Eye on Brazil

Eye on Brazil

2016 - A Dream Come True

When I heard that Rio de Janeiro had won the right to host the olympics in 2016, I like many others was estatic. I remember back in 1997 when Rio was trying for the first time to qualify, and that was for the 2004 olympics. Little by little, year after year, Brazil rose in terms of credibility and stature. I think some of the things that proved to make a diffrence were Brazil's work with alternative fuels, and the fact that they have weathered the economic recession pretty well for a country of their size. The president of Brazil, Luiz Ignacio da Silva, make a good point when he showed how many times the olympics had been held in other countries and continents, yet never in south America. The Brazilian people deserved this one, it will bring even more credibility and investment to their country, but the biggest winner by far is Rio, since she will be shined to a diamond bright and hopefully some of the crime and social problems will be addressed

Making Dreams Come True

When I started renting apartments in Rio, I realized that people who came there were individuals who were searching for something. Whether it was a quiet beach, a new romance, or an adventure, they all shared a common quest. I could tell right away what category they fit in, from the couples that were seeking a romantic enviroment, to the backpackers who were looking for a cheap place to stay on their way through. A lot of single guys go to Rio and never even see the wonders of the place, and that always troubled me. There are so many things to see, so many beautiful magical places, all within a half hour's radius of Rio. But if you extend your circle to include Angra dos Reis to the south or Buzios to the north, you cannot imagine the beauty of this state of Rio de Janeiro

Fluctuating currency

I first moved to Rio in Oct '94 since my wife is Brazilian and we wanted to spend more time with my newborn son. We arrived there when the "plano real" (currency) was first installed and was one to one with the dollar. As time went by, the real started to fall and by the time the "Asian economic crisis" hit in 1997, the real was 1.8 to the dollar. We left in December and watched from the U.S. as it continued to deteriorate. By the time 2001 rolled around, the real was 3 to 1 with the dollar and then Sept 11 hit.
We decided right then that we were going back to Rio, bad or good, since almost everyone in the world had lost perspective and our priorities had changed from material to emotional. We arrived in Rio in Aug of 2002 and the real was already 3.5 to the dollar. We saw it go down, down, down and hit 3.99 but not 4. The government was buying dollars to prop up the real. The Iraq war started in 2003 and the dollar began it's tumble. The election of Lula (Brazil's president) helped build hope and investors started believing that Brazil was a formidable partner, abeit emerging.
As the dollar declined, the violence in Rio rose, the favelas grew and the tourism business took a hit. The gringo dollars became scarcer and the operators slashed prices to stay in business. I saw people grow more savvy (on both sides - tourist and owners) and saw my commision diminish to half. I could no longer justify trips to the airport to pick up clients, nor free cell phones.
We saw the dollar drop as low as 1.50 and people were complaining that it just wasn't worth it anymore, especially when Mexico or the Bahamas was so close and so cheap. Still, it is hard to match the magic of Rio de Janeiro, or Brazil. Now, as the economic situation in the U.S. grows worse, the dollar for some strange reason has begun to rise again. Economics I do not understand.

Apartments for rent in Rio de Janeiro

I have rented apartments in Rio de Janeiro for the last 7 years. I started back in 2001 when I was living in Seattle, Wa. My mother in law, who lives in Rio de Janeiro, had a couple of apartments sitting idle and I decided to put one of them on Ebay for a one week rent. I rented it out a couple of times using this method and soon realized that I should create a website and place them online. I started getting more and more traffic and requests and soon realized I should make a business out of it.

We moved to Rio de Janeiro in August of 2002 and I officially went into the business of renting apartments. I was one of a handful of rental agencies back then that catered to vacation travelers and businessmen. I started out with a website called http://www.spectralight.net/ and soon saw myself at the top of google.com. As the years passed, I decided to diversify and bought the domain http://www.apartmentsinrio.com/. While numbering well over 150 apartments, even then, I was still being bombarded with requests from local owners to put their apartments online. Since I found that consolidating servers was more economical (and easier to manage) I obtained a new domain with http://www.riovacationrentals.com/ and now have over 250 apartments registered.

Now I am faced with five or ten times the competition as when I first started, it is easy for just about anyone to create a website and put an apartment online. I guess what singles me out from the rest of the competition is the length of time I have been doing it, and the insight that I have from years of experience of living and working in Rio de Janeiro. I can be contacted for anything concerning Rio, whether it is renting or buying apartments, or knowing which restaurant has the best deal on sushi. I have a passion for all things Rio, let me help you figure out what is worth the time and money