I must have been Spanish in a past life.

Well it sounds like you are ahead of the game, you already have an apartment in the Old San Juan. Excellent place if you want to be connected to all sorts of activities, dancing, music concerts, food festivals, museums and other culture channels.

Since you mentioned California and Spain, I assume that one or both of you know Spanish. As an archeologist, you may want to either volunteer or work part time with other archeologists in the island to give you something to do.

We have several members that have lived in Old San Juan and others that live in Condado, and Isla Verde so you are likely to be able to make connections. But if willing to travel, there are a lot more out there in Dorado, Hatillo, Rincon, Cabo Rojo, Ponce, Humacao, Ceiba (me later this year (fingers crossed)), Fajardo, Luquillo, Rio Grande and many other towns.

To get things going once you are in hookup with those that answer your post and or post under the gathering subject and create a gathering.

Please feel free to ask questions, I am not sure what you need help with yet.
Hope to see you soon.
Rey

PS. I spend a year in Marietta, which is likely not too far from you,

Thank you for your email, I am the kind of person who will find something to do, no matter where I am. I have my own business here, but am phasing it out to prepare for the move. Because it is largely internet-based, I oould translate it to PR, but would need help in establishing and making connections to inventory sources. Still, I am willing to do anything. I do have a masters in Anthropology, but that doesn't make me an archeologist, per se, because I was more on the cultural side - urban cultural ecology more specifically. Still, I would jump on the opportunity to work on a site in PR. I am willing to travel, but don't have a car -- one of the reasons I wanted to live in VSJ, because I can walk to everythingL Life is an adventure, and I am ready for any challenge, I am open to anything. I have made a living picking cherries with migrant workers, cleaning cabins at ski resorts, picking worms off lettuce while working my way through college. More: newspaper editor, film critic, real estate agent, marketing executive, dance teacher. I would like to connect to members who have lived in VSJ.  FYI: Neither of us is conversant in Spanish. My husband is Swedish and I studied French. My husband and his mother purchased a condo in Marbella, which is on Costa  Del Sol. It is a very international city and almost everybody speaks English. Like VSJ, one can walk to everything. Still, I am committed to learn Spanish, and hope to connect with someone who could tutor me. I am the queen of English grammar, so maybe we could do an exchange.

For Spanish I would recommend the course Fluenz they have it in Amazon.Get the complete set. It starts you in a restaurant, were you are interacting and asking questions, while referring to things, to yourself to others and here and there, this and that. The aim is conversational but you also learn the written form at the same time. My wife is taking it and has prohibited me from speaking to her in Spanish until much later so I don't confuse her, but I can tell you that her pronunciation in Spanish is a lot better than I heard from most americans. She seems to have a good ear for the nuances of the the words. She been taking it for a month and she sounds great. I highly recommend it.

Once you are in the island you will gain contacts or I can give you some of mines to help facilitate the start of your business.

I am targeting the end of the year to be permanent in PR based on estimates on when my place in MA may sell.

Good Luck, welcome to the Isla Del Encanto, La Perla Del Mar.

PS. I plan to learn some of the Taino language, while we use some (intermixed with Spanish) in PR, It would be nice to learn some of the less common words that are not used everyday. Going back to my roots.
Rey

Thanks for your email. I did register with Duolingo, which has a Spanish immersion course. It is free on-line, but finding the time to practice with it is a struggle since I'm self-employed. My business is international. so I basically work all day, every day. Plus, I have two households to manage right now. I am hoping I'll get more into it as I wind things down here.