Anyone in Puerto Rico?

[acid_ninja]

I'm thinking about moving there next year and I'd love to pick your brain about job prospects, cost of living, good and bad places to go, etc.

[SaintRidley]

It's been about ten years since I've lived there, but I can give you some basic advice.

Know Spanish. It will be immensely helpful.

East side of the island is more "modern" than the west side. If you're on the west side, expect to occasionally see the Coast Guard rounding up Dominicans in the water to prevent them from landing on the island.

It's more poverty-stricken than any state in the U.S. This may have an effect on your ability to find a job. If you're in the military or are an astrophysicist you ought to be okay, though, as a military salary will do you well and being an astrophysicist means you'll be in Arecibo.

During the hurricane season, especially on the west side of the island, expect to find a lack of running water and electricity to be a regular occurrence. Buy camp showers and fill them with rain water and you ought to hit a significant chunk of your water needs when the water's not working. Get a generator for the times when the storms knock out the electricity. Keep an eye on your shed. It may end up wrapped around a tree three houses down.

Driving is a completely different experience. Parking lots are some of the worst-designed I've ever encountered. Red lights are more or less meaningless after around 10 at night.

Don't drive on the mountain roads after a hurricane has hit. It can and will take weeks for them to be cleared properly for safe driving. You will find people who have had their entire houses destroyed just sitting there in front of the wreckage crying because they've lost everything they ever had.

Dead animals (usually small, but as large as cows) are not uncommon sights on the shoulders of roads. They just get sort of pushed aside and left there.

If you need to get a prescription filled, it can be a pain. Be prepared to see hospitals that look like they have no standards for cleanliness or sanitation.


That's about all I've got. Facts subject to change, as this was ten years ago and mostly applies to the western half of the island.

[SDF]

I'm thinking about moving there next year...


snip

Soa... why are you going there?

[acid_ninja]

Thanks, that's helpful. The developing world/poverty stuff isn't much of a problem - I lived in Thailand for three years so I'm used to crazy driving and my spanish is halfway decent.

I'm an English teacher so I was hoping to work in a university or something. I've been living abroad for the last six years and, while I still want to be somewhere foreign, I'd like to be a bit closer to home.

[Archonic Energy]

Coffe plantations are the best way to make lost of money but they are expensive to set up, sugar is a good midd... oh, wait.
you mean the Real Puerto Rico...
Never mind. :smallredface:

[SaintRidley]

I'd advise sticking to the San Juan area, then. You might be able to find decent work there.