Tag Archives: moving to Puerto Rico

18 Ways Your Life Will Change if You Move to Puerto Rico

It is truly difficult to really capture how much of a change in lifestyle it is for someone who is not from Puerto Rico to move to Puerto Rico. It is different for everyone and some people (like children) will adapt faster than others. It also depends where exactly you move. Some people like condos and gated communities that are completely shut off from everyone else and their daily experience will be quite a bit different from people who live immersed within a neighborhood. People with kids will have a different experience than childfree people. But overall, here are a few ways your life will probably change if you move to Puerto Rico.

Aguada house

1) Housing – Whether you buy or rent you will more than likely live in a cement house with tile floors and louvered windows. Often on a road with virtually no setback or yard. It takes some time to get used to, but when you’ve been through a tropical storm you’ll understand why concrete became the standard (though on the otherhand not always the best in an earthquake) and after you’ve swept your floors for the 5th time that day you will understand why you wouldn’t want to have moldy dirty carpet anyway.

Mofongo
Mofongo and Malta at a roadside stop!

2) Food/Diet – No you won’t have the best apples, asparagus and artichokes. You may find them, but they won’t probably be very appetizing and are probably about a month old from their travels. Lettuces and other tender greens will be sparse in the grocery store. But the tradeoff is a wonderful cornucopia of tropical delights if you just look a little deeply and/or grow your own. While we can get those standard apples here, I’ve never seen a pomarrosa in a store in the states for instance! Also, don’t expect Puerto Rican food to be Mexican food. Puerto Rican cuisine is its own specialty. While I miss the spicy Mexican foods of Colorado, I LOVE many of the great foods of Puerto Rico like pasteles and mofongo.

James Bond Girl Cassie
Warm weather to me means fun clothes!

3) Clothing -When it’s always nice outside, you won’t be needing that down padded snow coat or boots anymore…ever. Shorts and shirts or less. Most of the time I have a hard time putting on even that if we are staying at the property. However, one should always have a pair of pants and close-toed shoes on hand for the occasional visit to some governmental building or to go in a casino. Culturally most Puerto Ricans wear long pants. And must sweat like crazy. So if you don’t want to stick out like a gringo, you can wear pants. I still don’t usually though.

Cassie In the water

4) Activities – All year round summer means all year round summer-like activities. Especially if you live near the beach. Sure you can do most anything you did where you came from like go to the mall or a movie or whatever, but you will probably find yourself taking up some new hobby and activity. More than likely some creative venture. You also live on one of the most beautiful islands filled with all sorts of what you would probably consider exotic locations that you can explore anytime and pretty much without any pretense!

Home Depot

5) Shopping– Speaking of shopping….This is an island. Be prepared to get everything locally if possible. This is a who-you-know sort of place. You will need to be friendly with everyone because everything is connected. But if you do go shopping in the conventional way for example to some big box store like Sam’s or Marshall’s and you see something new that you may vaguely like and haven’t seen it before, you should probably buy it. More than likely you probably won’t see it there again or for a long while. And while you can buy a lot of things online, shipping is uncertain and sometimes pretty expensive.

6) Your abilities – You may have to do a lot more for yourself. And you will be surprised and amazed at the things you can do when you believe it. Heck, we are literally building a fricking house in the middle of jungle with very little outside help. You will grow and be stronger than you ever thought possible. But you have to be willing to give it a shot. You will learn about the can-do attitude of the people here. It may be done on Island Time, but if something gets set into motion, it gets done! You will probably learn a lot more home remedies and McGwyver type of fixes too. It helps to have 2 of everything just to have the parts!

Driver's Permit Guide
There are “official” rules and then there are the “actual” rules of the road

7) Driving – At first you will think the driving here is absolutely nuts. Oh, they just used that as a bonus lane!! Oh, they said hi to their neighbor with a bunch of traffic behind them, ínteresting. They totally dodged that pothole and headed straight into traffic. Did they just go right through the red light?! Wow, the cashiers sell and OPEN the beer for customers in the gas station? Oh, they are just going to stop right here and buy some quenepas and m+ms, oh and a whole pizza, at this intersection? Or there is someone who is turning and the car in front of you decides to stop wave them in front. Then one day you are in a position where that move might be helpful. So you try it out. And then you realize you are pretty much driving just like everyone else. And it’s awesome!

horse and playground
Playground and a horse

8) Setting – Of course there are palm trees and gorgeous beaches. But there are also some of the weirdest, funniest moments and scenes I have ever seen.

Show me your paradise
Show me your paradise

9) Utilities – From the word Utility. The quality or state of being useful. And utilities ARE very useful. But they are not ALWAYS consistent or on. Water, electricity, internet. They all go out much more often than many other places. This is another area you will get to work on that attitude change thing. As I write this we have been without water for about 3 days. We have a slow trickle from the remains of the line, but we are careful not to shower long or flush the toilet too much. We have gone weeks without internet. And nearly as long without electricity. Instead of thinking they SHOULD be on…I try to remember how great it is when they are and also how nice it is to go outside and enjoy the world without all these man-made systems for a few hours. Also, another opportunity to find out how much you can truly do for yourself. Most people have generators, water cisterns and know where the best hot spots for internet in town are for this very reason of not relying too much on any one system.

Speaker truck strange sights
Speaker trucks…one way to annoyingly tell everyone about some news or product

10) Freedom – You will not be nearly as coddled. You will be able to jump off slippery waterfalls and climb to hilltops and caves without helmets if you so wish. Police will likely look the other way at drunk driving. You will be able to have roosters and chickens (and goats and pigs and horses and…) in pretty much any neighborhood. You can host big gambling parties. You can sell stuff on the street. You can blast your music as loudly as you want. How you handle that responsibility of freedom will depend on you.

Horse Flamboyan SMALL
Flamboyan season -and a horse in a tiny truck

11) Seasons – This one seems to be a big one for some people. Like, “Don’t you miss the changing of the seasons?” For me, the only season I really enjoyed see change was the one that brought us out of the cold depressing dark winter/spring into full summer fun. Wasn’t that everyone’s favorite time? No school. Long days. Parties with friends. Hanging out outside. BBQs and nice weather. And so, I get to live in summer year round. And actually there are seasons here. They are just a little less pronounced and more to do with rain and fruit varieties (mango or avocado season for example) than with temperature. Also there are seasons of people at least in Rincón. Tourist season and off-season.

12) Your Attitude. (From Type A —> Type B): If you can make this change it will help you tremendously. If you can’t make this transition, this may not be the place for you. There are cockroaches here. There are rats here. There are mosquitoes.Things break more often and wear out faster. Things get dirtier and need to be cleaned more. There are poor people. It’s harder to find all the stuff you are used to. There are not as many jobs and definitely not as many high paying jobs. Things take longer than you are used to or think they should. We get it. But please…Take a chill pill. Go to the beach. Take off your watch. Listen to some music. Jangear con tus panas. Breathe in the moment. All of this is just part of the adventure. Have fun with it! Learn something! People who can’t adjust at least a little to Type B Island life will probably not enjoy Puerto Rico unless they completely isolate themselves from it.

13) Design of your life!  With freedom, a can-do spirit and a laid back vibe you will probably begin to design the life of your dreams. You will be able to move from a wage slave beholden to someone else’s vision to the boss artist you have had locked away. With a lower cost of living you won’t need to make as much money to make that happen and you will be doing something you truly love and would do even if money wasn’t a factor. Often times in an informal under-the-table economy!

14) Language -Spanish! (Español) – You can get by, especially in certain areas like Gringolandia (Rincón, Aguadilla, most of the west coast, university areas, parts of San Juan, etc) speaking only English, but you certainly won’t have a very broad understanding of Puerto Rico and your social circle will be limited. Nearly everything is first in Spanish here. Puerto Rican Spanish specifically which is pretty different than other Spanish. Everything. From the TV to radio, to basic conversations with retailers to deep important conversations in government buildings. If that bothers you or can’t adjust at least a little to it, you may go crazy.

BQN Beach Sunset
Borinquen Beach, Aguadilla

15) Tropics – This is the tropics. That means it is incredibly beautiful and post card perfect sometimes. We live where you vacation. But it also means that it can be pretty humid and hot. It means there are creatures and plants you are not used to. There are big spiders and bigger cockroaches. There are weird sounds that you can’t identify especially at night. There are termite swarms after a big rain. And the rainstorms are big and thunderous. Aguaceros! You will probably break out in some sort of sweat or plant poison rash (like Puerto Rican poison ivy) or even tropical disease (like Dengue, Chikungunya, Zika), you may get sunburned because the sun is pretty intense. It’s also an island surround by sea. The sea is dangerous! People often underestimate the power of the ocean and there are always a few drownings every year!

Cassie Mojito
Mojito time!

16) Drinking – There is definitely a drinking culture here in Puerto Rico. Fueled by rum from the island (Bacardí, Don Q) as well as Medalla and other light beers. It would be a rare event or party without alcohol. It’s hot and a cold one tastes pretty damn good sometimes. Even customer appreciation events at banks, grocery stores, parades at all hours of the day etc are fueled with alcohol. Chinchorreos, cabalgatas, parrandas are all reasons to drink more. With that is a lot more acceptance of alcoholism and its consequences. You will probably have to watch your drinking a lot more as it can easily creep up on you.

La Junta Fiscal
La Junta de Control Fiscal No Viene a Salvar, Viene a Robar (The Control Board isn’t coming to save us, it’s coming to rob us)

17) Life in a Colony–  If you move to Puerto Rico you will probably be struck by both the similarities and the differences from life where you came from. Puerto Rico has nearly everything you would expect in a state of the United States of America. Except one big thing: Self-sovereignty. Puerto Rico functions as a territory but is basically treated as a colony of the US. As a resident here, you will see what it means to be basically at best sort of forgotten and at worst downright pillaged of resources. We lack the right to vote for president and many of the decisions for the island can be over-ruled by US congress. And we have no voting members there either. It makes it much harder to address island wide issues when there is no representation and very little interest on the part of the US besides financial and military.

Cockfighting
Cockfighting is legal and thriving all over the island

18) Overall a big culture change – Some of these are mentioned above, but suffice it to say that you will probably be in for a culture change if not shock. Puerto Rican culture is a distinct blend of Latino Spanish influence and history, afro-Caribbean roots and the effects of being part of the US. While it is difficult to generalize, I think it is fair to say that nearly everything you know culturally is just a little bit different in Puerto Rico. Views on time (hora Puertorriqueña), values of work/family (WAY more days off to “compartir” with loved ones), religion (mostly Catholic with a healthy dose of Pentacostal), food (mmm yum), language (a distinct type of Spanish), recreation (some things are the same but there are new ones here like cockfighting, surfing and coffee festivals that we never experienced before) , history (you should know the names of historical figures like Pedro Albizu Campos, Luis Muñoz Marin and Doña Fela), expressions (many funny common expressions here), social interactions (like kisses on the cheek or saying Buen Provecho), music (salsa, merengue, bachata, reggaeton and more), taboos, and much more are all going to be different in your new life in Puerto Rico.

I know this list isn’t comprehensive, but hopefully helps give you an idea of what sort of lifestyle change you are actually looking into if you move to Puerto Rico. For us, we love it and it suits our personality, but it may not be for everyone. Come and visit before you move. And if you’re anything like us, you will probably be bedazzled by the Isle of Enchantment.

Britton Cassie Anasco

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Observations on Life in Puerto Rico: A Comparison

For the most part, I think we have managed to settle in here in Puerto Rico rather well considering that nearly everything in our life has changed. We had visited quite a few times so we had some idea of what to expect but it is always a little different visiting than living somewhere. Having a place to live has made the transition easier because we didn’t have to find a place to rent or go on any more seemingly endless house hunts. Our property is nice also because it almost at the very end of a calle sin salida (cul de sac) that means very little traffic or noise. So if we ever feel overwhelmed we can just stay home.

our fincaOur Property from the Road

Socially we have been making new friends and are starting to expand our circles and networks. It is different making friends here than in Colorado. In Colorado we had a mix of long-time school friends, work friends, past work friends and a few through eclectic methods plus our family. Here pretty much everyone we meet is through an eclectic method (through this site, friends of friends, events, interesting run-ins).

It has been a strange feeling to start all over making friends, but everyone has been very welcoming and a lot of them are empathetic to us because they were once in our shoes as well -learning everything anew.

So what are some of the observations and differences of life in Puerto Rico compared with Colorado?

The most obvious difference here compared with Colorado has been the weather. It is always nice out. Sometimes it rains and sometimes it gets really hot, but it is always within 20 degrees. This is dramatically different from Colorado where the weather could swing 60 degrees in one day let alone from summer to winter.

Shower View

 

Another difference is that in Puerto Rico, everything is in Spanish. Many people speak English as well, but Spanish predominates. And not only should you know at least a little Spanish to read the road signs and menus, but there are some slang and abbreviations that might take a moment to consider. For instance, CVD. When we first saw this we weren’t sure what that was until we saw it over and over again written on cars.

CVD car

So what is CVD? It is short for “Se Vende” which means “For Sale”. Perhaps in English an equivalent would be to put “4 Sale” using the number instead of word.

Another thing that is different are street venders at major intersections. They almost always will have bottles of water, but sometimes they will also sell bananas, peppers, and other foods that we don’t know. Everything is a dollar (un peso). They will come up to you and sell it to you through the window! In Colorado we would occassionally see someone begging for money, but these guys are pretty brave to stand in the middle of the street and sell their wares at the stoplights of these crazy intersections.

Selling aguaSelling water at an intersection in Mayaguez

Which brings me to…driving! Driving here is also quite different. Addresses are marked in kilometers which is something most Americans like us are just not familiar with. But once you get the hang of it, you will start to understand it a little better when driving. However, even though everything is marked in kilometers, the speed limit (velocidad maxima) signs are still in miles! At least that’s what we think they are! ha!

Driving in general is completely different here. We’ve heard it compared to walking through a busy a mall and that is much closer to what driving is. People will cross in front of you, or stop and chat on the road and hold up traffic. They will also stop traffic just to help you cross if the traffic is heavy. In some ways it is a much more social style of driving than the formal, rule-heavy ways of Colorado. Drinking and driving laws don’t seem to have sunk in totally either. We were filling up with gas the other day and saw a guy pull up to the pump while drinking a can of Medalla Light (the main Puerto Rican beer).

Oh and gasoline is sold in liters instead of gallons. Currently it is just under $1 per liter or a little less than $4 per gallon.

Gasoline in liters

In Colorado horses are pretty popular, but in Puerto Rico you will see them in some of the strangest places: backs of El Camino cars, next to playground equipment or tied to a tree in order to mow down the grass. And then we have heard about the large horse festivals in which everyone brings a horse and stands in the middle of the road. Sounds kind of fun to me and I look forward to seeing one some time. The horses here are almost all “Paso Fino” which means “Fine Step” and so they walk distinctly. They always seem to be trotting and because they carefully lift each foot they look very dainty and the rider on top stays nearly still.

horse and playgroundHorsing around?

Food here is another obviously different part of life. Whereas in Colorado we had a large Mexican food influence, Puerto Rican food is very different. The base flavor is garlic and fried food is very common. Another type is called Criollo food and because of that we have now tried Fricaseed Rabbit! I will try and write more about the food here because it is an incredibly diverse topic.

Food at CambijaCeviche, salad and a grilled dorado burrio- Yum!

Music is also distinct. On the radio we hear a lot of salsa, bachata, and also American and Spanish language pop. Locally in Rincón there is quite a live-music scene as well including Bomba groups.

Bomba Dancing

Then there is also all the flora and fauna that is new to us. While we had poisonous rattlesnakes, deadly black widow spiders and itchy poison ivy and goat heads in Colorado, we were familiar with them and knew how to avoid their dangers and discomforts. Here we know next to nothing about the iguanas, birds, geckos, vines, trees and grasses.

Britton monkey in the watermelon tree

Britton with a tree called “Higuera” or Calabash Tree that grows huge watermelon sized fruits which can be hollowed out and used to make bowls and maracas

In Colorado we also had virtually no experience with water sports. Sure there are lakes and rivers, but there are obviously no waves or oceans. Britton and I have both been to the ocean before but it is a little different to live in a seaside village. Surf culture in itself is something new to us and we are excited to try out all sorts of things from spear-fishing to sailing, snorkeling to surfing.

Domes Beach

In total, this experience has been almost like completely pushing the reset button to our life in nearly every way. We have each other, a few of our belongings and our cat.

Cassie and Kitty

In most everything else we get to be children again and look at life in a fresh new light.

Tiny Lizard

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Kitty and the Kumquat Tree

This trip was a bit different than our other trips to Puerto Rico.  We had lots more to take and we aren’t coming back (for at least a while).  The voyage out to Rincon started in DIA with lots and lots of boxes.  We had prepared for Kitty’s trip by getting him up to date on shots, then getting a health certificate from our veterinarian.  All needlessly.  Nobody checked on him at DIA or flying into BQN.  Better safe than sorry I suppose.

Airport
Almost Everything We Own

We also took our Kumquat tree that we had kept as a houseplant in Colorado.  We have read that they are fairly rare in PR, plus it was an extra challenge.  Can you take plants to Puerto Rico?  How do you pack them?  Will security be ok with it?  All of these questions became fairly easily answered.  You can take plants, pack them however you wish but a shopping bag would work nicely and security was fine. (Thanks Charlotte and Anthony for sticking around just in case!)

Kumquat and Kitty Cat
Kitty All Doped Up and the Kumquat Tree

The flight went well, nothing too out of the ordinary.  We arrived in Aguadilla, loaded up our rental car and set off for the property.  At 1am as that is what time United flights arrive and depart from Aguadilla (BQN).

We arrived at the house around 2am.  It was dark and overgrown, this has been the norm since we almost always have to come back to CO after cutting the jungle back.  Here is a short video of our arrival!

The vines grow over the gate and the trees grow over the driveway.  We can’t park the car in the yard until everything is cut down.  It is quite the undertaking and usually requires around 6 to 8 hours before the car can be parked.

10 minutes later, after our arrival we were still at it..lol

It will take a while to “dig out” but we have our cabin opened up, kitty is starting to come out from under the blankets and eat, drink and pee which is a good sign.  He is pretty freaked out though, as he should be!  This is quite a radical difference from what he is used to.   All in all we have arrived safely, with all of our tattered and dented luggage!

Scared kitty

Kitty Hiding

We did a lot our first day too! We found the post office and got two of our flat rate boxes and we started working on the huge battle against the jungle that has overtaken the yard and house in the last nine months.

We had a couple of awesome and not so awesome finds in the yard as well.

Passion flower

Passionflower

One of the many vines growing everywhere is passionflower/fruit! And the hibiscus and starfruit trees are doing great in spite of the vines all over them.

orange hibiscus

Hibiscus

The not so great thing is that we think the bees are back….Good thing we brought our bee hats and veils! We might have to just get comfortable removing them.

more bees
More bees??! Maybe they are just swarming??

Cassie pulling vines

Even Cassie got into the vine pulling/yard clean up!

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Freefall

Everyone talks about making the jump. The big change. But what is often missed in these stories is the freefall, that period of limbo between making the decision to do something and landing in your new world. The freefall after a parachute jump (I have heard) is actually the most ecstasy-inducing experience. The fear of the jump is over and for those blissful few moments, you float in another world between one and the next.

For Lease
For lease!

That’s sort of where we are right now. On Tuesday I gathered up the courage to approach my supervisor and tell him that we are moving. That my last day at work will be September 20. Like climbing the ladder to the jump off the high dive, I noticed that my fear was in the build-up. Once I had done it, I was falling into a whole new experience. One where I know I will be safe and the fun is still to come.

Lazy Kitty
Kitty knows how to relax 🙂

In just this first week that Britton has been off work we have accomplished a lot!  Britton took Kitty in for his check-up and shots (the first time in about 9 years!!). We have thoroughly cleaned out the whole house, signed the paperwork to get it placed for rent, and had our first showing! And we have begun looking at airfare to buy our tickets. As for “stuff”, we are down to just two chairs and the TV. We have dropped off two more large trash bags full of clothes and things to Goodwill. And our folks have graciously held on to some of our sentimental items like photo albums. We have even sold our kitchen table and are using a card table to eat.

Glass table
Bye kitchen table of 10 years!

It is a strange place, the freefall. The transition. At work, they are already talking about hiring my position and it makes me feel strange. I think it must be that for eight years, this job has been tied up in my identity. It is how I have introduced myself many times. My little niche in the world. And just like that I can be replaced. It also brings up feelings of loss and loss-aversion. I am going to miss all my co-workers, friends and family. And we are basically taking a 90% paycut to live our dream. But when you put it into perspective, when you have what you need, when you have ENOUGH, it is by far more expensive to continue to just wish you were living the dream instead of actually doing it.

Britton said he felt this way too his last few weeks at work, but that once he was done and had walked away, the world has now opened up into this new space of creation. He feels anything is possible. It is pretty cool and weird to have a nearly empty house, and an empty yard now that the chickens have a new home as well.

chickens
Chickens loaded up to go to their new home

But every time there is emptiness or vacancy, every time there is a blank canvas, there is the power to fill, the power to create. No void or vacuum ever stays that way for long. And so when we land from this freefall, we will look around and say: What a trip!

And where do we start.

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