Tag Archives: infrastructure

Rincon’s Growing Pains -Mega Hotels, Infrastructure and More

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One of Rincon’s famous sunsets –La ciudad de los bellos atardeceres

Rincon for better and worse has become a special hot spot on the island of Puerto Rico. It is a relatively (for now) unspoiled surfing haven known for lots of beaches, snorkeling and the most lovely sunsets. Unlike many cities and towns, it has a thriving tourism economy and the secret is out about its beauty and unique, laid back ways. With this, of course, comes a lot of interest from all corners of the globe. When people from the states visit, they often look at the prices in comparison and think, “Wow, that’s a lot more affordable. Wouldn’t it be great to live there?” (We did!) As this continues to happen, Rincon struggles to keep up. Here are some of the themes of Rincon’s growing pains. Many of these issues intermingle, but at its core is change! And change is often hard!


Beware of Falling Almonds and Iguanas! Rincon

Gentrification/Xenophobia
Unlike in other parts of the country, gentrification in this case takes a different twist in that it is the minority population (namely mainland Americans) buying up large swathes of property and changing the character (and cost) of the area. For many years this has been slow and steady and just part of Rincon as “gringolandia” but as it continues to gain steam, many locals are selling out and the feel has changed quite a bit. When this happens there can be an ugly backlash and resentment that people cannot even afford to live in their own town. And this is not without merit either. Rincon has the highest concentration of Airbnb rental units in the Caribbean and it makes much more financial sense to rent out units short term than long to locals. Prices in general are much higher in Rincon than even in the neighboring towns of Anasco and Aguada and we often find ourselves shopping or eating out of town for this reason.


A snippet of a social media conversation about a “gringo” threatening the driver of a (very LOUD, very early) speaker truck


Horses in a truck

Changing Identity and the Old Ways Vs the New
Rincon is still a small town. There are only about 15,000 residents total, with maybe 1,000 full-time “gringos.” It may feel like more, but that is because it often gets crowded with visiting tourists. These people don’t live here though. Still, this contributes to the sentiment that Rincon is “getting taken over” by “Americanos” or that it is “lost” to the gringos. (I have heard these comments myself.) It is still a rural country town, but with the changing times and demographics (and yes, gentrification) some of the identity is changing too. Some people want the loud speaker trucks to go away. Some are glad cockfighting is now illegal (in a shady Federal deal done without the knowledge or input of Puerto Rico). Even taking your dog or horse to the local chinchorro is getting cracked down upon. More and more stray dogs and cats get spayed and neutered. Where it was once the “wild west” of Puerto Rico, it is now much more controlled and calm (though still wild by state standards).


Random street jam in Rincon

It is also changing its identity to be more modern and hip(ster). This is both an influence from the states as well as Puerto Rico’s larger areas in general. There are gastroparks, tons of coffee shops, yoga galore and an oil to water look of “gringos” in swimsuits or shorts and flip-flops walking around (if any shoes at all) and local Puerto Ricans in collared shirts, pants and shoes. There are also many people of both cultures sporting long beards and man-buns. Rincon, in particular, especially flavors the ‘granola’ culture of all things natural and organic. Many local Puerto Ricans are not against this and it usually blends well with the agricultural, laid back attitude here.


Horse tied up outside a grocery store in Mayaguez


Community turnout for questions/protests of the Blue Water Project -credit Jim Crotty/FB


Marina Beach won’t be the same if there is a huge hotel

Rapid Growth/Large-Scale Projects
One of the most recent and controversial projects is the Blue Water Casino and Hotel that is projected/proposed to be built in the Rincon Marina area. This is an especially fragile area to build because it is right next to the Tres Palmas Marine Reserve and would be the first casino in Rincon. Many fear it would change the identity of Rincon permanently for the worse. People are mobilizing to fight this behemoth with signage, campaigns to politicians and even (ironically?) using the speaker trucks around town to play this song.  And one of biggest issues with this project is that Rincon’s infrastructure can hardly handle the current growth rate, let alone what a Mega Hotel is likely to bring to the town.


Signs like these are posted all over Rincon right now

Crime
During tourist season (winter months) there always seems to be a jump in crime. Criminals take advantage of naive tourists who leave expensive items like cameras, phones and even purses in their cars as they go out to enjoy themselves at restaurants or the beach and break in and steal these items (and sometimes even the car itself). The infrastructure, including the police resources, has not grown in step with the needs of the community to help solve these crimes. So instead, the overwhelmed municipal government passed a law against parking in the dark! Instead of actually dealing with the criminal behavior, they made the victims the criminals for going out in the first place! Talk about bad policy in action. And yet, the casino rolls full steam ahead.

 

Lack of Resources/Poor Infrastructure esp in Puntas
Overall, nearly all of these issues could be handled with the proper infrastructure and planning. But that is just not going to happen until the money is allocated there. The roads are pitted with potholes, there are not enough police or fire resources, some electrical lines have not been repaired since Maria and there is now water rationing due to the damage to the Guajataca Dam. What’s more is that the most expensive, desirable -and arguably gentrified- neighborhood in Rincon, Puntas, still has some of the most frequent water and power outages on the island. The residents have banded together to try to form their own initiative to bring consistent water to the area. You can read about the issue here, A Rinconvenient Truth.


It may look nice, but it has insidious implications on the town

National Promotions -Coca Cola
And last, but not least, is a sign of the times when Coca Cola has bought out most of Rincon with its promotions. Many businesses were approached as part of a music festival weekend to film a commercial. Their business would be featured and they would even get new signs (letreros) and swag (T-shirts, in-store promotions, coolers, etc). It would cost nothing. All they had to do was go along with the fun. Unfortunately, this is the standard playbook of the tobacco industry. The soft drink industry is under tremendous pressure to stay normalized because even one can of soda is now considered to have more than the healthy limit of added sugars. What is more, Puerto Ricans have already struggled with an overweight and diabetes epidemic and this only adds fuel to the fire.  And while Coca Cola has always had a presence in Puerto Rico, it has never been so blatant as painting murals and buying out businesses in the past as it has often done in places like Mexico. I hope it is not a sign of things to come where the town becomes completely bought out by corporate and big-money interests at the cost of the individual people.


Gas stations and even the smallest food stop were tagged by Coke

Overall, Rincon has many challenges to overcome from these issues as it develops its identity even through these growing pains. One hopes that its character doesn’t transform so much that we lose the Rincon that we know and love, while allowing for smart growth to accommodate the evolving times and demographics. Change will happen whether we like it or not, but we all can help guide it to be healthy, cooperative and beautiful! Good job to all the residents and visitors who care enough about Rincon to help it become its best!


Enjoying a nice brunch at the English Rose in Rincon

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Do You Need Air Conditioning in the Tropics?

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Do you need air conditioning in the tropics (particularly in Puerto Rico)?

This is a question that is perhaps best answered by you, but in my opinion, the answer is no. Even though it can get pretty hot and humid in the summers of the tropics, here’s why I say no.

heart in lights
We all love electricity, but it’s pretty expensive!

1) It’s really expensive. In most areas that are tropical including here in Puerto Rico, electricity is very expensive. Electricity here costs about double what it does where we were from in Colorado, but because we don’t use much here our electricity bills are actually less. The two big items that pull the most electricity and therefore increase your bill are air conditioners and electric dryers (and swimming pool pumps, but that’s a whole other demographic). Even the most efficient air conditioners such as an inverter that can cover maybe 1000 sq ft will increase your bill from a base of $20 (what we currently pay) to about $100/month. And if you jump into another rate tier it can be even more.

electricity bill
Our last month’s bill without air conditioning

2) It is hard on the environment. When a lot of people are pulling electricity to run something like the luxury of air conditioning it uses a lot more resources. In the case of electricity in Puerto Rico and most places really, it is still mainly powered by non-renewable resources such as old dirty coal and oil products. The less people use in general the better it is for the environment because less has to be mined, processed, shipped, etc.

3) It’s hard on the infrastructure. Here in Puerto Rico the electrical infrastructure is a bit outdated and with calls for cuts in the budget it is unlikely to get upgraded any time soon. Locally, in Rincón there is one barrio called Puntas which is very popular and probably the richest neighborhood. It is the only barrio in Rincón within walking distance to the best surf breaks and so it became a gringo haven and more gentrified than some other areas of Rincón. The houses cost the most and there are probably more houses with 3000 + square feet, swimming pools, multiple units and multiple air conditioners than elsewhere. This also means it pulls WAY more power from everyone else to run those pools, A/C units, dryers, etc. We can almost guarantee a local or widespread power outage on popular tourist weekends when everyone is using these resources because the infrastructure can’t handle this type of load.

4) You never acclimate. Before deciding if you “need” air conditioning you should live here for a full year. When we would visit the tropics in the winter coming from Colorado where it was negative 20 degrees we would step off the plane and just be amazed at how hot it was! It could be a 100 degree change! Now in the winter we are both under the covers at night because it can dip down to a chilly 72 degrees (it’s funny but true!). If we had rushed out to install air conditioning right away we would have never allowed our bodies to acclimate to this tropical environment. Now when I go into the Econo grocery store or the movie theatres where they blast the AC to the max I am freezing and have to either bring a jacket or go outside to warm up. I think our bodies acclimated in a different way as well because I have lost over 30 pounds living here without trying (here’s how)! It doesn’t make sense to carry that much extra weight and heat if it’s hot.

5) It’s another thing you have to maintain. Things break. Everywhere. But in the tropics the rate of entropy seems to be much more rapid. Things just break and break down faster here and then have to be either fixed or replaced. If you don’t have it, you don’t have to worry about it!

Tres Palmas Day
There’s nice warm weather year round! So enjoy it!

How to avoid roasting in the tropics without air conditioning

In Colorado we did have a fuel-efficient air conditioner that we ran for about 2 months out of the year and kept at about 80 degrees to take the edge off. This was because it would get up to 100 degrees in the summer and our house had a wall of west-facing windows that heated it up like crazy. Some people here in Puerto Rico have houses or live in apartments or condos that are devoid of all trees and get hit with that full afternoon sun and because they are concrete boxes they just heat right up like a cooking stone. To avoid the negative consequences discussed above it’s important to look for a place to live that will be conducive to living without air conditioning. These include:

Cool tree cassie

Shade and Trees/vegetation. Do not underestimate the power of shade. Shade from any source will do, but shade from a large tree will give you the added benefit of the cooling water respiration effect. Shade can drop the temperature by 10-30 degrees. When you are surrounded by vegetation such as a small yard this will help as well because the heat from asphalt and other concrete building radiates. I think I read somewhere that San Juan is about 10 degrees hotter than the rest of the island due to the roads, buildings and the density of people.

Wall Ceiling and Fan in Cabin
We built our cabin with high ceilings and lots of airflow because we knew we wouldn’t install A/C

High ceiling with ventilation. Heat rises, so a high ceiling that is ventilated with windows or vents will help keep the air flowing and the hot air away from you.

Breeze. Look for a place with a natural sea breeze or trade winds. If it’s too high up it may get a little too windy, but often places on hill tops tend to be a bit breezier than lower. This also keeps the mosquitos away a bit more.

Britton and beer
To stay cool, drink lots of cold fluids!

Fans. In the middle of the summer we have our ceiling fans running as well as a box fan. Moving air makes a huge difference.

Cold showers. We also take more cold (70-75 degree) showers in the summer. Then we stand in front of or lay under a fan for the double effect.

More time at the beach/pools. You don’t have to be a genius to know that spending time immersed in water will cool you down even if the water here never gets too cold.

A/C luxury time. When all else fails and you are just hot and cranky, go see a movie or do your grocery shopping in the middle of the hot afternoon. You are sure to cool down using someone else’s air conditioning.

cassie-hammock
Hang out and relax in the shade

I am not completely opposed to air conditioning, but it does seem to be a luxury that people over-use and think of as a necessity when it clearly is not especially when considering the above factors. Once you’ve been acclimated to the tropics I would say it only gets “too hot” for about 2 hours in the afternoons of the summer. During those hours, take a siesta, drink an icy cold beverage, take a dip in the sea or rest under a shady tree in a breezy spot. That’s how humans have handled heat for most of human-time and also how the majority of people in Puerto Rico (including us) still live.

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