The Real Pros and Cons of Living in Puerto Rico (Our Honest Experience)

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Okay, welcome back to another episode.
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We got Jenny and I here, and we have got a topic that we hear all the time from people, and that is asking us why we moved to Puerto Rico.
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So we've lived here about 18 months, almost 18 to 20 months so far.
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And so that's what we're gonna talk about today.
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We're gonna talk about our experience of moving to Puerto Rico, the pros of moving to Puerto Rico, the cons of moving to Puerto Rico, and kind of share the light on this big adventure that we started.
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So you start Jenny, start us off.
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What are some of the pros that we found after living here almost two years?
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Yeah, let's dive into it.
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So, first off, the taxes, the tax benefits.
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Let's just call out the elephant in the room in case maybe you didn't know.
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There's tax benefits from living here.
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There are tax benefits for living here.
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So you, if your business qualifies, and if you are an influencer that is doing a good amount of money, it makes 100% sense.
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Because I believe there's actually bigger benefits for like entertainment or influencers, but it's there is no capital gains or no short-term capital gains.
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So, for example, if you trade stocks and you buy a company, you sell it five months later, you'd have to pay regular income on that.
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Here, you pay no income, no taxes on that.
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And so, or if it's a long-term capital gains, if you sell a business that you've owned, you know, you pay 20% long-term capital gains.
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Here in Puerto Rico, you pay zero capital gains.
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Now, the benefit is if you're an influencer or any business, if you qualify and you do less than three million dollars in revenue, you pay two percent federal income.
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The standard income rate here is four percent on your federal income.
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So think about that, let that sit in.
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And so that's that's the big thing.
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Now, now that's awesome.
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There are some things that go along with that, right?
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Like you have to live here six months in a day to qualify.
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That's one aspect of it.
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You're not allowed to vote in the U.S.
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elections, so we can't vote in the U.S.
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elections.
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We s we keep our citizenship though.
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But we keep citizenship because we are still American and it's still part of the U.S.
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as a as a territory.
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Territory.
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And they use the American dollar down here.
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And most, I'd say almost most people speak English, especially where we live, like everywhere speaks English.
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But I would say it's like a 50-50 split.
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I kind of say, like, if you've ever been to Cancun, Mexico, in the very touristic areas, it's kind of like that.
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So, like, almost everyone speaks English, but in the touristic areas and like Cancun, everyone pretty much speaks enough English to get by on stuff.
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And we tell people it's almost like Cancun and Hawaii had a baby.
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Yeah, so it's it's a very tropical, like has mountains, the ocean's beautiful, but has a very Spanish feel to it.
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So it, but it's beautiful.
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Like the it's a beautiful, beautiful.
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We love it.
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So okay, so let's go over a couple other pros.
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Like, it's not just the taxes that are the big pro.
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There's a lot of other pros that we have experienced here.
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So we made a list of them, and we might not include all of them, but here's the main ones that stood out for us.
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So, one the people, the network, and the friendships.
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Like where we live, especially, is in a beautiful paradise, like resort neighborhood, and the people are just amazing.
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And this is a pro that I did not expect.
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Did you?
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No, not at all.
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And it's like, you know, and I think the reason why we've had such an amazing part with the people is because when you think about it, you have all these very successful people that are moving down here and they're in the same boat.
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Like they're starting over, they don't have their business networks, they don't have their friendships, they don't have their family.
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And so they're having to rebuild those communities all over again.
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And and like there's a lot of people from Utah that we've met here that we would have never met back in Utah.
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And just because you had you're comfortable there, you've already got your network, you already have your communities built out, like you're not really needing to start all over again.
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And I think that's been such an amazing part.
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The other part is it's been really cool to see everyone helps everyone out.
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Yeah.
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Like it's like we almost become each other's family.
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Everybody's displaced.
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Like, for example, we're for Thanksgiving, we're doing friends giving.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, we got like what, six or families or something?
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It's like 45 of us.
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Yeah.
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Like it's just, or like, you know, when a power goes out, or if the water goes out, everyone's checking in on everyone to be like, hey, how are you?
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Do your generator working?
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Like, do you guys need anything?
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Like, it's just everyone kind of helps everyone out and checks up on everyone, just because it's like that's the way of life.
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And I think it's because, you know, we've been here 18 months, but it's like now when someone new comes in, it's like, well, we just pay it forward because somebody paid it forward to us when we first came down here.
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And then when it's like, hey, if you need something medical, right?
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Everyone's like, hey, here's where you go.
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Everyone has a contact.
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Yeah.
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And like you said, paying it forward, everybody's been the new person, everybody's been the new family.
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Everybody's had to work through those challenges of helping their kids also adapt and make friends.
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Yeah.
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No, it's that the friendships and the people has been one of the biggest pluses ever.
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But the other big, big thing here is the network.
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I don't think we've been in such close proximity to so many successful people so close.
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It's really opened my eyes to a different level.
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Yeah.
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So, like we went to an event for Robinhood, the stock app, and they had their CEO and founder come down, and they had a bunch of their C-level executives come down.
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And at this dinner, I mean, there were several billionaires at that dinner.
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And it's been such an amazing networking.
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One, because there's so many successful people here in so many different industries.
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And it's so cool to see one, how many ways there are to make money, two, how many different ways, even within the same industry, is to make money.
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And just learning their stories and things that they went through and how they got to where they are and their connections and that kind of stuff.
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Like that has been one of the coolest things.
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It's changed my way a lot on how to run businesses and open my mind on a lot of how do I run things differently now when you're around all these successful people.
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So that's been, and the best part is they're all down to earth.
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Like salt of the earth kind of people.
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Just amazing people.
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Like I feel like keeping up with the Joneses, we really don't have that as much here.
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No.
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Because everyone's like, oh, we're all successful, we've all done well, but there's not, it's not a competition anymore.
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Like everyone's like, dude, what do you need?
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What can we help out with?
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Like everyone's just here to help.
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You know, maybe, maybe there are people like that here.
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We just really haven't run into many of them, but the people we've met are just been amazing.
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So, okay, let's move on.
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What's another?
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Oh, okay, so there's less distractions.
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We put that down.
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Yeah, it's a slower pace of life.
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Because before we came down here, our kids were in all the activities.
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We I lived in my car running kids around.
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Preston always complained that the kids were never home, they were always out with friends.
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It was just like go, go, go.
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And being on island life, it's it's a way slower pace life.
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Yeah.
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And I feel like our families become a lot closer because of it.
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That's actually the next one.
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Oh, sorry.
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Our family is closer because of this move.
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That's the next one.
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I do feel like we've become a lot closer as a family.
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But it's because we've taken out the distractions, and it's you know, we just we focus, we do fun stuff.
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Like we last night, even last night, we went and did we see a movie last night?
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No, we but we've been singing Oh, maybe it was two nights ago.
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But like last night, we came home and we had dinner, and then we just went on a golf cut ride.
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That's what it was.
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We went to a pie act with some of our friends.
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They had a bunch of people over and everyone brought pies.
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And afterwards, we all came home and we just went on a golf cart ride, and we were blasting our music, singing at the top of our lungs as we drove around the neighborhood along the beach and everything.
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And it was just it's one of those moments where as a parent you're like, this is awesome.
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Like, this is just it just makes you happy.
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Yeah, no one's on their phones, no one's on the phone.
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For me, it's a core memory.
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I'm gonna love these memories.
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Like, and we I love doing it.
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We do it like once a week where we're like, let's just go for a drive.
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And we just get on the golf cart and we just drive around the neighborhood, we go around the ocean and and we play music that right now it's awesome because our kids are really into our type of music when we were growing up.
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So it's like we're all like, yeah, we're all cool, and and dad's kind of cool because I know these songs that they've never heard of yet.
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And they're like, oh, that's a great one.
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So that's been and so we just go and we sing and just have fun, and it's just great.
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Or like when we go, like on Sundays a lot, or even just during the day, we'll just go as a family, we'll just go down by the beach.
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We have a one little area, and we can find sea turtles, like every time during the day.
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And we'll just go down there and just sit out there and just look for sea turtles.
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And it's like, I feel like it helps kind of put things in perspective a little bit more, right?
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Of what things matter the most.
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And it's like just taking time, just to have a little break for like stuff like that.
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Yeah.
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I also think that they, our kids especially, became closer because they had to rely on each other more.
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None of them had friends when we moved down here.
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We'll talk about that in the cons in a minute.
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But also, like our girls went from having their own rooms in Utah to sharing a room and they had to work through that, but they are so much closer now.
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Yeah, they're like best friends.
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They really are.
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Like they will they'll stay up to like midnight around just talking with each other and just about what's going on in their lives, and their friends are all like they're best friends with their friends now, and it's just they've grown so close together.
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That's been really cool to see.
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Yeah.
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So, like the benefit is like we really do live in like paradise.
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It's gorgeous here.
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Like, we wake up every day and it's just palm trees everywhere, or like a four or five-minute golf cart ride to the ocean.
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And neither of us has lived by the ocean before, and I love it.
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Now I like can't imagine not living by the ocean.
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It makes my soul happy.
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It is so amazing.
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And then, like, I'll go there's a golf course there, I'll go play golf in the morning, and it's like right on the ocean.
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We'll go for beach walks.
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If you guys follow us on Instagram, you probably see us post about all the time.
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Like, we'll just do our little beach walks or we'll go see the sea turtles, or you know, it's it is such a beautiful place.
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And and we and it's it's beautiful in the neighborhood that we live in, but even like when you get out, like the island is just so beautiful.
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But there's a running joke.
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The running joke is we live in paradise, but we pray for running water and electricity, right?
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So so one of the con, I guess one of the benefits too is there's kind of a pro and a con, is it has helped us get out of our comfort zone.
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Like when we were in Utah, life was very comfortable.
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We had you, we name, we made good money, our kids were happy, they were in school, like they had friends, like everything was going well.
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And we could have lived an amazing life there and been extremely happy there.
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But it's like this has just been like, hey, hard reset on your life.
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Start all over from scratch with nobody or nothing, and figure it all out again.
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Yeah, and jumping into the cons, the first six months was really hard.
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Yeah.
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It was hard for our kids.
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It was, it was, it was probably hardest for our kids.
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Yeah, I think we we're very blessed because of the church we go to.
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There was already like a built-in network for us.
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And so we had some people.
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Yeah, so like as members of the Church of Jesus Christ, Latter-day Saints, like instantly there's that community wherever you go in the world.
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And so you like you find friends in there and they help out.
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Like the church is amazing, everyone in there is helping everyone out, and so, and because you have a core beliefs that you're you're used to, you naturally will get gravitate towards each other, and so there's that instant like community there, but then from there, they all help out, and it's like you know, we found a lot of friends.
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One of your good friends from back home, Corney, that does a lot of like influencer stuff with us and and with other brands, they moved down here, so like that was awesome, but for our kids, they had to start all over again.
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And we when they started, we had a junior and a sophomore in high school, both our girls, and then our son was in sixth grade.
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And so I feel like our son picked it up a lot quicker.
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Like, you know, guy, I feel like guys make friends easier too.
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And it's like, hey, let's go play sports, let's go do whatever.
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Our girls had a little bit harder time, and they went to school.
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The school they go to is pretty small.
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Class sizes are about how big, Jen?
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Five to ten.
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Yeah, five to ten.
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For you know, each class that you go to.
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How many kids in the senior class probably?
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Oh, I don't know, 50.
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Yeah, 50 to 60.
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And so, like, it's not big class sizes, but I will tell you the best and the coolest part about this.
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The youth program we have in the church, there's like what 50?
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We have like 70 or 80 youth.
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70 or 80.
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Honestly, the thing is, so we're our it's called our ward, but our congregation is the English-speaking ward, and it's for the whole entire island.
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This island's big.
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Yeah, like three and a half million people.
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And so our congregation, I don't even know how many people are in our congregation, but it's big.
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And the youth program, we have about 70 youth.
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Yeah, so 70 youth.
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And the the best part though is like when we lived in the States, if you were like a senior or a junior, you would never hang out with like the freshmen or the sophomores.
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Here, it's like eighth graders to like seniors are all hanging out with everybody, they all do stuff together.
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Like they'll go play beach volleyball, they'll go surf together, they'll go fishing together, they'll go hang out at the beaches and just whatever.
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Like, it's just if there's something going on, everyone's so inclusive with the youth.
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And so, like, that has helped out a lot.
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And that's one of the best parts is I feel like our kids now like have great relationships, great friendships, and they still have the friendships and relationships with their friends back in the States.
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Like, they still FaceTime them, they'll go up there, you know, during the summers and stuff like that.
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But but that the first six months was tough.
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And there was some, you know, definitely moments where God intervened and helped, you know, make things happen that that really helped with the kids to build relationships with friends.
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And but and but our friends said that too.
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Like the friends that were down here, they're like, your first three to six months with your kids is a little bit harder.
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And one thing, I guess, too, in the church, during the summer, our church congregation probably goes from like 300 people down to like 25 people.
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Yeah, everybody is traveling or goes back to the states.
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Yeah.
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So like when a school gets out, almost for like two and a half months, most of those families are off island.
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Like we went to Europe for like a month and then we would go to Utah, and you know, but it's just like so that that whole the youth program, everyone just leaves.
00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:02.960
But that's when like a lot of the new families, because when did we move down here?
00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:04.240
Yeah, we moved down in June.
00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:07.440
Yeah, that's when a lot of the new families are moving in to get their days.
00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:08.000
Yeah.
00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:12.480
And so it's like it's tough because it's like they come in and they're like, what?
00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:15.519
There's not many people here, but then it it's like clockwork.
00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:22.079
Come middle of August, everyone starts coming back to the island, and you know, everything starts getting back to normal again.
00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:24.799
But what were some of the other cons we had?
00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:29.920
Oh, minor inconveniences of like water and electricity.
00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:32.400
Tell us about that, Jenny.
00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:33.599
I don't know why it happens.
00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:40.480
And like Preston said, it's the running joke that we live in paradise, but we pray for running water and electricity.
00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:45.680
And it's because the electricity will go out all the time, just randomly go out.
00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:51.920
And a lot of times it's not even raining outside, or it's not hurricane season, and or we run out of water.
00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:55.359
And it's happened a few times where it's lasted a few days.
00:17:55.680 --> 00:17:55.839
Yeah.
00:17:55.920 --> 00:17:58.880
So like everyone has a generator in our neighborhood, everyone has a generator.
00:17:59.039 --> 00:17:59.440
Yeah.
00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:07.920
And our first time when we lived here, within our first like four months, the generator blew out, and so it costs like 10 grand to get it fixed.
00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:11.440
But we were without power for like days.
00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:12.960
And it was a couple days, yeah.
00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:14.960
It was like the hottest part of the year.
00:18:15.119 --> 00:18:16.319
It was it was pretty miserable.
00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:17.039
I'm not gonna lie.
00:18:17.200 --> 00:18:22.880
Everything it was like we're glamping, so we were like, you know, yeah, lived in our house, but opened the windows.
00:18:23.200 --> 00:18:30.319
Another time my parents were visiting and we were flushing toilets with buckets of water from our pool because we didn't have any water.
00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:34.319
I mean, we have a cistern on top of our two cisterns for a thousand gallons total.
00:18:34.559 --> 00:18:36.799
But once those run out, you're out of water.
00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:37.599
Yeah.
00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:44.400
But it's so it's an inconvenience, not the end of the world.
00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:47.920
But when you go through it, if your generator works, you're great.
00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:51.440
If your cisterns have enough water, you're great.
00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:56.000
Most of the time the water repairs are like a day or two, so it's not a big, big deal.
00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:59.440
But if your generator goes out, that's when it's like, you know.
00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:00.400
And you know what though?
00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:02.240
It has made me grateful for the little things.
00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:06.960
Like grateful that when I flip the switch, the lights go on and grateful for water.
00:19:07.119 --> 00:19:10.400
Just that that gratitude and not taking that for granted.
00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:11.279
It's true.
00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:13.839
It makes you it makes you pray for the basics.
00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:14.319
Yeah.
00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:16.400
You know what another con is that we didn't put on here?
00:19:16.559 --> 00:19:16.799
What's that?
00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:18.000
Hurricane season.
00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:19.279
Oh, yeah.
00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:26.880
And we have been very blessed not to go through a hurricane yet during hurricane season, which is a really cool story about that.
00:19:27.119 --> 00:19:28.480
Maybe we'll talk about it on another podcast.
00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:29.599
You should just share it now.
00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:34.960
So there was a we have a church that has a temple down here.
00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:41.759
And in the temple prayer, when they open up the temple for the very first time, so the temple was just put down here, I think what, three years ago?
00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:45.599
If if that yeah, maybe two and a half, three years ago.
00:19:45.759 --> 00:20:03.359
And during the dedicatory prayer, the apostle that blessed the temple said, Let there be a time for this country to have peace from hurricanes because of Maria, that they will be able to build back and have a season without having to go through those trials.
00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:11.200
And the both years we've been here, we've had hurricanes that were coming directly for us, and at the last second, either turned up north or turned down south.
00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:14.880
And have not hit Puerto Rico at all.
00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:19.839
And so we've had very minimal rain, even at that with hurricane season.
00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:25.519
So which people might say that's a coincidence, but I believe it's what is it, apostolic blessing.
00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:26.079
Yeah.
00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:27.920
So either way, it's been amazing.
00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:29.039
So we haven't had to face that.
00:20:29.119 --> 00:20:30.640
We haven't had to face hurricane season.
00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:39.519
Yeah, but I mean, we have like had to face preparing because there's hurricanes coming and then the shelves go empty, or you have to fill up with gas because you run out of gas.
00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:40.400
Yeah, that's true.
00:20:40.480 --> 00:20:46.480
Like what happens is there'll be a run on gas, or like sometimes when the power goes out, the credit card machines don't work.
00:20:46.640 --> 00:20:47.039
Oh, yeah, yeah.
00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:59.440
So like they're always saying, like, hey, keep a thousand, two thousand dollars in cash and in smaller bills, because if you know, if you need gas for your your generator, well, they're not going to give you change.
00:20:59.519 --> 00:21:03.680
And if it's like, hey, it's 300 bucks and all you have is 400, you know, they're not making change.
00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:12.960
So, but so yeah, hurricane season, we haven't had any bad hurricanes hit yet, but that's definitely one of those things of making sure you're prepared, which is a pro too, right?
00:21:13.039 --> 00:21:15.359
Like we're always having to be emergency prepared.
00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:15.599
Yeah.
00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:21.119
And having food storage on hand and having full stock of water and and backups for those kind of things.
00:21:21.359 --> 00:21:25.440
So, a couple other things we have on here is okay, gas stations.
00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:28.559
This is a minor inconvenience.
00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:34.799
These are first world problems, but it's just when you think about Puerto Rico, these are your little Puerto Rico inconveniences.
00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:42.720
You have to go in and pay at the counter how much you want to put into your tank before you can pump.
00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:44.400
You can't just pay at the pump.
00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:51.920
Then none of the gas stations have a handle that you can just lock and like walk away.
00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:57.440
You have to hold the handle and pump all the gas, otherwise, it won't pump.
00:21:57.680 --> 00:22:02.000
So that that is an inconvenience, like I said, first world problem.
00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:03.759
No one likes filling up gas.
00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:09.279
And here's the trick: you just let your car run out of gas until your husband fills it up for you.
00:22:10.400 --> 00:22:11.039
Yeah.
00:22:11.359 --> 00:22:12.559
I feel like it's your game.
00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:16.559
It's like, how low can you get it before it runs out?
00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:18.720
Because I hate filling up gas here.
00:22:19.119 --> 00:22:19.440
Yeah.
00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:19.839
Okay.
00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:23.279
So another inconvenience is the driving.
00:22:23.759 --> 00:22:24.160
Yes.
00:22:24.480 --> 00:22:26.480
So stop signs are optional.
00:22:26.799 --> 00:22:28.400
Stop lights are optional.
00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:32.720
And here, here's the biggest thing is you have like two extremes.
00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:43.680
You have people that like don't stop at all, and then you'll have people that will like just stop randomly and let somebody in, like on a main road, and they're like, Oh, I'll let you in.
00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:45.279
And you're like, what are you doing?
00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:46.799
You almost caused an accident.
00:22:46.960 --> 00:22:47.359
Yeah.
00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:55.519
And but I will say this as bad as the driving is here, I have not seen any road rage.
00:22:55.759 --> 00:22:58.160
No, there's not honking, there's not road rage.
00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:02.160
They're very relaxed, yeah.
00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:05.119
Laid back, go with the flow.
00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:09.519
There's just nobody knows what is it called?
00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:10.720
Like the rules.
00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:11.759
Yeah, the rules.
00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:13.759
Or like the the right of way.
00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:15.599
Like there's no, there's no rules.
00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:16.079
Yeah.
00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:25.440
Like it's just kind of you just drive, or people will pull out when no one, like, there's cars coming, but they just are like, they're gonna stop for they just believe you're gonna stop.
00:23:25.599 --> 00:23:30.079
And there's been times where I'm like, if I don't stop, this person would have just kept going and I would have like nailed them.
00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:31.839
But they're just that's just how it is.
00:23:31.920 --> 00:23:34.319
Yeah, you just pull out and people will stop.
00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:37.519
What's it makes you think of like a blind grandma driving a car?
00:23:37.680 --> 00:23:38.319
Oh my gosh.
00:23:38.480 --> 00:23:42.720
And they're just like, I'm going, and either I'm gonna get hit or they're gonna stop.
00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:43.839
And somehow they always stop.
00:23:44.160 --> 00:23:45.920
What's the craziest thing you've seen on the road?
00:23:46.079 --> 00:23:47.039
I'll tell you one of mine.
00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:47.920
I have no idea.
00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:52.480
A couple of times I have seen a car going the wrong way in the what's it called?
00:23:52.559 --> 00:23:53.599
The turnabout, the roundabout?
00:23:53.680 --> 00:23:54.079
Yeah, yeah.
00:23:54.400 --> 00:23:56.559
The going the actual wrong way.
00:23:57.599 --> 00:23:57.920
Yeah.
00:23:58.160 --> 00:23:59.759
Like, yeah, I mean, yeah.
00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:03.519
I mean, I've seen people going backwards on the highway because it's yeah, we've seen that because they miss an exit.
00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:04.000
Yeah.
00:24:04.240 --> 00:24:11.200
So, or you will see, I mean, there's just little, little things that are like crazy, like there's wild horses all over the place.
00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:23.839
I've seen a wild horse in just a pickup truck, like they just put a little cage on top, and there's or I saw an apartment that had a regular apartment, had a horse tied up, so that was someone's horse in the apartment complex.
00:24:24.160 --> 00:24:26.880
You know, but those are you know little things here and there.
00:24:27.119 --> 00:24:27.759
Okay, what else?
00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:37.279
Other things, speaking of driving, doing things that like everybody complains about the DMV in the US, never complained about the DMV in the US.
00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:39.119
You have no idea how good you have it.
00:24:39.359 --> 00:24:45.200
Like if you come to the DMV here or if you go to the bank here, it is an all-day thing.
00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:46.079
Yes.
00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:48.880
It is crazy.
00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:52.240
Yeah, it is, it is like it literally is all day.
00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:53.920
You'll be there four to five hours.
00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:54.559
Yeah.
00:24:54.799 --> 00:24:58.400
Like when I had to get my driver's license, first of all, I tried to do it by myself.
00:24:58.480 --> 00:25:00.640
I couldn't even, they wouldn't even let me in the front door.
00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:05.039
So I had to get somebody to help me get my driver's license.
00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:12.000
And it was this, it was this whole ordeal like go to one building and get a stamp and turn that stamp in for a ticket.
00:25:12.079 --> 00:25:14.079
And it was like a handwritten ticket.
00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:20.960
And then while I was waiting in line to go inside the building, somebody came out and said, We're closing for the next hour for lunch.
00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:22.640
Everyone's leaving.
00:25:23.279 --> 00:25:26.160
I mean, they said it in Spanish and the person translated for me.
00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:27.279
I was like, what's going on?
00:25:27.440 --> 00:25:27.759
You know?
00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:31.279
And so we stood outside in the hot sun and then it just took all day.
00:25:31.359 --> 00:25:32.559
It was just crazy.
00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:33.279
Yeah.
00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:34.960
It's like when you go to restaurants.
00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:44.799
Like I feel like the restaurants are kind of like Europe here, where if you're at a sit-down restaurant, when you get your food, maybe ask for the bill.
00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:46.960
Because you're gonna be there for hours.
00:25:47.039 --> 00:25:48.319
It's just a slower pace of life.
00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:51.519
Which is not necessarily bad.
00:25:51.680 --> 00:25:52.720
No, not bad at all.
00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:54.799
Just don't be having things you need to get done.
00:25:54.960 --> 00:25:55.519
Exactly.
00:25:55.839 --> 00:25:59.200
So, and then what else do we have on here?
00:25:59.519 --> 00:26:06.720
Also, like, so we have down here like our neighborhood is a little bit of a pro and a con because our neighborhood has all the conveniences for us.
00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:17.680
So, like, there's like six or seven restaurants in the neighborhood, our gym is inside the neighborhood, the whole like sports hub where all our kids go play soccer and pickleball and volleyball and all that's in the neighborhood.
00:26:17.759 --> 00:26:19.759
It's got private beaches and has golf courses.
00:26:19.839 --> 00:26:31.279
And and so the one downside is that sometimes we don't get out enough and explore the island as much as we should because there's so many conveniences in the neighborhood.
00:26:31.519 --> 00:26:33.680
And the neighborhood's so beautiful, and it's gorgeous.
00:26:33.759 --> 00:26:44.480
I mean, it's like, but with there what we miss out on a lot of other opportunities to really explore because it's it's gorgeous, like this island is amazing.
00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:52.240
And and so that's one of the things we haven't explored as much as we want to, just because you're like, ah, I don't really want to drive 45 minutes.
00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:53.279
Things are far away.
00:26:53.359 --> 00:26:56.240
Like when we go to church, it's like 45 minutes to go to church for us.
00:26:56.400 --> 00:26:57.759
Our temple is like an hour away.
00:26:57.920 --> 00:27:00.000
Yeah, and and traffic's really bad.
00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:05.440
And so, like, if you hit traffic the wrong way, it can be really bad traffic.
00:27:05.920 --> 00:27:09.440
But overall, if you had to do it again, would you do it?
00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:10.079
100%.
00:27:10.400 --> 00:27:12.559
And I will say this though, about the neighborhood too.
00:27:12.799 --> 00:27:18.880
If you are looking into moving down to Puerto Rico, and first of all, you have to consult like your tax person.
00:27:19.119 --> 00:27:20.319
Yeah, make sure you qualify for it.
00:27:21.359 --> 00:27:23.599
And things are changing all the time, too, right?
00:27:23.839 --> 00:27:24.240
Yes.
00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:26.319
But where you live matters.
00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:27.279
I will tell you that.
00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:27.920
100%.
00:27:28.640 --> 00:27:35.119
Our tax person told us that they were like 99% of what's going to determine if you're happy here or not is where you live.
00:27:35.359 --> 00:27:36.480
Yep, it's true.
00:27:36.640 --> 00:27:48.960
And in the community, like not just our neighborhood, but in this whole little city we live in, it's just so many more youth, so many more members of our church, like a lot of expats are here here.
00:27:49.359 --> 00:27:50.559
Like, no, it's true.
00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:52.960
It really does matter where you live.
00:27:53.279 --> 00:27:54.720
But I would agree with you.
00:27:54.960 --> 00:27:59.039
If we had to go back and do it again, I would do it every day of the week.
00:27:59.200 --> 00:28:04.480
Knowing especially what I know now, I think it's been one of the best moves for our family.
00:28:05.119 --> 00:28:08.079
I think it's been it's made our family closer.
00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:14.160
I think it's opened our eyes to see about more opportunity and potential and like what can actually be accomplished.
00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:17.759
And like another level of success that we didn't even know existed.
00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:18.559
Exactly.
00:28:18.799 --> 00:28:19.839
It's been amazing.
00:28:20.079 --> 00:28:22.799
So, well, hopefully that helped you guys out a little bit.
00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:24.400
We get that question all the time.
00:28:24.799 --> 00:28:25.599
Tell us about Puerto Rico.
00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:26.640
Why'd you move to Puerto Rico?
00:28:26.720 --> 00:28:27.759
What are the benefits of Puerto Rico?
00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:29.119
What are the cons of Puerto Rico?
00:28:29.279 --> 00:28:30.400
Is it for everybody?
00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:31.519
Probably not.
00:28:31.920 --> 00:28:33.599
But is it awesome?
00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:34.480
100%.
00:28:35.119 --> 00:28:42.960
You know what's funny is I was talking about with my friends just last night, is we all have to have a little level of crazy to move here.
00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:43.759
A little bit.
00:28:43.920 --> 00:28:44.240
Yes.
00:28:44.400 --> 00:28:44.880
Yes.
00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:51.200
A little bit, a little bit of adventurous, a little bit of spontaneous, like a little bit of crazy to move here.
00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:51.599
Yeah.
00:28:51.759 --> 00:28:52.000
Yeah.
00:28:52.079 --> 00:28:52.559
It's definitely.
00:28:52.880 --> 00:28:56.079
But then I think we all get along because we are all so similar that way.
00:28:56.400 --> 00:28:57.200
It's true.
00:28:57.440 --> 00:29:00.559
So, but, anyways, hopefully you guys enjoy this episode.
00:29:00.720 --> 00:29:04.720
Not as much inspiration stuff today, but more just talking about our life down here.
00:29:04.799 --> 00:29:13.119
And we're gonna have some of these kind of episodes where we just kind of open up and share with you guys about why we do stuff or what we're doing or what we're doing with our lives.
00:29:13.200 --> 00:29:18.319
So yeah, make sure you hit the follow button so you get notified each week when new episodes drop.
00:29:18.559 --> 00:29:19.519
Leave a review.
00:29:19.599 --> 00:29:21.519
We would love to hear a review from you.
00:29:21.759 --> 00:29:26.400
And if you do want us to talk about certain things, go over on Instagram and just send us a message.
00:29:26.640 --> 00:29:27.119
Yeah.
00:29:27.440 --> 00:29:29.119
Let us know what you guys want us to talk about.
00:29:29.200 --> 00:29:30.319
We're just having fun with this.
00:29:30.640 --> 00:29:34.640
We're just gonna have fun and share information if it if it happens to help you out, great.
00:29:34.799 --> 00:29:36.400
If not, we had fun doing it.
00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:37.839
So that's all that matters.
00:29:38.079 --> 00:29:39.759
All right, we'll see you in the next episode.
00:29:40.160 --> 00:29:40.799
Bye.