African American Male, Puerto Rican Wife, 16 Yr old son, moving to PR

Traffic is still a nightmare....not everyone follows the rules...no stopping, making their own lanes, just about anything n everything.  That being said, its wonderful n challenging, we moved here the first of last year,  husband was born here but lived stateside for 40+ years. So, we decided to least out the house in Cali., gave everything away to family n friends n packed 6 suitcases n off we went. I have never been so happy n relaxed as I have been since our move.  It was terribly hard as we left on family, grown sons, grandchildren n 2 great grands behind.
I just came back from a months vacation with them.
Just give it time, its different. Job market is slow as in states but being retired its a worry we dont have. Hope your move is easy n you find your piece of heaven here too. Yes, your monthly income seems like you will do great.

On 5 Grand you can have a good lifestyle, no problems there.

Traffic, like sharonlynn says, it's a mess. My tactics have been: If you can't beat them join them and that works just fine. No accidents in the last 13 years and I drive a lot.

If you have any specific questions, post them. With a little luck somebody will know the answers that you 're looking for..

Welcome, theplasmaguy. $5k per month is plenty, including for most private school fees. It's a good thing you won't be looking for jobs because there aren't any. Traffic still sucks but it's actually gotten slightly better simply because PR has lost so much population because of the social, cultural and economic downward spiral that the island has created for itself.

Yeah, $5k!? You can kive quite comfortably with half that... Welcome!

Well as you may know it's a whole different world with many very pleasant aspects and many that you'll have to get used to. Its how you perceive it. My lady and I live half of the year here and most of the other half in NY right now .You have to learn to not be in a hurry and have a lot of patience. we enjoy it very much We're slowly making friends and have a great time exploring the island, the many beaches many beautiful aspects of nature. We live in Isabela which is very  close to Aguadilla, its a beautiful part of the island. Knowing Spanish makes a huge difference, but there are some people here that speak English many who have lived in the states and many younger people. One thing I've learned is to stop comparing everything to how it's done in the states. your money will do fine, unless you are reckless. One other point is that we also being African Americans, we haven't met any other afro Americans that live here but we get along just great. Hope this helps

My husband and I are African American and just recently moved to PR. We live in Old San Juan. We've only been here a month but would love to meet other African Americans.  It's definitely a different way of life here.  But we're enjoying it so far.

I've lived in Puerto Rico for almost nine years, and two things I can tell you... Puerto Ricans (like Americans) come in all the colors of humanity, and I've not noticed that any of them have tried to isolate themselvs into sub-cultures.

I agree. In my 13 years here I haven't noticed a lot of racism. In many families you'll find people of all colors.
What I did notice is some problems between PuertoRicans and Dominicans but not a lot.

They (Puerto Ricans), as it was explained to me by my ex (a Dominican), feel the Dominicans act as though they are better... "Snooty"? And the Dominicans resent that the Puerto Ricans can simply jump on a plane, to get to the USA, while they (The Dominicans) have to work, save $, play the paper application game; which generally takes up to 10 years.  That's where the problems between the two are.

10 years is a long time. That can be the case for Dominicans who entered illegally and somehow have to become a legal permanent resident. If they entered legally they will have a green card within 18 months or so. Legal residents can travel to and live anywhere in the US.

I'm only repeating what was told to me, by a family that experienced it; she said each member of her family had to wait on a list, while on the list, worked & saved 10 yrs. (They needed a sponsor, and approx 4-6 months cash for food/shelter). I haven't gone through it myself. She was never illegal. She is now a business owner, in NC.

I went through the process myself and got my green card within 18 months. I thought that it would be the same for everybody.. 
I needed a sponsor too, even with enough money / income of my own.

Anyway, I met quite some Dominicans over the years and almost all of them were nice, friendly, hard working people.

So plasmaguy, what happened? Last time you posted in January 2015 you were moving to PR, but we have not heard how things developed.
Any updates