The South Will Rise Again (A resumed interest to visit South America, that is)

[mvan1]

A new incentive to visit or revisit Brazil?

I know that many posters have lost interest in visiting Brazil. Inflation and our weak dollar are to blame for much of the decline in tourism to Brazil.

A decade ago, or so, the currency exchange for Americans visiting Brazil was almost 4 - 1 in our favor.

After a few years, the Brazilian monetary unit began to get strong which negatively affected the exchange rate for Americans.

Over time, mainly because of the increase in prices (inflation) in Brazil together with the unfavorable exchange rate, Americans stopped visiting Brazil.

During the weak dollar period, at one point, the exchange rate was 1.60 - 1 which made things cost a lot more in Brazil.

On August 29 of this year, Brazil officially announced that it is in a recession.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28982555

Consequently, the American dollar has gained against the real and our dollar continues to regain some of the strength it lost. Our dollar (and other currencies) has become stronger ever since the announcement of the recession.

Today, the Brazilian real traded at 2.53 - 1 against the dollar, which isn't bad for us.

If the trend of our stronger dollar continues, I suspect that more Americans will resume travel to Brazil and this section of the forum will come to life.

Many of us have had wonderful experiences in Brazil. Many who stopped visiting Brazil because of the increase in cost will no doubt return, assuming the dollar continues to rise like it has since Brazil's recession was announced.
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[Guest Driver]

The pound only bought R$2.8 a while back. Now it's R$4.05 to one £

Certainly makes a difference.

[RA1]

My "South" parts always rise at the mention of Brazil, whether caused by inflation or otherwise.

Best regards,

RA1

[Guest Hunkster]

Duh.

[axiom2001]

I like both Argentina and Brasil. The former has always been great in terms of currency [dollar vs peso]. Unfortunately, the country is going through financial woes now. Fly down and enjoy greatly but cheaply. I have two legit guides [gay] if you're interested; one is an ex pat; the other is a local porteno who is on TripAdvisor along with having his own small site on the web.

The guys, for the most part, are handsome, hot and very hung! I have been to Buenos Aires five times since 2005 and to various parts of Brasil 11Xs since 2002. Websites to check out are: http://www.ratonesonline.comand http://www.soytuyo.com.

The guys I saw are no longer "scorting," but there are others who took their place! BsAs is superb for its culture, food, leather goods, lodging [apartments] too!

[mvan1]

My "South" parts always rise at the mention of Brazil, whether caused by inflation or otherwise.

Best regards,

RA1

Funny!

[mvan1]

The guys, for the most part, are handsome, hot and very hung! I have been to Buenos Aires five times since 2005 and to various parts of Brasil 11Xs since 2002. Websites to check out are: http://www.ratonesonline.comand http://www.soytuyo.com.

The guys I saw are no longer "scorting," but there are others who took their place! BsAs is superb for its culture, food, leather goods, lodging [apartments] too!

I am a little puzzled - I can't tell what this has to do with the subject of this thread. Maybe it is posted in the wrong place?

Back to the subject matter and the stronger dollar, the Brazilian real closed today at 255 - 1.

With luck, the trend of the stronger dollar (or Euro or Pound - etc) will continue.

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[Guest parisrio2000]

Unfortunately Brazil is still way overpriced when it comes to the main expense, which is lodging. The damage is done, the dollar fell CONSIDERABLY during the Bush-Obama years, and recent (in my opinion temporary) gains are not making up for it. It was not too long ago when I could get a room at Hotel Vermont in Ipanema for $40/night. Now Hotel Granada in Lapa, which was my last-resort budget option, can go for over $200/night. On Kayak and other sites you have "hotels" in favelas or Sao Goncalo, or in sex motels, with rates starting at $40 and up. The hotel prices in Rio are some of the highest anywhere. For a longer term stay which is my preference, the situation is just as bad. An apartment in Ipanema, if you are able to find it at all (and you are not generally able to find it) starts at R4000/month for a place that's not very good. I would say that hotel and apt. prices in Rio are higher than in Paris, Tokyo, and New York.

The real going from 2 to 2.5 makes only a minor difference because inflation is so high there, so it really can't keep up especially with the ridiculous housing prices. Everyday things are still overpriced. If you eat out the repetitive and bland food is overpriced. Juices are great but even there the savings are minimal. Basically the only "savings" are the boys at 117, which at R100 are still a bargain compared to the rest of the world. This is great, but not really useful if you can't make use of your time there otherwise.

I'm waiting for Brazil's ridiculous housing bubble to burst, which has been predicted for some time. We'll have to see if this ever happens. It's gone from a situation where in 2005 and 2006 you could still rent a nice apt. for $450 a couple of blocks from the beach (I did this in Leme) and now that same apt. is close to $2000/month. I'm waiting for the time when you can still get a hotel in one of Rio's central neighborhoods for less than $100/day.

[mvan1]

Unfortunately Brazil is still way overpriced when it comes to the main expense, which is lodging. The damage is done, the dollar fell CONSIDERABLY during the Bush-Obama years, and recent (in my opinion temporary) gains are not making up for it.

snip

The real going from 2 to 2.5 makes only a minor difference because inflation is so high there, so it really can't keep up especially with the ridiculous housing prices.

Did you read the BBC article I referenced in my post?

If not, here it is again - http://www.bbc.com/n...siness-28982555

Brazil only recently officially declared it is in a recession. What does this mean? It means many things that are not good for Brazil and its economy.

One major thing it means is that the rampant inflation (in housing foods and other items) combined with the stronger real, will slowly reverse itself and will be scaled back and/or corrected in the Brazilian market place.

Your post centered around hotels and housing. Think about it - - if tourism in Brazil significantly slows and jobs are lost, what good does it do for a hotel to advertise high prices if there are only a relatively few takers?

It will take time for a major correction. The good news it that the correction has already started considering the increase in the value of many foreign currencies against the Brazilian real, together with the official declaration of a recession.

Furthermore, unemployment is increasing in Brazil. These are all signs that a correction is eminent.

Costs will never return to what they were ten years ago but inflation will come to a halt (in most venues) and eventually, prices at hotels and other places will have to reduce if businesses want to survive.

No one can predict with absolute certainty that prices will drop but logic and the laws of price and demand will force a major reduction the officially declared recession.

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[axiom2001]

I am a little puzzled - I can't tell what this has to do with the subject of this thread. Maybe it is posted in the wrong place?

Back to the subject matter and the stronger dollar, the Brazilian real closed today at 255 - 1.

With luck, the trend of the stronger dollar (or Euro or Pound - etc) will continue.

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If one doesn't want to spend a little fortune in traveling to Brasil, then I'd recommend Argentina. That's what my post was intended to convey. [i've traveled to Brasil 11Xs since 2002; it's still my favorite country, followed by Argentina!]

[mvan1]

1.00 USD = 2.62214 BRL US Dollar ↔ Brazilian Real 1 USD = 2.62214 BRL 1 BRL = 0.381368 USD Convert againView Chart

Mid-market rates: 2014-11-14 13:22 UTC

The above is today's exchange rate. The real continues to decline in value against the USD. Goody, goody!