3 Years to the Day…

I set foot in Puerto Rico for the very first time.

I did not know then, I would move to PR before the year’s end.  I deliberately picked the middle of the Hurricane Season so I would know what Puerto Rico was like at it’s worst.

It was also the cheapest time to fly!

The trip was a springboard for a travel blog about Puerto Rico.

A fun way to keep track of my experiences.

I figured 5 weeks running around the island would give me a good idea as to whether I might want to retire here.  As it worked out, I only saw about a quarter of what I had ‘planned’.  That’s not a bad thing and I’ve still not seen everything I had in mind for that first trip.

On that first visit, I met 3 people from the mainland who had come here on vacation and never left.  That amazed me.

I obviously liked what I found, well enough to go back to Alaska to pack up and move here 9 weeks later.  Going home was my ‘Reality Check’.  It helped reaffirm this was a good decision… 3 years later, I still have no regrets.

If anything, I’m still in awe of the place.

Yes… PR has it issues.  Infrastructure like water, electricity and the Internet go out so often it sometimes feels very ‘3rd world’.  The Puerto Rican bureaucracy moves soo slow, it’s a wonder anything gets done.  Then there is the fact that about a third of the economy operates on cash, outside regular commerce.  You know, black market.  It’s how stuff get’s done here.  So everything is a ‘little rough around the edges’.  I like that.

PR Politics-

Puerto Ricans don’t think of themselves as ‘Americanos’ and for good reason.  The island has little to do with what happens on the mainland.  Statehood is up for vote again this season, but your guess is as good as mine as to how it will go.  I’m good either way… really!  I got no issues with it remaining a Commonwealth.  Statehood would give Puerto Rico real clout for dealing with the Fed., but it would come with some changes.. it would be inevitable.  I try to stay out of this very heated topic.  It drives ALL the politics on the island.

Learning Spanish is going much slower than I thought it would.

Language is a tough subject for me.  I pick up bits and pieces from the radio, but I’m far from being able to carry a conversation.  I figure this year, I will put more effort into it.  It don’t help that I’m a little hard of hearing.  If you want to live here, you really must learn Spanish.  That’s the bottom line.

To sum up, I love it here and can’t imagine retiring to any place else.

The weather is mellow year round so gardening is pretty easy.

The coqui chirping at night, the Guaragao hawks screeching overhead during the day…

The food, the friendly people, the great local music, the history hiding everywhere…  The fantastic photo opportunities that abound…  I could go on and on.. And I plan to.  I will continue sharing what I find via me Scurvy Blog for as long as I can.

It IS Pardise.

It also does not hurt that I met the love of my life on that first trip…
I owe her everything.  My Smizmar.

Roberto the Scurvy Dog, Arrg!