After the age of 17,Ricky felt the need to stop and detach himself from everything to do with show business. He felt saturated and didn't know who he was, or what he wanted to do with his life. "I cried like a little baby, because it was a big turning point in my life. I didn't know - i was really confused - i was a mess". Ricky left Menudo and returned home to Puerto Rico to complete his high school education.
In the summer of 1989 Ricky decided to go to New York on vaction, but he rang his mother from JFK airport and said, "Mum, I'm staying"! Ricky took the next 9 months to just look around, be a "normal" person instead of a "celebrity". He needed the time to just sit on a park bench and just look at people, instead of people looking at him.. He lived off his Menudo savings. "Anonymity felt amazing back then". It got to the point where he was beginning to think, what do i do next? A friend called him from Mexico and asked him what he was doing, Ricky told a little white lie and said he was in New York studying acting. He was invited to Mexico city and within a few weeks of being there, Ricky was offered a part in a stage musical, Mama Ama el Rock(Mama Loves Rock). Wasent long after he was offered the role of Pablo Loredo in a televison soap opera, Alcanzar una Estrall II(to Reach a Star), and he was also in the film version of the series, Mas que Alcanzar una Estrella and for this Ricky won a Heraldo, a Mexican Oscar. Ricky loved acting, but never gave up his musical side. He appeared in a concert with other cast members of the Mexican soap - they called themselves Munecos de Papel and it made Ricky realise how much he missed singing for audiences of thousands of appreciative fans.
