Tonight will mark my second week here in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is also the first day at my new apartment as I was finally able to move into it once the power was fixed (asterisk on this one because the building has power, but there is some minor glitch at the moment being fixed at my place while I’m writing this).
I signed a month-to-month lease, but I’m very much enjoying it here. My initial impressions were good although mixed, but each passing day reveals more layers and things that I love about the place. The weather is hot, but not unbearable. The people are so friendly and helpful, I really can’t think of anywhere else in the world with such accommodating people (both the locals and the expats). I joined several What’s App groups and my phone blows up everyday with hiking, dinner, yoga, and crypto meetup events. My social life here in San Juan is already more fun in 2 weeks than 1 year in Silicon Valley, or 7 in Los Angeles.
The whole island is rebuilding and still very damaged from the hurricane unfortunately. Things I never thought about like electricity, wifi, and water pressure not working is the norm. Pretty quickly I got used to it though, and have backup places that I can go to for wifi in particular. Something like 10% of the island population moved out after the hurricane. I believe some locals are coming back, and the amount of tech (particularly crypto) people coming here/considering coming here is awesome. The main reason people move here besides the nice weather and cheaper cost of living is the huge tax breaks, but I think a lot of people (myself included) fall in love with something that I can’t concretely describe yet. A strong desire to help, support, and rebuild things here naturally arises.
On a personal note it’s been great having my friends Jeff and his wife Ashleigh visit us this week. Since signing on our new place and having a few extra bedrooms I look forward to more friends/family visiting as well. When people visited me in Los Angeles I was often at a loss for where to take visiting friends, but I’m quickly acquiring some great spots here.
I haven’t been able to be too productive yet with finding a place and learning the island, but I was able to finish another short story (I’m not sure if I’m going to post it, I have to let it gestate a little longer and see if it’s worthy of your time to read), and I’ve been steadily learning more about the crypto ecosystem. It’s a really fun area of the tech world that changes faster and with more uncertainty than anything at the moment. I look forward to investing and carving out my little niche for the indefinite future in addition to my writing. Tomorrow I’m attending a conference here in San Juan called Blockchain Unbound. There’s a lot of people in town, and I’m looking forward to learning/meeting people/generating a lot of cool new ideas.
Went to the rainforest yesterday, and leaving you with a pic from that.
Andrew Manser 