Porta Coeli

On 12.06.2013 we took a drive to San Germán to see the 2nd oldest church in the 'new world'. It was amazing!! The church was beautiful and the town was all historical buildings. The street were still made with coble stone, we felt like we were in Mayberry.

I thought this how was adorable, and would totally live here if it was possible!!

 After we explored San Germán we drove down to Cabo Rojo. We found a beautiful light house, that was off the beaten path. We drove down this dirt road for a good 15-20mins and finally found it. We were unaware that hiking would be involved nor were we ready for a hike, so we admired from afar.

We are going to go back and hike up to the light house. On the other side there are some great beaches that we might go camp at.

On our way home we stopped off to see the Cabo Rojo salt flats and wildlife refuge.

It was a jammed pack day but lots of fun!!

ANIMALS!!

So if you know me, you know my love for animals! If I could I would adopt all the stray animals, which I've kinda started doing here. There are so many stray dogs in our neighborhood and a few of them wonder into our yard at night. We feed them give them water and play with them.

Roco and Longboy chillin

Beautiful sunset. These dogs follow us whenever they see us.

                 
Besides the silly dogs there are so many beautiful animals we have seen.

With think this was an Asolot in our backyard

He was a perfect model for us :)

We see these guys every where!!

Beautiful ccaterpillar 

Rooster in our yard.

White Crane ~we see them every where~

Giant bug

Roosters crossing the street

We were invited to our friends family party one day. I was super excited once I found out they had a mini farm!! Miguel's Tio had a bird farm, full of pigeons {pigeons here are how we see doves in the States}. I twas awesome feeding them. We also got to feed the cows!!

The way of life on an island...Part 2

Now that we have our home for the winter, which is in the most perfect location for us! Our next step is to find a car. There is so much to see and do on the island that a car is a must. You can only walk for so long in the heat and/or rain, and going shopping for anything becomes a whole new task on it own. So we went car shopping. There were a few hurdles that stood in our way, language barrier was the biggest one, we also had to be careful not to be hussled by anyone. We dont need anything special, just something to get us from point A to point B without breaking down.
We started talking to our landlady about buying cheap car. Her and her son helped us out and were able to find a great car, way better than we were expecting to get. We were planning on only spending $500-600. But once we started looking at those cars we realized we were going to have to spend more. In that price range the cars would only start if you HotWired it, and only if you were lucky it would start. We found a minivan for $1500 and talked the guy down to $1200. We have a 1994 Mercury Villager with only 180,000 mile. It has a DVD player and CD player, AC and all windows limo tented.
We did run into a few hiccups but the biggest problem was getting the title in our name. You have to be a Puerto Rican resident with Drivers License. To get a license was going to take forever so our friend Miguel helped us out again and put it in his name. But for the most part buying the car was simple even more so since our landlady Illa and her son were so helpful.
Everything has seem to fall into place since we have gotten here. Finding a place to live and a car to buy were easier than we expected, and both times got more than we ever imagined we could get.

The way of life on an island...Part 1

Our first week to two on the island was learning about island life. We had figure out so many things. Housing, transportation, customs, language, banking, driving, animals and the list could go on. We had taken ourselves out of our comfort zone and into a whole new world.
First, we had to find a place to live. So many choices; up in the hills, right on the beach, tourist areas, or with the locals. Our place just fell into our laps, THANKFULLY!! Our friend Miguel was helping us out, he had a place for us but the landlady wouldn't be available till the next afternoon, so we needed a place for one night. Of course its a Friday night so all the hotels are booked or super expensive. We stumbled upon a guest house $80.00 for the night, we were sold. After talking with the owner and informing her we were moving here and needed a place to live she offered it to us for our entire stay, again we were sold. Its a fully furnished 1 bedroom apartment. It comes with everything including the cleaning.
Our landlord, Illa is AWESOME. She is our grandma here and is always making sure we have everything and are comfortable. We are living among the locals, 5 minute walk to town and 30 second walk to the beach.
The location is everything we were wanting and the apartment is more than we imagined we would get.

pictures!!

Sunset 11.23.2013

Our backyard!!

Steps beach

Rincon at its finest!

Rincon Lighthouse

That's me!!

Mofongo

Beautiful bird beautiful                                                       country

Rincon!!

We made it to Rincon, Puerto Rico. After driving 4 hours in what felt like a foreign country we made it safely. Now to find our friends and get settled down. Our friend Miguel took us around his town and helped get us an amazing apartment for cheap. We are 30sec walk to the beach and 2mins from downtown. For $400 a month is fully furnished. Everything we need is already included PLUS they come and clean it once a week. What more could we ask for  maybe some hot water but not many places on the island offer that.
Our first night in Rincon we ate the local dish of mofongo. Its fiend plantains that they form into a bowl and put stew in. Its really yummy!!
In the morning we were woken up by roosters crowing and dogs barking. One rooster is a little confused he hasn't stopped all day or night. But as Bradwell pointed out we would rather listen to roosters and dogs then traffic and sirens.
Rincon is much more laid back and island life than San Juan is. We both feel more at piece and relaxed. Everyone is willing to help you out and talk to you. The people here are way more friendly than in San Juan.
We have gone and walked down the beach, drove up and saw the light house. Absolutely beautiful. And been relaxing and taking it all in.
We actually saw an iguana walking around the beach by the light house, now that was cool.

finally made it...

We are finally here, here in Puerto Rico!! Its been a year in the making but we are here!!
We want to keep everyone up to date on our adventures in one easy place. We will post pictures on Facebook but more details of our life will be here.
Today is our 3rd day here and what an adventure it has already been. As we are at the airport in Austin our plane was missing a hinge to a door. Our connecting plane az were loaded on sat for 1mins (really felt like forever) to be told to exit the plane there were parts missing And had to hero on another plane at the other end of the airport. We finally came in at 1am!! We were exhausted To say the least, but so happy and excited to finally be in PUERTO Rico!! We took a cab to Island Time Hostel my first hostel ever   when We got there we were greeted by some of the nicest people. We were startled awake at 8am by a guy on a blow horn selling bananas and potatoes in the street. Not gonna lie it sounded like the swat team was taking over a house.We were in San Juan which is the big city touristy area. Similar feel to LA or New York. We were walking around completely lost and now one willing to help nor did I understand a word they were telling me. Bradwell was my rock and kept me calm reminding me that we were only here for the day and then we would be in Rincon for the rest of our time here. I was completely overwhelmed We got our rental car finally and started on the beautiful drive to Rincon!!
Side note the drivers here are CRAZY!   There are no traffic laws, or at least not any people follow. Stop signs are just a suggestion and red lights go ahead and run them if no one is in your way. You wanna stop in the middle of the street because you are lost no problem. Oh and shoulders are meant for passing lanes. Its crazy driving here.
That's just the adventures of our 1st day!!
We absolutely love it here I'll post pictures soon.