It is truly difficult to really capture how much of a change in lifestyle it is for someone who is not from Puerto Rico to move to Puerto Rico. It is different for everyone and some people (like children) will adapt faster than others. It also depends where exactly you move. Some people like condos and gated communities that are completely shut off from everyone else and their daily experience will be quite a bit different from people who live immersed within a neighborhood. People with kids will have a different experience than childfree聽people. But overall, here are a few ways your life will probably change if you move to Puerto Rico.
1) Housing – Whether you buy or rent you will more than likely live in a cement house with tile floors and louvered windows. Often on a road with virtually no setback or yard. It takes some time to get used to, but when you’ve been through a tropical storm you’ll understand why concrete became the standard (though on the otherhand not always the best in an earthquake) and after you’ve swept your floors for the 5th time that day you will understand聽why you wouldn’t want to have moldy dirty carpet anyway.
Mofongo and Malta at a roadside stop!
2) Food/Diet – No you won’t have the best apples, asparagus and artichokes. You may find them, but they won’t probably be very appetizing and are probably about聽a month old from their travels. Lettuces and other tender greens will be sparse in the grocery store. But the tradeoff is a wonderful cornucopia of tropical delights if you just look a little deeply and/or grow your own. While we can get those standard apples here, I’ve never seen a pomarrosa in a store in the states for instance! Also, don’t expect Puerto Rican food to be Mexican food. Puerto Rican cuisine is its own specialty.聽While I miss the spicy聽Mexican foods of Colorado, I聽LOVE many of the great foods of Puerto Rico like pasteles and mofongo.
Warm weather to me means fun clothes!
3) Clothing聽-When it’s always nice outside, you won’t be needing that down padded snow coat or boots anymore…ever.聽Shorts and聽shirts or less. Most of the time I have a hard time聽putting on even that if we are staying at the property.聽However,聽one should聽always have a pair of pants and close-toed shoes on hand for the occasional visit to some聽governmental聽building or to go in a casino. Culturally most聽Puerto Ricans wear聽long pants. And must sweat like crazy. So if you聽don’t want to stick out like a gringo,聽you can wear pants. I still don’t usually though.
4) Activities – All year round summer means all year round summer-like activities. Especially if you live near the beach. Sure you can do most anything you did where you came from like go to the mall or a movie or whatever, but you will probably find yourself聽taking up some new hobby and activity. More than likely some creative venture. You also live on one of the most beautiful islands filled with all sorts of what you would probably consider exotic locations that you can explore anytime and pretty much without any pretense!
5) Shopping– Speaking of shopping….This is an island. Be prepared to get everything locally if possible. This is a who-you-know sort of place.聽You聽will need to be friendly with everyone because聽everything is connected.聽But if you do go shopping in聽the conventional way for example to some big box store like Sam’s or Marshall’s and you see something new that you may vaguely like and haven’t seen it before, you should probably buy it. More than likely you probably聽won’t see it there again or for a long while. And while you can buy a lot of things online, shipping is uncertain and sometimes聽pretty expensive.
6) Your abilities – You may have to do a lot聽more聽for yourself.聽And you will be surprised and amazed at the things you can do when you believe it. Heck, we are literally building a fricking聽house in the middle of聽jungle聽with very little outside help. You will grow and be聽stronger than you ever thought possible. But you have to be willing to give it a shot. You will聽learn about the can-do attitude of the people here. It may be done on Island Time, but if something gets set into motion, it gets done!聽You聽will聽probably learn a lot more聽home remedies and McGwyver type of fixes too. It helps to have 2 of everything just to have the parts!
There are “official” rules and then there are the “actual” rules of the road
7) Driving – At first you will think the driving here is absolutely nuts.聽Oh, they just used that as聽a bonus lane!!聽Oh, they said hi to their neighbor聽with聽a bunch of traffic behind them,聽铆nteresting.聽They totally dodged that pothole and headed straight into traffic. Did they just go right through the red light?! Wow, the cashiers聽sell and OPEN the beer for customers聽in the gas station? Oh, they are just going to stop right here and buy some quenepas and m+ms, oh and a whole pizza, at this intersection? Or there is someone who is turning and the car in front of you decides to stop wave them in front. Then one day you are in a position where that move might be helpful. So you try it out. And聽then you realize you聽are pretty much聽driving just like everyone else. And it’s awesome!
Playground and a horse
8) Setting – Of course there are palm trees and gorgeous聽beaches. But there are聽also some of the weirdest, funniest聽moments and scenes I have ever seen.
Show me your paradise
9) Utilities – From the word Utility. The聽quality or state of being useful. And utilities ARE very useful. But they are not ALWAYS consistent or on. Water, electricity, internet. They all go out much more often than many other places. This is another area聽you will get to work on that attitude change聽thing. As I write this聽we have been without water for about 3 days. We have a slow trickle from the remains of the line, but we are careful not to shower long or flush the toilet too much. We have gone weeks without internet. And nearly as long without electricity. Instead of thinking they SHOULD be on…I try to remember how great it is when they are and also how nice it is to聽go outside and enjoy the world without all these man-made systems for a few hours. Also, another聽opportunity to find out how much you can truly do for yourself. Most people have generators, water cisterns and聽know where the best hot spots for internet in town are聽for this very reason of not relying too much on any one system.
Speaker trucks…one way to annoyingly tell everyone about some news or product
10) Freedom – You will not be nearly as coddled. You will be able to jump off slippery waterfalls and climb to hilltops and caves without helmets if you so wish. Police will likely look the other way at drunk driving. You will be able to have roosters and chickens (and goats and pigs and horses and…) in pretty much any neighborhood. You can host big gambling parties. You can sell stuff on the street.聽You can blast your music as loudly as you want. How you handle that responsibility of freedom will depend on you.
Flamboyan season -and a horse in a tiny聽truck
11) Seasons – This one seems to be a big one for some people. Like,聽“Don’t you miss the changing of the seasons?” For me, the only season I really enjoyed see change was the one that brought us out聽of the cold depressing dark winter/spring into full summer fun. Wasn’t that everyone’s favorite time? No school. Long days. Parties with friends. Hanging out outside. BBQs and nice weather. And聽so, I get聽to live in summer year round.聽And聽actually there are seasons here. They are just a little less聽pronounced and more to do with rain and fruit varieties (mango or聽avocado season for example)聽than with temperature. Also there are seasons of people at least in Rinc贸n.聽Tourist season and聽off-season.
12) Your Attitude. (From Type A —> Type B): If you can make this change聽it聽will help you tremendously.聽If you can’t make this transition, this may not be the place for you. There are cockroaches here. There are rats here. There are mosquitoes.Things break more often and wear out faster. Things get dirtier and need to be cleaned more. There are poor people.聽It’s harder to find all the stuff you are used to. There are not as many jobs and definitely not as many high paying jobs. Things take longer than you are used to or think they should. We聽get it. But please…Take a chill pill. Go to the beach. Take off your watch. Listen to some music. Jangear con tus panas. Breathe in the moment.聽All of this聽is just聽part of the聽adventure. Have fun with it! Learn something! People who can’t adjust at least a little to Type B Island聽life will probably not enjoy Puerto Rico unless they completely isolate themselves from it.
13) Design of your life!聽 With freedom, a can-do spirit and a laid back vibe you will probably begin to design the life聽of your dreams. You will be able to move from a wage slave beholden to someone聽else’s vision to the boss artist you have had locked away.聽With a lower cost of living you won’t need to make as much money to make that happen and you will be doing something you聽truly love and would do聽even if money wasn’t a factor. Often times in an informal under-the-table economy!
14) Language -Spanish! (Espa帽ol)聽– You can get by, especially in certain areas like Gringolandia (Rinc贸n, Aguadilla, most of the west coast, university areas, parts of San Juan, etc) speaking only English, but you聽certainly won’t have a very broad understanding of Puerto Rico and your social circle will be limited. Nearly everything is聽first in Spanish here. Puerto Rican Spanish specifically which is聽pretty聽different than other聽Spanish.聽Everything. From the TV to radio, to basic conversations with retailers to deep important conversations in government buildings. If that聽bothers you or can’t adjust at least a little to it, you may go crazy.
Borinquen Beach, Aguadilla
15) Tropics – This is the tropics. That means it is incredibly beautiful and post card perfect sometimes. We live where you vacation. But it also means that it can be pretty humid and聽hot. It means there are creatures and plants you are not used to. There are big spiders and bigger cockroaches. There are weird sounds that you can’t identify especially at night. There are termite swarms after a big rain. And the rainstorms are big and thunderous. Aguaceros! You聽will probably break out in some聽sort of sweat or聽plant poison聽rash (like Puerto Rican poison ivy) or even tropical disease (like Dengue, Chikungunya, Zika), you may聽get sunburned聽because the sun is pretty intense.聽It’s also an island surround by sea. The sea is dangerous!聽People often underestimate the power of聽the ocean and there are always a few drownings every聽year!
Mojito time!
16) Drinking –聽There is聽definitely a drinking culture here in Puerto Rico.聽Fueled by聽rum from the island (Bacard铆, Don Q) as well as Medalla and other light beers.聽It would be a rare聽event or party without alcohol. It’s hot and a cold one tastes pretty damn good sometimes. Even customer appreciation聽events at banks, grocery stores, parades at all hours of the day etc聽are fueled with alcohol.聽Chinchorreos, cabalgatas, parrandas are all reasons to drink more.聽With that is a lot more聽acceptance of alcoholism and its consequences. You will probably have to watch your drinking a lot聽more as it can easily creep up on you.
La Junta de Control Fiscal No Viene a Salvar, Viene a Robar (The Control Board isn’t coming to save us, it’s coming to rob us)
17) Life in a Colony– 聽If you move to Puerto Rico you will probably be struck by both the similarities and the differences from life where you came from. Puerto Rico has nearly everything you would expect in a state of the United States of America. Except one big thing: Self-sovereignty. Puerto Rico functions as a territory but is basically treated as a colony of the US. As a resident here, you will see what it means to be basically at best sort of forgotten and at worst downright pillaged of resources. We lack the right to vote for president and many of the decisions for the island can be over-ruled by US congress. And we have no voting members there either. It makes it much harder to address island wide issues when there is no representation and very little interest聽on the part of the US聽besides financial and military.
Cockfighting is legal and thriving all over the island
18) Overall a聽big culture change聽– Some of these are mentioned above, but suffice it to say that you will probably be in for a culture change if not shock. Puerto Rican culture is聽a distinct blend of Latino Spanish聽influence and history, afro-Caribbean roots and the聽effects of being part of the US. While it is difficult to generalize,聽I聽think it is fair to say that nearly everything you know culturally is just a little bit different in Puerto Rico. Views on time (hora Puertorrique帽a), values of work/family (WAY more days off to “compartir” with loved ones), religion (mostly Catholic with a healthy dose of Pentacostal), food (mmm yum), language (a distinct type of Spanish), recreation (some things are the same but there are new ones here like聽cockfighting, surfing and coffee festivals that we never experienced before)聽, history (you should know聽the names of historical figures like聽Pedro Albizu Campos, Luis Mu帽oz Marin and Do帽a Fela), expressions (many funny common expressions here), social interactions (like kisses on the cheek or saying Buen Provecho), music (salsa, merengue, bachata, reggaeton and more), taboos, and much more are all going to聽be different in your new life in Puerto Rico.
I know this list聽isn’t comprehensive, but hopefully helps give you an idea of what sort of lifestyle change you are actually looking into if you move to Puerto Rico. For us, we love it and it suits our personality, but it may not be for everyone. Come and visit before you move.聽And if you’re anything like us, you will probably be聽bedazzled by the Isle of Enchantment.
