Yesterday we stayed at the property, hung out in the hammock and made fresh orange juice from oranges we picked on our hike. It was relaxing and nice not to drive at all for a day.
We decided to start looking at some other properties around the island. We dont know how long the title work will take in Lares. Its already been a year and could be another or two?? We talked to a realestate agent here and he confirmed that the title could take years because of the water resources. He also mentioned that the water law here is kind of complex (which is news to us). We want to stay friends with Alwilda even if the deal doesn’t go thru. She and Estrella are very nice people and have been very welcoming.
It takes about an hour to get to Rincon from the property and this seems to be where we gravitate to, maybe because of all the gringo amenities. Being closer to the ocean would be nice. We have an appointment setup tomorrow to check out some other options. We dont need to (or want to due to price) be right on the beach. Just a small house 1 or 2 bedroom with an acre or two of land would be suitable maybe in Aguada. We are also going to head down the west coast and just look around.
I dont think either Cassie or I have our heart set on the property in Lares. There are pros and cons and we go back and forth every day sometimes by the hour on if we should stick with it or not. Plus since the title has already taken so long; we aren’t counting on anything.
We woke up a little earlier today (around 9am which still feels like 6am in Colorado) so that we could drive down to Rincon again and meet up with Nick and Miri. We met at the Rincon organic farmers’ market then went up to their house in the hills and out to lunch at the Rum Shack. It was great to talk with a couple who has made the move and talk about the funny things about Puerto Rico and what makes it an interesting place to live. Their house is beautiful with an outstanding view. Hopefully we will meet up again while we are here and they can come meet with us in the mountains. It was nice seeing them in person and making new friends.
Later that afternoon Britton and I thought we would go to the beach since we were here anyway, so we went to Steps and Tres Palmas beach to watch some of the surfers. The beach is pretty rough since it has a coral reef breaker, so after hanging out there for a while, we went back to the main baleanario and swam for a while. Now we are back at Surf’s Up, but Nick and Miri told us that we can get free Wi-Fi at the Rincon main square which will come in handy I am sure. Anyway, we have been having a great time and Miri also gave us the name of a real estate agent to talk to as well so we might do that in the coming days too. We have been playing it day by day, but I think we need to get back to Awilda because she picked some gandules and wants to have us try arroz con gandules with her and Estrella tonight.
We have been having fun traversing the jungles on trails by foot and car, collecting fruit and checking out all the crazy animals and plants. We took a walk/hike with Awilda to see one half of the property today. We have also been going to the beach. We went to Rincon and watched the sunset yesterday and had dinner, then we went to Cabo Rojo today, swam and ate dinner at a restaurant right on the water. We were also attacked by mosquitos! I think I slapped like 10 in about 2 minutes! I have never seen so many mosquitos. In most places in Puerto Rico I have never really even seen a mosquito at all. But it was a very beautiful day. We are having a lot of fun, and it is nice to fall asleep to the coquis and wake up to the birds (and a rooster far down the road).
Here is a video of us on the back road to the property:
We arrived here without really any delays or problems. Our flights were on time and we arrived in San Juan around 8pm on Wednesday evening. We sat next to a nice man on the plane named Dios Dado who invited us to visit him in Vega Baja sometime during our stay. We got our rental car after the car saleman dude tried to talk us into $10 a/day more for liability insurance. We called our insurance agent and three of our friends who work in insurance while were waiting in the lobby to finally find out that no, we didn’t need it. So thanks everyone who saved us $150!
We then got lost and wound up in Guaynabo City when we were trying to get on the 2 or the 22 to get out of the Metro area. Finally we did and drove to Arecibo where we stayed at The Villa Real Hotel and arrived there at about midnight Puerto Rico time, which is 3 hours later than Colorado. We basically had the choice of sleeping in our car or in that hotel. I am not sure which would have been better! The hotel was cheap, but awful. The sheets were gross, the floors sticky and the shower had NO hot water. But we were tired and we fell asleep pretty easily even though it was really noisy outside.
Avoid this Hotel!
The next morning we drove to Lares and proceeded to get very lost. Lost in the jungle, for sure. At least it was daytime though. Even though Cassie had been there before, she couldn’t remember how to get there and we kept losing cell reception with Awilda who was trying to talk us through it. Finally after going around in circles and nearly winding up in Las Marias, we arrived at the property.
The Lares Property from above
There are a lot of flowers and plants. Here is a coffee (cafe robustica) plant that is in bloom. They smell really really nice!
There are a lot of poor people that live in the mountains around the property. They seem to be happy and definitely aren’t freezing or starving. They just dont have new clothes and some people dont have teeth. The property is very beauitful and there is a lot of food just spilling off the trees and onto the ground. Most people in here have satelliteTV for entertainment. The small guest house is nice. I think they did a lot of cleanup before we got there (sweeping, grass cutting and wiping things down). The water in the shower is a lot warmer than at the hotel we stayed at. Cassie didn’t scream this time when she got in the water.
Crossing the suspension bridge to the property
Today we went for a drive to San Sebastion and Rincon. So far this is the first chance we’ve had at getting online. We are at the Surfs Up coffee shop in Rincon. We stopped at the beach for a while. We may look at some properties near the beach while we are here too. It took a little less than an hour to get to a beach, but when we got there we realized we would like to spend a lot of time there. The title still hasn’t gone thru on the property we are looking at so we still have an option of buying something else if we prefer. Not sure at this point.
