Posted on 09/21/2015 8:04:37 AM PDT by george76
“Everything free in America.”
I live part time in Colombia...dollar is great now and cost of living there is very cheap. Medellin is my fav city but prefer smaller cities. Safe and very pro American. Knowledge of Spanish is needed.
Sounds like allot of communities in this country. Everything in the last seven years has pretty much been crappy. Stagnant is a kind way to put it.
Indeed, the potentially loss of the Royal Navy out of Scottish bases (with the thousands of jobs that went with it) was one of the major reasons why Scottish voters turned down a recent referendum for independence.
A place that should be a paradise. Beautiful land and climate. Surely some old white guy is to blame for all this malaise.
Huh, PBS never mentioned that in their breathless Scot election coverage. Bases and thousands of jobs at risk...
On the Create channel, there are hundreds of travel/cooking/farming shows that were doin’ good at filming time - 2002 through 2010 - where the cottage industries helped each other, wonder if Obamacare has shut all that down now.
Wife and I visited PR over Christmas week a couple of years ago and our time there was enjoyable and safe. We spent our time around the western ocean front city of Hatillo which is a good place to jump off to the big radio telescope at Arecibo and some other attractions.
Virtually no one spoke English, and menus, directions, etc were entirely in Spanish. If PR wants to attract retirement age couples, they’ll have to become more accommodating to gringos.
And they all came here. At least they are already American Citizens.
Germany? The people’s paradise of Cuba is much closer.
PR’s problem can be expessed in one word: drugs. No one wants to live in a place where every home, business, or apartment, no matter in the city or the smallest rural village has to have iron bars on the winows, doors and porches. No one who wants a better future can find it in a drug-ridden place like that.
And the article never mentions former Gov. Luis Fortuno, who made tough decisions while downsizing government and attempting to get the island on solid economic footing. Investments in PR were up, the bond rating went up, but of course, the populace, many of whom had lost government jobs, did not have the patience for a full recovery to take place, and voted him out after one term. The new Governor took on more debt to appease the voters, increased the size of government, yet again, and now its crashing and burning.
A frequent poster from PR has mentioned this bit of history.
One of my friends from high school lives there. Absolutely loves it. Only comes back for Christmas.
I’ve been there... it’s true.. every opening of a business, house, shack or rubble has “TO HAVE” bars on it..
Beautiful people in the daytime.. when night approaches creatures come out..
Basically: Detroit with more mulattoes.. and less decaying infra-structure.. where “Mocha” was invented..
On the flip side, there are two areas in Puerto Rico that are nearly English-only, at least as far as restaurants and hotels go: Vieques and Rincon.
So the government artificially created an economy with money it didn't have and then when the money ran out, the economy collapsed. And what is their answer? More government.
We and another couple spent a week in Vieques, and all the people who tried to sell us drugs knew how to speak English.
Other than that is was great, and since it is technically part of the US we did not have to go through customs. I mailed myself many plant specimens that are now growing nicely in my back yard.
The ex-military base has beautiful beaches.
I’m surprised you got through the airport with plants. I recall there were signs ordering no plants or seeds from PR be allowed on the trip back to the mainland. I don’t know what possibly could be of harm tho...
USPS helped.
If it fits, it ships!
My tropical plants were waiting on my doorstep when I got home.
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