Last BLOG from the States

YEAH!!!! I FINALLY figured out a way that I can get pictures to you all; just click on the link below and it will bring up another site which will have pictures on it. I can say that I used all my computer skills (which aren't many) and unknown help from my friend, Andy who has been through this before me. Anyway, these are four pictures from my first trip there but will give you an idea of what I am looking forward to. Please let me know if you have any problems opening them.

Click here: Webshots My Photos - Edit (first trip to Fortaleza)

Well, tomorrow morning I will be shutting down my computer until I get set up in Brazil so it will be a few a while before you hear from me again; when you do, I'll be in Fortaleza, Brazil fulfilling a part of my dream. If you had asked me ten years ago whether I would ever go to Brazil, let alone live there I would have answered "no"; now here I am going to live there for a while and see if I'm willing to move there. It goes to prove that you can do anything you want to if you put your mind to it and are willing to make the sacrifices necessary.

I hope to use this BLOG the next six months to not only tell you about what is happening with me but to (1) spark your interest in Brazil or other places, (2) show you that it isn't as hard as you think to take a chance, and (3) share my experiences, loves, fears and happinesses with you all. You all are my friends as well as my family and you all mean a great deal to me; some of you have been with me through thick and thin and have watched me grow through the years; now it's my turn to share my life with you.

Please feel free at any time to add comments to the BLOG; also I will still have regular email and my address won't change so you can write to me as normal. Until I know what kind of a connection I have, please DO NOT send me long downloaded stuff; right now I'm using the telephone line instead of a high-speed connection and some things take forever to download. I'll let you know when I have the high-speed lines.

I look forward to hearing from all of you and hopefully you all will enjoy my experiences there; I will be back, but who can say for how long?

John

Fourth Post

Hello everybody...I MIGHT have figured out how to attach pictures to the BLOG, if not I'm going to figure out another way to get it done even if it's setting up a separate account just for pictures. If that doesn't work then I'll attach pictures to my notification to you.

Well, I've only got five days before I'm on an aircraft heading south to Brazil; I can't tell you how excited I am. Even though I've been there before this is still new and exciting to me. Fortaleza is one of the most beautiful cities in all of Brazil; while Europeans and Brazilian have been familiar with it for years as an exciting place to vacation, Americans haven't discovered it yet. I think one of the main reasons is because it takes so long to get there! From Phoenix it takes almost 20 hours of travel time; first flying to a point of departure from the States (Houston, Miami, Los Angeles, Dallas, New York) then flying into Sao Paulo as a point of entry then on to Fortaleza. But of course once you get there it's well worth the flight.

Fortaleza has some of the most beautiful pristine beaches in the world. It is the capital of wind surfing as well as many other beach-type sports. It's as big as Phoenix (greater Fortaleza has a population of nearly 3.4 million people though there are very few Americans there) and is very similar to a major US city in most ways, having hi-speed internet, TV (with several US stations), major highways, large shopping malls and lots of wonderful restaurants. (If you go there you have to go to Jeppo's...best pizza I have EVER tasted!!)

My friend, Andy and his wife, then will be picking me up what I finally arrive. They have arranged for my apartment which is six floors down from theirs. I stayed there the last time that I visited. Andy will be celebrating his birthday when I get in town even though it is the day before. I know many of you haven't read the articles that he has written for Escape America so I am including links to both. Take a minute to read them; I think you will find them quite interesting and informative.

Click here: Brazil Or Bust: Making A Change ~ by Andy Neill

Click here: Brazil Or Bust Two: More On Moving To Fortaleza, Brazil ~ by Andy Neill

While many of you have read the article that I wrote for Escape America, many of you haven't so I am also including a link to it; I wrote it after the first time I visited. I plan on writing another article after I've been there for a little while to give a perspective of what it is like moving there. (Escape America is probably the best written and managed expatriate online magazine out there.) I hope you enjoy the article.

Click here: Traveling Through Fortaleza Ceara ~ By John Mueller

Let's see if you get a picture attachment on the BLOG page; if not, I'm sending just one picture in the attachment portion of the notification. By the way, if you want to comment on anything I have written, you can do so by going to the bottom of the post and click on comments; it will be posted along with my BLOG.

Hope this works.

John

Third post

Hi, everybody...This is my third post; the BLOG seems to be working though I still haven't figured out how to attach pictures. I might have to use a different method to do that. I'm attaching a couple of links; a friend of mine who lives in Fortaleza sent them to me. If you follow the directions you can see the exact location of my apartment there. As you can see, it's pretty close to the beach and to Beira Mar, one of the main areas in Fortaleza. It's got a wonderful view of the ocean and surrounding area as well as being convenient to most things; there are three shopping malls within walking distance as well as American Express, McDonalds and Pizza Hut (if you need them) and at least a dozen excellent restaurants. Because it's so close to the ocean, the sea breeze is constantly there cooling things down.

Click here: http://img102.exs.cx/img102/1509/at15nk.jpg Find the pools in the right side of the picture...go right about 1/2 inch to where you see two orange roofs running perpendicular to the street; count up three buildings until you see a big white building...count up 13 floors on the right side of the building facing the ocean. Let me know what you think...

Click here: http://img102.exs.cx/img102/4369/at23lf.jpg

This is a larger picture....

I hope to hear from you all soon...feel free to post a remark on the BLOG.

John

Second Post

Hi...it's John again...

I'm doing a second post just to see if everything is working OK...I'll be sending you all a notification that I have posted. Let me know if you get it. I haven't figured out yet how to attach pictures, but I'll be working on that later this week and will send out a few of my last trip to Fortaleza when I do.

I'm still here in Phoenix and have a week and a half to go before I'm out the door; I'm really enjoying this retirement thing, let me tell you!!! I'm getting a chance to visit friends and have good lunches and dinners and relax. The condo that I'm staying in is REALLY nice; I think that I might look for something like it when I get back.

Anyway, as I said, this is more of an experiment than anything. If it works, then I'll be almost ready to go.

I hope you all have a wonderful day....

John

My first posting

Well, this is my first post. I'm not sure if I can make this all work but if I do I think it will be fun. Welcome to my BLOG and history of my long term visit to Fortaleza.

Just a real quick history: I have always wanted to go to/live in Brazil; it actually started when I was eight years old. I waited until I was 58 before I actually visited it and immediately fell in love with Fortaleza. Fortunately, I went back last October and found that I loved it even more the second time than the first time. I made up my mind that I would spend six months there and see if it was where I would spend the last years of my life.

I will leave for Fortaleza on May 2nd and return on October 12th. My wonderful friend, Andy has been helping me rent an apartment and get started. Fortunately, he will be living six floors up from me and I hope to see him and his beautiful wife, Thieny a lot while I'm down there.

In the meantime, I retired, sold my house, put my furniture in storage and am ready to go! To say that I am excited is an understatement. I'm so hyped up over this that I can hardly contain myself. I spend hours on-line looking at the places I have been and the places I hope to go.

If this works, I hope to include pictures of friends and places I'll be going while I'm there. SOOOOO...let's see if this works...

John