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Financially and/or practically speaking. This is a surprisingly difficult question to answer with a quick Google search. For context, I have a job teaching online and because PR's time zone is closer to Europe's, I'd actually have more work there. I also love walking in nature, mountains, and beaches, but I've never been to Puerto Rico. I've liked all the Caribbean food that I've tried. I'm quite familiar with Latin American and Castilian Spanish, and I always want to work toward perfecting my Spanish. Am I a carpetbagging yankee for thinking of my own finances when going to Puerto Rico during their debt crisis? Do Internet speeds universally suck there? Is stuff cheap? Or cheaper, given that I live in a low-cost-of-living city in the mainland US now? Will the Zika virus eat me?
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May 27, 2016 16:59
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I go to Puerto Rico a few times a year, most recently in February. As a tourist, I don't think you will be affected by the debt crisis very much. They are laying off government employees, closing schools and cutting public services but otherwise the day to day life there seemed normal to me. I believe they have raised sales taxes significantly, rum is still cheaper than in the states but I had a hard time eating out for dinner for under ~$20. I am planning my next trip back for around Thanksgiving time, so I'm currently looking at the price of rentals on airbnb/vrbo and such, they are very reasonably priced(~100-150/night for a 1 bedroom on the main tourist beach in San Juan) All that being said, I absolutely love going there! The locals are generally nice and I speak very little Spanish, most of the time they prefer to communicate in English haha. Your interests sound like mine as far as activities you like to do. If you decide to go I highly recommend checking out El Yunque mountain/ rainforest. I usually give it a whole day, there are a lot of trails and look outs and old rear end watch towers the Spaniards built before the dinosaurs died out. I usually recommend going to the Bioluminescent Bay in Fajardo, but when we went in February, the guides explained that seaweed was choking off nutrients from getting into the bay, so the bacteria glow was at like 10% of its usual brightness. The Isla Verde neighborhood is where I usually stay, the beach is great for swimming and there are all kinds of water sports you can pay to participate in. I guess in summary is I think that the debt crisis is more affecting the locals in the poverty striken areas outside of the touristy places. I was there for 7 days and had a great time with no incidents, never felt unsafe or unwanted. Tourism is a big part of their income down there, I imagine they'd appreciate you coming down! Are you American? Don't even need a dang passport
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Jun 1, 2016 17:26
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Thanks. From what I have read, "no impact" sounds about right. Thus the prices still might be rich for my current finances. Yep, I'm from the States.
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Jun 1, 2016 18:33
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