Looking to move to PR, but hubby is wary, info appreciated!!!!

Ok 2 thing. 1. Healthcare here is scary ,especially if you have needed meds during a natural disaster.
2. If you can get high speed internet which is liberty in the mountains, which is usually doubtful you will have to get dsl which is claro,  who is horrible
Many mountain areaa have to relay on satellite which is huge which is very slow and has a max you can use monthly
If you need internet for business you cant even relay on liberty high speed. we just go our liberty service back after 7 plus months and we dont live in the mountain's.  We live in a pretty tourist area
Sorry i have to be realist and not give you false hope

Hi Veesha, Welcome to the forum and hopefully Puerto Rico.

Given your husband health problem and the possibility of additional heart attacks I would recommend not to live too far from a hospital. 10-20 minutes at most. Type 2 diabetes is extremely common in PR so there are plenty of doctors that know how to keep it controlled.

Since you both speak Spanish you are not limited as to were to live. When considering the health issues and the desire to live in the mountain, I recommend when looking for a location to speak with the people in the neighborhood to see how they were affected by the recent Maria storm. SO people became unable to leave the neighborhood because some bridges and roads were washed out and having a medical emergency under those conditions could be letal. So the skirts of the mountains 1,000 feet and below may be best and in an area where other than fallen trees and branches were the only obstacle.

I would suggest you two take several trips to the island and nail down where you want to live. Renting is also a good way to get to know where you want to live permanently, as you can move anytime and try a different area.

One more thing, living in a house means yard work, the bigger the yard the more the work, and with the health issues it may be difficult. You may want to consider a condo.

Ok , gas lines here were 10 hrs to get $10 if you were lucky spending the whole day spending time in lines
If we have rain you can collect rain water and use a sawyer water system  but if you dont have rain you are out of luck.  And if you are lucky you might be able to buy 1 case. We had to drive 50 miles to get a case of water still several months after the hurricane.  As for wells. They arent readily used here.
And i you did i wouls be checking the well  water quality weekly
Most mountain areas dont know have hospitals that could help in a real emergency and you would have to drive a minimum of 30 mins to get to one
And the ambulances here if they actually show up will take a minimum of an hour to get to you

Sandra is right, Internet service in most areas is 2-4 megabits unlike 40-300 in the states. condos due to the congregation of people tend to have good providers like Liberty which has services around 40-100 megabits. Mountains is iffy to have any or you have wifi, satellite or microwave. A good data plan on your smart phone can save the day when your regular service is down and believe me it will happen.

During the last storm the entire island was without electricity, without most cell towers and no phone for months.

Very few wells in PR, cistern is the way to go. You can always burry a huge one of thousands of gallons and use a pump and some solar panels to run it when the electricity goes out assuming you do live in a house. If considering a condo ask the seller and neighbors how they did after Maria. Some condos have generators for the entire building, some don't. If the elevators does not work you will have to deal with stairs.

Sorry but you must know the good and the bad.

I sent you a contact request, if respond i cam give you a list of top places to retire and also a link to a site that has valuable information

I have T-mobile and set up each phone with a "hot spot" with internet access. We recently purchased a T-mobile booster, which literally turns the hot spot into a mini cell tower. It's cheap and works.

If one spouse is wary, it will not work.

Veesha,

Pueto Rico is an island. If you're on an island, REGARDLESS of where that island is, you will be affected by availability of resources. That's a given. Keep a plan B in your back pocket and think outside the box to see opportunity when you might not otherwise have noticed it. 

I bought there 3 years ago and have managed through the worst in PR. Still, no regrets. Puerto Rico is truly Isla del Encanto.

Thanks. I really appreciate the info. Did not want any false hope! We used to own an ISP, so we were just wondering about current availability, I suppose we can pull a T-1 ourselves if necessary. Hughes Net is available there? Or any satellite service? We are not that worried about the ping rate, and gaming is not necessary, just being able to get on the Internet to tend to our websites and download shipping info for our clients.

Thank you for your well thought out and very helpful replies. We currently live on a couple acres, and we like it that way, so yard work is not a big deal, nor is cleaning and taking care of a house. I am a rock freak, so I like being where rocks are so I can explore. My husband's family on one side is from Bogota, so the coolness of the mountains is certainly a plus, but we currently live in coastal Texas- hot as blue blazes and mosquitoes try to carry away our German Shepherd daily! We are familiar with heat. Hence we would like some altitude.
We have read that professionals like doctors are leaving the island, hence our worry about availability.
My husband has been a fireman for over 20 years, so he is used to thinking on his feet, but likes to have a plan in place, and is not one to jump into a situation like where to live without a lot of care, so your suggestion of coming and looking for ourselves is an excellent one. We just wanted some feedback from people who are living it daily.

While you guys were dealing with Maria, we were dealing with Harvey. We had 27 inches of rushing river water over our place for a couple of days, and it washed out some of the piers under our house. It was leaning at about 7 degrees when we got back- no electricity for 10 days, no working gas stations, no open restaurants, etc. SO we got a tiny taste of what you have been through. Fortunately, we were more prepared than most, and certainly more prepared than the million of so people in Houston, so we had food and water supplies to see us through. You said the lines for gas were 10 hours, how long did that last? Is it still an ongoing problem?

Cool. OK, so no cell phones because no cell towers, but satellite systems were still usable?
Any clue of why no wells? I understand cisterns, and collecting rain water, is there a rainy.dry season? We had that in Panama- 9 months daily rain, 3 months pretty much no rain. Cisterns were great for the 9 months, not so much for the three. We are on well and septic here.

Ray had mentioned that cell service was non existent for the most part after Maria.... We have AT&T, and hot spot when we are on the go, so familiar with that, but wondering about how the actual coverage is- here in our area in the US, if you do not have AT&T, you do not have cell phone access- pretty rural.

ROFL!!! Yup, island. However, I am also familiar with third world dictatorships (not saying PR is one of them). Availability of important stuff was distributed by those in power. I am pretty sure that island government and the wealthy had what they needed in short order, while same only trickled down to the rest of the population. My questions are how are things now? What is availability now? How is healthcare now?

Veesha, here is some info:
Gigabit Internet service, Caroline, San Juan, Guynabo. http://optico.criticalhub.com

Hughes Net last I checked was in the island.

For what you need to do without streaming movies, video conferencing or gaming (ping rate) most internet services in PR will be fine.

One of the first things to go back up was cell service. Temporary towers were erected all over the island. Many have since been replaced with permanent fixes. You should have no cell phone issues, unless, like me, you are on the edge of the ocean with the towers behind, surrounded by tall, concrete buildings. Still, once I get to the open square, service is fine. I have T-mobile, which seems to be everywhere in PR. My husband had AT&T and switched to T-mobile without regrets.

Regarding healthcare: take advantage of the pharmacies. Pharmacists in PR are highly knowledgable and highly regarding as the "go to" source for many of your basic health needs. And they don't charge for their advice. Plus, many medications that would normally need a script in the States, can be dispensed by the pharmacist over the counter. Think of your pharmacist as a neighborhood nurse practitioner. MDs are good, but scarse and wait times are long to see one, so before you schedule a trip to the doc, head to the pharmacy and see what the guy behind the counter can do for you.

Just stumbled onto your post. I'm nearly 75, have Medicare and a supplement, but even though in good health (had 2004 adenocarcinoma diagnosed from colonoscopy, but two more since showed nothing), but still would not try PR. Do your homework. Thousands died after the two hurricanes according to Harvard study, but many not due to storm, but horrible lack of healthcare, and it was crumbling even before that. You'd have to go to FL for an emergency, much like you'd have to fly to Oahu from Kona if something serious developed.  Even for healthy people, things happen.  See what other posters have to say, but forewarned is forearmed.

No, Seoulguy, it was not the health care system. The same would have happened in the states had power been cut from hospitals and homes for months, had there been no access to potable water and had the roads been impassable, making it difficult if not impossible for health care professionals to get to patients and visa versa.

A Navy hospital ship sat in San Juan harbor staffed with modern equipment and highly-trained doctors and nurses, but many in the interior didn't know it existed or couldn't get to it. I didn't even know it existed until I went down to peruse the destruction to my apartment and the area. Many of those doctors went into the field to treat patients, many on their own time and their own dime. Some of their efforts were truly heroic. Even news crews stepped in to helicopter patients to hospitals running on generators.

Maria created a disaster beyond anything anybody had ever seen in living memory. It was the dismal disaster itself that caused a good many of the casualties of Maria. The hospitals in FL weren't faring much better, being overloaded with emergencies from the island. patients waited forever for treatment. Many were given IVs in syringes because IV bags and solutions are made in Puerto Rico and those factories were wiped out. Many died before treatment.

Puerto Rico is an island. It is vulnerable. That's a fact. If that's too scary, don't move to an island.

Guatemala is not an island, but I am absolutely positive they will be experiencing the same sort of problems. I agree with you. When there is an unprecedented disaster, it does not matter where you are. We were in the Houston area when Harvey hit, and were without electricity for 10 days.
My questions are how is it now, not how bad was it during and shortly after.

In answer to your question, Veesha, most of the urban areas are up and running fine. Super markets, Malmart, Costco, the malls, Home Depot, restaurants, gas stations, banks, etc. all doing fine. Costco and Home Depot are packed. The airport and bus service is back on schedule. Uber is all over.

Water was back on in my apartment in February and the electricity came back shortly after. It would go out now and then, but has been consistently operational for a couple months now. My place is in Old San Juan.

Recovery has been slower in the sticks, largely due to lack of funds. Many residents have given up on expecting help and are going out and fixing things themselves, with or without the experience they need to do it right. If you have any technical or construction experience, there is plenty for you to do.

And yes, it is hot in PR, especially in the lowlands, (very pleasant in the mountains) but seriously, it's very bearable. Atlanta (where I am) gets way hotter in the summer (freezing in the winter) and is just as humid.

The key is that many places spend a good 6 months without electricity, it has been 8 months and still a few pockets are still waiting electricity.

Quite a difference between 6 months and 10 days in Texas.

Many businesses closed permanently and needless to say those employees end up without a job. Those that only closed temporarily are doing fine or getting better but up to their ears in debt they accumulated during the time they were closed.

A generator, motor oil, and plenty of gas will let you have power for a few hours every day to keep the fridge going in cases like that in the future.

Thanks, Igustaf. That is what I was looking for. You, Ray, and all the others who have been kind enough to take time to reply to me have added much needed info to help us make a decision to at least come look for ourselves. I lived in Panama for 8 years, here in south Texas for about 20, it was NEVER as hot in Panama as it is here, and there are no mountains to escape to. Spent a couple of years in Atlanta also, aeons ago, Douglasville and Buckhead. Worked at Macy's Peachtree. Small world! In Panama, the coast was very humid and mid to high 80's, while mountains were more 70's, still humid, but wonderful. I do not like seasons, spent two years in Iceland and NEVER want to see snow again.
I owned a home remodeling company for a couple of years, so I can certainly be hands on, and have a son who is an electrical engineer, who would be coming with us.
I do want to be sure that under "normal" circumstances I can get healthcare for my husband, Internet for the business, etc, but we are all certainly capable of handling more than a dirt free, bug free, controlled environment. One of the things our company makes is an all natural bug repellent, DEET free (certainly need it here on the coast).
I think we will come for an extended visit later this year.
Thank you all.

When you visit next time maybe check on hospitals, yes every place has its wrinkles, not just PR.

I lived in Panama too. Panama is definitely hotter than PR.

Rich and poor alike were affected by the lack of power, water, cell service, blocked roads and lack of supplies.

The exception being if you were well-off enough to charter a flight off the island after the storm.

Nomad... perhaps in PR, and I would be VERY surprised if that were so. In the several countries where I have lived, the powerful (politically or financially) get service first and best, then it trickles down to the rest. A governor or dictator or president justifies by saying the government needs to be running to "take care of" the rest of the people, so their power (and air conditioning and water) goes on first (generator and repair wise). They get the first of the food that is coming in with aid. I would be much more impressed if they got power to outlying areas first, and handled the actual issues of "the people" before their own.
Even here, in the good ol USA, after Harvey all it took was a phone call from the local chief of the tiny local volunteer fire department to get the national guard out with pallets of water and power tools to clear the streets around his house, so he could "get to the fire station to serve his community".
However, I realize what you are trying to say. Of course, disasters do not spare people regardless of their importance or self importance.

I think the biggest shock I have run into in moving to PR is the shipping problem.  It is not at all like the US where you can just shop for items online and easily have them delivered with free shipping.

The additional cost of shipping really is a problem and it is baked into the prices of everything in the local shops as well.  Be prepared for outrageous prices on everything from food to anything else you can get at the local Walmart.  I still cannot believe how fast the money goes for 'stuff' here.  Then add the 11.5% sales tax on top of it.

If PR could get the US to remove the Jones Act, it would be one of the biggest boosts to the economy and quality of life here.

I don't think the people here even realize how badly they are being screwed over for prices on everyday things. 

I was wary about moving here as well, and in many ways already regret it three months in.  I have already found myself trying to plan an exit before I become trapped here.

On the positive side, it is a beautiful place and the rent is cheap.

Addint to what Hskr8 said:

Shop at Costco when you can. It is one of the few places where items cost exactly the same in PR as they do stateside.

Something else to consider/try is to contact the company you are ordering from directly. I once purchased an exercise band from a prominent manufacturer and they wanted to charge me international shipping ($25 on a $5 product). I called them up and explained that PR is part of the US zip code system - the receptionist was unaware, and their computer automatically tacked on international shipping for PR. As a result of me contacting them, they adjusted their shipping policy to not only PR, but to the USVI, Guam and other areas within the us postal system.
It may be a long shot, but contacting the company directly may work!

There is a recent entry into PR isp market.  Aeronet (http://aeronetpr.com/ ) provides high speed service via microwave transceivers aimed at antennas near El Yunque.  Some of my neighbors who could not get Liberty use it.  I looked into it and could get it in Rio Grande, it was about the same cost as Liberty and had slightly better speeds available.  Anyplace with a view towards the mountains should be able to get it.

I can't wait for Airborne Wireless to come on board.

https://www.airbornewirelessnetwork.com/index.asp

wpotvin wrote:

There is a recent entry into PR isp market.  Aeronet (http://aeronetpr.com/ ) provides high speed service via microwave transceivers aimed at antennas near El Yunque.  Some of my neighbors who could not get Liberty use it.  I looked into it and could get it in Rio Grande, it was about the same cost as Liberty and had slightly better speeds available.  Anyplace with a view towards the mountains should be able to get it.

One of our members in Rio Grande is using Aeronet

If you visit here one place you might want to check out is the area around Bella Vista hospital in Mayaguez. There are some pretty nice homes up there and the hospital is a good one. There are beautiful views from up there if that is important, you don't feel like you are in a busy city, but downtown Mayaguez is close by. It's worth checking out. (If the grid and water go down it will be fixed eventually so if you get solar or a generator and water storage tanks or cistern you should be ok until it does. Store enough meds, cash, some gasoline, and food also. If you aren't interested in Mayaguez I would look for a place that you like near medical care. Try to be ready to be self-sufficient for a time.)

Self-sufficiency is a great idea even without storms. Being close to a good hospital also good idea, we are not getting any younger.

Hskr8: Thanks for that info. 1) I am old. 2) I have lived overseas over half my life, almost a decade in a third world country. Even here, in Texas, Walmart is not my "go to" store. I cook from scratch. Canned and package goods are not a high priority. It is good to know about higher prices and the sales tax. Ours, here in Texas is 8.25 percent, and that is not fun, but taken into consideration.
As long as I can get local eggs, milk, fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, and coffee, we should be good to go. I am sure the cats and Thor (The Magnificent- shepherd wolf mix) will miss Chewy.com. but you can't have everything.
I am so sorry that you are not feeling comfortable there. My suggestion is get out while you can, go somewhere you are happy, or you will be trapped and bitter, not a nice way to live your life- you deserve better!

herbnallison: great info, thanks! I will certainly check that out! Thank you for taking the time to reply.

Wpotvin: COOLLLL!!!!! I have actually heard of them, and that they are in country and price comparable is great news.

trekrider520: certainly makes sense to me. Do you know about outgoing mail? We ship about 40 items a day, mostly to the US, but about 20 percent go overseas (sorry, oxymoron) international. We love and use USPS, they have been very good to us, and we have contracted rates. I am sure that UPS is available also, but not our first choice.
Is USPS dependable? Available easily? (locations). Works the same way there? I am not worried about rates, we have that handled, just availability/dependability of service.