's gross domestic product grew 3.7% last year. Mexico's grew 4.8%.

Brazil Buyers

The potential pitfalls hardly have dented interest in Brazil.

New York office investor and developer Tishman Speyer raised $500 million earlier this year to invest in the country. In August, it acquired a block-long landmark building dating to the 1930s in the heart of downtown Rio de Janeiro.

Tishman Speyer intends to rehab and modernize the structure, much like the Rockefeller Center redevelopment it launched in the late 1990s. Tishman Speyer also is developing four office towers in Sao Paulo. Construction of the first tower is expected to wrap up this month.

Brazil's rising retail sales, up 10% at midyear, are drawing American retail REITs.

REIT Moves

Cleveland-based Developers Diversified Realty (NYSE:DDR PRF) (NYSE:DDR PRI) (NYSE:DDR PRH) (NYSE:DDR PRG) (NYSE:DDR) DDR last year acquired a 50% interest in Sao Paulo-based Sonae Sierra Brazil, which owns nine retail assets. The partnership will open a mall in 2009. Developers Diversified's initial stake was valued at $150 million.

Meanwhile, Chicago-based General Growth Properties (NYSE:GGP) GGP has acquired an ownership interest in eight centers since entering into a joint venture known as Aliansce Shopping Centers in 2004.

Aliansce is building four regional shopping centers in Brazil. Two are due to open late this year.

Aliansce had planned to raise $378million on Brazil's Bovespa stock exchange this summer, but withdrew amid the global sell-off. Aliansce will revisit the offering this fall, General Growth CFO Bernie Freibaum said in the REIT's second-quarter earnings conference.

"(Aliansce) doesn't need capital," he told analysts. "We want to take it public so we can utilize Brazilian stock market currency for potential future acquisitions."

Newstex ID: IBD-0001-20341794

Originally published in the October 19, 2007 version of Investor's Business Daily.
Copyright (c) 2007, Investor's Business Daily, Inc. All rights reserved. This article is protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Investor's Business Daily, Inc. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.

NE Real Estate Boom (cont.)

Península de Maraú- Native fish traps, Camamú Bay (photo Juca Filho)

World's fourth largest airport under construction in Natal in the Northeast. 5 million holiday visitors per year are expected from Europe.

Ho hum. Feeling saturated by the flood of articles about the BOOMING NE Brazil holiday real estate market? I certainly am.

Not, apparently, Scandinavians, Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, Germans and the British. Five or six more published today- published in New Zeland and the UK.....


http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/536641/1383495

Europeans Buy Brazilian Spot in the Sun
Sep 28, 2007

With the phone ringing nonstop and customers queuing up, Leilo Moreira, a real estate agent in the popular beach town of Porto De Galinhas, cannot cope with the many foreigners wanting to buy their spot along Brazil's sun-drenched, northeastern coast.

"I have only one more beach-front lot available to build, I have more customers than I can deal with," said Moreira, who now gets half of his business from foreigners.

Investors are spending billions of dollars to build second homes for Europeans, fueling an unprecedented real estate boom in what was long seen as Brazil's most backward region. Prices in some areas have increased ten-fold in six years.

What began with a trickle of adventurous foreigners buying property to live the "tropical life" in the early 1990s is turning into a stream of seasonal ocean-hoppers looking for sun, fun and a touch of Brazilian charm.

"It's just marvelous here, a picture book beach and people with this contagious cheerfulness - they make my day," Jose Maria Jubells, a 60-year-old Catalan painter said from his new flat in Fortaleza, where he spends half of the year.

Developers are building at least 80,000 residences for foreigners in the northeast, according to the regional development association ADIT.

"Brazil is making a grand entry onto the European second home market," said Rodrigo Lowndes, executive director of Qualta Resorts, a Spanish group spending 1 billion reais ($538 million) on a complex in Pernambuco state with 4,000 homes.

Sales points include 300-plus days of sunshine, a vibrant culture, year-round warm ocean water, and no hurricanes.

Spaniards, Portuguese and Italians are the main buyers but new charter flights are bringing clients from Scandinavia and from Britain, one of the biggest second home markets.

Rising Prices

Rising prices of second homes in southern Europe were instrumental in putting Brazil on the global real estate radar. A beach house in southern Spain now goes for around 450,000 Euros, three times its equivalent in Brazil, brokers say.

From Caipirinha cocktails to domestic help, the cost of living is between 30 and 60 percent lower than in Europe.

"More Europeans are willing to hop on a plane for 7 hours (from Lisbon to Fortaleza) to improve their lifestyle," said Ruy Rego, of the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht, which is building a 1.5 billion reais resort in Recife targeted mainly at foreigners.

In addition to tennis courts and golf courses, many residence resorts have concierges, security guards, and services to let unused flats.

In Rio Grande do Norte state, the construction boom is causing infrastructure bottlenecks.

"We can't implement all the proposed projects at the same time - roads, water, and permits all take time," said Fernando Fernandes, the state tourism secretary.

The Spanish Sanchez group begins construction in December of a 1 billion Euros complex in the city of Natal, including 20,000 residences, eight hotels, and five golf courses, Fernandes said.

More buildings, traffic, and fences worries some owners.

"The risk is losing the charm we all came here for," said Jean-Marc Panchaud, a Swiss who moved to Porto de Galinhas in 1988 when it was still a sleepy fishing village.

Authorities insist strict zoning and environmental requirements will preserve beaches, mangroves and dunes.

"I think we've learned from bad development projects elsewhere but we need to manage this boom properly if we want it to last," said Jose Antonio Simon of ADIT.


http://www.fairinvestment.co.uk/property-news-New-flights-boost-Brazilian-tourism-18295741.html

New Flights Boost Brazilian Tourism
28/09/2007

The availability of daily flights from Europe to Brazil could help to increase the number of tourists visiting the country.
A spokesperson for Property Frontiers said that most European cities offer flights every day to Brazil and the country is currently building another large airport in the north.

According to the expert, the new airport in the Natal region of the country is expected to bring a further five million visitors to the country each year - a development which could also boost the property market.

"Brazil is becoming increasingly popular with British investors for a number of reasons including its sunny, tropical, year-round climate, low property prices, rapidly expanding tourism industry and relatively stable economy," she remarked.

The relatively low property prices in the country could allow for "room for growth", she said, stating that prices have increased by up to 20 per cent in some areas over the last few years.

A spokesperson for Knight Frank recently said that Brazil has yet to see the same level of development as Dubai or Spain and so offers investors a certain degree of "exclusivity".


http://news.opodo.co.uk/articles/2007-09-27/18296532-Tourism-in.php

Tourism in Brazil 'Growing Fast'
27 September 2007

Tourism in Brazil is going through a phase of rapid growth thanks to substantial government investment, according to emerging real estate company Property Frontiers.

Interest from tourists is traditionally seen as an important supporting factor for real estate industries and a spokesperson for Property Frontiers said this is becoming increasingly evident in Brazil.

'Tourism in the country is increasing rapidly and in the first eight months of 2006, international tourist arrivals experienced a 4.5% growth from the same period of 2005,' she said.

The company representative explained that the Brazilian tourism industry has recently benefited from an injection of over $670m (£331m), much of which has been channelled into the north of the country.

'In the Natal region, the construction of the fourth largest airport in the world is underway and should bring in 5m travellers a year,' she added.

Brazil is accessible from many major European cities, with connections to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo available from London.


http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/travel-resources/travel-news/general-travel/airport-set-to-boost-brazilian-tourism/a-3-143-627/

Airport Set to Boost Brazilian Tourism

Social and exchange rate stability have helped to boost tourism in Brazil.

What's more, the Brazilian government's ongoing Action Programme for the Integrated Development of Tourism (Prodetur) is expected to open up the northern regions of Brazil to holidaymakers and facilitate further expansion in the tourism industry.

More than $670 million (£331 million) has been invested by the Brazilian government in the first phase of Prodetur as it seeks to improve on a tourism growth rate which is already in excess of four per cent.

As part of the project, the world's fourth largest airport is currently under construction in the Natal region of the country - a development which a spokesperson for Property Frontiers believes will greatly increase the number of travellers to the area.

"Daily flights are available from a large number of European cities, and to complement the construction of the world's fourth largest airport in the north, more and more flights are being scheduled to the country," she said.

"As far as Natal is concerned, European tourism levels, mainly from Portugal, Spain, Germany, Norway, Sweden and the UK, are increasing at a rapid pace."

The spokesperson added that the number of tourists arriving in the country was up by 4.5 per cent in the first eight months of 2006 on 2005 levels.


http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/resources/property-news/property-investment-news/brazil-s-property-market-booming/a-2-55-514/

Brazil's Property Market Booming

Brazil is quickly developing a prosperous property market, according to new economic results.

With the largest economy in Latin America and the fifth largest country in the world, the region is benefitting from strong development in the real estate and tourism sectors. Goldman Sachs is predicting that Brazil could be a dominant force in the world economy by 2050.

There has also been a 134 per cent increase in tourist numbers during the period from 2002 to 2005 and the government is working towards increasing annual visitor numbers to around nine million a year – welcome news for those with holiday rentals in the region.

In addition, the ongoing work on the construction on an international airport in the city of Natal is planning a key role in improving access for tourists and developing the local infrastructure.

With its growing economy, Brazil the 5th largest country in the world, is benefiting from a significant expansion of tourism-related property investment.

In 2006, property lending doubled in Brazil and the construction industry is thriving and recently local banks did not offer broad lending to customers but with the stabilisation of Brazil’s economy, they have recognised the opportunity for investment.

An additional 8 million homes are needed throughout Brazil, but it’s not just the residential market that needs to be provided for. Brazil’s tourism sector is soaring as the country is experiencing a large amount of visitors to the country. A 134% increase in tourist numbers occurred between 2002 and 2005. The government is keen to see this expansion continue to a high of 9 million annually and are investing a great deal into the tourism industry and improving the country’s infrastructure.

Sunshine, natural beauty and first-class hospitality have transformed Brazil’s north eastern region into one of the most sought after tourist spots and an opportunity to invest should not be missed.

British Investments Soar

Península de Maraú- Preparing to build within beachside coconut grove

Reported today (25 September, 2007) by a UK property investment site based on quotes from Knight Frank property firm and a Sunday Mirror article entitled-

"Brazil Increasingly Popular with British Investors"

http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/resources/property-news/property-investment-news/brazil-increasingly-popular-with-overseas-investors-/a-2-55-624/

"The availability of cheap flights and booming economies means British investors are turning to the 'BRIC' countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China as viable locations for property investment, it has been claimed.

A report in a British Sunday paper suggests that while traditional hotspots such as Spain, France and Cyprus are still popular, BRIC countries are rapidly making up ground.

In particular, Brazil was highlighted as an attractive location for landlords to expand their portfolios given that a growing tourism industry and strong economy are acting to push up prices.

"Investors have been clamouring to take advantage of rising prices," the Sunday Mirror commented.

This view has been echoed by analysts at residential and commercial property firm Knight Frank, who believe that Brazil offers considerable opportunities to overseas investors given the housing market's early stage of development.

In excess of £20 billion was spent by Britons on overseas properties in 2006, the Mirror details."

Best Boutique Hotel in Brazil

Península de Maraú- Pristine Cassange Beach (photo, Juca Filho)

Hailed by The Wall Street Journal as the "Travel industry's equivalent of the Oscar's", World Travel Awards announced September 17th the winners of the awards for 2007. Following a vote by 150,000 tourism professionals from 200 countries, the 14th Annual World Travel Awards Ceremony in New York City selected Península's 'Kiaroa Eco-Luxury Resort' (http://www.kiaroa.com.br/) as the "Leading Boutique Hotel in Brazil". Henrique Abreu, its Commercial Directo, received the award on behalf of Kiaroa Eco-Luxury Resort.

Top awards for Brazil:

Brazil's Leading Boutique Hotel Kiaroa Eco-Luxury Resort
Brazil's Leading Conference Hotel Grand Hyatt Sao Paulo
Brazil's Leading Hotel Copacabana Palace
Brazil's Leading Resort Casa Grande Hotel Resort & Spa
Brazil's Leading Spa Resort Kurotel Clinica E Spa
Brazil's Leading Suite Presidential Suite at Ouro Minas Palace Hotel

English:
http://www.worldtravelawards.com/winners2007-12

Portuguese:
http://www.mercadoeeventos.com.br/script/FdgDestaqueTemplate.asp?pStrLink=3,28,0,24296&IndSeguro=0

Second Peek......

[PHOTOS REMOVED AT REQUEST OF SURF PHOTOGRAPHER CACAO FALCAO: "HEY, LET'S NOT CROWD OUR WAVES!" ]

Cacau's Secret Spot- (Photo, anon.)

It's a long story- don't ask.

But let's not make Cacau unhappy. Better leave the board at home.

Shorty's Property Tips

Península de Maraú- Rare Atlantic Tropical Rain Forest behind beach.

The first property tips I ever received came from "Shorty". The first I paid attention to, anyway. "Shorty" was an old renegade on the side of a remote hillside on Kauai, the most northeast of the Hawaiian Island chain in the late 60's.

I lived with my Hawaiian 'kumu' on the North Shore of the island, between Hanalei and Haena where the road ends. One day I spotted a crudely lettered 'For Sale' sign up the gorge from Wainiha Beach. And I met "Shorty"....

A powerful, muscular fireplug, "Shorty" was terrifyingly manic. Balding 70 years old, he seemed much taller, as well as much bigger than 5 foot 5. He had a dominanting voice, a young black daughter from a liaison in the Caribbean, and many, many stories.......

Once he had been in a Mississipi jail and the Governor paid him a personal visit. It seems "Shorty's" case had received plenty of attention. "Shorty" was in jail for murder- age 14.

At 12, "Shorty" had been employed to supervise a road gang of 'darkies'. His first day on the job, he picked up the biggest stick he could find, handed it to the biggest buck 'negro', as they were called: "Here, bo. Ahm settin rat down undah thet tree ovah theah. You in chawge. You take ovah!" "Yesuh, massa!"

Lots of stories....

He had recently put his beautiful, view "mauka" (mountain) acreage a couple miles up the power house road at Wainiha up for sale. $10,000- remember, it was 1968. But it was "Shorty"'s simple property tips that stuck with me forever.....

#1. "Buy what they ain't any of!"

"Wherever I go in the world, it's what I do. Hard to find beachfront? Buy beachfront! On Kauai, there's plenty of beachfront, but nothin mauka. So go up country! Since arriving in the 1800's, missionary families like the Robinsons and Wilcoxes grabbed everything up country they could get their hands on to run cattle. So you know what I did, here, dontcha? That's right, I bought mauka."

#2. "Buy the best!"

"You know what this means, right? With a choice and the money, buy the best as you can. Whatever there ain't any of- a course!"

I went off that day, hemmed and hawed and surfed Hanalei Bay until springtime. Then went back up old Wainiha Road to make the deal. The price had gone up, "Shorty" said. 14 grand! Outraged, I complained it had only been a few months. Laughing at me, "That's the price, sonny. Take it or leave it." I left it.

And that's how I learned my own Rule #3:

#3. Don't quibble, it's just money. Do it.

But if you do choose to quibble, make sure you don't queer the deal! Because whatever it costs today, as Will Rogers said, "They ain't making anymore." Before you know it, the property's market value will be double what you paid. If it's "the best", it hardly matters what you paid.

True: A year or so later, Joey Cabell, champion surfer-skier, founder of The Chart House restaurant chain, bought it, instead of me. Joey sold it a few years later for 5 times what he paid.

To these three rules, I ended up adding a fourth. Works for marriage, too......

#4. Buy your passion. But don't forget the practical stuff.

****************************************************************

Ever since then I've recalled "Shorty"'s simple rules. And in the process, got a little carried away......

Costa Rica: My girlfriend from Rio and I spent 12 months traveling the country, looking for land and having a great time. Surfing and exploring those wonderful back roads, beaches, mountains, forests, jungles... Finally, we bought a government sponsored model dairy farm, the owner was after cheaper land to do beef cattle as this was going up. The place was the best we had seen, and there was nothing else like it. So, no quibbling over price, we bought it.

Kona, Hawaii: An exception that proves the rule. Just a "stop gap" place to live, we bought a house in a suburb high above the town. But here there was no passion- suburbia. We left for Brazil and sold it a year later.

Margaret River, Western Australia: The leading local real estate agent took four years. The brief was simple: "white water views". "Huh", he said, as he'd never heard the term. I explained ocean view property in California was priced by proximity as well as by how broad and close were the views. At last, he phoned me from Australia to advise the property we had been waiting for had come along. After a few phone calls to friends in Margarets, we bought it sight unseen. No quibbling.

Maraú Península, Bahia, Brazil: We raised a growing family in Rio, and for a time on the (recently trendy) Island of Florianopolis, Santa Catarina. 15 years later two of our children born in Costa Rica graduated from high school. We left to spend 10 years in Australia and Molokai (Hawaii). By this time, we knew the southern coast of Brazil pretty well.

On our return to Brazil four years ago, we spent 4 months exploring the coast of the northeast of Brazil we had previously known knew little about. From San Luis de Maranhao all the way to the Bahia-Espirito Santo border. Three quarters through our trip, we stumbled on the Península. An incredible Bay, sandy trails through the village, rain forests and lakes- it was love at first sight. Planning to spend the day, we had left a rental car back on the continent accumulating daily rates. We lef, unwilling to make a decision before seeing the rest of the South of Bahia. We continued on through Itacaré, Arraial d'Juda, Trancoso, Espelho, Caraiiva, etc. And came back as fast as we could. Four months more of research and at last we found what is, for us, the best of the Peninsula de Marau.


You may be thinking, is it really worth the time and energy, the endless looking? Definitely not for most people, if only because few have the the time it takes to do so. But the sort of places we love have nothing to do with square footage, gables, number of bathrooms, etc. It's about sense of place, landscape, topographic features and the magnetic beauty of the perfect place.

The time it takes to find an ideal is extreme. But the Search is a calling.

Peek at a Peak

[PHOTO REMOVED AT REQUEST OF SURF PHOTOGRAPHER CACAO FALCAO: "HEY, PHOTOS ATTRACT THE CROWDS!"]

Cacau's Secret Spot- (Photo, anon.)

How're the waves? Get much surf?

I'd better not say. Cacau hopes you'll leave your board at home.

Península Slideshow

Península de Maraú- a 5 Star rated YouTube slideshow.

Produced by Kecool- Alex, our friend and closest neighbour, who lives south of us several kilometers down the beach.

A slice of life on the Peninsula. There's so much more here, but Alex's show is worth a look!

(Click Here)

Marau and National Tourism Plan

Maraú, the municipality of the Peninsula de Marau, on Friday became the focus of regional tourism investment under Phase II of The National Tourism Plan (2007-2010).

Collated from 26 Brazilian news articles.........

Powerful Minister of Tourism Marta Suplicy, former Governor of Brazil's most economically important state- announced 31 August the names of 65 regional investment focal points (including all capitals and a maximum 5 per state) selected for accelerated tourism development as part of Phase II of The National Tourism Plan. The primary goal is to raise regional tourism services to international standards.

Prioritized to receive expanded technical and financial investments, critera for selection was each region's capacity to attract and funnel large numbers of tourists, and expand its regional economy. Related criteria include the level of attractions, and basic and tourist infrastructure.

To help raise the quality of the selected tourist destination, the Minister has signed an agreement with the Fundação Getúlio Vargas to monitor competitive progress. An interrelated effort will be cultural development in coordination between the Ministry`s for Tourism and Culture.

The Ministry of Tourism will invest R$2M in Phase II of the regional tourist program. In a reference to the choice of the Christ of Rio as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, Minister Suplicy said,`These will be The 65 Wonders of Brazil`.

Brazil's National Tourism Plan (2007-2010), launched Friday by Minister of Tourism Marta Suplicy, is available in Portuguese, only. However, Phase I 'Guidelines, Goals and Programs (2003-2007)' is in English on the net. Launched by President Lula and the previous Minister of Tourism, Phase I goals have all been in fact surpassed.

Tourism is now the number three foreign currency source of income after soybeans and iron. And it is widely expected to overtake them soon.

The National Tourism Plan has proven to be more than just a bureaucratic fantasy. Brazil's financial and political commitment to tourist infrastructure, services and training is impressive. As it should be, too. Tourism is environmentally kind as well as highly labor-intensive. The country's geometrically expanding young population needs jobs, and under Phase I, the goal of 1.2 M new jobs was met.


NORTHEAST MACROREGION DESTINATIONS SELECTED IN BAHIA:

14 Lençóis Chapada Diamantina
15 Maraú Costa do Dendê
16 Mata de São João Costa dos Coqueiros
17 Porto Seguro (Arraial d´Ajuda, Trancoso, Caraíva) Costa do Descobrimento
18 Salvador Capital

10 Reasons to Invest in Brazil

Península de Maraú- building site overlooking lake and Cassange Beach

NewswireToday
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
08/23/2007

Brazil Property Group Market Intelligence Update provides 'Ten Top reasons to invest in real estate in Brazil today'......

"Brazil Property continues to be hot, but it has never reached the critical mass to produce rampant growth, as in Costa Rica, Florida or Las Vegas. This is about to change. Brazil for the first time is emerging from a status it hasn’t had since the 1960’s. Growth is picking up, foreign direct investment is up year after year, and the Brazilian stock market is as high as ever.

Reasons why Brazil Property has not increased in value as much as Costa Rica, for example, may be traced to investors' unfamiliarity with Brazil and the Brazilian market. Brazil is still seen as unstable by some, though the truth is the opposite. If you have title insurance buying property in Brazil, safety is not at issue. Once a person owns property State and federal laws makes lawsuits and foreclosures nearly impossible. Another myth is that foreigners cannot own property in Brazil" False. Property in Brazil is freehold. But it is worth being cautious with companies offering options other than freehold ownership or when an accredited title company refuses to issue full title insurance.

For the top ten reasons to buy property in Brazil today....

1/ New mortgage laws:
A. These laws create a better environment for banks to loan money
B. The banks are able to make a safer investment when lending
C. In countries without sustainable mortgage products, there is very little domestic demand for property because purchasers are forced to pay in cash for property. This creates low property prices
D. By the end of 2008, wide-open mortgage packages will be available
E. Right now falling interest rates are making mortgages more common
F. Due to the availability of mortgages domestic demand for property is increasing

2/ New ownership laws protect the buyer:
A. These laws are some of the best in the Americas, designed to make ownership more appealing
B. Ownership is far more secure in Brazil than many other popular Latin American destinations
C. This creates new international demand

3/ Easy access from Europe and North America due to new infrastructure:
A. The Government is supporting tourism projects all across the coast by increasing the availability or utilities and infrastructure
B. Government is financing the renovation of old airports and building new airports to meet the demand
C. The government has come to realize that tourism and property is a new form of economic growth
D. Currently Brazil is the 5th best infrastructure in the Americas
E. Infrastructure and access adds value to property and creates domestic and international demand

4/ Outstanding currency appreciation:
A. Currency appreciation that has taken place with the Brazilian currency is outstanding. In 2002, Brazil’s currency was almost 4 to 1 to the US dollar. Today it is 2 to 1. Its low was approximately 1.85 to 1 dollar July of 2007
B. If a person bought property in 2002, that person would have doubled their money with currency appreciation
C. In April 2007, the Brazilian reserve sat at $101 billion. As Brazil becomes more stable and builds up currency reserves, this appreciation will continue

5/ Undervalued Beach property compared to the rest of the Americas:
A. An acre of Beach Property in Florida goes for $10 million
B. In the Bahamas, an acre in accessible areas sells for $2 million
C. An acre of Beach property in Costa Rica sells for $100,000
D. In Brazil, acres bought in quantity are as low as $5,000 to $15,000 or single acres on the ocean for less than $55,000
E. This creates international demand and domestic demand

6/ Brazil has a large domestic population of almost 200 Million people:
A. This domestic population will embrace credit and mortgages and start buying houses and property
B. This will create domestic demand, demand forces property prices to rise
C. Costa Rica and Nicaragua have populations of roughly 5 million. These countries' real estate booms are not homegrown, but due to international speculation. This situation lacks long-term stability. Why buy a half acre on the ocean in Costa Rica for $1 million when you can buy it in Brazil for $35,000

7/ Currently the 10th largest economy in the world, Brazil will be the 5th largest in 2050 as ranked by Goldman Sachs:
A. When Brazil reaches its paramount in 2050, the beach property prices will be the same anywhere in the world
B. It is expected that beach property will continue to increase in value rapidly until 2050
C. This economic growth and stability creates international demand. It solidifies Brazil as a great place for real estate investors

8/ Pay little, get a lot:
A. In Brazil, construction costs are half what they are in the United States and Europe
B. Currency is also 2 to 1 to the dollar and almost 3 to 1 to the Euro. This money goes a long way on everyday purchases
C. This bonus can lure property buyers seeking an affordable standard of living, will create international demand

9/ Interest rates in Brazil are dropping fast:
A. If you look at rates 18 months ago they were at 18%. Today they are under 12% and falling every few months
B. These rates are falling because Brazil has a huge trade surplus and account balance due to its raw material export driven economy. This surplus has assisted in Brazil have sufficient currency reserves and eliminate deficit spending
C. Further exports of sugarcane ethanol to Japan, United States and Europe will further Brazil’s trade surplus and create a more stable economy allowing for interest rates to fall even lower

10/ Beautiful beaches:
A. Brazil is ranked for having some of the best beaches in the world. They feature white sand, warm water, warm climate and beautiful tall palm trees
B. Brazil has one of the longest tropical coast lines in the world."

The Man Who Loved Islands

Península de Maraú- Islands along the Península on the Bay (photo Alex Uchoa)

D.H. Lawrence's long out-of-print novelette, The Man Who Loved Islands, is a very good read.

It is a metaphor for life, a morality play and a meditation. It may also be Lawrence's thinly veiled attack on a rival.

Contact me at the following address and I'll be glad to send a beautiful, .pdf version:

bob@maraupeninsula.com

Island/Peninsula Nuts

Península de Maraú- the archetypal tropical paradise (photo Alex Uchoa)

"The Man Who Sells Islands", by Ronn Hall, Conde Nast Traveler, July 1997

Interesting article about the 30 year love affair of the world's leading exponent of island living, sales and philosophy- and their kissing cousin peninsulas. Dr. Farhad Vladi has sold over 2000 of them, and owns a few himself.

(Click here)

"A few years ago," says Vladi, "I went through all my old notes and records trying to construct a demographic and psychological profile of island buyers. They seemed to have nothing in common—they were all types, from all age groups and backgrounds except for just one thing: All were very strong individualists, determined to put their own personal stamp on an island."

But of course, most island owners, Vladi says, buy for emotional rather than economic reasons. It's a subject on which he gets unexpectedly mystical: "You can sense the energy of an island as soon as you set foot on it," he says. "Some islands make you feel happy; others, quite the opposite...."

Technology has made it more realistic to live on remote islands. Hence a boom in buying them. Tempted? Dr. Vladi is the man to see, so Ron Hall did. THE MAP ROOM OF DR. FARHAD VLADI'S HEADQUARTERS, overlooking Binnenalster Lake in Hamburg, Germany, is organized with military precision. Mention any of the world's islanded coastlines or ocean archipelagoes and in an instant the correct large-scale map is being opened up for inspection. "Buying and selling islands," says Vladi, "is like planning an invasion."

Beneath the map archive, banks of filing cabinets stretch along the walls. This is the core of the Vladi intelligence system. Each of the world's three thousand or so islands of usable size and in private ownership has its own separate folder. Nothing is too obscure to be squirreled away for future reference: press clippings, historical notes, previous owners, brochures, sales prospectuses, photographs, planning applications, land-register records, tax assessments. "As soon as we get a hint that an island may be coming up for sale," he says, "we can look it up and make an immediate guess at what the market is likely to be."

Vladi flicks open a drawer devoted to France's Brittany coast and walks his fingers along the files. "I sold that island," he says, "and that, and that . . . But this island, Illiec, I would love to have a chance to sell. It's so romantic. In the thirties it belonged to Charles Lindbergh, who had bought it to escape his troubles in America. Charles Heidsieck, of the Champagne family, owns it now. Of course, I don't ask him directly if he wants to sell; he might be offended. But I keep in contact, and we have become good friends."

Vladi has been selling private islands for more than twenty five years. In that time, about five hundred have passed through his hands, some more than once. A handful of other real estate agents deal in islands, but none are so specialized or keep up such an extensive, worldwide network. In this tiny niche of the real estate market, Vladi is king.

He was still a university student, working toward a doctorate in economics, when he made his first deal. "I'd spotted a newspaper item saying that a tropical island in the Indian Ocean had been bought for just two thousand dollars. Nothing! It was this that changed my life. I knew from that moment on that I must have an island for myself."

Vladi wrote to the Seychelles Bulletin to say that he was planning a visit to the Indian Ocean in the hope of buying an island. Most of young Vladi's capital was used just getting to the Seychelles—it was in the days before low-cost air travel, and the Mombasa-to-Bombay steamer was the only way. When he arrived, the cheapest deal he was offered was Cousin Island (now in South African ownership) at an asking price of $100,000, far more than he could afford.

Disappointed, he returned home, where, to cut his losses, he approached a prominent Hamburg businessman to see if he had any interest in buying an island. The man bought Cousin unseen, paid Vladi a five percent commission, and was forever pulling out picture postcards of his island to show to business associates and cocktail party guests. It was the best free promotion young Vladi could have had. Soon he was being barraged with requests from other Hamburg businessmen to find islands for them. There was another bit of luck: The young lawyer whom Vladi had dealt with over the sale of Cousin was James Mancham, who shortly afterward was elected president of the Seychelles. Vladi was well placed to act as broker in the sale of seven of the fifteen private islands there, his first major coup.

The most spectacular of these Indian Ocean sales was to a member of the family of the Shah of Iran, who bought a coconut plantation island named Arros along with the neighboring atoll of St. Joseph in the Amirantes group. The Iranian Prince Sharam built an elaborate house there, along with a landing strip, conveniently within executive-jet range of Teheran. It was to become a valuable hideaway when the imperial family's fortunes collapsed in 1979, and it has since been a productive source of income: When the prince is not in residence, the island is rented out for millionaire holidays at five thousand dollars a night.

Dr. Vladi next turned his attention to Europe, whose Celtic fringe (Scotland, Ireland, and Brittany) is liberally sprinkled with romantic private islands, some grandly surmounted by castles, others devoted to simple farming. Vladi's main problem, in the absence of an open land register, was finding out who owned what. He joined a flying club and persuaded pilots to take him on reconnaissance trips along the coast, looking for islands displaying telltale signs of private ownership—a larger-than-expected house, for instance, or a modern high-tech jetty. Vladi followed up with coastal drives, talking to fishermen and picking up clues. As often as not, once a private owner had been identified, business followed.

During the 1980s, there was rapid growth in the island market. Vladi ascribes this to the reduction in the cost of travel, the increasing desperation to escape mass tourism, and such technological developments as wind and solar generators, satellite telephones, prefabricated and helicopter-transportable buildings, and improvements in water treatment and desalination, all of which have made islands more independent of mainland resources.

As Vladi's business grew, he set up an island-management branch in Nova Scotia, where a profusion of affordable islands has created the world's most active island market. The Bahamas, also with abundant private islands, proved to be another happy hunting ground, along with the South Pacific and, later, Australia and New Zealand. As a service to his clients, he started up an island-renting business, which in turn led to further sales.

For some of Vladi's clients, the pleasure of owning islands became addictive. The keenest buyer of all was a Swiss poultry tycoon named Dieter Kathmann, who, by the time of his accidental death in 1987, had bought no fewer than twelve widely scattered islands. His widow decided to go on adding to the collection, and not wishing to be left holding an unlucky number, bought two islands simultaneously, making fourteen.

Dr. Edward de Bono, the guru of "lateraI thinking," is another serial buyer. He currently owns three islands, all substantial: Green Island in Australia's Great Barrier Reef, Reklusia in the Bahamas, and Tessera in the Venice iagoon (which now doubles as De Bono's seminar center). "He came to me," says Vladi, "looking for an entirely different kind of island, but when his eyes fell on a photograph of Tessera, he bought it, just like that. I suppose that's what you mean by lateral thinking." Later, De Bono introduced Vladi to a well-to-do woman friend who also bought three islands in different parts of the world—so that she'd have a year-round choice of climate.

Tony Curtis, who already had property on an island—in the mountains near Honolulu decided he would like to have something more exclusively his own. Vladi recently sold him Rocky Island, a simple but dramatic island off Nova Scotia, where he plans to spend his time indulging his other talent, painting. Curtis isn't the only film actor to have become an island addict: John Wayne loved his Panamanian getaway, Taborcillo. After Wayne's death, one of Vladi's first commissions was to sell Taborcillo for Wayne's successors.

"A few years ago," says Vladi, "I went through all my old notes and records trying to construct a demographic and psychological profile of island buyers. They seemed to have nothing in common—they were all types, from all age groups and backgrounds except for just one thing: All were very strong individualists, determined to put their own personal stamp on an island. This leads to a catch-22. The more trouble a seller has taken to develop his island, the less keen anyone else is to buy it. Money spent on development rarely gets a full return."

But of course, most island owners, Vladi says, buy for emotional rather than economic reasons. It's a subject on which he gets unexpectedly mystical: "You can sense the energy of an island as soon as you set foot on it," he says. "Some islands make you feel happy; others, quite the opposite. I remember visiting a tiny island off Arran in Scotland's Firth of Clyde. There was an old farmhouse there, which, as soon as I entered, I wanted to get away from fast. It was only later that I read of a murder said to have taken place there. A man had killed his wife for having borne him six girls when he wanted a son, and then buried her under the kitchen floor. Maybe these things affect others differently. The island was called Eloly Island, and it was eventually bought by Buddhists, who are perfectly happy there, so far as I know."

By now, needless to say, Vladi is himself an island owner several times over. Both Sleepy Cove in Nova Scotia and Forsyth Island in Marlborough Sound, New Zealand, belong to him, and others are held as "inventory" by his company. So where does he go for his own family holidays? The answer is surprisingly ordinary. Maui, he says. This, he goes on hastily to explain, is because his daughter loves Maui so much; they have spent such wonderful times there.

And which island, I ask, would he keep for himself if he could have any in the world and money were no object? Vladi turns over several in his mind. There is Galloo in Lake Ontario, with its six hundred head of deer, dramatic coastline, and rolling countryside laced with small streams. And there's Gallinara, the best placed of all Mediterranean islands, just off Monte Carlo, with Venetian fortifications, an old church, no beach, but a perfect sailing harbor. But the one Vladi really covets is Fregate, one of the Seychelles' granitic islands, with its old plantation house, roaming giant tortoises, rare bird species, and one of the most beautiful beaches in the world (Anse Victorin). It is one of the islands Vladi sold right at the beginning of his career to a young German industrialist who is currently redeveloping it as a small, exclusive resort. Vladi can now only look on in envy.

"Invest in Brazil: Are You Nuts?"

Península de Maraú- Twilight over Lake Cassange (by Alex Uchoa)

(Click here)

Invest in Brazil … Are You Nuts?
3 August 2007

Well no, actually. In 2003, Goldman Sachs selected Brazil, along with Russia, India and China, as one of the four “BRICs”—the developing countries that would share dominance of the world economy by 2050.

Its growth potential should come as little surprise when you consider that the country produces its own oil along with half the world’s exports of ethanol (a valuable additive to motor fuel). It already has the ninth largest economy in the world in terms of purchasing power and is on the verge of becoming one of the leading recipients of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Latin America (OECD).

Along with a blossoming economy (the largest in Latin America), the fifth largest country in the world is also benefiting from a dramatic expansion of tourism-related real estate investment. Until relatively recently local banks had not been offering large-scale lending to customers but with the stabilisation of Brazil’s economy they have seen the opportunity for investment. In 2006 property lending doubled in Brazil and the construction industry is booming.

Eight million more homes are needed throughout Brazil, but it’s not just the domestic market that needs to be catered for. Brazil’s tourism sector is rocketing as the country’s many blessings are being counted by an increasing number of visitors to the country. A 134% increase in tourist numbers occurred between 2002 and 2005 and the government – which is keen to see this expansion continue to a high of 9 million annually – is investing heavily in the tourism industry and improving the country’s infrastructure.

Significant government advertising spend focused on tourism has seen an influx of major tour operators and record numbers of international tourists to the region.”

Experience International recently attended the ADIT NORDESTE conference in Salvador, Brazil. ADIT NORDESTE (Association for Real Estate and Tourism Development in the North East) was set up in June 2006 by 40 renowned national and international companies in the fields of tourism and real estate (including the Brazilian Ministry of Tourism) to promote the north east region of Brazil to foreign investors. These companies have projects of various sizes in the fields of tourism and real estate in general amounting to over £1 billion.

One of the aims of the project is to boost the confidence of investors and real estate buyers. The companies that form the association are guaranteeing the legal security of the enterprises, including environmental and ecological zoning. And the area is worth preserving. According to NASA it has the second purest air in the world and along with Antarctica has “the most unspoilt environment on the planet”.

Sunshine, natural beauty and amazing hospitality have transformed Brazil’s north eastern region into one of the most sought after tourist spots on earth and an opportunity to invest in this fast growing area should not be missed.

Brits Invest Here

Peninsula de Marau- An impressionistic Cassange Beach (Praia do Cassange)

From the Financial Times in May, on the new fund managed by Itacaré Capital Investments.

[Update: The IPO brought in $82 million in London. To date, capitalization is over $100 million. Warapuru Resort in Itacare is due for completion this year. Over 50% of its US$1M-10M home/lots were sold well before ground breaking on the resort.]

Itacare for Aim
By Jim Pickard
Published: May 21 2007 03:00 | Last updated: May 21 2007 03:00

The exotic world of London-listed overseas property companies is soon to be joined by its first Brazilian group.

Itacare Capital Investments, which will fund resort developments in Brazil, is understood to be seeking to raise $100m (£51m) on the Alternative Investment Market.

Brazil is increasingly under the spotlight among "fly-to-let" investors who are turning their backs on Spain and France in favour of Morocco, Cape Verde and elsewhere.

Pedro de Miranda, founder of Itacare Capital Partners, which will manage the fund, is a former director of Dolphin Capital Partners, which has been Aim's most successful overseas property fund.

Itacare has drawn up a prospective investment portfolio of 11 schemes, including the Warapuru Resort in Bahia, designed by Anouska Hempel, which is Brazil's first six-star resort.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007


Update:

This IPO brought in $82 million in London. To date, capitalization is above $100 million.
Warapuru Resort in Itacare is due for completion this year. Over 50% of its US$1M-10M home/lots sold, well in advance.

Marau Island

Península de Maraú- Beach silhouette at sunset

"No man is an island". But north of Itacaré lies a Península that, in fact, IS.....

How can a peninsula be an island? Do putative lables, dictionary definitions reflect essence? Ask anyone who lives here, who has tried to get from there to here. With access to our 50km X 5km wedge-in-the-ocean by boat, 5 car ferry, or air taxi, we try to avoid as a necessity what weekend off roaders elsewhere do for fun.

The Peninsula de Maraú may in fact be far more "island" than many islands are. Mythically, logistically, environmentally, climactically, psychologically.... it's more than a claim to poetic license. It's the day to day feel and reality of place: the essence of island living.

For a look at 'other islands', online forums on everything to do with island living, search, acquisition, sale and rent- a completely unrequested plug for the two major online island resources.......

"Private Islands Online" claims to be the "World's #1 resource for everything Private Islands. With the largest selection of private islands for sale and private islands for rent, we are the point of reference for serious Island enthusiasts."

http://www.privateislandsonline.com/

"Vladi Private Islands, Peninsulas and Very Special Properties" bills itself as "The website to habitable private islands.... 'Habitable' is the defining word among private islands. Being 30 years in the island business and having regular contact with over 2,000 island owners, nobody knows better than Vladi Private Islands in determining which islands are habitable and which are remote."

http://www.vladi-private-islands.de/tunnel.html

Islands, the stuff of almost universal fantasy. And reality, for a lucky few.....

$8 BILLION in NE Second Homes

Península de Maraú- Second home building site

An article from the newspaper, Diario do Nordeste focuses on the accelerating groundswell of foreigners purchasing second homes in Brazil's Northeast. Groups of real estate investors- mostly Scandinaivan, British, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian- are investing heavily in NE Brazil to build residential condominiums.

According to a recent ADIT study, R$16 Billion (US$8 Billion) will be invested in 80,000 houses and apartments over the next 8 years.

BILLION Dollars a year!

http://diariodonordeste.globo.com/materia.asp?codigo=456499



NEGÓCIOS
‘Gringos’ de olho nas casas do NE
São Paulo.

Nos próximos oito anos serão comercializados cerca de 80 mil imóveis na região, segundo pesquisa da Adit

O mercado de turismo residencial destinado a estrangeiros deve movimentar cerca de R$ 16 bilhões no Nordeste do Brasil nos próximos oito anos. Serão comercializados cerca de 80 mil casas e apartamentos. A expectativa é da Adit (Associação para o Desenvolvimento Imobiliário e Turístico do Nordeste Brasileiro), que reúne 52 empresas e entidades do setor. Nos últimos anos, o número de estrangeiros, principalmente europeus, interessados em comprar casa no Nordeste brasileiro cresceu.

Grupos de investidores imobiliários, a maioria portugueses e espanhóis, estão vindo ao país para construir grandes condomínios residenciais de férias para seus conterrâneos. Por causa dessa nova vocação turística, a Embratur está fazendo uma pesquisa sobre o perfil do turismo residencial. ´Sentimos que essa é uma tendência mundial. As pessoas estão propensas a ter uma segunda casa fora de seus países´´, diz José Francisco Lopes, diretor de estudos e pesquisas.

A última pesquisa da Embratur sobre demanda internacional mostrou que 4,6% dos estrangeiros que procuraram o Brasil como destino turístico em 2005 disseram ter residência fixa no país.

New Highway(s)

Península de Maraú- Native only sustainable landscaping, bromeliads and local plants

Nine months after construction began, the final link in the Linha Verde ("Green Line") Tourism Highway BA-001 nears completion. Construction of the bridge across the Rio de Contas at Itacaré, which will complete the Linha Verde, is also well advanced.

Breaking News.....

Information just received indicates Federal Highway BR 030 will be completely rebuilt and improved using quality gravel excavated from the new BA 001 Linha Verde highway roadbed. Because of its chronically poor condition, we like to call the BR 030 the "Highway-We-Love-To-Hate". The "Love" part is because poor access has pros as well as cons!

BR 030 bumpity bumps from Ubaitaba on BR 001 Highway down to the Península and the port at Campinhos near its end. When and if the work is completed, an all new BR 030 Highway will bring enormous advantages.

But we also think the disadvantages a paved highway would bring to our culturally, economically and geographically vulnerable Península- may largely be avoided. The typical airport-tour bus conveyor belt- so necessary to feed mass production gingerbread resorts- avoids the unpaved highway. 'Camp followers'- bandidos, prostitutes and drug dealers- gravitate to the city lights and mammoth tourist castles.

"State Highway BA-001 Construction, Camamu-Itacaré in Progress"

By Benjamin Kromayer - SOS-Itacaré, 21 October, 2006
(partial translation from Portuguese: http://www.sos-itacare.org/news+M5aff22855f5.html?&cHash=14a00a83d5)

Construction of the final link in the "Linha Verde" Tourism Highway began in September, 2006, with earthmoving and grading advancing 8 kilometers from Camamú toward (its completion at) Itacaré.

According to engineers from ECLA, work on the Camamú to BR 030 stretch (Maraú Península Highway) has encountered no significant technical problems.

Remainder of article (Portuguese) and photos at:
http://www.sos-itacare.org/news+M5aff22855f5.html?&cHash=14a00a83d5

Full article........

Construção da BA-001 Camamu-Itacaré já está em andamento

Autor: Benjamin Kromayer

A segunda reunião do Grupo Inter-institucional de Acompanhamento (GIA) foi realizada nos dias 17 e 18 de outubro de 2006 em Camamu

A obra da estrada foi iniciada em setembro 2006, e as terraplenagens e cortes já avançaram em uns 8 km de Camamu em direção a Itacaré.

Segundo os engenheiros responsáveis pela obra (da ECLA), os trabalhos no trecho Camamu até a BR-030 até agora não apresentaram dificuldades técnicas significativos.

Mesmo assim, a obra está avançando em tempo moderado, pelas seguintes razões:

As chuvas expressivas desde setembro causaram várias interrupções dos trabalhos bem como necessidade de repetição de compactação de terra.
Para conseguir um nivelamento aceitável, o relevo acidentado do trecho requer constantes cortes e aterros.
A hidrologia complexa da região implica em implantações freqüentes de manilhas, bueiros pontilhões e pontes (os cursos de água mais expressivos do trecho são o Rio Baiano e o Rio de Contas).
A vegetação do trecho é densa, assim precisando de supressão ou desvio do traçado em pequenos segmentos.
Alguns sítios arqueológicos foram encontrados no caminho que atualmente estão sendo escavadas para slavação por arqueólogos da UFBA, implicando suspensão temporária da obra nos referentes segmentos e até desvio do traçado em dois casos.
Foram encontradas lamas em algumas baixadas onde há necessidade de substituir toda a lama por material mais estável.

Foi informado que as máquinas não entraram ainda no trecho da BR-030 até Itacaré, porque o IBAMA não autorizou ainda a supressão da vegetação, solicitando principalmente redefinição do traçado na descida para o Rio de Contas no lado Norte, para desviar de uma área de densa Mata Atlântica (o que está sendo feito). O trecho entre Itacaré e a BR-030 caracteriza-se por trechos maiores e mais preservados de Mata Atlântica, ao contrário do trecho Camamu-BR-030 cuja vegetação é mais esparsa.

Entre as diversas jazidas (extração de mineral para construção) licenciadas, não foram ainda definidos os locais definitivos de mineração, mas os engenheiros afirmaram que a preferência seria de usar só um lugar em vez de vários.

Indagados sobre os procedimentos adotados para retirada e destino do material lenhoso conforme condicionante de licenciamento da obra, os engenheiros informaram que na o material lenhoso suprimido era fracionado e transportado para outros locais e que muitos donos de terras desapropriadas já tinham cortado e levado a madeira das suas áreas antes de desocupá-las. Além disso, o trecho inicial passaria, na maior parte, por áreas sem vegetação aproveitável (áreas roçadas).

Quanto aos diversos Planos e Projetos exigidos como condicionantes da obra, o DERBA informou:

que o Programa de Monitoramento do Ruído estava sendo atendido através medições do nível de ruído dos diversos ambientes antes da entrada das máquinas da obra e durante os trabalhos, e com adaptações de horário de trabalho e de funcionamento da pedreira;
que o Programa de Controle dos Recursos Hídricos implicava em coletas de provas dos rios antes, durante e depois da obra e já houve coleta e análise inicial;
que, do Programa de Educação Ambiental, já foram realizadas algumas atividades com os operários da obra, enquanto a parte que trata com as comunidades que vivem nos entornos da obra ainda não foi iniciada. Informaram que essa parte seria terceirizada através contratação de empresa.;
que, para atender ao Plano de Monitoramento da Cobertura Vegetal, foi construído um viveiro para armazenar mudas de espécies endêmicas para replantio nas margens da rodovia após término da obra. Foi informado que, porém, boa parte do replantio será feito com gramíneas e mudas produzidas ou adquiridas em outros viveiros;
que o Plano de Emergência Ambiental já implicou na formação de uma equipe de segurança, sob liderança de um engenheiro de segurança no trabalho especialmente contratado, e que foram realizados treinamentos de uso do equipamento de segurança para os operários;
que o Plano de Resgate da Fauna tinha sua realização efetuada por um veterinário da construtora, mas que até agora não foram encontrados significativas ocorrências de vida silvestre no traçado da obra;
que o Plano de Identificação dos Sítios Arqueológicos estava sendo realizado por arqueólogos da UFBA que já diagnosticaram toda a área da estrada e identificaram vários sítios de significância arqueológica (tanto históricos como pré-coloniais) no traçado. Esse sítios foram demarcados com placas e as equipes atualmente estariam trabalhando no levantamento e salvamento do material identificado, principalmente cacos de cerâmica e moedas, mas também construções históricas e até uma linha de ferrovia, esse últimos implicando modificação do traçado da estrada em dois lugares. Foi informado que haverá um lugar de exibição pública do material encontrado.

Os integrantes do GIA do terceiro setor e do poder público apontaram algumas preocupações e solicitaram soluções aos responsáveis da obra, entre elas:

O trecho de Camamu à BR-030 da nova rodovia passa pelo mini-corredor prioritário da Mata Atlântica Central, definido pelo Sub-Comitê da Reserva da Biosfera da Mata Atlântica (RBMA). Representantes do Subcomitê alertaram que precisam ser tomados cuidados ambientais especiais em consequência desse fato. Em resposta, os engenheiros da obra solicitaram a estes representantes mais informações sobre o assunto.

Foi solicitado, aos responsáveis, que as sementes para replantio de espécies nativas sejam adquiridas na própria região, para evitar a introdução de espécies com características genéticas potencialmente diferentes da região.

Foi alertado que o tradicional plantio de grama mono-cultural nos taludes (cortes laterais) da estrada não era o ideal e que se buscasse alternativas por espécies nativas. Os engenheiros concordaram, mas ressalvaram que a busca e implantação de alternativas dessa natureza não podiam causar atrasos na obra. O representante da ONG Yonic informou que a entidade está realizando cursos de jardinagem em Itacaré para formar operários locais que possam realizar o replantio das margens da estrada. Sugeriu também o uso de fibra de coco para na fixação das camadas superiores de terra dos taludes, durante fase de plantio e crescimento inicial da vegetação.

Indagados sobre a possibilidade de mudança conceitual referente a construção da estrada em consequência da recente mudança do governo do estado, os representantes do estado e do órgão financiador (BNB) mostraram confiança que não haverá interferência, até porque o PRODETUR é um programa nacional com prazos e metas estabelecidos pelo próprio Ministério de Turismo.

Ao saber, que no projeto da estrada não há uma proposta de atendimento sócio-econômico das comunidades que vivem nos entornos da estrada, as ONGs presentes ofereceram de elaborar e enviar uma proposta integrada de complementação do Programa de Educação Ambiental, visando principalmente melhorar o atendimento às comunidades dos entornos da estrada, potencialmente incluindo um levantamento fundiário, um diagnóstico sócio-econômico, e um programa de orientação dos moradores dos entornos.
Foi combinado o prazo de 2 semanas para entrega do projeto.

O grupo realizou uma visita em campo do trecho onde as obras estão em andamento.

Na visita, ficou aparente que habitam muitas pessoas nos laterais da estrada e que a construção até agora não considerou suficientemente as necessidades dessas pessoas, criando situações de comprometimento da segurança das pessoas, principalmente das muitas crianças que ali vivem.

No dia seguinte, foram apresentados ao GIA as sugestões de alguns representantes de organizações do terceiro setor de Itacaré e Ilhéus que ficaram impedidos para participar do evento.

Entre essas sugestões, destacaram-se:

Pedido de fortalecimento da APA Camamu e acompanhamento da criação do zoneamento e do plano de manejo da APA Camamu que vem sendo elaborado pela empresa ECOSISTEMA (Curitiba).
Pedido de implementação de ciclovias no asfalto onde há proximidade de povoados. Os engenheiros se comprometeram a estudar a viabilidade do pedido e implementá-lo se for confirmada essa possibilidade.
Pedido de alargamento do asfalto do padrão de 80cm para a largura de um veículo. Os engenheiros responderam que esse pedido não podia ser atendido, mas que iam promover a construção de “refúgios” emergenciais freqüentes ao longo da via.
Pedido de identificação dos atrativos turísticos da região, bem como seus acessos a partir da estrada, e que sejam providenciados acesso público, sinalização e infra-estrutura cabível (estacionamentos, mirantes etc.) para valorizar a estrada, seus entornos, e as comunidades que neles vivem. O GIA sugeriu que a identificação desses atrativos seja integrado no projeto do diagnóstico a ser elaborado pelo Grupo de Trabalho de ONGs do GIA.

Native Landscaping

Península de Maraú- Pumpkins & Croton volunteers from below our verandah

The landscaping and gardening my wife Susie has employed for 3 years near the beach on the Península is unusual- if not unique along the coast of Brazil. The major reason is foreshore vegetation is often peremptorily bulldozed to create house pads for new developments. The weaker, and at last declining reason: immigrant cultural baggage which has usually promoted use of plants and landscape styles imported from the "old country"- Portugal, Germany, Italy, England, etc.

The style, if we really must give it a name- natural, or indigenous species coastal tropical landscaping. Overused, these terms don't tell us a lot: What is NOT 'natural', can we say? But a reference to a worldclass icon of landscape gardening may help: Susie knew Roberto Burle Marx in Rio de Janeiro when we lived there the last 20 years of his life. From contact with him, a fellow Carioca or native of Rio, and his work throughout the city, her lifelong passion for gardening in Southern California, Western Australia and Costa Rica- found direction here in her own country.

The influence was not only Burle Marx's at-the-time ground breaking (no pun) proselytizing on behalf of Brazil's exuberant, indigenous species. It was the integration of a flourishing extant local ('wild') vegetation with carefully modulated human life spaces. The idea, of course- blur the boundaries between design and nature, throughout the habitable area.

The botanical bases for this approach are two. The most unique is the Atlantic Tropical Rain Forest ('Mata Atlantica'), which today covers barely 5% of its pre colonization area. The other, the "Mata de Restinga"- in the vernacular, a sandspit vegetation. This often overlooked plant life crowds the foreshore and protects the dunal consolidation process in progress between beach and rain forest. A big reason why it is overlooked is because coastal development projects typically bulldoze it to make room for houses. That we know of, there are only one or two other individuals in Brazil who pursue natural regeneration of an extremely fragile tropical, coastal vegetation.

The continuum between the two includes a number of subspecies of giant bromeliads, 2 meters plus up in the air in the forest as as the ground, orchids, extremely attractive palm like bushes, tiny flowers. When we found the place over 3 years ago, it was a much different story. Absolutely blanketed with vines suppressing the native vegetation, blocking the light- we eventually got rid of it. The third component which merges with the native vegetation is a 100 year old coconut plantation.

The three life systems do very well together, thank you very much!

Investment Grade Brazil

Península de Maraú- Native only landscaping, 30 meters from the beach.

Latin America Monitor, Vol 24, Issue 5, May 2007, suggests Brazil for the first time may be about to join the select Investment Grade Country Club. The 'Country of the Future' about to get serious. Complete analysis of fundamentals which seem excellent for sustained, long term growth.

"How Long Before Investment Grade?"

Following the change in Brazil's methodology for calculating GDP and the subsequent upward revision, investors are wondering how long it will be before Brazil gets upgraded to investment grade status. We think it is another piece of the puzzle that will help Brazil reach investment grade status within the next one or two years.


While both Standard & Poor's and Moody's have played down the good GDP news, we still remain upbeat with regard to Brazil's prospects of achieving investment grade status in the next one to two years. Indeed, while Moody's state that its "fundamental credit perspectives are not change by statistical adjustments of this type', we at BMI see the GDP revision as another piece of good news that supports our bullishness on Brazil. The most import net implication, in our view, is that gross public debt as a percentage of GDP- which has long weighed on Brazil's upgrades- has declined from 60% to 53% of GDP in 2006, and is set to decline futher as potential real GDP growth is higher now. This implies that Brazil has a lower public debt to GDP ratio than investment grade countries such as Hungary and Israel. However, while this is an encouraging development, these levels are still very high. According to S&P's sovereign risk indicators they are almost double that of the median 32.5% for BBB investment grade countires. While Brazil's public debt load is still very high as a percentage of GDP, most of Brazil's public debt is owed domestically..........

In sum, despite Brazil's shortcomings, we believe that fundamentals are sturdier than they have ever been which, in our veiw, will allow the economy to experience a sustained period of above trend economic growth. As such, we see potential for Brazil to reach investment grade status within the next one or two years.

Records Broken

Península de Maraú- Early dusk on a winter's day

Brazilian Tourism Breaks Records This Year, Including Foreign Funds
by Nielmar de Oliveira, Brazzil Mag
Thursday, 31 May 2007

Brazil's tourism ended the first four months of 2007 with four record figures: the number of domestic arrivals on regular flights (commercial), the total of domestic arrivals (on commercial and chartered flights), the volume of foreign funds (foreigner's expenses in the country) and the tourist bilateral trade (sector expenses plus revenues).

http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/8308/54/


This information is included in the 14th Tourism Economic Performance Bulletin, published by Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV), together with the Ministry of Tourism, with some sector results for the period from January to April.

The study shows, for example, that the number of domestic arrivals (passengers) on regular flights in April was 4.15 million. The previous record had been in January, when there were 4.11 million arrivals.

In the accumulated result for the first four months of the year, the figure reached 16.4 million, an increase of 9.1% over the same period in 2006. The study shows that the result was powered by the growth of arrivals on regular flights (commercial).

The volume of foreign currency revenues, the expenses of foreigners in the country, reached, in the first four months of the year, US$ 1.332 billion - a result 9.7% greater than in the same period last year.

This result is the greatest obtained since the sector started being evaluated. Such growth occurred in spite of a 8.79% reduction in the number of the foreign tourists coming to Brazil in the first three months of this year.

The last record in tourist bilateral trade (revenues plus expenses) was also a highlight for having ended the period at US $ 2.925 billion, 18.9% over the total for the same period in 2006.

Island-Lake-etc vs Peninsula/Lake-etc

The Island-Lake-Island-Lake-Island-Lake combination.

Go to>>> Island and Lake Combinations


Peninsula de Maraú: Ocean-Peninsula-Lake-Peninsula-Lake-Peninsula-Bay

Go to>>> ~Photo Sets~

~Photo Slideshow~

Investment Boom

Península de Maraú- Península tip from the air.

European investors, notably those from Portugal, UK, Spain, Scandinavia, italy- have joined the Gold Rush to the Northeast of Brazil. The rate at which resort, second residential and hotel construction is proceeding is breathtaking. And of all Northeast states, Bahia leads the pack. A nd Bahia also leads the rest of Brazil in tourist development.

Bahia - A Tourist Hotspot

A new report by the Brazilian Ministry of Tourism has identified Bahia as a key tourist hotspot that is set for a boom in visitor numbers and wealth over the next few years.


Bahia has been particularly successful in transforming itself from a state with an agricultural base to one that leads the way in tourism. It has achieved this by implementing a 3 stage policy that stretches right back to the 70’s, when it initially identified the areas that had the highest tourist potential.

It subsequently developed a programme of policies aimed at enhancing the culinary, religious, craft and cultural reputation of the state in order to complement the fantastic natural landscape already present.

First and foremost of these new destinations is Belmonte, a town of 18,000 residents that currently has just 180 hotel beds, which is set for investment of more than £84 million as developers and hotel chains from England, Spain, France and Switzerland plan the construction of 5 resorts in the area.

The investment amounts to around 28 times the current GDP of the area and will add more than 1100 rooms, creating nearly 2,000 jobs for the area, a process which the secretary for Tourism in Belmonte, Eraclito Lima Santana said would cause, “a radical change in the economic profile of the area”.

Runaway Beach?

Península de Maraú. View through the coconuts-

Article in the Guardian, February 24, 2007 re: last 2 decades at remote Jericoacoara, Ceara fishing village cum destination.

Or as its close friends call it- 'Jeri. Tourism at this remote (8 hours by bus from Fortaleza's international airport). "Discovered" by Washington Post journalist 2 decades ago, quickly segued into an international windsurfing/kitesurfing and 'cool' Brazilian beach destination.

'Jeri's' development boom- could it be in store for the rather less remote Península de Maraú, too? 1 hour air taxi from Salvador's International Airport. Or 3 hours by car from Ilhéus Airport with an International Airport in the pipeline there, too.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2007/feb/24/saturday.beach.brazil


Runaway Beach

Everyone wants to find his own little piece of paradise. The cracks only begin to appear when the word gets out. Doug Lansky charts the rise and rise of a remote Brazilian fishing village.

The Guardian Saturday February 24 2007


Jose Diego Martins greets me with a lingering handshake. "I don't understand tourism," he says. Over the past 20 years, this 80-year-old fisherman has watched as his sleepy Brazilian village has morphed first into backpacker paradise, then bustling tourist destination that is attracting charter packages from Europe.

This is the story of how Jericoacoara, virtually isolated from the outside world, became an international destination - in 2004 it was voted best beach in the world by Lonely Planet - and where it goes from here. As Alberto Magalhaes, a Brazilian tourist who's been visiting "Jeri" for nearly 20 years, puts it: "If there's a corner on this earth where heaven and hell meet, it must be here."

If one man can be said to be responsible for the rise of Jericoacoara, it is surely Cal Fussman, an American freelance writer who back in 1987 was travelling around South America when an editor from the Washington Post asked him if he knew of a great beach in Brazil for a feature they were doing. He replied that a Swiss backpacker had tipped him off about an incredible place in the northeast, but that it was difficult to get to and few outsiders had ever visited. Fussman was immediately dispatched to investigate.

On January 10 he boarded a bus in Fortaleza, about 300km down the coast, with 60 other passengers (all Brazilian). The date was easy to remember because, he says: "I met my wife on that bus ride."

His subsequent story included this passage: "Tourists started coming to Jericoacoara only six years ago. One of the first to arrive told me that the village existed in a former time, that in Jericoacoara paper money had little value and, if you wanted to stay, you bartered with clothes or a bag of rice. With tourists now more than willing to ride eight hours in a bus over paved roads and another 45 minutes in the back of pickup trucks over sand dunes just to get there, money has taken on a new importance. For a dollar or two a day, a fisherman will hang a hammock for you in his living room or on his front porch."

Read the full content……

Did Fussman expect his story to have such a dramatic impact? "Not really. I figured the place was an ecological preserve without much room to grow; it had no hotels or restaurants, and it was an awfully long plane ride from the US to Rio or Sao Paulo, then up to Fortaleza, then eight hours on a bus. And to go through all that just to sleep in a fisherman's hammock."

He was right. Americans weren't inspired to visit, but an editor at Brazil's Vision magazine read the article and wondered how such a paradise had eluded Brazilians. Soon Jeri was splashed across the Brazilian media; the Washington Post had - predating Lonely Planet by some 17 years - declared it the world's most beautiful beach.

Except it hadn't. The Post had run a photograph of Jeri on the cover of its magazine with the headline "The world's best beaches beckon". Inside was Fussman's tale, plus two others: one from Sanibel Island in Florida and one on Mombasa in Kenya. There was no ranking of beaches, just this rather random grouping. "Beaches aren't like wine, with a list of criteria that can be judged by experts," says Fussman. "It was just an editorial decision, and with a little imagination you can almost hear their rationale: 'Hey, Fussman is down in South America, let's ask him. OK, now we've got this remote Jerico-something place and we need another domestic one to balance it. How about picking seashells in Florida? That should do. And we probably need something from Africa as well so it'll look like we've got the world covered.'"

As the Brazilian media revved its engine, Jeri became the place for hip, adventurous Brazilians. And Fabio Nobre, who was running a 4x4 tour company out of Fortaleza, was in the perfect position to take them there. "For that first year or two I could charge almost any price for a direct ride there," he says. "I started at $80 and my rate peaked at about $250."

Fast forward 20 years and it's still $250 for a private Land Rover ride to Jeri. There's electricity now, plus two ice cream shops and seven jewellery stores, but unchaperoned cows, donkeys and horses still wander the sandy roads, locals still play football on the beach at sunset, and anyone with a couple of bottles of rum, a cooler full of ice and a card table can set up a bar to sell caipirinhas.

The image that drew me to Jeri, though, was one I found on the web of a dune buggy being transported across a river on a rickety wooden raft barely bigger than the buggy itself. Buggy and raft were each hugely appealing, but the combination was like a double scoop of adventure with chocolate sauce. So it was that my wife and I decided to do something different with the paternity/maternity leave we were owed following the birth of our third child. We locked up our home in Sweden and headed for Jeri.

The reality didn't disappoint. At least, not for the first few weeks. I spent at least two hours a day pursuing my dream of becoming a windsurf/kitesurf bum in the 28C waters and legendary wind. (It blows six months of the year, from July through December, at between 18 and 35 knots. Every. Single. Day.) I taught my five-year-old daughter to surf on the gentle wave break in the late afternoons. When the waves got too big, we put on lifejackets and surfed them together in a wave kayak, laughing as we balanced precariously for 50-metre rides. In the mornings, after gorging on more fresh fruit than you'd find on Carmen Miranda's head, we sandsurfed (on snowboards with Velcro bindings) down dunes before the sun and wind turned the desertscape into a massive convection oven. And while my five-year-old attended the local primary school, I spent at least an hour swimming with my two youngest (aged one and two) in the hotel's pool.

When we could muster the energy, we pushed the buggy through the heavy sand and took the whole family to the beach for sunset. We sipped caipirinhas, listened to bossa nova, and bought banana cakes from the banana cake lady, cheese kebabs from the cheese kebab lady and chicken kebabs from ... As the sunlight faded, the local capoeira club (no-contact dance-fighting) would begin their daily training, a show with more entertaining acrobatic moves than anything you'll see at the Olympics.

With the help of a babysitter, my wife and I dined out twice a week - about two times a week more than we could manage back home. The lack of tourist families made us feel we had stumbled upon something special.

With 135 pousadas (rooms, guest houses, hostels and small hotels) to choose from no one is camping out in fishermen's homes anymore, but one endearing link with Jeri's past is the line of credit that gets extended to anyone who sets foot in town - mostly because no one seems to have change. Try to buy an ice cream or a fruit juice with the equivalent of a pounds 10 note and they'll hand you your food and just tell you to come back and pay later when you have small change. Keeping a mental ledger becomes a challenge; at one point, I must have owed eight people less than pounds 1 in total, and not for lack of money in my wallet.

A funny thing happens when you live in paradise for three months: after a while it just starts to feel like life. And the downside to picking a remote, not very child-friendly destination for our sabbatical was that it wasn't - surprise, surprise - that great for the kids. Just three degrees south of the equator, our children, even with sunscreen, could only last an hour or two in the sun. And there aren't many interesting things to do in the shade. Our five-year-old began to miss her friends so much she would cry regularly, and all three of them were jetlagged for what seemed like a month. We started to feel like prisoners in our tiny room. My wife confided that she was missing personal space so much that she wanted to return to the vastness of our Lilliputian house in Sweden.

Other cracks began to appear, cracks you don't often see on a standard holiday: the hotel staff, for example, became so friendly they started to share their gripes on a daily basis, and at breakfast we listened as the hotel owner told the same three stories to each new guest.

We were also in Jeri long enough to become mildly disillusioned. Towards the end of our stay, I watched 40 Finns waddle up the beach behind a tour leader holding a Finnish flag. Patricia Tholen, a 40-year-old from the Netherlands who had been working in Jeri for a year, said: "I was in shock. If this is the future of Jeri, it's not for me."

Jeri managed to maintain its charm for more than a decade because few people had heard of it, it was difficult to get to, Brazil was notorious for violence and there were few comfortable places to stay. Now the word is out, and there is an 82-room boutique hotel and an even pricier rustic-chic resort with stilted bungalows. Nevertheless, access - an indirect flight to Fortaleza followed by a six-hour drive - is still an issue. A proposed airport just 32km from Jeri may change that.

Brazil's parliament is also debating a bill that would allow expansion of the town. If Jeri grows and direct charter flights start landing at a new airport, the town could be caught in the crosshairs of a hyper-accelerated commercial development programme that would reduce the capoeira artists to plastic figures that do flips out of a Happy Meal box. Local entrepreneurs are fighting for control of their future; they are trying to raise funds to have Jeri declared a city so they can get their own mayor. The question is: will Jeri go the way of mass-market Cancun or of protected Fernando de Noronha (a nearby island with expensive visiting permits and maximum of 420 tourists at any one time)?

"It's almost axiomatic," Paul Theroux once wrote, "that as soon as a place gets a reputation for being paradise it goes to hell." Jeri hardly felt like hell, but I had never witnessed a place making such a fast transition. Only five years earlier, well-pierced backpackers had sat where wealthy Italians were now resting their cocktails. And the money that once went to local fishermen is now going into the pockets of Italian, British and American hotel owners. At least Jeri won't have to worry about losing one of its residents. "I will never sell," says Jose Diego Martins. "Other places are not like here. This is a special paradise."



Getting there



Flights to Fortaleza via Lisbon from Heathrow or Gatwick cost pounds 699 on TAP Air Portugal, bookable through STA Travel (0871 230851, statravel.co.uk). Most hotels can arrange for a car to pick you up at the airport for the six-hour drive to Jericoacoara.

Where to stay

Vila Kalango, rustic-chic on the beach, doubles from US$120 (vilakalango.com.br). Or Pousada Nova Era, clean, friendly staff, free yoga, central, lovely garden, doubles from US$45 (jericoacoara.tur.br/novaera/en/index.html).

Further information

Country code: 00 55.

Flight time London-Lisbon: 2hrs 30mins; Lisbon-Fortaleza 7hrs.

Time difference: -5hrs.

£1 = 3.78 reals.