I started out going to the "Agente de Policia Federal" here in Belo Horizonte, Brasil and registering as a permanent resident. After almost seven hours I finally walked out the very small office filled with other"estrangeiros" almost a "Brasileiro", but as the officer said, "We....now he says this as if HE and I are doing this together, but Senhor McGraw, you will have to wait. He said "you must wait at least180 days and see if you qualify".... "Wait!...Qualify", this was not what they told me in San Francisco, California the place I really started my journey to be a Brasilian. After I sent and re-sent to the "Conslado Geral do Brasil, San Francisco California, United States of America", otherwise known as "Estados Unidos" the many pounds of papers and letters, finger prints from just about every official branch of my Government and bank statements from the past forty years, my blood and my first born child (not really, but is sounds dramatic), and a lot on money, I thought she said, "go Mr. McGraw, and live in Brasil and have a great time" I am sure that is what I heard her say, or, maybe she said,"Now, go to my beautiful country, the country of Rio de Janeiro, the amazing Amazon and the land of "The Girl Of Ipanema" and start this process all over again, and remember to bring plenty of "Reais" which is the money used here. I finally found out that to move to paradise can be very costly and a lot of red tape, from two different Governments I might add.
But, I am here now and ready to start my journey, my new life to find the real "Girl Of Ipanema". In two days I will travel to a State here in Brasil that the first time I went there I fell instantly in love with, Bahia! Ahhhh, Bahia.
To someone from the outside of Bahia, someone like me that is from a land of cold rain, cold wind and snow in the winter, this place called Bahia, really is heaven on earth, at least to me it is.
