New place...

Main entrance

Last week Michael and I purchased an apartment in Puerto Rico.  For those of you who were at our wedding, it is about 5 minutes from where the reception was held, right at the entrance of the small township that is Boquerón in Cabo Rojo (my home town).  For those of you who are not familiar with it, if Puerto Rico were the United States, Cabo Rojo would geographically be where California is.  It it the southern most, western most town in the island and it has the most beautiful beaches.  We claim to be "the tourism capital" of Puerto Rico, but this is an insider's title, since most people stay in San Juan. Cabo Rojo is literally and figuratively as far away from San Juan as a you can get in Puerto Rico.

When I lived in Cabo Rojo it was a one stop light town, had no fast food restaurants, no American chain stores, nothing.  It now has about every fast food you can think of, and over 50,000 people live there.  However, it still does not have any high rise hotels.  Only small, mostly locally owned places.  You do not see a Holiday Inn in Cabo Rojo, or a Hilton, although they are several of those in Puerto Rico.  It is truly striking when you drive down route 100 and see the coast with the gorgeous blue sky and the blue green water, that to this day there is no high rise to block that view.

I can go on and on when I talk about my town and I usually do, but this is about the purchasing of what is the first property Michael and I have purchased together with the intent of it being a second home.  Michael and I each purchased a property when we were dating.  He has a house in Elberton which he lived in for a couple of years and now rents.  I purchased a condo in Athens where I lived for a couple of years that I now rent.  We actually live in a mobile home that belongs to my in laws and that is a 3 minute walk to the Greenhouses we now own and run.

Michael made his first trip to Puerto Rico with me in the summer of 2005.  Since then he has been talking about purchasing something down there, constantly in awe of how undeveloped it appears to be, unexploited.  Every year we go, every year he talks about it.  This past October we went and we actually started looking and were torn for a couple of days between two properties we wanted.  One near El Combate Beach which had a spectacular view, and the one we ended up buying in Boqueron, which has no real view to speak of but is in such a great area, so close to everything, and in such a nice development that we decided the convenience was worth more than a view.  Since in reality, views are at every turn down there, we figured we didn't need it every morning outside our window.

Balcony view left

Balcony view center

Balcony view right

The development includes houses, apartments and penthouses.  Since it is our first property down there (and we are not rich) we went with an apartment. Above are the views from our balcony.  The place is still growing.  They have sold two full buildings of apartments and 14 houses.  They are currently building 14 more houses, and selling off the next building while the work on yet another.  There is a nice clubhouse, a pool, and they are working on a beach volleyball court, basketball court, etc.  The property is directly behind a wild life refuge that leads to a public beach.  Trust me when I say it is very picturesque: the township, the beach, everything.  I hope to later on be able to include on my blog more pictures of places in the area that are worth seeing, all within a short drive.

We optioned for an apartment, and then proceeded to do all the nightmarish paperwork from Georgia.  Apparently it is harder to get a mortgage these days, and Puerto Ricans tend to be ridiculous about bureaucracy so I was in hell.  I will bet money that the paperwork for both of our previous properties together was less than for this one place.  

This is the building where our apartment is, taken from the pool.

I flew down there with Sofia. Michael stayed because of the poinsettia season frenzy.  I flew alone with Sofia for the first time, while she was getting over hand, foot and mouth disease (not a big deal, but not fun).  Apparently she was getting over it as I was catching it.  So as I signed the enormous amount of paperwork I developed a headache I blamed on the lawyers, while it turns out the virus was doing it's thing.  I had a fever for two days, and the worse throat ache I have had since I had chicken pox at the age of 23.  It was pretty intense, and I had to go shopping...and it is December!  Fortunately, I was in my mom's house and she took care of Sofia and made me chicken soup.

It sounds like fun: "I'm going to Puerto Rico for a week to buy an apartment and furnish it" but it just was hard work.  Between the Christmas shopping crowds, and the fever, and the time limitation, it was a little insane.  I left knowing I had purchased almost everything, yet most of it would be delivered later and my parents and my brother will have to take care of getting it all settled.  My brother has agreed to manage it for me for the most part which is great, but I don't get to see it finished for some time.  Sigh. Delayed gratification I guess...

The grounds are still being worked on, but the landscaping is very nice.

For right now there are no pics I want to share of the apartment itself, because it is not furnished but I will once it is.  It has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a laundry room, and a nice size living/dining/kitchen area.  It also has a balcony, and it is on a second floor.  The rooms are air conditioned which comes in handy on July nights, but because it is located close to the beach and by a valley, it is very breezy and, at least in October and in December when I was there, there was hardly a need for a fan much less air conditioning. From the apartment you can walk to the bakery, the town, several restaurants, bars, and of course the beach - although the beach is a longer walk.  I say this because we intend to rent it, so spread the word.

Club house entrance

Further in...

Pool table

Two bedrooms will have full size beds in them, and the third will have a bunk bed which is full size on the bottom and twin on top. The place will be fully furnished, including a fully functional kitchen which is very pretty.  

I guess that is all I have to say about the new place... other than I will send the vrbo listing when it is ready. I leave you with some pool views.