Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > U.S. Territories
 [Register]
U.S. Territories Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, etc.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 08-21-2010, 10:11 PM
 
56 posts, read 152,125 times
Reputation: 67

Advertisements

I will start.

Best:
Weather, things to do, party all the time, colorblind (no racism/segregation), music everywhere, well dressed people everywhere, style changes often, music gets old fast instead of playing the same songs for the whole year theres quick turnaround to new songs and new talent, the island is very different from one place to the next like go to old san juan then go to condado then to the beach then yunque etc..., people are not cheap here or always trying to hustle you/bargaining you out of a dollar, crime barely if ever affects people that are innocent except for a robbery here and there but almost no violence on people not involved in drugs, rape is rare, you can park your car anywhere you want and drive crazy as hell and you probably will not get a ticket, social classes are mixed as in there are usually public housing and middle to high income areas right next to each other as opposed to very seperated from each other that promotes social equality, some real characters here that are eccentric and out of this world like what you would imagine in new york city back when nyc was full of native new yorkers and immigrants as opposed to what it is now, the food is so good and grows off trees everywhere like mango and avocados and suff unheard of anywhere else like quenepa and fried plantains are very common and right off the tree and sell for cheap, stuff here is cheaper than in the US for the most part, large middle class, plenty of great fancy restaurants and plenty of people hanging out by the hundreds in crowds on week ends in really active areas like you would imagine miami or something but probably better, rarely any place you would go would you feel like it is empty or dead cause of the people out and about all day everywhere but not in a sufocating third world feel cause its not that much people just enough, no crazy insects or animals like scorpions, houses are all different as opposed to identical replicas like in the US, individuality is encouraged, pan de agua.

Worst:
High unemployment that seems to be due to just a lot of people with bad work ethic/lazy as hell/too cool to work, high divorce and out of wedlock child birth, income here is low compare to most of the US, large low class and small high class, terrible terrible drivers will crash your car guaranteed, service sucks about 1 out of every 5 times its someone who should get fired for being so dumb or slow, you cannot fight man to man with fists here cause one of you probably has a gun in the car, no Dr. Pepper or Moutain Dew.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-21-2010, 10:46 PM
 
Location: Dorado, PR
238 posts, read 1,067,924 times
Reputation: 258
I hate these threads that ask people to write about the bad things in PR. We do that in all the other threads, I'd hate to concentrate it all in one place...

BTW, I found Dr. Pepper in Old San Juan and my high school sells Mountain Dew...

PS, you're generalizing and being presumptuous about the gun in the car. Ever happened to you?

I like your Bests a lot!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-22-2010, 01:06 PM
 
1,995 posts, read 3,365,249 times
Reputation: 15838
I think this has been done before but I'm game.

Best

Scenic Beauty (as long as you don't look at the litter on the ground) - the terrain, plants, sunsets are incredibly beautiful! I especially love the bushes with three or four different colors of flowers on them.
Beaches
Weather - from November through April it is perfect. While the rest of the year is uncomfortably hot it is better than the harsh winters found in many parts of the U.S.
Music - I love the salsa here.
Religious symbols everywhere - I love the way so many homes have religious tiles or icons on the outside and most medical offices have religious pictures displayed.
Greetings - I love the way people say "Buen provecho" in restaurants or greet one another when they enter a doctor's office or elevator.

Worst

Snakes, spiders, bugs, & lizards - I have had four snakes in our house since I lived here, huge spiders, fire ants (I think that's what they are called), no see ums (you can't leave a glass of water uncovered or it will almost instantly have bugs in it), lizards that you can't keep out of the home and leave little turds everywhere, giant cockroaches, etc. No matter how much you clean and spray these critters seem to be part of the life here in PR.
Corruption - horrible laws, waits and policies that are anti-consumer, they nickle and dime you with extra fees for everything, police do not respond to crime, etc.
Food - Unhealthy and horrible tasting - plus groceries cost so much more here. They use a different kind of sugar apparently cuz sweet foods taste really strange (as I am sure the sweet foods in the states taste strange to people from PR). Whenever I go to the states I bring back brown sugar since the kind they sell here is so different. At least I'm not tempted to eat out too much, though!
Medical Services - The way they don't give appointments and you have to wait hours for the most basic service.
Inhumane treatment of animals
Traffic
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-22-2010, 03:55 PM
 
355 posts, read 714,373 times
Reputation: 617
Food, horrible tasting. What?? Of course too much fried food is unhealthy but in my opinion el lechón, pasteles, arroz con gandules, tostones, mofongo, guavas, mangos, bananas, plantains y many many of the other foods are very good. And the coffee...the best.

The most unhealthy eating habits I see in Puerto Rico are from shopping at Costco and buying all the prepared high fat foods that are a mainstay of overweight America. With the exception of deep frying, traditional PR cooking has always been based on fresh ingredients and island grown fruit.

A cada uno lo suyo.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-22-2010, 04:22 PM
 
Location: Dorado, PR
238 posts, read 1,067,924 times
Reputation: 258
@Sandhillian

In most cases the laws exist, but no one enforces them.

The whole sugar thing, I know what you mean. My mom however is always able to find the brown sugar from the states at the local grocery store.

I think it has to do with the melaza they use down here. Something like that.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-22-2010, 08:25 PM
 
56 posts, read 152,125 times
Reputation: 67
OK OK WHOA WE NEED to make a difference now between the Metro Area and the rest of the island.

My list is best and worst of the metro area in PR and the next guy/gal who posted right after me with a list was definetly the non-metro/farm/mountain area.
With that said, here are some more bests and worsts:

Best of the metro area of PR:
People are short as hell, so I feel average height even though in the states Id be a little below average height.
Internet use is real real low, about 30%, so lots more in person communication than in the states.
Its like its own country over here but still part of the US, no state is as unique in so many ways as PR yet still American, not even Hawaii or Alaska Id bet.
Cool views of oceans and mountains in the backround almost wherever you are.
Most people know english.
A lot of good inexpensive chinese restaurants.


Worst of the metro area of PR:
Street names and numbers on the buildings are missing a goof 75% of the time, so all directions are based on damn landmarks and stores.
Lots of American companies dont have PR as a state to mail stuff to or register to as a member, it goes from Pensilvania to Rhode Island, whatever, less business for them cause we are shopaholics to the 10th power.
Mosquitos suck.
The english 3D movie I saw had subtitles that poped out so it messed up the 3D experience for me seeing those damn spanish subtitles, hopefully it was the only movie like that but if all 3D is like that here then that sucks, even though it was on the bottom of the screen and I am still a perfectionist.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-23-2010, 04:05 PM
 
Location: Puerto Rico
355 posts, read 1,043,595 times
Reputation: 175
- Weather? I hate the constant heat.
- Things to do? I get bored out of my mind most of the time.
- Party all the time? Where?
- Music everywhere. Yes, and most of the time bad at that. Damn reggaetton.
- Well dressed people everywhere? Really?
- Music gets old fast? This got a smile from me. This is so true.
- People are not cheap? No they are not. Why did you put this in "best"?
- Crime barely if ever affects people that are innocent? As long as you keep away from the projects.
- Rape is rare. I wouldn't say rare, just not common.
- You can park your car anywhere. This got a smile from me as well. So true. Most of the time you won't get a ticket. Mind you, parking anywhere won't guarantee you a ticket, but you MIGHT get ticketed if some cop wants to do his/her job that day.
- Drive crazy as hell and you probably will not get a ticket. This is only true while there is no police around. Do it with a cop around and you'll get stopped most of the time.
- I wouldn't say most food grows from trees. Metro Area hardly has this. Although you might find weird stuff, like guanabanas. Those are awesome.
- No crazy insects or animals? Mosquitoes suck so do the titanic roaches here. Ants are everywhere and those damn lizards are always a pest. True, none are as dangerous as, say, a black widow, but there are so much of them I hate them to hell.
- Pan de agua? Damn right! Add pan sobao as well.

I can add frituras as good stuff. Anything like alcapurrias, bacalaitos, rellenos and pastelillos are awesome. Hmm... I need to go to Piñones now.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-24-2010, 04:58 AM
 
Location: Tampa Bay`·.¸¸ ><((((º>.·´¯`·><((((º>
4,696 posts, read 7,857,289 times
Reputation: 13657
"I can add frituras as good stuff. Anything like alcapurrias, bacalaitos, rellenos and pastelillos are awesome. "
I can add a whole lot more, but everybody has mentioned most of the stuff. Good postings, I have given reps for them.
I have to say, living in San Juan is very different from living in other cities. Most of the "rest of the island"
is very low key, much more tranquil than the met area. So to each his own, as somebody said here.
I may be prejudiced for I was born and raised in San Juan.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-24-2010, 09:25 PM
 
56 posts, read 152,125 times
Reputation: 67
Best:
How you can go from hectic busy city life to calm laid back country in about 10 minutes.
Beaches, millions of awesome beaches to play in, beaches are so awesome, real ones, not just lakes, though theres plenty of those whicha re nothing compared to natural beaches.
The Castles, Morro and San Felipe, old ass, 1400s castles you can walk around in and see canons and dungeons.
No wars going on, like in Iraq I mean, yeah, I mean war or even beef with other countries like N Korea and S Korea have beef.
Ups and downs, neighborhoods on hills and such, its not all flat land everywhere, its very hilly everywhere, like san fransisco i mean, for example of what i mean.
Hearing the coqui at night is fun.



Worst:
Need to board a plane to go to a different state/travel anywhere... aka... no road trips/ amtrak rides to other states. But with gas prices/car maintenance, the cost of a plane ticket is probably just about $50 more than driving/$100 more than train, so maybe its not a worst, just a different.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-24-2010, 11:28 PM
 
Location: Dorado, PR
238 posts, read 1,067,924 times
Reputation: 258
Quote:
Originally Posted by efrenb5 View Post
- Weather? I hate the constant heat.
- Things to do? I get bored out of my mind most of the time.
- Party all the time? Where?
- Music everywhere. Yes, and most of the time bad at that. Damn reggaetton.
- Well dressed people everywhere? Really?
- Music gets old fast? This got a smile from me. This is so true.
- People are not cheap? No they are not. Why did you put this in "best"?
- Crime barely if ever affects people that are innocent? As long as you keep away from the projects.
- Rape is rare. I wouldn't say rare, just not common.
- You can park your car anywhere. This got a smile from me as well. So true. Most of the time you won't get a ticket. Mind you, parking anywhere won't guarantee you a ticket, but you MIGHT get ticketed if some cop wants to do his/her job that day.
- Drive crazy as hell and you probably will not get a ticket. This is only true while there is no police around. Do it with a cop around and you'll get stopped most of the time.
- I wouldn't say most food grows from trees. Metro Area hardly has this. Although you might find weird stuff, like guanabanas. Those are awesome.
- No crazy insects or animals? Mosquitoes suck so do the titanic roaches here. Ants are everywhere and those damn lizards are always a pest. True, none are as dangerous as, say, a black widow, but there are so much of them I hate them to hell.
- Pan de agua? Damn right! Add pan sobao as well.

I can add frituras as good stuff. Anything like alcapurrias, bacalaitos, rellenos and pastelillos are awesome. Hmm... I need to go to Piñones now.
How can you get bored in PR??? There are so many trips to do! Do some road trips, and if you don't have a car, go explore the architecture of Santurce. Those buildings are amazing.

Party is in the Metro area. Placita, Discoteks, Condado every night, numerous concerts (Electric Daisy Carnival Saturday!).
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > U.S. Territories
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top