I wrote a post a couple months ago detailing my thoughts on Puerto Rico after having lived here for three weeks. We are now four months into our stay here and I have more to add. I guess, I want to point out that I think of expats who live here as being part of two different groups, a) those who come here for work either voluntarily or involuntarily (we are part of this group), and b) those who decide to move to the Caribbean to be by the beach, to enjoy life either in times of retirement or whatever the circumstances may be. I would say that my observations are mostly targeted to those who are part of the first group, perhaps who have yet to arrive or who are planning on coming and just haven't made up their mind yet. I would say if there is one word to summarize Puerto Rico is would be: inefficient (a close second would be: corrupt). Moreover, my friend gave me a great analogy of Puerto Rico the other day, and she compared it to a nice big slice of moist delicious chocolate cake…riddled on the inside with ants. It truly is death by a thousand cuts here. I couldn't help but agree wholeheartedly.
I like lists, I organize my life by lists and so I will list the pros and cons of living in Puerto Rico as an expat:
Pros
1. The beaches, especially in the west and south are pretty awesome.
2. There are mountains! I was really surprised when I drove over PR-52 to Ponce from San Juan and we went over a pass that really reminded me of being home in Montana (of course without the snow!)
3. Puerto Rican food is really great, although I suspect it isn't great if you are trying to lose weight.
4. Generally, Puerto Rico has everything that you need or want from the mainland, although prices are a bit higher.
5. For the most part you can use a credit card in most locations.
6. Property taxes are much lower than in many places stateside (in my case, I am exempt for 5 years.)
7. The roads are surprisingly good, well, better than Detroit anyway, but way worse than most places on the mainland.
Cons
1. I brought this up several months ago, but I am still astonished at how lawless the drivers are here. For example, there is no such thing as slow drivers driving in the right lane and letting faster drivers pass on the left…nope, all sorts of drivers at varying speeds drive in any lane they want, thus creating even more roadway inefficiency. Try getting through a four-way intersection with stop signs. Nobody stops and it turns into one big mixing bowl of stupidity. I just ask myself every time I see this if Puerto Ricans are really that stupid to all barge into the intersection at the same time, or is their “me first” mentality so pervasive that they are blind to how INEFFICIENT and time consuming their actions are. Honestly, every regular traffic law you are used to in the real world doesn't apply here. It truly is the wild-west, and the traffic police rarely enforce any laws…they are too busy ripping off drug dealers.
2. I am sad to say this, but do not trust any Puerto Rican contractors, meaning, do not pay a deposit or anything up front for work to be done. You will be lucky for them to come back and actually do the work, let alone do it correctly. And yes, I made this mistake.
3. This place is so riddled with inefficiencies and stupidity it makes me sick to my stomach. For example, in the real world if you move from state to state, you can generally go to the DMV and switch your divers license out without any problems, perhaps paying a small fee. Not here. You need to provide your social security card, proof of citizenship (which screwed my wife because she is naturalized and of course the movers lost one of our boxes and as it goes her certificate was in that box…learning point, don't ship important documents like that!), get a doctor to certify you as good to drive, etc.
4. Getting license plates here is a royal pain in the butt as well…let's just say I still have my stateside plate because I don't have enough time to play their stupid, inefficient bureaucratic games.
5. The taxes here are outrageous. If you have a decent job they tax you at 33% and then you have to deal with the 11.5% sales tax.
6. Try finding a parking spot at any shopping center. It is nuts. Thursday afternoon…and you can't find a spot! I guess that goes to the fact that there is such a high level of unemployment and most people here are on welfare, so what else are they going to do but go and spend tax payer dollars on big white watches, attend the movies, or eat out?
7. Which brings me to the movie theaters…there is only one movie theater company, Caribbean Cinemas. They only accept cash…hmm, considering how corrupt this place is, do you think it could be a front business for something illicit? I don't know, but all cash businesses raise red flags. Oh, any when you go watch a movie, there is no such thing as the audience shutting the hell up and watching the film.
8. Ahh corruption. This place is the poster boy of corruption. The police are horrendously corrupt. Read the newspapers, you will see what I mean.
9. The power company, AEE, is a racket as well. If you have seen it, the Palo Seco power plant on PR-165 near Levittown looks like a monstrosity that was top of the line in power production…in 1950! Electricity is outrageously expensive, and in some areas (not really where I live), you lose power on a consistent basis.
10. The capability to deliver potable water is completely insufficient and inefficient, hence the water restrictions and rationing much of the Island just went through. Stop spending (aka stealing) so much money on wasteful things (too numerous to delve into here) and upgrade the water distribution lines to avoid such things in the future.
11. One the more annoying things about Puerto Rico is that many of the emergency vehicles drive around with their emergency lights on. This has only desensitized the population and when there is a real emergency it is rare that the driving public actually moves out of the way of the emergency vehicle.
12. Just our luck, we have had the misfortune to have had to go to two different emergency rooms. The “doctors” (hahaha…right) strike me as being really incompetent, unless of course you are suffering from a gunshot wound, then the emergency doctors at Centro Medico are some of the best. Not out of the realm of possibilities, but if you're not in the drug trade, then I wouldn't worry about getting shot too much. I will tell of one experience at HIMU, the hospital near Caguas. I had to take both of my toddler boys to the emergency room because we were sure one, or both of them, swallowed batteries. When we arrived, they had this computer touch screen in the waiting room, and you had to enter their name, age, and the problem. It was large enough so that the entire waiting room could see what you wrote…so much for medical privacy. We then proceeded to wait in the hallway because the waiting room was to full. Yep, right there on the hospital floor were no less than four or five cockroaches. Then, we had to move from our spot in the hallway because water was dripping onto my sons head from the roof. When we saw the doctor, 3 hours later, my boys did get x-rays, and the doctor broke the diagnosis to me by showing me an x-ray of a child's stomach with several thumb tacks in the stomach. I freaked out, and asked, is that my son? The doctor was like, “no, no that is some other kid, I just wanted to show you how crazy this is.” I was astonished, and then he broke it to me that my kids were just fine. Then he made the following comment, “your kids like to put bad things in their mouths, perhaps they should put something good in their mouths like these (as he pulls out a pack of cigarettes.)” I know he was just joking, those types of jokes by a doctor are just not appropriate, even more so at 3 am.
13. Customer service here is absolutely horrible. Do not expect to get the same level of service you are used to from the mainland, or even from the Congo if you happen to come from there.
14. I can't stress this enough, but every situation you find yourself in, the Puerto Rican mind set seems to follow one simple concept, “me first” no matter the situation, driving, pushing a shopping cart, everything.
15. They think they are exempt from the 2nd Amendment here. You have to register your weapon with the Police of Puerto Rico. Hahaha, they are so incredibly corrupt, I would never tell them I have a gun in my house, because they probably would come and steal it and sell it to drug dealers.
16. Finally, the culture, the unbelievably high level of corruption across all public sectors, the outrageous level of debt, the language barrier, all combine to make me the strongest believer that Puerto Rico should NEVER become a state within USA. Here is my quandary though, I recognize there are thousands of honorable Puerto Rican veterans who fought for the USA, and no less than 5 have received the Medal of Honor, and so it hurts me to say that Puerto Rico should never be a state. But I just cannot see any benefit to the USA for incorporating Puerto Rico as a state, and the status quo is just down right aggravating if you pay federal taxes (which I don't anymore because Puerto Rican's don't pay federal taxes.) I would truly love to see how this place would do as an independent country. My guess is it would be the next Dominican Republic at best, the next Haiti at worst within 25 years.
In sum, I know I am harsh on Puerto Rico, and I am probably biased considering my line of work, but I think any honest person would recognize the elements of truth to everything I mentioned above, both pros and cons.
Regards