coming to PR!

What ever you do don't go to a regular bank they charge you for everything as well as fees. Go to a co-op.  hatillo has a co-op.  All the co-op give you access to almost all the other co-op with no fee etc. We learned the hard way.  Is there a reason you are going to hatillo?  We currently are moving from arecibo.  These areas really don't have much to offer. Have you considered Rincon area? We have been pretty much around the whole island each area has its plus.  For north dorado. But very expensive. Especially private schools. East farajdo area even Rio Grande. South many people don't enjoy it as much really hot. West coast Rincon rocks.

Best internet service is choice/ liberty same company. However depending where you live you might not be able to get their service. Stay away from claros service the worst.  Hatillo does have a large population of English speaking people. We ran into this in arecibo we are in the mountains are near utuado.  We go to hatillo several times a week

Welcome to the island!!!

Check the forums for most of the information you are looking for. As for good restaurants I will suggest try and error, what is good for you may not be good for someone else. For us the best ones are the hole in the wall places away from chain food. You should try "Guavate" for the pig in the stick (lechon asado).

Whatever you do, remember you are moving to the island, things are different than in the mainland. Take your time to explore and enjoy!!!

Things to do in PR, see this site: http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com
PR Recipes: http://www.ricanrecipes.com
A little about every town in Puerto Rico, including some things to see/visit and some restaurants in those towns see: http://welcome.topuertorico.org/exploring.shtml

As other stated previously, check all the different subjects in this forum, also use the search field at the top to look for specific things. Both will save you time to get the information you are looking for.

If you love to entertain, many of us will be ready to drop by for friendship, food and rum. We may even give you a "Parranda".

I just retired from New York and have been here for about 3 months in Luquillo

Welcome to PR. I hope you enjoy it. I live in Arecibo, which is right next door to you!

Banking
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Regarding Banking, I suggest Scotia or Banco Popular. I strongly recommend you investigate a  co-op (credit union) before you use it. A fair number of them are  not backed by FDIC, though some are backed by a Caribbean financial insurer (COSSEC). A local friend of mine who did his Masters and PHD on the mainland recommended a larger bank like Banco  or Scotia for storing your money, a co-op for borrowing money. If the co-op disappears over night or goes under because of the economy, then your money won't disappear.

Banco Popular has ATMs (known as ATH or A-Todo-Horas) almost everywhere on the island, and given the nature of small businesses here, that can be useful. Many small businesses, food trucks, etc. don't accept cards, or the machine will be unavailable due to phones being out or cell signal issues.

Scotia is about the next most popular bank here, with ATMs in a lot of places and a fair number of branches. Most CVS stores have Scotia ATMs and are easily found on Google Maps (unlike most things). Scotia is the bank I use.

One thing to know about banks out here, is there is nothing for free, unlike many banks on the mainland. If you write checks, be prepared to pay for them. Be prepared to pay for your account to.

Scotia and Banco both have accounts that will waive the monthly fees if you direct deposit, and may provide you with some small number of checks per month (my  Scotia acct will allow me to write 1 or 2 checks free, the a few for $0.50, then $1 per check after that). My solution for that is to maintain a mainland bank acct (Wells Fargo) that allows me to write checks and do online banking, and  Scotia acct that lets me use local ATMs to get cash out when I need it.

Internet/TV
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We have Liberty Cable, which has decent service. I'm paying ~$60 for supposedly 15Mb internet and phone. I used to  live in rural Arecibo, up in the mountains, and I got the full 10Mb I was paying for, though now I'm getting only 5Mb at best, even though I live closer to town now. Go figure.

If you're not hooked on cable channels, it isn't worth it to get cable. There are very few English channels available unless you get the top tier package the offer (~$100 for cable tv alone when I signed up). I went with Netflix and Amazon Prime for streaming, and have contemplated adding Hulu Plus or HBO Go. This has served us well for the last 2 years.

I've heard that Claro has some good offerings if you have 3/4G coverage but no cable available, but that approach gives you data caps, which can be annoying.

Amazingly enough there is some amount of gigabit fiber available in the San Juan area, which is quite tempting

Restaurants
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Given that you are in Hatillo, check out Truco de Guin. They are on PR 2, the main highway running along the coast in Hatillo. The Tripleta (a local sandwich of Cuban origins IIRC) and Mofongo are really good.

Tony's Pizza is a particular favorite of my coworkers, though we favor  the location on PR 129. There is a location on PR 2 in Arecibo as well.

If you like Sushi, Izumi Sushi Bar in Ponce and Seven Seas in San Juan. If you like Mexican food, Las Mananitas in Isabella is pretty good. One Ten Thai in Aguadilla is also really good.

If you need any help getting around or getting settled, let me know!

-- Anthony

We traveled all around the island last winter and found a place on the water that we loved.   The north west area appealed to us as much more relaxed and safer than SJ or the north east area.   

What is the best way to meet other expats in the area?  We want to do some outdoor activities and make new friends.

I think we will buy a used car or pick up when we arrive in January.  Our house will need some work and then we'll have a party on the beach.

JP

thanks Anthony!

We'll be arriving in January, I'll look to buy a used car or pick up truck.  I recall that we had a Home Depot not too far from our place in Hatillo.    I hope we can meet some good folks in the area to visit with and learn about PR.

I want to do some fishing when things get organized and we are settled.

Sitka - what's your house like in Hatillo? Is it on the beach. What's the town like?

Hatillo is a small town on the north shore, a dairy farming area.  Don't know much about it yet - I'm told they have a good bakery.  Anyone on this board with knowledge of Hatillo?    I hope we can meet some expats in the area to socialize with.    I want to bring my jeep to PR but the costs and risks have me concerned.

The house is on the water, but needs lots of work.  I may need to get the help of a plumber and an electrician to work on it,  lots of basic stuff like painting and remodeling that I can do, I'll bring some tools with me, but will need to buy some tools or rent them.

It needs to be completely redone on the inside, new kitchen, bath, etc, - I'll be busting my ass for months!!

Hows fishing in PR?  Can I catch fish from the beach?   What about the fresh water fishing in the reservoirs? I read about the bass fishing, sounds good!

Any tips on buying a vehicle?

Thanks!

Sitka - thanks for responding. Sounds exciting. Rehabing a house on the beach will be great. I got my car through http://www.clasificadosonline.com/ Good cars go fast so I learned to look early in the morning (before 8) and then make the call. I live in Rincon but want to know about other parts of the island in case I want to escape the growth here.

Hi Sitka,

    We live in Quebradilla which is 2 towns to the west from you. We go to Hatillo often, to Home Depot, the Plaza del Notre(the mall) , there's also a Sam's club there and now this past week they opened a Super Walmart in Hatillo on Rte 2.

  We have been here for 1 yr and a half and love it. We are retired and so our time is our own. We have a teenage grandson living with us who is a senior in H.S. We have talked about moving east after he graduates but we love this area much.

   We are in theiddle which is great, we could east to Arecibo or west to Aguadilla and Mayaguez.  There are many great restaurants here and we have Claro for phone and internet since we are in the country and up a hill and couldn't get Choice, it is okay for now
We have Direct TV which is good and not too expensive.

    As far as getting to know other expats, we have had and will have a Texas golden party at the beginning of Nov and I know you won't be here yet but for next year something to think about.For this none we are expecting about 7 expats.

   Welcome to Puerto Rico and good luck with your move.

Take care, Tonie

Texas golden party??!!  We used to live in Texas - our son is a UT graduate!    Did you see the Longhorn game yesterday!!!  We beat OU in the red river game - what an upset!!

I'm a longhorn fan since his undergrad days.


Any way- we are looking forward to moving to PR.  Send us your contact info - we will be in the area i/10/16.

We live in Quebradillas and would be more then happy to help you navigate through some of the basics of the surrounding area. We are traveling through December but once your settled in January please email us. We have been living in PR now for three years and know the island pretty well. If you would like to speak before you arrive let me know.

Sitka,
   It was a Texas Holdem- game Poker.

Oh...LOL   I thought for a moment is was a group of geriatric Texans looking to get out more often.   :-)

My friend Saul has I nice truck for sale he is located in quebrallia.  If you need his number let me know

Sandra - what type of truck and how much? We'll be arriving in December and will need to purchase a vehicle.

We currently live in Texas, DFW area. We will be back in the island in December and would love to got to meet some of you guys. Our house is in Sabana Grande so if there is a get together in the Aguadilla/Rincon area let un know!

I live in Rincon and I am not a car person . I just know he has a nice truck for sale . Send me a private message if you would like to talk with him

Let us know also. We live here year round in Quebradilla which is a hop and a skip from Aguadilla and even Rincon.  We would love to meet some good people who make this their home or will make this their home.

We will be in Aguadilla/ Isabela area in December for a short visit to hunt for houses. We would love to meetup with other members. Post the date, place, and time when the meetup will take place. We will try to attend it if we are in the area.