Moving to Luquillo
My uncle and I are trying to move to Luquillo, but we have a few things to navigate. He's from PR, he's getting older and wants to move home. He just got back from his aunt's funeral and he misses everyone. I'm only half Puerto Rican. I'm half Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Jewish, and I saw there's still a large Jewish community in the San Juan area. Antisemitism wise, the last ten years in the NYC area have been the worst years of my life. Destruction of property, carving swastikas into my house, tearing down decor, putting shattered lightbulbs planted into my lawn where my children run and play, desecrated family graves, threats on our synagogue, people being verbally hateful to my face etc -- I want to know how myself and my daughter will be treated, will we be safe to practice and observe our religion? What are people's general attitude towards the Jewish community in Puerto Rico?
We currently live together, and want to keep it that way. Work. We are both in similar lines of work, we work as vendors next to each other. I'm a henna artist with 6 years of experience working the seaside heights boardwalk in NJ, working bourbon Street new Orleans in the fall-spring. I do private parties, work fairs, work concerts in Madison Square Garden NYC. I've been in a fashion magazine. But I HAVE to go back and forth from the south to north every summer and winter, because I don't have year round tourism here. I have to follow the right weather around, and it's not easy. I want to be somewhere with almost a full year of the right kinda weather to work outside. Does anybody know how permits work?
My uncle makes and sells crystal jewelry and decor (like the spiritual kind of crystals, not like polished diamonds and sapphires). We plan on having our mobile shop that folds into a trailer shipped to PR, and find somewhere we'd be allowed to set up. I'll have to tow it w a truck. We'd also need to figure out 2bdr rental, minimum. Ideally 3 bedrooms, but I can share with my daughter if I have to. I see some RVs and RV campgrounds I can afford if I have to go that route. I'm struggling to find affordable property. He's getting older and losing his memory so I need something that can fit 3 ppl, but it doesn't have to be fancy.
I know it's cheaper elsewhere, but I'm pretty set on the Luquillo area because that's where family is, and I plan on putting my daughter in the Grace school, I think it would be the perfect school for her, from my research on them. Eventually I would like to buy land and build on it, but I won't afford that for a while. A jagua orchard would be amazing because I use jagua for my henna work, and it's native to PR. Solar panels and a generator 🤞🏻 I understand to expect the cost of living to be high, and indeed it's comparable to the jersey shore pricing wise nothing new. I honestly do very well for myself with the henna, through both tourists AND locals. I love doing local events and meeting people. I'm a former English teacher and I can teach or tutor again if teachers are needed. My uncle and I have done 15 years of volunteer work with the homeless here, locally, and I tend to rescue every homeless cat and dog I can help, care for and re-home.
I just hope we bring something of value to Puerto Rico. As a fellow busker in New Orleans said, "As long as you're adding to the party ,not taking away from the party..." And I would say we add to the party 🥳
I know gentrification sucks, I hear the kioskos are overpriced and declining in quality now. Are people getting generally sick of gringos? I have a Hispanic last name, but I look pretty white, so unless I lead with "Hi my name is first and last," then they probably won't be able to tell 😕 How tense are things in that area?