Living in Paradise - From Nice Home to Boat to living on a Farm in Puerto Rico
Welcome to part 4 of our amazing journey of making a total life change. Going from a computer software engineer at the top of my career to living on a sailboat in the Caribbean to this chapter living on a farm in Puerto Rico.
For my previous chapters see:
- How I went from creating QuickPay for Quicken to selling almost everything to go live on a sailboat in the Caribbean
- Sint Maarten to Virgin Gorda and almost crashing on the rocks
- Downsizing and living in Paradise off the grid
(Me bringing home my banana harvest)
Buying a farm in Puerto Rico
In June 1995, just a few months before the hurricane hit while living on the sailboat I saw a classified ad in the local paper that read: "12 acre farm with house in Puerto Rico $60,000".
After living in the Virgin Islands and seeing that a small home was going for 1/4 million with really no land or resources we thought we would take a trip to Puerto Rico to check it out.
We called the agent and she gave us directions and said the fastest way to the farm was to take the government ferry on Lago Dos Bocus. Since Highway 10 wasn't built yet it would cut 90 minutes off the journey to the farm.
So we fly into San Juan and rent a car and were off to Arecibo. Just being on a freeway was certainly a nice change.
Once we get to Arecibo we head off into the interior of the island to the Embarcadero del Lago Dos Bocas which is an adventure in itself being the road is so narrow and winding.
At the boat launch we find that they have free government run boats that takes locals and tourist to a number of spots on the lake. Going down the lake on this small boat was like we were going through the Amazon rain forest. Just seeing all the natural resources and plant life sold me already.
We meet up with the agent at the end and she drives us up a winding one lane road to the farm.
Wow! What a view!
(This is the view from the deck of the house)
Now the 600 sq ft house needed a little work for sure but the beauty of the area took our breath away.
Come to find out the farm gets fresh drinking water from an underground source. And there is a water fall on the property! Wow!!!
Ok, with so many resources, with this view and for this price we decide to buy it just as an investment not knowing that in 4 months we would be moving here.
Fixing her up
The first thing we did was strip the place of everything but the walls. We patched, we painted, we put in new outlets, a whole new bathroom, put up shelves, a couple glass windows, new kitchen cabinets, fridge, gas stove, washing machine and other furnishings.
Since we were at 1200 ft elevation and in the mountains we didn't need air conditioning but we did need a dehumidifier. Before we got it, it would get so wet inside the house the walls and ceiling would drip and things would start to mold.
The end results
The end result of many months of hard work paid off. I called this Paradise Farms. We grew coffee, bananas, plantains, oranges, tangerines, avocados, tomatoes and we had over 50 chickens and a few ducks.
And of course we had to get a farm dog and cat. The dog we actually rescued off an abandoned farm and later found the original owner that said we can have her. She lived to be 19 years old.
Lessons learned in Puerto Rico
- Puerto Rico is an amazing place with wonderful people. Everyone made us part of their family and we really learned what was important in life. As they say "Mi casa is su casa" where they might not have anything but every time you would go over they would feed you and make sure you are comfortable. Such hospitality.
- People with nothing living in a tin roof house can be happier than those living in a mansion.
- Don't be afraid of change and moving to a foreign land.
We ended up living in Puerto Rico for 4 years and it was so hard coming back to the States in 1999 to start making money again. The infrastructure wasn't the best for trying to run an Internet business at the time. Every time it would rain which was almost every day the phone lines would stop working. Plus there would be days were the power would go out. We were without power for 2 months after Hurricane George.
So if you have a chance to go to Puerto Rico be sure to stay a few years so you can tour the island. It truly is the Enchanted Island.
Nice transformation to the farm house. Looks like you were living the dream! Pity about the internet connection.
Yes, this would have been the place where I could spend 30 years but we do what we need to and move on. But I so miss it and the people.
What a beautiful view, do you still own it?
Yes it was so beautiful waking up at 6am and seeing the fog in the valley then it would roll up the hills as the sun would come up over the mountains. We moved from there in 1999 and we went back for a month every year for 10 years and the place was like we left it except for it being overgrown and we would spend our time cleaning everything and I would have to fix the water supply. So it became just another burden and the wife said she was done and wouldn't you know it the next year it was broken into and they took everything and left a mess. But it can always be restored. No I don't own it but I think it is available if anyone is interested.
I really enjoyed your story and photos. Following you. Post more!
Oh thank you and I will follow you too. Yes there are many more stories that needed to be in this post but it was just getting too long and I didn't even get to all the things we did and went through.
very cool. i would love to do that some day
oh yes and you would love it being solarguy. I made a few solar projects like a solar hot water system. This place could have easily been off the grid. It has it's own water source, septic system, plenty of sun and gas tank delivery every couple of years. Well we were without power for 2 months and it really wasn't that big of deal other than we couldn't run the dehumidifier. Talk about a cheap place to live.
I so understand the internet issue. Location independent doesn't count if you don't have the services you need; it's the fly in the ointment of living in paradise. I'm waiting for a fiber optics cable to reach me here in Guatemala so I can get faster internet, but I'm not holding my breath. Like you mentioned, a rainstorm can knock out internet. When I lived at the beach in Nicaragua, the windy season meant a lot of internet outages.
That realtor would have had me at waterfall. How cool to have that on your own property.
You did a great job renovating that house. I guess after living on a sailboat, 600 square feet seemed roomy.
I love the look on your dog's face.
Do you still have friends in Puerto Rico? If so, have you talked to them about the zika virus?
Yes it is a requirement these days and I do think there are wireless options that would be ok. Back then though it wasn't unfortunately. Funny thing about that water fall is that they never mentioned it and I discovered it on one of my hikes through the property. Yes the 600 sq ft was nicely laid out. We had a big kitchen, eating space, living room, bath room and 2 bedrooms and 1 office/utility room and a junk closet. Plus under the house for all the equipment. Amazing really.
Yes I loved that dog and she loved that cat. No we haven't talked about the virus. I will have to ask.
What a great story! You have such a beautiful home now! Happy to see that things works out moving to Puerto Rico! Very nice post!
Oh thanks but we moved in 1999 and the place doesn't look the same. It would need to be redone again.
Very inspiring, that sounds like a real adventure. I like it a lot!
Awesome story Mike! The thing I didn't like about Puerto Rico is all the windows seemed to have bars on them. Whenever I see that here I feel like maybe I'm in an unsafe place. Other than that it was pretty amazing. We would stop at the fruit stands along the road and stock up!
Awesome - this is what life is about.