Donde La Buena Vida Comienza – “Where the Good Life Begins”
La Brega, Episode 2
Well hey there! It’s been a few months since I last posted and even though it’s a bit late (as usual), I wanted to share with you my Puerto Rico experience. It was an incredibly transformative time for me and I fell in love with the island, the people, and the culture after living there for a couple months.
Caught the travel bug again
After travelling to Costa Rica, Greece, and bumming around the U.S. last summer (2021), I ended up back in Maryland at my parents house. I officially moved out of my DC place in June 2021 and could work remotely so I was taking advantage of the remote work opportunity and travelling as much as could.
After a couple months in Maryland I decided that I was going to go to Puerto Rico to live and work. I had a friend who had been living there for almost a year and he loved it. It happened to be the same friend that I went to Costa Rica with last summer – which you can read about here – so there was definitely the surfing connection.
As much as I loved being back in Maryland and was enjoying life on the Chesapeake Bay, I was ready to get out travelling again so headed down to the Isla del Encanto (Puerto Rico) in October 2021.
Part 1 – Respect the Locals
I didn’t have a return ticket and I didn’t really have much of a plan other than to embrace the experience and see if I could improve my surfing and my spanish. I also had this idea of scoping out places for an ecolodge or AirBnb. As I’ve written about in a couple other posts one of my life long goals is to own a hotel or Airbnb in the Caribbean. It’s always been a dream of mine and I was really inspired after my time island hopping in the Pacific.
To be quite honest, I wasn’t really all that sure how I was going to like Puerto Rico. The only thing I really knew about Puerto Rico was from the New York Puerto Ricans (or “New Yuricans” as they say) , Reggaeton, and Salsa. And growing up it seemed like everyone from Puerto Rico LOVED Mofongo and spoke a strange kind of Spanish I couldn’t understand.
Isabela, P.R. 🇵🇷
I stayed in Isabela, a small town on the west side of the island about 2 hours from San Juan. It’s a quiet town with a good mix of surfers, tourists, and locals. The closest airport is in Aguadilla, which is where a lot people fly into.
In the winter months, or during the surfing season (Nov-March), Isabela and the surrounding towns are mostly filled with tourists from New York and the Northeast. It’s known by Puerto Ricans for its beaches and in the summer it’s mostly locals on vacation. There are a good amount of restaurants and bars in the beach strip and nearby town of Aguadilla. However a lot of the restaurants and bars hadn’t fully opened back up yet due to Covid or because of damage from Hurricane Maria back in 2017.
From the first couple weeks on the island, I fell in love with Puerto Rico. I felt such good energy from the people even though a lot of times you could sense that they didn’t love that you were there – which I could understand. The locals always treated me with respect and were very helpful and friendly (outside of a one incident surfing which was kind of my fault 🤦🏻♂️ 😬) .
I think that’s just an island thing, the people are just happier and more friendly in general.
A different point of view
The people of Puerto Rico have been subject to a lot, from colonization, to being taken advantage of and neglected by the U.S. And now they’re dealing with an influx of U.S. mainlanders coming to buy up their land with the crypto and tax shelters. It’s a really complicated issue that could be debated at length. To be clear, I don’t have a side.
We’ll summarize it with this: there are people with good intentions and not so good intentions, and there are pros and cons with the recent growth; but the Puerto Ricans and island have been exploited time and time again, so they have every right to be skeptical of it all.
Change is inevitable, so in my opinion I think instead of fighting it, you have to adapt and make the most of any situation. There needs to be equity in the growth and development on the island. I’ll leave it at that. ✌️
Even though there was a slight tension towards tourists due to so many people moving down during the pandemic, as long as you were respectful and were conscious of the fact that this was their home and you were a guest, you were fine. It was very much a respect and “I see you” thing. Very much like respect in surfing.
These are much bigger topics for a food and lifestyle blog. I did want to mention it however because it affected my experience and it was a big shift in how I thought about the territory and being a tourist. I have reflected a lot about how I could live long term and own property or business in Puerto Rico AND help the island and people at the same time.
Could this be my new home? 🏡 🏝 ¿Podría ser este mi nuevo hogar?
During my first couple months on the island, I was adjusting very well to daily life and really embracing all that PR had to offer. I was trying to be as local as I could. Talking to everyone, being open, and listening. I am an islander at heart and felt right at home being on an island in the tropics again.
My spanish was improving, I was surfing everyday and in great shape. I met a beautiful local girl in San Juan, and life was good. I was feeling good and making new friends, and absolutely thriving on the island.
I stayed in Puerto Rico through the end of November and went back to Maryland for Thanksgiving and Christmas. While away and back in the U.S., I felt this longing to go back down and was picturing myself living in PR (more) permanently.
Part 2 – Follow Your Heart
While back in the U.S. during Christmas I ended up getting COVID and was down hard for a few weeks. I quarantined through Christmas and New Years. Although it wasn’t fun to be cooped up in a house for a couple weeks, I had a lot of time for reflecting on what I wanted in life and what was next in my journey.
I was looking at a big job change in 2022 and was looking for a place to live more permanently. The nomad lifestyle was great, and I’m an explorer at heart, but I wanted to build a community and find a place that I could call home. I was seriously considering moving to Florida but felt this longing to go back to Puerto Rico again.
I decided I would go back down for a bit and see what happens. So in January 2022, still not fully recovered from COVID and hacking away (tested neg, don’t worry!) , I hopped on a one-way flight back down to Aguadilla, PR with an open mind and light heart.
Immediately I felt better just being back in the tropics and living the island life. I didn’t surf for a week because I was so weak and needed to get back into shape. Once back in the water and surfing again things felt right.
Time slowed down and all was right in the world as I let go of everything and just lived in the moment. No expectations, no plan, just living out my dreams.
I spent another incredible 2 months during January and February (2022) in Puerto Rico living my best life. I practiced daily gratitude (still do). I felt conscious and self-aware.
I was doing some soul searching and being really honest with myself about failed relationships and how I can do better as a man and partner. I was interviewing for some amazing job opportunities. I was meditating on the beach every morning. I was manifesting my dream life. All the hard work from years of dedication and perseverance were paying off.
As I sat on the beach one evening contemplating what job I would take and what path I would choose, I remembered to just follow your heart. This world is full of abundance and there are so many wonderful opportunities out there, we just need the courage to believe we can achieve them and to go follow our hearts. It really is so true that we can achieve all that we set our minds to. SO DREAM BIG!!!
I realized my experience in Puerto Rico was just temporary and I was already living out my dreams.
As much as I loved living in PR and could see myself staying there long term, I also had a calling to do something greater in my career. I wanted to put my passions and purpose into practice with helping solve climate change and making the earth a better place to live.
I loved the island life and was meeting so many great people down in PR but most of them were also nomads and were only there temporarily – probably why I got along so great with them.
With an awesome career opportunity calling and another journey ahead of me, I headed back to the mainland U.S. in February 2022.
Next Phase
In March 2022 I ended up moving down to South Florida where I have the best of both worlds living my waterman lifestyle surfing and fishing, travelling and exploring, and working my dream job making a big impact to decarbonize our planet.
I’m still close enough to Puerto Rico to be able to get back for short excursions. I can also still be on the lookout for ecolodges in the Caribbean and South America. I even went back to PR for a quick weekend in March before starting my new job to get in one more surf trip!
Who knows, maybe I’ll end up living in PR for a couple months out of the year and in Florida the rest. (I am loving it down here in FL btw 😊 – more to come on that). I do know I’ll be going back to PR for few more trips in the not too distant future!
I hope you are eating some great food and enjoying summer to the fullest! Follow your heart!
As always, Keep It Sambal.