The Other Búzios

Much is made of the natural beauty of Búzios, whether in travel articles, photographic essays, or tourism promotions — adjectives like stunning, gorgeous, breathtaking and spectacular abound, not to mention the incredibly overused It's a paradise. Búzios has been the backdrop for several television soap operas and countless fashion shows, and is now the preferred choice in Brazil for what's called "destination weddings," all for the simple reason that Búzios is stunning and the views are spectacular. Mark and I live here in large part because of the beauty around us. Look at our own view, for goodness' sake — does this not stir one's soul?

If the people who work in the tourism industry had their druthers, though, they would whisk their clients straight from the airports right into their Búzios lodgings or onto the beaches in buses with heavily-tinted windows. Since that's neither possible nor practical, most visitors to this dazzling resort do get plenty of opportunity to see the other Búzios, the much-less-glamorous Búzios, the Búzios that photographers and copy writers are paid to ignore. Today I feel like giving this other Búzios a little recognition:

A Suitcase in Berlin

"I still have a suitcase in Berlin 
That's why I have to go there sometime soon. 
The joys of days gone by 
Are all still in my little suitcase.  

I still have a suitcase in Berlin 
It stays there, too, and that makes sense. 
In this way it's worth a trip, 
Because whenever I'm homesick, then I go back."*

Nobody delivers Ich hab' noch einen koffer in Berlin like Marlene Dietrich, though Hildegard Knef, with whom Marlene "shares" the above video, comes close. The lyrics are evocative, poignant, and tug especially hard at the heartstrings of those of us who live far from our former homes and have bits and pieces of our lives folded, boxed and stored all over the place. A friend of ours here in Búzios, a chef, has her winter clothes hanging in a closet in Amsterdam and a trunk full of summer dresses in Cannes. Now that she's between jobs, she also has an entire restaurant's worth of kitchen equipment sitting in her mother's house up in the Brazilian mountains. Mark and I still have a couple of boxes of stuff in a basement in Massachusetts, including my 46-year-old collection of theatrical playbills, ticket stubs included. And my hard-won high school trophy pictured here — second place for original oratory in the National Forensic League's 1967 district tournament — still sits on my mother's fireplace mantle. Well, at least I think it does . . .

Virtually all of us have had the experience of leaving some of our things in our parents’ attics when we go off to college, or to settle into our first jobs. Then we start spreading out, leaving toothbrushes and a change of clothes with boyfriends/girlfriends. As we mature we start to consolidate in homes of our own. But life takes its twists and turns, we start moving and changing course, and before we realize it we once more have "stuff" all over the world, and we’re the subjects of one of George Carlin’s most brilliant riffs:

In this five-bedroom house Mark and I currently live in, we have what we call our Room of Last Resort, the fifth bedroom that just naturally turned itself into a storage room. We may not have any children who can leave their "stuff" with us in that room, but over the years this Room of Last Resort has become a repository for the personal effects of homeless or (sadder still) deceased friends. When our friend Hugo died, another friend who was clearing out his house asked if we could store some of his possessions until his family was able to come from Argentina and take charge of it all. Of course we said yes, and for at least a year we stored boxes and boxes of Hugo's personal effects. It was a bit morbid, I admit. I teared up every time I wandered into the room and something of Hugo's caught my eye. But Hugo's family finally came and took most of his stuff back to Argentina with them. They didn't take everything, though, and to this day we still have some of Hugo's stuff. Not to mention Hugo's girlfriend's artwork, which hung all over his house. Living now in Buenos Aires, she's told us that she doesn't want the art back — it's too painful for her. So that, too, sits in our Room of Last Resort.

    Some of the unclaimed artwork . . .          

                     
. . . in our Room of Last Resort.








And then there are our temporarily dispossessed friends. We stored a king-sized mattress and box spring set for a former employee of ours for six months, while he was in the northeast of Brazil going through his final training for work on Petrobras offshore platforms. And if you read my prior blog post, you'll recall I spoke of a friend who lost her house in a landslide in December. Whatever she was able to salvage is now stored in three places, and one of those places is — you guessed it — our Room of Last Resort. Sie hat noch einen koffer in Búzios.

*Ralph Maria Siegel, composer/Aldo von Pinelli, lyrics

It Could Have Been Worse

Dear Diary,

Dear Hugo

Whew, we made it through another Christmas/New Year in Búzios! This year Mark and I played it smart, we stocked the house with food and drink and staples before Christmas, and any day-to-day needs we had for fresh fruits and vegetables we took care of on foot. You should have seen the bumper-to-bumper traffic, and you should have seen the tempers flaring. I always have to remind myself, it’s as bad as this at high season in the Hamptons, it’s as bad as this at high season in St. Tropez . . . but you know this already, I’ve been complaining to you for years. This year our neighborhood was amazingly quiet. We had a small New Year’s Eve dinner celebration with just a few friends and even the electricity cooperated all night! So for the first time in many a year, I had no complaints. As Hugo, an old friend of ours, used to say, It could have been worse.




But for others, unfortunately, it was much, much worse this year. There was that devastating storm I told you about on December 18^th, remember? It was the most violent storm Búzios had experienced in 17 years! Well, we were okay because we’re up on a hill. A leak here, a leak there, nothing that towels couldn’t sop up. But on the day after the storm there was Búzios being declared a disaster area on national television news! Many low-lying areas were completely flooded. And we just learned that a friend of ours, who was traveling at the time of the storm, returned to a house that had been destroyed by a landslide of mud and trees that came down from the mountain behind her house. She stayed with us for a while, fairly shell-shocked. I suppose Hugo would say that it could have been worse for her — she could have been in her house at the time.

Some of our unfortunate new public transportation systems here in Búzios . . .

And I didn’t tell you about another friend, who was riding along on her motor scooter on New Year’s Eve day when she was side-swiped by a car. She ended up spending New Year’s Eve in the hospital emergency room, can you imagine? And she told us about the long line of people waiting to be X-rayed, the majority of whom had also been in traffic accidents that day. I’m telling you, diary, it’s crazy out there on the streets! Hundreds of thousands of people come to spend the holidays in Búzios, and all of them get angry and impatient and imprudent when they find that they can’t get where they’re going except at a crawl. Well, it could have been a lot worse for our friend. She was cut and bruised and abraded, but she survived, and with no broken bones.

Okay, diary, thanks as always for listening. Mark and I had a good start to the New Year and for that we are grateful. Brazil is gearing up for a big year ahead, and I’ve got to prepare for all the blog posts it will generate. There’s the World Cup (all soccer, all the time!); there’s always Carnaval; there’s the Presidential election (protests, corruption, crime, a no-grow economy, a failing health system — Dilma still has it in the bag); and there’s even an outside chance Brazil will accept Edward Snowden’s request for asylum, which would be an incredibly interesting turn of events. All in all, things could be a lot worse.

The Year in Pictures

HERE'S AN ALBUM OF PICTURES FROM 2013 TO HELP EASE OUR WAY INTO 2014 . . .






January — Stand-Up paddling, starting the new year with the newest water sport








February — Rehearsing for Búzios' Carnaval








March — Sailing along during Búzios Sailing Week










April — End (finally!) of the cruise ship season





 May — The traditional salt carpet festivities during Corpus Christi, and relaxing from the effort












June — A bit too much winter’s chill for La Bardot

July — Rio International Cello Encounter performs in Búzios






           August — Men’s Volleyball, South American Cup, Brazil x Chile, Brazil wins . . . duh














September — We had VIP seats for the Marathon that ran right by our house






October — Spring flowers burst on the scene

                                                   



November — High season is only just beginning, and already there's very little space to walk

December — Santa Claus kitesurfing his way to town





MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!
SEE YOU IN 2014!

Reader's Query, Part 2

. . . continuing last week’s blogpost of questions from a reader:

How much are your medical costs? (Doctor appointments are cheap where we are now.)
          Brazil has a free public health system that looks excellent on paper, but which in practice ranges from quite good to nightmarish. My husband and I don’t use the public system. We have a Danish health plan that is offered to citizens of one country who live in another. We keep the annual premium low by choosing a high deductible. We pay for medical appointments, which range from $50 to $140 or so, as we need them. We’ve never yet even come close to exhausting the deductible, so in effect we’re self-insuring, until some unexpected calamity, at which point our insurance will kick in 100%.
          We love our doctors. They spend as much time with you as you want, and their examining rooms are generally right in their offices. You don't sit in a cubicle, waiting and shivering. When you make an appointment, you’re the only patient until you’re done. If we need a medication we buy the generic, and the prices are great.

Are there hospitals and clinics in Buzios?
          There is a hospital in Búzios, yes, and we would have no qualms about going there for emergency treatment in the middle of the night. But for any serious operation or treatment we would go to Rio or São Paulo. There are several clinics in Búzios run by excellent doctors, and these serve our general medical needs. There are extremely competent specialists in the nearby town of Cabo Frio. The laboratories are as modern and up-to-date as you can get. As I write this, I realize that speaking Portuguese is vital. Not all the doctors and very few support personnel speak English.

What can you tell us about residency requirements, and/or dual citizenship?
          This is a huge question. Foreigners who want to live here legally have to research the options and choose what works for them. Start with any Brazilian consulate website for the basic information.
          One American couple we know has a house here in Búzios, but they come only on tourist visas. They stay 90 days, go to the Federal police and request a 90-day extension. So, in effect, they live here for 6 months and in the States for the other 6 months. That works for them and they're happy. But we wanted more permanency than that. Initially, my husband and I came on foreign correspondent visas, which were valid for 4 years. We then got an extension for another 4 years. After that the only other visa available to us was an investor visa, which requires an investment of a certain amount of money (the amount varies depending on the prevailing law at the time you apply) in a company that you must open and operate for a certain number of years (the number of years also varies — for friends of ours the requirement was 5 years, when we applied it was 3 years). Later you can apply for a permanent residency visa. The company that assisted us in obtaining our permanent visas is Mundivisas: www.mundivisas.com.br.
          There’s a lot more to be said about this complicated subject, but one would need lots of time and a bottle or two of sparkling wine.

Is it easy to start one’s own business?
          Are you asking because you really want to start a business and work in Búzios? No, it’s not particularly easy, and they’re changing the rules all the time. Brazilian businesses are heavily taxed, and the labor laws are intricate and onerous. We unfortunately know plenty of people who have opened businesses in Búzios, closed them after a few years, and left with considerably less money than they started with. This oft-repeated Búzios joke says it all: "How do you leave Búzios with a million dollars? Come with two million."

What cannot be shipped to Brazil? (We were only allowed to ship clothes to the place we are now, and it was a royal pain.)
          There’s no such restriction that I know of for shipping to Brazil. We shipped everything we wanted to, including books, clothes, kitchen equipment, some furniture (though we had sold much of what wouldn’t have survived the tropics), artwork — everything. There was no problem getting our shipment through customs as long as it contained nothing but used, personal effects. They opened a few boxes, saw that it was used, and away we went.

My husband and I are both 53 and if all goes well we hope to dock at the Búzios Yacht Club. Is that a good area? Where would the best place for people our age be to settle? I like to be close to great boutiques/stores for shopping.
          The Yacht Club is in a lovely neighborhood called Ossos, which is within walking distance of the center of Búzios, where most of the shopping is. But there's no "best place" for particular ages or anything like that here. Búzios is not a retirement town, though this is the town to which my husband and I seem to have de facto "retired."
          Búzios is mostly a Brazilian resort, a getaway for monied people from Rio. It also attracts loads of Argentines, Uruguayans, Chileans, Peruvians, and plenty of Europeans, mostly French and Germans. It is uncomfortably congested during high season, it is noisy, it is full of young people in full throttle and renters who come here to party (think "Fort Lauderdale during spring break" and triple it). It does calm down during low season, but one thing to keep in mind, Búzios is absolutely not Boquete, Panama or Corozal, Belize, it is not a place where you’ll find an established community of American retirees. In fact, there are very few Americans here. And although many Brazilians speak excellent English, you won’t find many speakers of English among the salespeople, cashiers, secretaries, garage mechanics, lab technicians, pharmacists, banking personnel, insurance brokers, accountants — all the people you’ll need to talk to in order to conduct your daily life. I mention this particularly because you spoke of a "language barrier" where you are now. If you don’t speak Portuguese you’ll face a language barrier here, too.

What would you say are the pros and cons of living in Búzios?
          My husband and I have never been happier, never been healthier or more stress-free, never had better friends or a higher quality of life. I am privileged to have a spectacular view that fills my heart every day. So when I balance all that against the downside of life in Brazil — crime, bureaucracy, corruption, even the annoyance I might feel when I’m up against a seemingly illogical or less-efficient way of doing something — Brazil, and specifically Búzios, still win out hands down.

Since you’re already on the continent, my best advice would be for you to come and try Búzios on for size! Give us a call and we’ll open that bottle I mentioned above!

Reader's Query, Part 1

I recently received an e-mail from someone who found her way to my blog while researching Búzios. She and her husband had moved elsewhere in South America from the U.S. They weren’t as happy as they had expected to be, and Búzios began popping up in conversations as possibly a better alternative. She asked if I could answer some questions, so I sat down, rolled up my sleeves, and here’s the result, which I will spread out over the next two blogs.

I’ve done a lot of reading, so I want to ask you about safety issues. Can you comment?
          A good first question, but a hard one to answer. Yes, my husband and I are concerned with safety, but not that much more than we were concerned with safety in New York or, for that matter, wherever we are. We try to pay attention to our surroundings. We try to stay under the radar. I don't use a pocketbook, or jewelry, so any bad guy looking to grab my purse isn't going to find it! In addition, we drive a fairly commonplace car. We pay our bills. We treat our employees with respect. Basically, we are not attractive targets. Statistically, crime in Brazil is committed by people known to the victim, with lots of vengeance crimes and family crimes, that sort of thing. Friends of ours have been assaulted here, but we have not. Are we worried about that one time we'll be in the wrong place at the wrong time? Yes. Will that make us move? I’ll get back to you on that one.

Is there any airport closer to Búzios than Rio?
          For the majority of international flights, Rio is the closest airport. There is an airport in the neighboring town of Cabo Frio (30-40 minutes away by car) that is supposed to have international capability, but they seem only to serve charters and cargo flights. Believe it or not, Búzios has an airport too, but it's used almost exclusively by celebrities and wealthy businessmen, who jet in on the weekends.

How is transportation around town? (It’s very good where we are now and there are lots of cabs.)
          Búzios is very spread out. There are cabs, there are buses, there are vans, and they run round the clock. But if you live here, it’s best to get a car.

Can you tell me about the grocery stores in Búzios? Are American products available?
          There are four large supermarkets in Búzios plus some smaller specialty stores that are more than sufficient for our needs. Products that you can't find here can usually be found in Rio. As for American products, well, I'm not sure what you mean. If you have to have Skippy peanut butter you can find it, but you'll pay for it. Brazil is not in awe of American brands, they have their own brands which are very good. Plus import duties are extremely high. But we don't go hungry here, and we're able to cook everything we want, Italian food, Indian food, even good old American barbecue!

What about shopping for clothes, tools, etc.?
          Yeah, this is a hip place, you can find what you want (except for a few things I mention in my blog, like poppy seeds, which are prohibited here). I'm not really sure what to answer. You won't find a WalMart or a Costco, but you can still shop ’til you drop if you want to. Whether or not you’ll like the South American women's clothing styles is another question. I have found the one or two clothing shops I like and stick to them.

And are clothes expensive?
          Yes and no. You can find good clothes at good prices, just don’t expect to find outlet stores.

Are restaurants expensive?
          Most people agree that Búzios restaurant prices have gone off the charts in these last years. As a result, most of our friends here, like us, eat mostly at home, and entertain at home as well. We do, however, have our favorite places, the ones that have kept the quality-to-price ratio at a sane level.

Does everything go up in cost during the high season, from December to March?
          YES, YES, AND YES. And it doesn’t necessarily go back down in low season.

My husband and I are thinking about buying a sailboat and sailing to Búzios. What can you tell me about marinas, and the facilities for yachts?
          Well, all I know about the Búzios Yacht Club is that we've been to some wedding receptions there! Otherwise I have no information, but here’s the club's web link, www.icab.esp.br. There is also a sailing club, www.buziosvelaclube.com.br.

Are there any tennis clubs?
          There used to be one, but it's now a condominium. I do see tennis courts around, some private, some possibly public. I’m sure you’ll find partners! There is also a golf course in Búzios that is said to be one of the best in Rio State, www.buziosgolf.com.br.

How about hair salons and spas?
          There are a zillion of them.

We’ll be bringing our dog with us. What can you tell us about veterinarians?
          Not only are there plenty of veterinarians in Búzios, but there are entire pet centers.

. . . to be continued next week.

FATCA

I sometimes wonder if the United States hasn’t gone stark raving mad. (And with that opening sentence I’ve probably just placed myself on the NSA watch list. Take it easy, guys. I’m not saying anything, I’m just talking here.) Now, I’m not referring to the most recent political brinkmanship that the whole world witnessed between Democrats and Republicans and that madder-than-a-Mad-Hatter Tea Party sect. I’m not talking about the absurdly-overpriced and defective medical system that the U.S. so stubbornly clings to, placing it waaay behind every other industrialized nation on earth. I’m talking about the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, the new, even more effective tax law that has crept up behind every law-abiding American citizen who lives abroad and slapped them upside the head.

A lot of Americans in the U.S. think that all Americans who live abroad get a free ride on taxes. They couldn’t be more wrong. The United States is the only country in the world that believes in citizenship-based taxation, and taxes its citizens on their worldwide income no matter where they reside. Oh, no . . . excuse me. There are two countries with citizenship-based taxation: the United States and Eritrea. Eritrea? Go figure. So American citizens all over the world must pay income tax to the country in which they are residing, as well as to the U.S., unless the countries share a tax treaty, but that’s not even totally true since the tax treaty regulations are complicated. Everyone has to figure out their own obligations, and the great majority of American citizens abroad do just that.

I get it . . . FATCA, fatcat . . . hmmm

But the U.S. Congress decided it was high time to go after wealthy Americans who hide their money in overseas accounts, thereby successfully dodging the tax bullet. Hey, I’m all for it. Offshore tax evasion is a bad thing. I pay my taxes, always have, always will (are you listening, NSA?) and I don’t like tax dodgers any more than the next guy. But in throwing this huge net over tax-dodging Americans who live in the U.S., but who have accounts overseas, the IRS has caught millions of honest, hard-working Americans who live overseas and maintain accounts in "foreign" banks for no more nefarious purpose than to pay their utility bills. That account may be foreign to the United States government, but in my mind, if it’s down the street, it’s domestic.

In an unprecedented instance of bullying, the U.S. is manipulating foreign financial institutions into become policemen for the IRS. Under threat of penalty, these institutions will now have to turn all data and information about their American clients over to the IRS. In doing so, the foreign institutions will end up breaking constitutional law in their own countries. But the U.S. sees no problem there, because it has utter contempt for other countries’ traditions, values, and Constitutions. In addition, there’s going to be a tit for that tat. If you’re a non-American resident of the U.S., listen up. In order to convince, let’s say, some German financial institution to hand over the information that the IRS wants about that institution’s American clients, the IRS will hand over to the German authorities whatever financial information it has on German citizens residing in the U.S. That is outright creepy.

Well, that’s the Truth of the new law, and here are the Consequences: FATCA is affecting the very foundations of the lives of Americans residing abroad. It is turning innocent people, some of whom are "American" only because one or both parents are, but who may never even have set foot in the U.S., into tax criminals. It is turning Americans living and working abroad into pariahs. Why? Because the cost to foreign financial institutions of complying with FATCA is staggeringly high. More and more companies are reluctant to hire Americans, to deal with Americans, to open bank accounts for Americans. On the one hand the American government wants its full share of global economic influence, but on the other hand it has shot itself in the proverbial foot with FATCA. Is nobody capable of thinking these things through anymore?