[JMBroad]

I was there for a week and didn't see anything that would put me off. Sure, there are many prostitutes around but unless you went into Coco Loco and Azucar on Salsa street they seemed to leave you alone, they didn't harass the group of people I was with. Sure every so often one would come up and smile at one of the single men but a discreet shake of the head was enough for them to walk off.

Now, as you live there maybe you know a different reality. But we are talking about tourists to Natal and in that respect maybe I'm more qualified to talk about it than you. Because you've been living there so long you may have a very different vision than what someone on holiday for a week would see.

Running the risk of sounding like one of those "love thy neighbour" annoying spam emails, when I was living in Madeira, I used to jokingly say that although very few crimes were committed, the crime rate in Madeira very high because the amount of ppl that took the lifestyle in Madeira for granted was criminal!

I used to swim with wild dolphins, manta rays and saw whales and sea lions swimming around on a regular basis and naively thought that was how everyone lived. You get accustomed to the natural beauty which surrounds you and fail to appreciate exactly how special and fortunate you are. Living as you are in Brazil, don't compare lifestyles to Salvador or Argentina, compare it to Peckham or similar. (Never been to Peckham by the way so no offence to anyone - just remember Peckham from the "Only Fools & Horses" series)

After spending enough time in one place, the traffic starts to bother you, the speed of service tends to bother you. When you are on holiday, those things are brushed off as "cute" because it's a foreign country.

Again where someone mentioned before. The moment you become unhappy and fail to appreciate the destination, it's a good sign that you may need to move on to a new destination. But you've been there 10 years and (I assume) still enjoy it otherwise you wouldn't still be there.

After my trip out to Natal I'd quite happily relocate there for a while, just to soak up the natural beauty (and I don't like beaches) - some of the coastlines were literally breathtaking, the service (apart from the hotel) was always friendly and there were more smiling faces walking around than in Marbella, I can tell you that much.