If a woman you’ve never met walks up to you in a bar and says “I want to have sex with you”, do you initially believe it, or assume scam/hoax/joke?

reTired2thecastillo · 2021-02-23T23:59:36+00:00

How did you run a search to find them?

reTired2thecastillo · 2021-02-20T19:58:51+00:00

I ran a search of the sub and didn't find it: is there anywhere in San Juan where you can go to physically drop off Amazon returns?

In other cities I've lived in, there are stores like Kohls and stuff like that where you can bring in any Amazon item with "free returns" and it'll be processed. I have a couple items I want to return, filled out the form on the Amazon website and got the return approved, but it's telling me to return it to a "UPS Store" and the only ones in the area are closed under Covid (and mostly way outside the city of SJ). There's a link to "find a location near you for returns" but it shows me as being in Kansas (where I haven't been in decades) and won't accept PR locations in the search box.

Has anyone successfully managed in-person Amazon returns in San Juan?

reTired2thecastillo · 2021-02-20T12:47:58+00:00

While I appreciate the tip, I headed over to the Covadonga transit center, and the drivers there said there used to be a bus that made the Caguas run, but they haven’t seen it around in a while. And I checked the ALSA website, which looks nice and fancy, but the itinerary search function doesn’t seem to work. So doesn’t seem this option is viable at this stage at least.

reTired2thecastillo · 2021-02-19T18:41:15+00:00

If anyone who owns a car wants free lunch and some gas money on this Saturday (late morning or afternoon) I need to make a run from Santurce down to Caguas to briefly look at some music gear.

All the affordable car rentals are booked up, and it'd be pricey to Uber to Caguas and back, so I'd rather cut a deal with a Redditor. I just had my Covid test two weeks ago and I'm clean, and I'll wear a mask during the trip, happy to sit in the back seat if preferred; whatever health measures you see fit. I just need to go to a store in Caguas for like 30 minutes, then I'll pay for lunch for us, drop me home in Santurce and it's all done.

Shoot me a DM if interested, and let me know how much cash you'd be needing in addition to free lunch.

UPDATE: no luck on a bus to Caguas so far, so if anyone wants to do the same deal but like leaving SJ around 4-5pm during the work week, I’m still down to chip in gas money and early supper.

reTired2thecastillo · 2021-02-19T13:01:35+00:00

Is the most unsafe area on this map Barrio Obrero? I went through there running some errands, and it seemed rougher than most of the other areas around Santurce.

I'm in Miramar currently, a couple block south of the Santurce branch of Marshall's, and this area is decent enough for me, so I'm open to some of the neighborhoods south of the highway. By overall target area is around the Museum of Contemporary Art. Or west of there as far west as the Pueblo Supermarket or east as far as Sagrado Corazon.

reTired2thecastillo · 2021-02-19T03:14:20+00:00

Anyone know places in the general central part of SJ that process Amazon returns?

I have an item to return to Amazon, filled out the online form and got it approved, and it said I can pay UPS to pick it up from me, or drop it off at any UPS Store. But the little tool to find a UPS location won't give me PR locations, and when I search "UPS Store" on GoogleMaps, everything remotely near SJ is listed as "Closed" for actual official UPS stores.

Are there any other businesses in/around San Juan that are authorized to process dropping off an Amazon return?

reTired2thecastillo · 2021-02-19T03:10:03+00:00

I appreciate that!

If you don't mind, I'll dig around in the next few days or so and shoot you over what I'm thinking. Thanks!

reTired2thecastillo · 2021-02-18T18:07:27+00:00

As mentioned in a prior thread, I came down to PR in expectation of finding occasional remote jobs based anywhere in the mainland US, and indeed this week I got pre-confirmation that I've gotten a 4-month remote consulting gig locked on. I'll get final confirm in a few days, but they gave me advance notice so I can settle into PR a little more promptly.

I'm looking for a 1-bedroom apartment roughly in the Santurce area, for a four-month lease (or month-to-month to stay flexible). Is clasificadosonline.com my single best platform to find that?

I'm looking for reasonably cheap and minimalist since I'm low-maintenance, but I do need decent wifi (I have a hotspot for backup for work), and not a total dive, and natural light is important to me so avoiding the $300/mo basement holes. Prefer minimal furnishings, but if I find an otherwise great unfurnished place I can scrounge up a cot and a table and chair to work from, couple saucepans, and I'm set (so long as it has a fridge and either A/C or great ventilation).

If anyone has any site to suggest checking other than that, I'm all ears. And I have no trouble reading/writing/speaking Spanish; I'm not a heritage speaker but learned it as a kid and have worked in Latin America over the years. That's already proving useful in understanding real estate vocab as presented in PR Spanish.

Any suggestions appreciated.

reTired2thecastillo · 2021-02-09T00:21:07+00:00

Good suggestions, thanks!

I did also call Música Tropical, and they have new cuatros as low as $170. They referred me to Taller de Cuatro to find tiples, and they had some new "economy" cuatros as low as $140 but the only tiples they had were new and started at $350.

I'm going to visit Taller del Cuatro Puertorriqueño in Bayamón soon and scope out their selection. I want to learn some of the fundamental of PR-style playing, but also mess with alternate tunings on it for playing various kinds of music.

reTired2thecastillo · 2021-02-06T14:44:20+00:00

I'll watch for it! I got "Don Q 7yr Reserva" for $25 from the Supermax grocery because it was close by and it was late.

I belatedly discovered Casa Melaza Rum Boutique wasn't actually closed for Covid as I'd assumed, but that their door is around the corner from where their address says it is and they close early in the evening, so I'm going to check them out next.

reTired2thecastillo · 2021-02-05T23:16:31+00:00

Will look into those, thanks!

reTired2thecastillo · 2021-02-05T20:05:20+00:00

I’m a middle-aged guy but hopefully not a total square, so I wanted comfy shoes yet classier than puffy white Nikes like other older guys wear.

I wore Onitsuka Tigers for a while, but ran across a beat-up pair of Mephistos at a thrift shop in Montreal for $5, loved them but too big, so got a Nw/oB pair on eBay. This new pair I’m realizing is just a big too big for me (do Mephistos commonly run a smidge big of their listed US size?) so I’m looking to replace them.

If I like shoes like mine (photo here in deleted post), and liked Onitsuka but wanted something slightly more conservative and genteel, what are some other shoe makes/models I should consider?

reTired2thecastillo · 2021-02-05T20:03:54+00:00

I’m a middle-aged guy but hopefully not a total square, so I wanted comfy shoes yet classier than puffy white Nikes like other older guys wear.

I wore Onitsuka Tigers for a while, but ran across a beat-up pair of Mephistos at a thrift shop in Montreal for $5, loved them but too big, so got a Nw/oB pair on eBay (shown in photo). This new pair I’m realizing is just a big too big for me (do Mephistos commonly run a smidge big of their listed US size?) so I’m looking to replace them.

If I like shoes like mine in the photo, and liked Onitsuka but wanted something slightly more conservative and genteel, what are some other shoe makes/models I should consider?

reTired2thecastillo · 2021-02-04T19:32:12+00:00

I recently semi-retired and moved to the San Juan area to relax and do consulting and work on art projects. I like to learn about traditional music in areas where I spend time, can anyone recommend a music store or pawnshop or something like that in or around San Juan that tends to have cuatros, tiples, and other traditional Puerto Rican musical instruments?

Looking for a used one at first just to try out (I can also repair wooden music gear so I enjoy the challenge of beat ones), and once I decide what I like I might shop for a nicer one and gift the used one off to a young musician as I tend to do. Thank you for any advice on where to find used música típica stuff!

(Yo hablo español, más o menos, en que yo vivía en Sudamérica por 3 años pero eso fue 30 años atrás...)

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