This was our first Halloween spent in Puerto Rico and we had a great time.
We had heard the Halloween parties in Rincón were famous and that nearly everyone goes all out with costumes and such. On Saturday there were parties at Tamboo on Sandy Beach as well as at the Calypso at Maria’s Beach, but we heard that usually the biggest party is on Halloween night at Shipwreck down by the Marina. So we made plans to go there.
We thought we would make a little tribute to all our hives of bees in our house with me dressing as a bee and Britton as a beekeeper.
A killer bee!
There were some great costumes and a lot of people did come out to Shipwreck. It was fun to people watch and do a little dancing. We are starting to know more and more people when we go out socially which makes it more fun too.
It was pretty loud and so we hung out a lot in the parking lot talking. Inside or outside the bar was essentially the same party spilling out. It was pretty cool. After a while we decided to go down to Lucky 13 bar where the scene was a little more relaxed. Overall it was a fun night!
Halloween in Puerto Rico is definitely different than in the U.S. mainland. There were virtually no trick-or-treaters except in planned areas. But on most streets and in the neighborhoods we didn’t see any kids. I think part of this is that the houses here pretty much all have gates, there are very few sidewalks for the kids to walk on, and you can’t just knock on the door or ring the bell. Also, I think it’s not a cultural norm in Puerto Rico to celebrate Halloween.
But we DID see something pretty funny and different:
A spider pig
Update: Here’s
Halloween 2014
Halloween 2015
And Halloween 2016 with Masquerade Ball
Hi Cassie and Britton! I finally had time to read through all your posts this morning and catch up on your adventures! Wow! Looks like you have learned a lot and accomplished a lot in your time in PR so far. So cool! Looks like Halloween was fun! Thanks for sharing your story with all of us (who wish on many days we could run away to an island somewhere :)… Melanie
Hey Britton!! It’s Roxy from Intrado!! We miss your work over here in our cubes! Love seeing all the updates! You should take some beach sunset pictures for me! that’s like my favorite thing ever! Glad you two are doing awesome!! : )
Love the Spider Pig!!
Hugs to you both.
Laura
Casssie ,we do celebrate Haloween in PR. You need to get out of Rincón once in a while and explore more about traditions in Puerto Rico.
Cassie,
Great to follow along as you guys transition into life in Puerto Rico. Enjoy your pictures and stories. I’m vicariously enjoying Puerto Rico! We miss you at the HD.
Mark
Melanie,
Thanks for the comment! It is always nice to know that people enjoy reading what we are doing here. It has taken us a little while to feel really comfortable and we still have a ways to go, but we really love it here.
Reinaldo,
Tell me when and where and we will try to be there. We want to see all the different cultural events as much as possible. Do Puerto Ricans usually take their kids trick-or-treating and we just missed it? In our very limited experience, we had zero kids on our block asking for candy. Around the west coast (Mayaguez, Aguada, Rincón) we saw some signs for “casas embrujadas” (haunted houses) and costume parties at bars like these ones that were held in Rincón, but overall, the holiday seemed to be less celebrated than in the states. Do you not think that’s a fair assessment?
Mark,
So great to hear from you! Thanks for the encouragement. I miss you guys too, but we are having a blast here!
Hi Roxy! I can definitely post up some pictures, the sunsets over the water are amazing! Hope you are doing well!
Laura – Isn’t that pig the funniest thing! Hope you’re doing well!
Cassie and Britton, your assessment of Puerto Rican Halloween is spot on. We’ve got tons of Halloween parties but trick or treating is not very popular. And when it does happen it is usually between families that know each other.
Reinaldo, calm down. Few expats make as much of an effort to know Puerto Rican culture and traditions as these two. And if you read their blog you’ll see that they’ve done quite a bit of exploring, especially when you take into account the fact that they haven’t been in the island long enough to buy propper kitchen appliances. 😛