New members of the Puerto Rico forum, introduce yourselves here - 2018

hey folks!  i am new to this forum but have lived here in PR for about a year and half all the way from Vancouver, Canada.

Welcome to the forum, you been in the island a while. Not sure why you selected that particular area, but a trip to Rincon and surrounding areas will probably allow you to meet a lot of other expats.

Locals if approached are very friendly specially if they have something in common with you, like a sport, or hobby. Integration into the community can be very rewarding.

Welcome, eh!

ekpassepartout wrote:

Hi, I'm ek. I'm an attorney from San Francisco who has taken early retirement and am currently in Vietnam thinking about a place for long term residence. I'm looking into Puerto Rico as well, as it's much easier (legally and possibly culturally) to relocate there. I've got very basic Spanish, but learning a new language wherever I settle is part of my goal. I like relaxed beach culture and spicy food.

Welcome! You’ll definitely find a relaxed beach culture here. Unfortunately there’s not much spicy food. I have to import my Tapatío sauce and buy hot Cheetos from Best Buy. You will find a ton of other types of yummy food though.

ekpassepartout wrote:

Hi, I'm ek. I'm an attorney from San Francisco who has taken early retirement and am currently in Vietnam thinking about a place for long term residence. I'm looking into Puerto Rico as well, as it's much easier (legally and possibly culturally) to relocate there. I've got very basic Spanish, but learning a new language wherever I settle is part of my goal. I like relaxed beach culture and spicy food.

If you're looking for spicy food, you're looking in the wrong place. That is the one thing I miss in PR. You have to know where to look to find hot sauce and the selection isn't that great. Very few spicy dishes.

Puerto Rico has excellent food! But it's not spicy. The best spicy food I've gotten on the island came from a little old woman's house up in the mountains near Jayuya. It was homemade hot sauce and she served her mofongo balls with it. It was...to die for. There is a guy going south toward Mayagüez from Aguadilla who sells Arepas with homemade hot sauce. There is a little store in OSJ that sells a variety of spices and they have a decent hot jam collection and a few hot sauces as well. You've just got to search it out

ekpassepartout wrote:

Hi, I'm ek. I'm an attorney from San Francisco who has taken early retirement and am currently in Vietnam thinking about a place for long term residence. I'm looking into Puerto Rico as well, as it's much easier (legally and possibly culturally) to relocate there. I've got very basic Spanish, but learning a new language wherever I settle is part of my goal. I like relaxed beach culture and spicy food.

Welcome to the forum and hopefully the island. To come to Puerto Rico all you need is to get in a plane and move. No implications other that you will need your passport with you and go thru Aduana when you come since you are currently in Vietnam. While culturally PR is different than the states, the money, you rights, etc is the same.
Feel free to ask questions. As to Spicy food, very few dishes have heat on them and of those the non hot and the heat version are available. typically we have "Pique" or hot sauce made locally using mostly the Caballero pepper, it has garlic, bay leaf, salt black pepper, other spices, water, vinegar and oil. It is very aromatic, it is left in the sun for a couple of days to cure before use. Add as much or as little to anything you like. You can crank it up with ghost pepper or any other pepper you prefer. Typically heat is served on the side and let customer decide.

Rey

Oh man, I miss good pique so much. There was / is a place south of Arecibo called "Delas BBQ" who has the most amazing Pique I've ever had. I practically drank the stuff every time I visited.

Hi! I'm Eden and we're moving to PR from Miami in April! I'm trying to gather all the info possible before we move..

My wife and I will be moving to San Juan next year. We will have our preschool aged daughter with us. We are really looking forward to the move! We will both have jobs with federal government, so that will really ease the transition.

I just posted a thread about it, but our main inquiries right now are 1) schools and 2) neighborhoods. I know it's too early for us to actually look into any apartments, etc.

We will be working in the Hato Rey area, so I figure that we'll try to identify a school first and then look at areas to live nearby. I know there are lots of highly esteemed English language schools, but we want one where our daughter can be immersed in Spanish.

We both speak Spanish (learned as adults, so not perfect), and we're happy that our daughter will have the opportunity to learn now while she's young.

Looking forward to learning a lot from this forum as we prepare for our big move.

SpecialKev wrote:

Oh man, I miss good pique so much. There was / is a place south of Arecibo called "Delas BBQ" who has the most amazing Pique I've ever had. I practically drank the stuff every time I visited.

Exactly where is Delas BBQ?  I gotta try it!

edenkaate wrote:

Hi! I'm Eden and we're moving to PR from Miami in April! I'm trying to gather all the info possible before we move..

Hi Eden,
Welcome to the forum and Puerto Rico soon. You are welcome to post your questions and we will do what we can to answer them. You can also use the search capability to find answers that were previously posted.
Rey

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_ … _Rico.html

We were just exploring the mountains one afternoon and stumbled across it. After that, we made at least one trip out there every couple of weeks from Aguadilla. Their pique was made by one of their employees at home and it was so, so so good. The food was great also, but I went for the pique lol.

They had really good Yuca as well. Chicken was on point, rice was great, they had a couple of types of beans available as well and then of course all the fried stuff too.

I hope they're still open since Maria. I'm looking forward to going again when we move back.

fedfam wrote:

My wife and I will be moving to San Juan next year. We will have our preschool aged daughter with us. We are really looking forward to the move! We will both have jobs with federal government, so that will really ease the transition.

I just posted a thread about it, but our main inquiries right now are 1) schools and 2) neighborhoods. I know it's too early for us to actually look into any apartments, etc.

We will be working in the Hato Rey area, so I figure that we'll try to identify a school first and then look at areas to live nearby. I know there are lots of highly esteemed English language schools, but we want one where our daughter can be immersed in Spanish.

We both speak Spanish (learned as adults, so not perfect), and we're happy that our daughter will have the opportunity to learn now while she's young.

Looking forward to learning a lot from this forum as we prepare for our big move.

Welcome to the forum. As I do not have children any more I cant help you in that area but some of the other members can. We also have a facebook group called “Expats in Puerto Rico” with over 500 members that is pretty active and may have more members with children. If you decide to join pay attention to the 3 questions required to join.

You have the right idea, find the school first then find the rental place. This would help get you a school that is less far away but still close to your office so you dont spend hours in traffic.
Rey

SpecialKev wrote:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g1383492-d7360799-Reviews-Delas_B_B_Q-Arecibo_Puerto_Rico.html

We were just exploring the mountains one afternoon and stumbled across it. After that, we made at least one trip out there every couple of weeks from Aguadilla. Their pique was made by one of their employees at home and it was so, so so good. The food was great also, but I went for the pique lol.

They had really good Yuca as well. Chicken was on point, rice was great, they had a couple of types of beans available as well and then of course all the fried stuff too.

I hope they're still open since Maria. I'm looking forward to going again when we move back.

Home made pique is the best. I make my own all the time, very arromatic, unfurtunatly it makes me eat more so not good at controling my weight, LOL.

Welcome.  Im plan on moving to San Herman from NYC within two months

Hi Jcherry,
Welcome to the forum and PR soon. Let us know if you have questions, we will do our best.

Some subjects are very subjective, so you need to think well about where you want to live and how you want to live.

The better we understand your needs the better we can target our answers.
Good luck
Rey

Hi, I'm Stacy.
I came to Puerto Rico to do some volunteer relief work, and have fallen in love with Vieques.  I'm thinking about buying a house/retiring there.  I'm curious about the logistics of shipping worldly goods (a car, a 3 bedroom/2.0 bath house worth of goods, kayaks, and a bunch of tools) to PR, and then onward to Vieques.   Does anyone have advice about shipping companies, logistics, etc?  The house is in St. Petersburg, FL, and Jacksonville seems like the closest port doing runs to PR.
Thanks all!

Most people sell everything in US and buy again in PR, but you can look into renting a POD or similar container and have it shipped from Jacksonville

A lot of member have also used Rosa Del Mar movers, they ship to PR.

Dont know anything about transporting to Vieques

The comejen and polilla in PR will eat most soft woods, better to use furniture build for PR.

Hola 👋🏽
My name is AlexAndra an I’m moving to PR in August. I’m currently a RN looking to complete my degree at InterAmerican Metro campus. I found a place in Truijilo and if someone is looking to rent I’m looking for a roommate!  I’m also looking for a reliable vechile of someone could pint me in the right direction 😆. Not sure if there are any other RN coming to PR, but let me know if you found a job. Glad to be here. I love to explore so anyone looking to explore with me let me know!!!

Sundaiirose wrote:

Hola 👋🏽
My name is AlexAndra an I’m moving to PR in August. I’m currently a RN looking to complete my degree at InterAmerican Metro campus. I found a place in Truijilo and if someone is looking to rent I’m looking for a roommate!  I’m also looking for a reliable vechile of someone could pint me in the right direction 😆. Not sure if there are any other RN coming to PR, but let me know if you found a job. Glad to be here. I love to explore so anyone looking to explore with me let me know!!!

Hi Sundalirose,
Welcome to the forum and Puerto Rico soon.

You should try the site http://www.clasificadosonline.com/Rentals.asp for rentals. Also driving around the town will lead you to places for rent, look for "Se Alquila" signs. Please note that most rental units have nothing inside, no refrigerator, no stove, no furniture. Rental agreements are in Spanish so either use a translation from google or get a lawyer to go over it with you (recommended).

RN work pay little in PR compared to the states and working conditions may be harder than you are used to. Too many patients, too few nurses and then you have to deal with GOD (doctors).

As to vehicles, the above clasificados site also has cars and many other stuff.

Create posts for any questions you have, there are also a lot of previous posts that you can search with probably a lot of answers that also apply to you.
Rey.

Hi,

I am moving to Puerto Rico in May of this year and could use some help finding an apartment, a car, and everything else involved.  Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Welcome!

Which part of the island?

I was thinking of San Juan for the first 6 months or so, that would give me time to explore.   Do you have any suggestions?

I am partial to the east coast, Luquillo, Fajardo, Ceiba, Naguabo. I would recommend using clasificados and using Google translate to be able to read it in English. Here is the link
http://www.clasificadosonline.com

56trader wrote:

Hi,

I am moving to Puerto Rico in May of this year and could use some help finding an apartment, a car, and everything else involved.  Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Welcome to the island! We are in the southwest part of the island. As Rey mentioned, thy clasificados on line or FB. There’s an abundance os FB groups that can provide information as well as some post here.

Be advise, the metropolitan area is going to an increase in criminal activity. Be careful where you go and don’t try to explore areas at night.

RS

Thank you for the info.  Be there soon!!!!!

Hi Everyone. I have joined the group as I am looking to relocate to San Juan in November. I'm originally from Florida but moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin 2 years ago. My parents are from Puerto Rico and I spent all my summers there growing up. My parents made sure that I was a Boricua de Corazon, I am bilingual. Fluent in both English and Spanish. I recently spent 3 weeks on the island doing volunteer work in Yabucoa with All Hands and Hearts. I also spent time with friends in Ponce, Guanica and stayed in San Juan a few days as well, while there I realized that Puerto Rico is home in my heart and I want to move there and go for it. I love the island and know things are tough, but tough times can bring out the best in us. Looking forward to learning more about the living situation and job situation prior to making my move. It will just be myself and my dog moving in November. I have one Son who is 21 and on his own. I have freedom to chase after my dreams. I can't wait to get back to La Isla for good.

Hi Island_Eva,
Welcome to the forum, please feel free to ask questions and we will do our best to help you out.
Rey

Thank you Rey!

Hi everyone!!  been to the island every year for the past few years, looking to retire in the cabo rojo area i where I can by a house for around 125K or less in a nice quite neighborhood?.. currently in California which I am not a fan of, before that we spent 32 years in Colorado !! looking forward to a slower life on the island with my wife. Anyone live near Cabo Rojo?  suggestions for areas that would be good for an older couple?  we love Rincon but would like to get a little closer to all the medical facilities  in Cabo Rojo for when we get really old   nice quite area are best!! Maybe an area where we can have a little garden.  Also bring the car?  any insights are appreciated    thanks and look forward to many chats
Gary and Robin

Hi Gary and Robin,
Welcome to the forum and hopefully Puerto Rico soon.

Car: You may be better off buying a car in PR, transporting a car from California to PR would likely cost you around 2,200 and then you also have to pay the import taxes and that depends on the INFLATED value of your car in PR opinion.

I am not familiar with Cabo Rojo not most of the west, but here is a list of homes currently for sale in Cabo Rojo, to give you an idea of the prices in the area. http://www.clasificadosonline.com/UDREL … pose%EDdas

Most houses in Urbanizaciones (communities) are very close to each other on the sides (3-5 feet to the fence on each side, and maybe 10-20 feet in the back. Front in most cases is about 5-8 feet to the sidewalk and people keep it well cut and plenty of house plants.

I do not like homes like that, I prefer more country, my land is 1.7 acres so plenty space to plant and self sufficient agriculture.

You also have the option of a condo, most have a pool, but if you go with a condo you may want to check on 2 things: a) Does it have an elevator and b) does it have a generator for the entire building. PR electric system is not reliable.
Rey

By the way Gary, do not purchase a Woden home, but if you do, be ready to pay cash, the banks will not give you a loan for a wooden house. Also make sure you use your own lawyer and that the lawyer checks that the property has a free and clear tittle. Not all homes have titles, you can buy the house but the land is not yours, it is a squatters home. Also there could be complications with clearing the tittle if one of the owners died as the laws expect that 1/3 will go to the children. Sometimes a child takes possession of a home then tries to sell it, but the other children don't agree or can not be found, so it can not be sold.

Thanks.  We are going to be down there in about 14 days looking forward to it

Holy cow we are choosing between the mountains and the ocean looks like if I go to the ocean I have to have aquaduck water and a gated community or a lot of footwork to make sure I'm buying a place that's really mine

ggraves53gsa wrote:

Holy cow we are choosing between the mountains and the ocean looks like if I go to the ocean I have to have aquaduck water and a gated community or a lot of footwork to make sure I'm buying a place that's really mine

Quite a few sea front properties are squatter properties. Lawyer should check title before you put money down.

I understand that squatters rights have been recently litigated.   Perhaps the lawyers can expand on squarer adverse position and do they (squatters) eventually get to keep the property? 🤔

The government has not been pushing them out and will not unless some financial situation occurs. Some been living in that spot for over 60 years.

However some in some areas have never had electricity because the town will not run it to them, there are many squatters communities with electricity so probably they had connections long ago.

Today FEMA will give them a small loan but not enough to rebuild and FEMA will not help them rebuild because they do not have title to the land.

I believe in some circumstances squatters can gain legal title to land the are living on.

An interesting topic:  https://www.puertoricolegalblog.com/vie … erto-rico/