North to Brazil

For Kurt's birthday trip this year, we headed north to Bombinhas, a small village on the coast in the southeast Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. Quite a change from last year's celebration, in terms of both weather and world financial news.

Getting to Bombinhas took some doing. First Linda had to get an emergency US passport, since the one she had was due to expire in February 2010. Brazil requires that the passport be valid for at least 6 months. Then we had to apply for a Brazilian visa, paying $130 USD each for that document. We had to admit the fee was fair, though -- it's exactly what Brazilians have to pay to apply for a visa to the United States. Apart from the pain to the pocketbook, the process was relatively straightforward and efficient. You apply at the embassy, go pay your fee, and then come back in two days to pick up the visa.

Bombinhas was everything we had hoped for. Small, quiet, clean, and with lots of secluded beaches, plus we were able to get by speaking Spanish. The food - both seafood and Brazilian style BBQ - was great and inexpensive. On the recommendation of Argentine friends, we stayed at a complex of six bungalows built on the side of a hill halfway between "Four Islands Beach" and the town itself. Because we were there before the start of high season, we paid only $45/night for a very comfortable and well equipped cottage. Dubai Bungalows is another place we plan to revisit.

Photos here.

Investing in Argentina

We did it again: bought another apartment in a gorgeous French-style building in the Recoleta neighborhood of Buenos Aires. No, we're not moving, though we certainly plan to take advantage of some features of the new place that our home here doesn't have. Like a patio with a real Argentine parilla (or grill).

The new apartment is an investment. Before we retired in early 2008, we'd made certain assumptions about the income that our savings would generate. That was then . . . we've spent the last several months revising those estimates and trying to figure out how to preserve principal and earn more than 1.35%.

Argentine real estate has consistently held its value, in large part because mortgages are not easy to come by and have more stringent terms. Purchases generally are cash transactions. Speculative bubbles, like the one that most recently blew up in the US and elsewhere, are nonexistent.

Tourism from the US, meanwhile, is on the rise here, as exchange rates continue to make Europe too expensive for many Americans. So we've dipped our toes into the vacation-rental business, buying a new apartment in an old Belle Epoque building that has been completely refurbished and retrofitted over the last 3 years. The photo here shows it off nicely!

UPDATE 2011: We have sold the apartment.