My major complaint about Puerto Rico is the driving. I drive a big car (for another story), and actually dread getting out on the road everyday. I will try and talk my girlfriend into driving any and every chance I get. Puerto Ricans will jokingly tell you that “if you can drive in Puerto Rico, you can drive anywhere in the world.” While they joke, I do believe them. The only good thing in the chaos of what they call driving is people are much more alert drivers. They have to be… Only the fittest survive.

The following are a list of articles that explain why the driving in Puerto Rico is what it is.

• Potholes in Puerto Rico

• Fixing Roads in Puerto Rico

• Gutter system in Puerto Rico is Antiquated

• Overweight Trucks Tear Up the Roads in Puerto Rico

• Where is my Lane?

• Why Doesn’t Puerto Rico Upgrade the Traffic Lights?

• Lost in Puerto Rico?

• Do all Puerto Rican Motorcyclist have a Death Wish?

• I Think I’ll Park… ummm… Here!

• Your lights are out!

• Puerto Rican Driving is Insane

• Fire Trucks, Ambulances, Cops… Oh My

• Cop lighting you up in Puerto Rico? No Problemo!

• Legally Run Red Lights?

• No Road Rage in PR

I woke up this morning to the sound of roosters’ cock-a-doodle doing. No I didn’t move back to the sticks in Texas, I am still here in San Juan, Puerto Rico.When I first moved here, it was a shock to hear. I was living in a metropolitan area! How on earth can there be so many roosters crowing?

It’s funny the things that you hear every day but you never pay attention to. I realized just now that for the few years that I have lived here I have become accustomed to the roosters after hearing them this morning. I never thought that would happen. I am even used to watching the chickens tend their young while walking down the side of the street while I wait in traffic. This all seems like nothing today but when I first moved here I thought I was in the Twilight Zone.

I received these questions from a reader yesterday.

Hi there,
I stumbled upon your blog, and I really enjoy reading it. My fiance and I have been thinking of moving to PR after he finishes school in a year and a 1/2 - we are both from NY, and have been visiting PR for many years.

Chris is in Finance obtaining an MBA. I have a law degree, but am happy not to practice law after we move, and to try another line of work.

What was your experience in obtaining employment, and what prompted you to move to PR? Do you speak fluent spanish? Did you speak fluently when you moved to PR? What is the job market like? Do you know of any recruiters who can help us find jobs? How critical is being bilingual (we can speak VERY BASIC spanish which I think would improve once we lived on the island and were exposed to the language consistently; however, we would need jobs sooner rather than later). Sorry to bombard you with questions! I look forward to reading about your experiences!
Carrie

Thanks for the questions Carrie!

I don’t really know why, but I have always wanted to live in a Latin American country. Maybe it is the stereotypical “laid back” or “relax on the beach” type mentality that I have always wanted. Anyway, I had searched and searched for jobs in every Latin American country there is. I barely ever had a response. If I did get a response, it was always “We are looking for people fluent in Spanish”.

One day my employer announced that they were going to be laying people off in a month. I knew that they had a branch in Puerto Rico. I asked if they would be willing to transfer me. A few weeks went by and my boss asked me when I could be ready to go. He gave me 1 month to pack up and leave. Honestly I couldn’t have made a better decision.

I have been over here for a 2 and a half years and still don’t speak Spanish. I do know more Spanish than when I came. The problem is; where I work everyone has to be bilingual. So everyone automatically speaks English. While it is nice to be able to communicate, I do wish I could learn.

I would say 50-60% of the population knows good English. The younger the person, the more English they know. You might have issues talking with older people unless they have lived in the States. You can get by without knowing Spanish though. No Spanish for work? I don’t know. I guess it depends on where you work. I would say the more blue collar your job is, the more Spanish you need to know, but that is just my hunch. I do know that there are lawyers and CPAs that advertise just to the Gringos (or so it seems). So ya’ll might have some luck… However the unemployment rate is a little higher than in the States as of right now.

I really don’t know if there are recruiters here, I have not heard of any. It wouldn’t surprise me though. Everyone seems to be a middle man for something here (no offense to any recruiters out there :-D ). I will keep my ears peeled for you.

I think I answered them all :) Let me know if I can help you out and good luck to the 2 of ya!

I have always been used to having pride of where I am from. I am sure everyone has heard of Texas pride. However, Puerto Ricans take their pride to a different extreme. They love anyone who has become famous or that has heritage from Puerto Rico. Jennifer Lopez is a great example. She actually never even lived here. Just because she has Puerto Rican blood a number of people adore her.

Another example, in the States, you will see the American Flag on government buildings, car lots, or in times of a national crisis. In Puerto Rico, you see their flag everywhere. Most cars and houses will have some sort of PR flag or sticker on it. Surprisingly, about half of Puerto Rico seems to take so much pride in being a US citizen that they will also fly the US flag. I would say more people in Puerto Rico fly our flag than we do in the States.

On the other hand, people are shocked that I would move here. From my point of view, everyone wants to leave here for some reason or another. I am always being asked “Why would you want to live here?” or “Why would you want to leave Texas?”.

I can’t ever even remember a time in the States when I went into a bakery, I could probably even count on one hand how many bakeries I know about from my home town. I guess supply and demand determines every thing, including bakeries because Puerto Ricans goto their bakeries (panaderia) all of the time. And no kidding, bakeries are every where in Puerto Rico!

Bakeries are very different in Puerto Rico than in the States. In the States, the only kind of bakery that I can remember are the bakeries that just make cakes and pastries. In Puerto Rico their main product is “Pan de agua” (French bread) and “Sobao” (Bread made with lard). They also will have a few different cheeses and ham. These three items make their local breakfast that is very common for them to eat every morning. Some other products that I consider a little strange for a bakery to carry are things like liquor, beer, and cigarettes.

I would say on average the climate has a regular temperature around 80-82F. It is usually always sunny. For some reason though it seems every time I have a day off, Mother Nature likes to make it cloudy. But, honestly it can always rain at any moment. That is just something you have to put up with while living on the island. I have no proof of this, but it seems to me that we have more rainfall during November, December, and January.

One thing you will notice is that clouds travel differently. They always go from East to West. And thus, when the hurricane season starts in June to November we are always looking out to our East.

I would say on average the climate has a regular temperature around 80-82F. In the summer it can get up to the mid 90s. The heat index can be higher. Humidity always hovers around 80%. If you are vacationing on the coast, it is always breezy so that helps. In the winter it can be in the mid 70s. The other morning it was actually 70F. That’s pretty cold for Puerto Rico!

San Juan 5 Day Forecast
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Puerto Rico Radar
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Marine Forecast
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