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Old 03-26-2010, 07:10 PM
 
Location: Tampa Bay`·.¸¸ ><((((º>.·´¯`·><((((º>
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Interesting discussion on the bus service in Puerto Rico.
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Old 03-31-2010, 09:27 AM
 
Location: Puerto Rico
355 posts, read 1,044,220 times
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Sorry for getting off topic zoomerwit. I'll try to give you some input.

Living:

We are looking into living in the Fajardo/Luquillo area. We are looking for a two bedroom. We are looking at September, October, or November of 2010.

1. Are there any rental agencies to contact?
I'll check and let you know.

2. What is a good rental rate for the Northeast? Close or on the beach?
Sorry. Wouldn't know much about that. Maybe somewhere around $800?

Now about the beach, I wouldn't recommend living too close to the beach. When a hurricane is inbound, you'll most likely have to leave your home and go to a shelter.

3. House or Apartment?
I prefer apartments. It's easier to move if the need comes. Owning a house, for me, it's too much of a hassle.

4. Any places to avoid?
I don't know much about those municipalities, but stick to the normal rules of any suburb and you should do fine.

5. What could we expect to pay in utilities a month?
Water shouldn't be a problem. Electricity depends on your consumption. For example, I only use the A/C during the nights and can build up a monthly invoice of about $100. If you tend to use the A/C more and a dryer, you might need quite a bit more. I don't recommend paying for a landline, better stick to your cell. At those municipalities I guess you're going to need satellite dish if you want cable. I've heard those aren't much.

Working:

I am looking to work as a Scuba Divemaster. My girlfriend is looking into restaurant work. Both of us are experienced bartenders. I may have to do both part time depending on income.

1. Any suggestions on Dive Shops in the area? Dive Boats?
I know there are several tours given from both Fajardo and Luquillo. These tours include snorkling to see some reefs and some other stuff. Don't know about dive shops per se. Sorry.

2. Any suggestions of good restaurants to pursue?
I guess you should stick to the hotels. I don't think Fajardo and Luquillo have that many pubs.

3. What could a Divemaster expect to make a week/month?
Sorry. Can't give you input here.

4. What could a Bartender/Waiter expect to make a week/month?
Can't go into detail, but I guess you can expect the federal minimum during low seasons and do better during high seasons.

5. How difficult will it be to find a job in these fields?
As bartenders I guess you should find a job quick. Maybe not as soon as you land, but fast enough. As a diver, you'll want to investigate the tours already given and maybe they have an opening. Or maybe you might find someone with a boat and open you're own business.

Driving:

1. Any suggestions on where and how to find a used car?
The good news about living in Fajardo and Luquillo is that cars are usually cheaper compared to the Metro Area. You shouldn't have any trouble getting a used car, which I recommend. Buying a new one isn't worth it.

2. Any suggestions on car models? Truck? SUV? Sedan?
I would suggest a sedan. Trucks and SUVs and gas drinkers. You might need an SUV though, for your scuba gear and you might sometimes need to drive on sand when you're close to the beach. Also, moving around in a truck might be a problem sometimes because of the length of the vehicle.

3. Car insurance?
There is a mandatory insurance here, which you pay every year with the car license. There are also private insurances, including some USA ones, if you want to use those.

4. Gas Prices?
Gas prices are comparable to USA. Maybe a little less.

Other Stuff:

1. As far as work and lodging, what time of year would be the best to move?
Because there is always sunshine here, you should be able to move at any time. Those months you mentioned might be a problem because that is hurricane season, however, we haven't had one since some time now. Maybe you might want to move during high seasons because your jobs will mostly depend on tourism.

2. Good surf spots? Where to look for a used surfboard?
Sorry, don't surf. Although I've heard that Fajardo beaches are good for it.

3. What to bring? What to buy on the island?
Well, most of the stuff you might get on USA you should be able to get on PR. Maybe you would want to bring your scuba gear along so you don't have to worry about that here. Everything else shouldn't be a problem. Anything in particular you are worried about?

4. Good places to meet people? Divers? 20 somethings?
Sorry, can't help you here.

5. Is food expensive? Grocery store? Restaurant?
I guess food prices are comparable to those in USA. Maybe pricier. I suggest you try to cook your own food and leave restaurants for weekends or special days.

As moving to any other place in the world, be sure to bring enough money to last you a couple of months, just so you have something to fall back on just in case.
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Old 04-06-2010, 11:24 AM
 
35 posts, read 74,820 times
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Ill give it a shot. Google each of them I guess, cause i dont know about a lot of them.I hope your rich cause I dont think a scuba diver is needed here anywhere, unless your planning on opening your own busienss, which I think you may have to do. Bartending with no spanish is not gonna happen either, I doubt very much. Unless you open you own english only bar or go into every hotel one by one and apply there. theres plenty of hotels so i take it back.

Living:

We are looking into living in the Fajardo/Luquillo area. We are looking for a two bedroom. We are looking at September, October, or November of 2010.

1. Are there any rental agencies to contact?
google it. the word for rent is "alquila".

2. What is a good rental rate for the Northeast? Close or on the beach?
I dont know.

The beach living is fine, hurricanes dont do anything serious to PR, we ar more than ready for them, so I do recommend living by the beach if you like the beach, be aware though, you may not like the beach as much as you think you do.

3. House or Apartment?
Apartment. You dont want a mortgage if your not planning on being here for 20 years.

4. Any places to avoid?
On foot, try to avoid going inside public housing projects, like in the US, public housing are many times a ghetto.

5. What could we expect to pay in utilities a month?
$100 for water and electric combined.

Working:

I am looking to work as a Scuba Divemaster. My girlfriend is looking into restaurant work. Both of us are experienced bartenders. I may have to do both part time depending on income.

1. Any suggestions on Dive Shops in the area? Dive Boats?
I dont know.

2. Any suggestions of good restaurants to pursue?
Any and all of them.

3. What could a Divemaster expect to make a week/month?
Federal minimum wage, maybe less, I really dont know, lots of people know how to scuba dive here, so competition should be intense for that kind of job.

4. What could a Bartender/Waiter expect to make a week/month?
Federal minimum wage. see above.

5. How difficult will it be to find a job in these fields?
I dont know.

Driving:

1. Any suggestions on where and how to find a used car?
A used car delearship. Look for one with your own eyes, read the daily newspaper. Check out clasificadosonline.com.

2. Any suggestions on car models? Truck? SUV? Sedan?
Sedan. If you get a truck, dont get a too big one, lanes and parkins spaces are smaller here than in most places in the US Ive been to.

3. Car insurance?
mandatory low cost, dont worry.

4. Gas Prices?
69 cents a liter. You figure it out in galllons, maybe let us know,just google it.

Other Stuff:

1. As far as work and lodging, what time of year would be the best to move?
Not summer cause high school kids are out looking for work too.

2. Good surf spots? Where to look for a used surfboard?
I dont know. I bet theres tons.

3. What to bring? What to buy on the island?
Nothing really.

4. Good places to meet people? Divers? 20 somethings?
Anywhere.

5. Is food expensive? Grocery store? Restaurant?
Not expensive.
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Old 04-06-2010, 01:11 PM
 
Location: Puerto Rico
355 posts, read 1,044,220 times
Reputation: 175
Oh yeah. Totally forgot about the language. You better catch up on your Spanish. If you only speak English you're gonna have a hard time here.

About the agencies to contact, the next link gets you to clasificadosonline.com, which is the site Notepad referred to. I think it has some good options there.
Real Estate Puerto Rico ,Bienes Raices en Puerto Rico Clasificados Alquiler Online

Also, Google about it. I did a quick search and found several links with good options in my opinion.
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Old 04-06-2010, 01:15 PM
 
Location: Puerto Rico
355 posts, read 1,044,220 times
Reputation: 175
Checked about gas prices. Currently gas in PR is about $0.70 per liter, which turns into about $2.69 per gallon.
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Old 04-06-2010, 07:58 PM
 
Location: Miami
888 posts, read 880,756 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Notepad View Post
The driving "sucks" because of two reasons, and none have to do witht the "culture" of the people.
1) The streets and highways are smaller than in the US (no emergency lanes on highways and lanes are smaller too). Why? I dont know, the world isnt all a replice of the US, this is also one of the most densely populated places in the world, probably top 10, so that doesnt help either.
2) The police dont give tickets. They never ever pull anyone over for speeding, for lane turning without putting a signal, and for other stuff like u-turns. So, its really not a crime, and its so custom that if they come to the US they would think the police either have nothing to do or are super abusive. Parking, almost never ever will u get a parking ticket. Never in front of your house, and usually you can park wherver the hell you want, and people do. I do think the gov. would make a ot of money if they simply enforced the laws like the US does, in ticket revenue fro driving and parking, but, they dont, and thats the way it is here.


The toll thing is an exageration, Ive never seen it happen or heard of it happen. It maybe has happened and you saw it, but I will only beleive you saw it just once, and it rarely happens, I cross tolls daily.

Potholes, cmon, are you kidding me? I lived in places in the states where theres plenty of potholes, even worse than in PR. So please, just stop your offensive behavior.

Traffic. Not bad. You are nuts to think traffic here is bad, or you are from a small town in the states. Traffic here is much lighter and quicker than in very large cities in the US, and by the way, PR metro area is a very large city with 4 million people that are crammed like sardines (like NYC) because of the density, so if you are surprised by the fact that there is traffic and not open roads all day, then yeah....

Opening a business in PR is a gold mine. Why? Cause people here have money. On average, not as much as people in the states, but more than any spanish speaking country on earth, including spain, and better than most countries on earth, putting us on par with Latvia and Poland, PR has abetter economy than Italy. If you really want to sincerely compare economies worldwide, lets say theres 152 countries (I think around there), PR is in the top 50. which is great, thats top 1/3rd. Its completely developed here. You can google search it, its a report listing countries by the World Economic Forum or soemthing official like that.

Theres not a lot of competition here given the amount of people and potential customers youd have, compared to say a very large american city. PR is not such a hotspot for immigrants like the US, especially business immigrants like the US. Most immigrants go to US for business reasons really, and unless from a spanish country, immigrants dont come here as much as to the US, for many many reaosns like size of the US and not wanting to learn Spanish and well for a lot of reasons. But thats a good thing, cause the big chains, though they are a lot of places, it is nowhere near the way it is in the states, so a new business can thrive. Rent is cheaper here, cost of living is cheaper, everything is cheaper, and those who say its not, its only for certain types of food, though eating out is cheaper, and for the food its only about .20 cents more, and dpeends again on where in the US your comapring it to, cause compared to the 3 largest cities, its still cheaper in PR.

PR is loud. yes it is. its too densely populated to be quiet. Almost all houses touch each other wall to wall, with small to no sidewalks, and no alleys.Small lanes on the streets, with no emergency lanes, and you get noise. You can hear soemthing thats across the street because its really like as if it was on a sidewalk in the states, the distance wise. Car music, the police dont enforce the noise limits, so some young kids play music, but it is nowhere as common as you people make it seem, so whatever.

THis place is like its own country really. No city or state in America has such a unique "culture" like Puerto Rico does. Im not saying puertoricans either, cause there are many many non puertoricans living here. More than any census report tells you becuase they dont mark where they are from. There are so many people from all over the world, that it is in fact very diverse. The thing is, you cannot tell becuase puertoricans themselvses, whom are the majority, by I would say 90%, (whites in America are 75% I beleive, for comparison purposes) well, PRcans are diverse, they are black and white and brown, so you dont know if its really and indian from india, a black person from an african country, and italian, spaniard, arab, south american, or what. The only one you can really tell is Asian because of the eyes, and soemtimes PRcans have Asian eyes too so its also hard, or tall european ancestry caucasians like the majority of white americans, and thats also not even that easy to tell. So maybe if they are firs tgeneration by their accent, but their kids that gew up here, you wouldn know unless you hear their name and last name, and really, PRcans dont care one bit where people are from, they are the least racist, least zenophobic, least prejudice people in the world by far. THey are truly 100% colorblind to the point that every one that goes to the states is in shock and awe and cant beleive that theres actually a difference between races. And vice versa, most people on earth cant beleive how PR is such a colorblind nationality blind palce, it is a paradise in this respect, a utopia that the rest of the world should imitate in this regard.

Ill be around, so follow my posts by clicking my name if you want to hear me on PR.

Later.
Great post-
Dude, I left the PR Forums months ago, cause it was mostly BS... now you are in here really telling it like it is. I'm in Miami right now, but it's possible that I'm gonna be in San Juan for work purposes next year.

I would disagree with what you said about the PR economy being better than Italy... Italy has about 57 million people, so you could compare PR to a large Italian city. I would say that San Juan/PR has a better economy than all major Italian cities, with the exception of Milano, Roma, and parts of the Veneto region (Venezia). San Juan definitely beats Palermo, Napoli, Genova, Torino, Firenze, Bari, Trieste, and the list goes on.
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Old 04-14-2010, 10:43 AM
 
11 posts, read 32,848 times
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Thank you all for the new input. This is the kind of posts i was hoping for and have been very helpful.

As far as the spanish goes, I have been working with rosetta stone and should have a handle on the language by the time I move in October.

My grandmother lives in Luquillio and has offered her guest room to get us started. Nice to have eyes on the ground!!

Please keep the comments coming! I know that these answers are helping other people as well.
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Old 04-15-2010, 08:15 AM
 
Location: Puerto Rico
355 posts, read 1,044,220 times
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It's awesome you got your grandmother over here already. She will be able to give you better tips once you get to Luquillo. If she's lending you her guest room that should be one less thing to be worried about. That way you can focus on landing the jobs you want. Just be sure to help her around in the house.

A little off topic, how's Rosetta Stone working for you? I'm thinking about buying it for my wife so she can learn better English.
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Old 04-21-2010, 08:10 PM
 
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Thanks for all the advise efrenb5!

As far as Rosetta Stone goes, Im not sure there is a better way to learn a second language. Its pretty incredible. Other than having a personal tutor, Rosetta is the way to go. You never speak a word of your own language.

I would highly recommend it.
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Old 06-13-2010, 09:50 PM
 
11 posts, read 32,848 times
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Any updates from anyone?

Thanks!
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