Brazil’s Hidden Beaches

05-Oct-2011

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An eternal optimist, Liu-Yue built two social enterprises to help make the world a better place. Liu-Yue co-founded Oxstones Investment Club a searchable content platform and business tools for knowledge sharing and financial education. Oxstones.com also provides investors with direct access to U.S. commercial real estate opportunities and other alternative investments. In addition, Liu-Yue also co-founded Cute Brands a cause-oriented character brand management and brand licensing company that creates social awareness on global issues and societal challenges through character creations. Prior to his entrepreneurial endeavors, Liu-Yue worked as an Executive Associate at M&T Bank in the Structured Real Estate Finance Group where he worked with senior management on multiple bank-wide risk management projects. He also had a dual role as a commercial banker advising UHNWIs and family offices on investments, credit, and banking needs while focused on residential CRE, infrastructure development, and affordable housing projects. Prior to M&T, he held a number of positions in Latin American equities and bonds investment groups at SBC Warburg Dillon Read (Swiss Bank), OFFITBANK (the wealth management division of Wachovia Bank), and in small cap equities at Steinberg Priest Capital Management (family office). Liu-Yue has an MBA specializing in investment management and strategy from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Marketing from Stern School of Business at NYU. He also completed graduate studies in international management at the University of Oxford, Trinity College.

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By Margaret Summerfield, International Living,

Rio de Janeiro in Brazil is famous for its beautiful beaches such as Ipanema and Copacabana. And rightly so. Craggy green mountains and a sweep of gleaming high-rises in the background… azure ocean to the front, sprinkled with little islands…and beautiful beach bodies relaxing on crescents of dazzling white sand…

It’s not surprising that most of the foreign tourists who vacation in Brazil come to Rio.

What may surprise you is that when most Brazilians vacation at the beach, they don’t go to Rio. Instead, they head to the state of Ceara on Brazil’s northeast coast. It’s Brazil’s top domestic tourist destination.

So what do those savvy Brazilians know that foreign tourists don’t?

Well, Ceara is home to some of Brazil’s most famous beaches. They’re not as famous as Rio’s…and you won’t see them on TV or a billboard near you anytime soon. But they’re well worth a visit.

And, unlike Rio, a beach property in Ceara is very affordable.

My favorite beach town in Ceara started as a little fishing village. It backs onto a stunning beach. The beach is the focus of the community. It’s where the locals set out for a day’s fishing in their simple wooden boats. They sell their catch as soon as they land. Much of it goes straight on the grill in local restaurants. Kids kick soccer balls on the sand, happily celebrating goals and near-misses.

The white-sand beach runs for miles, fringed with palms and dotted with huge glittering sand dunes. The tropical warmth of the ocean invites you to take a dip before sinking back beneath the shade of a coconut tree. Up above, kite-surfers swoop past, flashes of yellow and scarlet against the summer-blue sky.

The Scandinavians were the first to start coming to this town, to kite-surf. Today the locals share their beach with a scattering of trendy bars and restaurants and a kite-surfing school. More recently, a luxury five-star resort on the edge of town opened. It’s now bringing in Brazilian tourists, mainly from Rio and Sao Paulo, who pay up to $450 a night for a room.

But despite the new businesses…and its closeness to a major city (it’s only 30 minutes from a city with 3 million people)…this little beach town still feels like a hidden gem. It’s under the radar of mainstream mass tourism. It’s completely off the radar of North Americans.

Which is why you can buy a lot in a beachfront community for $55,915 here—that even comes with financing.

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