Moving to Bayamon.. Puerto Rico !

Hola!

We are planning to be living in PR by end of July, 2014.  We are from Orange County, California.  Both my wife and I speak fluent Spanish, as we have lived in Costa Rica before.  We are looking for schools and housing at this time.

Happy mother's day to all mothers at this forum!

Hello and welcome, menogringo!  I'm new to this forum and haven't yet moved to PR.  But there are some very helpful people here who will come in and give some excellent advice.  Good luck and all the best to you and your family.  Bless!

Thank you Schuttzie!  My wife just got back from PR today.  Now it is my turn to fly out and lookk for apartments, car, etc. We need to be relocated to PR by end of July.  It is exciting, but at the same time a PITA, because we have not moved in 8 years!

I understand, we haven't moved for 14 years and have accumulated quite a lot of stuff, lol.  Happy apartment hunting!

Moving is the best way to get rid of stuff that you didn't throw away because it might come in handy.. one day..

I'm afraid I can't offer a lot of help, menogringo.
As far as English speaking schools are concerned I'm afraid you'll have to pay a lot of money. Most private schools do at least part of the teaching in Spanish, 100% English schools are scarce and very expensive.

You shouldn't have a problem to find an apartment in Bayamon or close ny like f.i. Guaynabo.In the price range you're indicating cable should be available. In the city the DSL service of Claro could be an alternative as well. They're installing fiber optics and that will allow for blazing fast speeds.

Good luck!

Commonwealth-Parkville School will not be too far away from Bayamon. How old is the child(ren)? Parkville is the elementary school branch and is located in Guaynabo. Commonwealth is the high school branch and is located in Hato Rey (further away). Tuition is about $10k per year.

Home schooling worked extremely well for us. I think it's the best way to go if you are able to. If you need info on it let me know.

We moved from Orange County in So Cal about 2 1/2 years ago and live  near Bayamon. We are homeschooling, but I can recommend two schools. We have a PR friend whose kids attend Levittown Baptist Academy, which is very close to Bayamon. She likes it a lot. Also in Dorado there is Dorado Academy, which is also an excellent school. I have a good friend who teaches there and know several people who send their kids there to school.

As far as housing, we live in an urbanizacion of houses. I'm not sure where the best gated urbs of condos are since we didn't look for condos. Right off the Rio Hondo exit are many gated neighborhoods that could have houses in your price range. Also if your wife is willing to do a little bit of a commute, check out Dorado. Dorado de Mar is the neighborhood where Dorado Academy is located, and they have houses, condos, etc. Brighton Estates is a town home community in Dorado you might be interested in.

We live right in the border of Bayamon, Toa Baja, and Levittown so we are really not in Bayamon. My husband is in law enforcement here, and he said I should tell you that Bayamon is not where he would want to live, especially in the city part. It us one of the more dangerous cities in PR as far as violence. So if you decide you definitely want to live in Bayamon just be very picky about where you choose.

As far as cable/internet we use Liberty formerly one link for both. Overall we have been happy. It has gone out a few times usually on a weekend in the past couple years, but we have been fine with it. Your only other option is Claro/Direct TV. People love to hate both here. I think the service depends on the area or neighborhood where you live.

Also if no one has told you be prepared for electric bills here. We only use AC at night in the bedrooms with individual units, our pool pump runs just 4 hrs a day,  and we have a gas dryer. Our bill is $300 to $400 a month average. We budgeted for $500 month because we know many people whose first bill because they used AC all day was about $1000. Water is about the same as So Cal maybe a little cheaper.

We have enjoyed the island. We would live here again. But just don't think you are moving to a Latin version of the States. Once you let go of your expectations that it will be similar to the States, you hopefully won't get as frustrated. Like I said we would do it again and I like being here. But we have had some really hard days, especially with medical care. It's an adventure. When you get here, contact me again. There are some FB groups that I can connect you with that will really help in making the transition of living here. Godspeed in your travels! Morgan

PS so glad you already speak Spanish, which will be a huge help in your move here. We spoke Spanish too, which made it less stressful for us also compared to other families we knew.

Would you mind sharing your thoughts about your recent Puerto Rico trip?  My husband may be transferred there in October.  We live in Glendale, CA and I have serious reservations about moving there, especially due to the healthcare.  Thank you.

Healthcare: https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=359991

Thanks so much.

I hope you found out what you needed to know web_bruin. The answers to your question don't paint a very nice picture. Believe these people.

Does the good outweigh the bad for you?

The good did not outweigh the bad for me and I'm the type of person who would live almost anywhere. As you know, once you have a family to take care of, everything changes. PR was too dangerous and professional relationships were too unreliable.

web_bruin wrote:

Does the good outweigh the bad for you?

For me it does, yes.
Now, I live in "El Campo" in a barrio and I'm the only non-local here. That's not everybody's thing, trust me.

Me? Absolutely not. I gladly left the island 2 years ago. At 62 the quality of medical care is obviously a huge concern. I just couldn't stand the constant noise and the high food and electricity prices. Or the way animals are treated. It's very sad for me because the island had changed so much in the ten years that it took me to get there when I first decided that's where I wanted to live.

Hmmm, it doesn't sound too promising.  The only real upside for me would be the photo ops.  I love photography, especially architectural and street photography, and feel this would be a photographer's paradise.  I have many questions which may seem insignificant, but I'll just throw them out there since they are on my mind.

The mosquito issue concerns me.  My husband can work in the yard all day with no bites, and I will practically be eaten alive within 10 minutes.  While in Louisiana, I had about 40 chigger bites on each leg  and was absolutely miserable due to the itching.  Having said that, Dengue is a real concern of mine.  How do you protect yourself?

If we were to live in the Dorado neighborhood, what would be the closest and best medical facility, and how far from Dorado would it be? What type of facilities (shopping, restaurants, movie theaters, etc.) are nearby? My husband's company will cover living expenses and medical insurance.  Our stint in Puerto Rico would be two years.

What are the biggest allergen culprits?

Is there a neighborhood that is better/safer than Dorado in your opinion?  My husband will be working in San Juan.

How concerned are you about hurricanes?

Do most homes have screened windows so we can receive fresh air without worrying about our kitties escaping? 

How are the veterinary services?

How does one deal with the heat/humidity when the power goes out, and how often is that?  Do most homes have backup generators?

Thanks so much.

There's not really much you can do to ward-off dengue with any degree of certainty. My wife and two daughters were infected by it and it scared me to death. Thankfully, they recovered but during their recovery they had to make several trips to ER and were in a great deal of pain and distress.

All of the windows are barred in Puerto Rico and either have screens or those closable metal or glass horizontal hard blinds. I don't think any kitties will be getting out.

Vet services seemed fine when I was there. Just like the States (around where I lived in Isla Verde at least, but I expect services are reasonably good island-wide).

I wouldn't worry about hurricanes. I first visited PR right after George hit back in the 90's. Yes, they can be scary when they hit but everything turns out ok and besides, they are few and far between.

The biggest allergen, to me at least, were the Sahara winds that hit every year. They carry a lot of dusty air over from N. Africa with them. I can't think of anything other that though perhaps someone else can.

Good luck.

There is a new disease thought to be from Africa that's spreading through the Caribbean like wildfire. It's even here in the states. It's called chikungunya virus and it's spread by mosquitoes. look up www.cdc.gov/chikungunya. So along with dengue, mosquitoes might be a problem for you. Fire ants are pretty nasty too so are centipede bites. The Sahara winds are supposedly pretty bad this year. It's dust and germs that blow in from Africa. Some years are worse than others. My wife has asthma so it affected her pretty bad. her allergies consisted mostly from mold and mildew spores. Some places have screens some don't. Veterinary services are easily found. Good vets are a little more difficult to come by. Having a "pet" in PR can be a little different than what you are used to. The island is not known for it's extreme kindness to animals. If you don't make a zillion dollars a year you are going to have to get used to the humidity right away. Only the wealthy can afford constant A/C. If you haven't heard, the electricity rates are astronomical. Power plants are a must. Even in good weather you never know when you will lose power and for how long. That goes for water too so make sure you get a place with a cistern. From what I understand, Dorado is a reasonably safe place, all things considered. There hasn't been a direct hit hurricane for a number of years. They always seem to miss the island or give it a glancing blow. The last really big one was Georges years ago and it hit the island as a category 5. I really liked the Dorado area and would have lived there if I could have afforded it. There are a lot of places to shop and Dorado has some great things going for it. How well you like it there will depend on your ability to adjust to unexpected change and tolerance and acceptance  of  the culture.

We moved here from So Cal, and we have had to use the healthcare system a lot here because of some different reasons. Do you have a specific condition? Here is what I have found after almost three years here - the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good is that I have found some fantastic doctors. Our peds are the best I have ever had for our kids, better than the States. And healthcare is less expensive here. But because it is less expensive, the doctors have to fit in a lot more patients in a day, and many don't work on the American system of appts. So we have spent a lot of hours waiting, but you wait for everything here. We've gotten used to it, but I have found some tricks. For example make your appts first thing in the morning and then get there even earlier to be first on the list. The hospitals are the toughest part of the medical system here. They are like a self-service deal. You bring everything yourself - sheets, pillows,expands, etc. And you need a family member with you almost 24/7. We have had some really rough hospital experiences and some okay ones. There are definitely hospitals better than others. So the good part is that there are doctors here who are great. The toughest part is the hospitals, but Miami is a flight away. So I've tried to give you the most realistic picture of the medical system that I can. It is not the States, but we have found ways to make it work. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Matmor - Would it be possible for us to speak by phone?  My email address is web_bruin@yahoo.com.  If you wouldn't mind sharing your phone number, I could give you a call.  Thank you.

Dorado has some great neighborhoods - Los Paseos and Dorado Beach East if you can afford it. Besides local doctors and a small urgent care place, most people come into San Juan for medical care and some go to Manati. We live in Monte Claro right of the 22, and our neighborhood has been awesome. We have easy access to everything. We are right on the border of Toa Baja and Bayamon. I go to Dorado a lot to visit friends we have there, and I go to San Juan a lot.  It's easy access to both. Mosquitoes are a pain here. I have found some natural repellents that work well, and we also use feet and the electric mosquito racket. So living in PR hasn't been easy, but I think we would do it again. We've made a lot of great friends and have traveled the whole island with 4 kids. Just let go of the mindset that you are still in the States, and life mentally gets a little easier.

Great advice, Matmor, thank you!

Hello there...

I was born and raised in Bayamón and still live here.  Besides, I was the reporter for our regional weekly newspaper, Periódico El Todo.

There are some bilingual schools in Bayamón and the neighboring towns.  My advice is to consider where you will move.  Traffic in Bayamón is quite heavy during morning rush hour and depending on which UMET campus you will attend or wrk, it would complicate your daily commuting.

In re UMET, there are three locations in the San Juan metro .area.  One of them is in Bayamón.  There is another one in Carolina, near the airport.  That is the farthest from here.  The other one is the main Campus in Cupey.  That one is accessible using the Tren Urbano, our city train, from Bayamón.

I feel unqualified to tell you about price range for housing but certainly can tell you about traffic, directions, and what to expect in some areas of our town.

Questions?  Ask!

Juan Carlos Ortega
Puerto Rico