Summer is Coming!!!!

Well, it's finally happening. Summer is almost here. I keep saying that everyone is wiping off the dust, washing the windows, and getting ready for the circus. So far, the weather is not cooperating (we've had rain, rain, and more rain) but there is definitely a buzz starting to circulate regardless. You can literally see in everyone's eyes. The parties, which usually start on Thursday have pushed it up a day and are now starting on Wednesday. I joked with one of my friends that it doesn't give me nearly enough time to rest up from the weekend (trust me, I know that "resting up from the weekend" sounds strange but such is my life - I'm on a sleeping schedule that would shock Keith Richards). Anyway, the population more than doubles here in Floripa in the summer. Honestly, I can't imagine what that will be like. Everything is already so crazy as it is so I can't possibly fathom what it will be like when the circus does indeed start. And I couldn't imagine being any busier. I have a lot of things cooking, which has been incredibly fun (there are legitimate reasons for my lack of posts so please be patient with me). All I know is that I've done everything humanly possible to get ready. The wheels have been greased and I'm ready for the best summer ever. Bring it on....

Words of wisdom - when four ridiculously hot blonde girls (see picture) tell you to leave your car at the party to drive with them to another party, always so yes no matter how far away that current party's house is from your house. These are just simple rules of life. Oh, and don't call shotgun. It's MUCH better in the backseat. Trust me. The loud music, the singing, and the pounding on the roof were eerily remiscent of the days of Cabo that I had missed so much, and I can assure you that it didn't make the safety of the drive any better. However, if I would have died during that ride, there would have been an enormous smile on my dead corpse....

On a "back to reality note," I am happy to report that the banks have reopened. However, they are still finding ways to screw me. I finally received the call from my lawyer yesterday while he was at the bank trying to receive my money. I could tell right where the conversation was going. Everything was sounding great, and I was only waiting for the "BUT' and boy did it come. Apparently, the bank wanted a projection of my annual revenues (how do you project something that doesn't exist?) with a document signed by my accountant and lawyer. As I like to say now, this sh*t no longer shocks me, but this was indeed a wild one. Therefore, my money is still in cyber wire transfer land, wherever the hell that may be. HOWEVER, the real salt in the wound came this morning. I wanted to get the signed document to my lawyer first thing this morning in an effort to hopefully get my money today. I got home around 5AM last night and couldn't sleep a wink so I went to his office at 8:30AM. Errand done, right? Not so fast. As I was driving down the main highway stretch, I stopped at the light as it was turning red. The guy behind me apparently didn't get the memo about stopping when the person in front of you stops. He crashed into my car at about 40 mph and sent my car about 15 feet ahead. I really couldn't believe it. He got out of the car crying like a girl because he probably just lost his job (he was a taxi). Needless to say, I didn't feel sorry for him. I'm happy to report that I wasn't injured (my little Ford Fiesta was apparently built by the same guys who built Sherman tanks), but I am going to be sore as hell tomorrow and I have my fingers crossed that nothing long term will come of it. I had a witness, got all the documents signed by the cops, learned some interesting new Portuguese, and finally headed home a few hours later. I'm sure I'll be without a car for at least a week while it gets fixed so I'm really looking forward to that. Therefore, I'd like to personally thank all of the banks for your tremendous help and service along the way. You've been a real pleasure to work with. I hope you enjoyed your vacation while the strike was on because it's over now. I'll be at the beach all summer while you are working so kiss my *ss! ;)

Another Reason Why Brazil Can Be One Funny Country

Since most of you have followed my stories since I arrived here, you by now understand that things work a little bit different down here (that may be the world's greatest understatement). I am currently in the middle of another one of my epic little "experiences." BTW, for those of you Brazilians who read this, again, I'm not complaining. I love Brazil, the people, the culture, everything. It's just that us Americans get a kick out of these stories, and I wouldn't be doing anybody any favors if I didn't mention these little stories. With that out of the way, as I mentioned in my last entry, the exchange rate has moved considerably in favor of the dollar over the past two months. For us gringos, this is a great relief on our lifestyle expenses down here. In an effort to lock in the favorable exchange rate (I think we'll see a bit of a pullback soon), I decided to wire some money down here. Of course, that's not as easy as it sounds. The banks still do not allow me to open a personal account even though I live here, I have a Brazilian social security number, etc., etc. What blows my mind about that is the pure lack of business sense that it makes. If you can give me one good reason why a bank wouldn't want a new customer who can clearly prove that they are in good standing, I'm all ears. Since I don't have a personal account, I have to wire the money into my business account. This requires filing several documents as well as waiting three days for the documents to process before my lawyer can enter the bank to receive the funds (sounds fun right?). When my lawyer told me all of this, I just accepted it for what it is. I've been here long enough for this stuff not to shock me any more. Anyway, to make a long story short, I wired the money late last week when the exchange rate was at 2.31 (it's currently 2.15) and after the three day waiting period. The kicker was that I received an email on Friday saying that the bank is on strike and no one is allowed to do ANYTHING. This was last Friday. Today my money is still sitting only God knows where and I can't lock into any rate until everyone decides to go back to work. When that happens, I'll be a happy man. Every day the currencies are moving 5-10% in either direction, and I'm pretty tired of staring at it. I just pray that when the dedicated employees of Banco do Brasil make their way back to work that the exchange rate ends up landing on Park Place instead of Baltic Avenue....

Vai Figuerense, Vai!

I was sitting in my living room the other day with a friend. He got off the phone and said his buddies were going to a soccer game. The #1 team in Serie A (Palmeiras) was in town playing Figuerense (Florianopolis' local Serie A team and by default, my team). I said, "Why the hell don't we go?" I had wanted to go to a game since I arrived here and couldn't think of a reason not to go. Therefore, we grabbed a couple other friends and hit the road (the stadium is about 45 minutes away). We arrived to pure mayhem. People were partying in the street everywhere you looked. The game started at 10PM so it's safe to say that these people had been drinking for awhile. It was exactly what you would imagine a Brazilian soccer game to look like. We had a beer or two, hung with the crowd for a bit, and then headed inside to our seats (after a lengthy body search!). In an effort to stop the madness, they no longer serve beer or alcohol inside the stadium. Once I got inside, I realized exactly why. I couldn't possibly fathom what these fans would do if they were able to drink all night. They were going nuts the whole time. There was, however, one very favorite part of the night for me. There was one section going crazy and I wanted to sit by them. After being there for a bit, it finally dawned on me that these fans weren't cheering for either team. There were cheering for Gremio, an entirely other team from Rio Grande do Sol!!!! I was flabbergasted. These were true fans. There must have been at least 1,000 of them. I asked my Brazilian friend what the hell was going on. She said that Gremio is in 2nd place and, therefore, these fans were there to cheer for Palmeiras to lose. I couldn't believe it. I was trying to imagine a bunch of Bronco fans going to a Raiders game to cheer on the Chargers. I'm not quite sure what the reception would be like, but I know it wouldn't be good. The other hysterical part was listening to the songs about the referees. The most popular one had to do with the sexual preference of the referees. The fans were loving that one, and I thought it was pretty damn funny too (it's safe to say that these soccer games are not a great place to take the kids - it wasn't exactly Disneyland). To make a long story short, we cheered all night and had an absolute blast. Unfortunately, the game ended 0-0, but I learned some great new songs, had a few laughs, and can't wait to go again....

Lastly, I went to the best party of my life on Friday night. I'm trying to find the words to describe it all but don't quite know how to put it into context yet. More to follow soon....

You Can Run But You Can't Hide

When I was making my decision to move to Brazil, one of the things that I looked forward to most was just taking some time off from following the markets. I had spent so much time over the past eight years in finance that I was intrigued by the idea of having a break from it all. I would say that in the first few months here I enjoyed that luxury. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case as the destruction that is occurring in the U.S. has finally made its way south. The Bovespa (Brazilian stock market) is down 20% in just October alone and off around 35% in the past 30 days as investors are starting to worry that the developing countries are going to slip into a recession. Commodities, which are Brazil's bread and butter, are getting hammered left and right. However, the most relevant data to us foreigners is that the Brazilian Real (Brazil's currency) is off 60% against the dollar since the low, which was reached only in August. It's been incredible to watch and none of us can believe it, and this very rapid and wild swing in the exchange rate has forced all of us gringos to address the issue head-on. It can be looked on in both good and bad light. Certainly going forward, a better exchange rate like we have now is great for any future dollars that are exchanged into reais. However, if you had exchanged some money into reais in the past, you might be feeling some serious pain right now. For instance, I had to wire a big chunk of change back in August (very near a six year low) to apply for my visa and although I keep telling myself that there isn't a whole lot I could have done about it, it's enormously painful. At this point, I have two choices. I could say WTF and keep trying to tell myself that it will all work out in the end, or I could slip back into the old mode, start tracking the markets, and figure out a way to take advantage of the current environment. For better and for worse, I have chosen the latter. You can run but you definitely can't hide so why the hell not?

The interesting thing about all of this is that it seems that it's all anyone can talk about. You can't escape it. Most of my conversations now start with a quote from today's exchange rate. "Hey Chris. Just checked - 2.45. How are you man?" This has greatly confused my quest to find something to do on the business side. As of a month ago, it was a great idea to be making reais with the thought of there being an eventual return to the U.S. to spend those reais. Now, it makes much more sense to be making dollars and spending them here. Of course, with how quickly this has changed in one direction, it certainly has the potention to reverse itself again. But if I knew the answer to how that would work out, I wouldn't have to be searching for a business in the first place. ;) BTW, the great news is that for those of you coming down to visit, you just got 60% richer!

As I mentioned above, the Brazilian economy is finally starting to feel the effects of the global slowdown. The correlation certainly makes sense. Although many people thought Brazil was immune to this (including the current president who cracks me up with his arrogance), this was inevitable. The emerging market countries like Brazil, India, and China really so heavily on the big economic powers that when those countries are hurting that pain will most certainly trickle down in a big way. I have a friend who is a stock broker here, and he invited me to his office last week. It's a really interesting setup. There is one big office for the brokers and an outside room with computers and TV's where clients came come during the day to monitor the markets and trade stocks. The only thing that separates them is a big piece of glass, but most of the brokers are out there mingling with the clients anyway talking about trades, etc. I really couldn't imagine having clients in the office but we're in Brazil so I just went with out. The kicker was that there were people literally crying....literally. That's how much money is being lost. Many people rode the wave up and had a hell of a time, now it's time to take a seat and face the music. Let's just hope that a return to "normalcy" happens sooner rather than later.

BTW, I heard a great quote from the Senate committee hearing on Lehman Brothers. The quote was, "We can't keep privatizing gains and socializing losses." Talk about summarizing everything in a nutshell.

Ok, sorry for the drag blog post. I'll get back to writing about surfing, nightlife, and Brazilian chicks ASAP!!!!