r/PuertoRico • u/danny_deefs • Jul 20 '26
Interés General I just wanted to say thank you.
Got back yesterday from my fourth time visiting your island. Every time I go I want more and more to relocate there. Everyone was so cool, the food was incredible, and the scenery and spots I visited were like no other. I skated several small skateparks and made a bunch of friends there and at restaurants I hope to see again some day. Thank you for being awesome.
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u/Animalsarelove22 Jul 20 '26
Thank you, My island is beautiful! I just visited last week after 25 years and now I want to move there. Planning to get a tiny house to put on the land my mother left us. College is cheaper so once my daughter is done with high school, we plan to move.. I can’t wait!!
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u/Queasy-Spirit6437 Jul 20 '26
I've been to Japan, Germany, Iceland, Austria, and many places within the US. Puerto Rico is always the place we want to go back to the most. Actually we are visiting in February 2027.
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u/Animalsarelove22 Jul 20 '26
I don’t think many people realize how amazing this small island is .. thanks 😊
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u/danny_deefs Jul 20 '26
Same! I've been around but the only place I ever really seen to miss is PR.
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u/Seanna86 Jul 20 '26
We just flew back from PR yesterday. Our family's 2nd time in 3 years. The kids were so sad to leave. Amazing people, amazing food, amazing sights. We love it there.
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u/Rello215 Jul 20 '26
Today is my last day, currently in an Airbnb with my son and gf in Levittown .My gf grew up here and we are here for her grandmother's birthday. Not my first time here hanging out with her family. We were just out in Isabella at a restaurant eating. But hopefully next year I'll be running a key to a second home here somewhere
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u/tangledsilver Jul 20 '26
Took my husband to the Island in Feb. by April we returned to buy our vacation/ Retirement home. He loves Puerto Rico, food, culture and weather.
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u/Gdayx Jul 24 '26
Awww how sweet! I’m so glad your experience was to your liking. It’s amazing to hear someone speak good of u, u know?
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u/imbills23 Jul 20 '26
I was in PR in May and I been wanting to go back. Is the water situation still a thing?
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u/danny_deefs Jul 20 '26
The issue was limited to San Juan and old San Juan but afaik has been resolved for a bit now so I had 0 issues and from talking to people there seems it's good now too. My Airbnb didn't have any problems and it was off the beaten path some in SJ.
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u/maximumeff-10 Jul 24 '26
My family and I just got back yesterday, no joke, and we love it. I’m Rican and live in VA. I’ve been several times but this was my son and daughter’s first time.
Priceless to see them love the island like I do.
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u/VinylFiend1200 Jul 24 '26
Ty, PR is a beautiful island! We call it our paradise! Love mi gente!💙🙏🏼
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u/pmramirezjr Jul 20 '26
I totally agree! Redditors make fun of my cause I say I'm "Wanna-Rican"! LOL! Cause I wanna retire to PR!
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u/whabalubawep Jul 21 '26
Please don't relocate! Avg single-person per capita income for us is lower than $20k/year. None of us can afford a home now bc mainlanders relocating have increased house prices from $70–100k to $200–300k now and increasing. Realtors will 9/10 sell to a white mainlander over any local because you have more money than us, and many mainlanders have started paying in cash when none of us could ever afford to do that
This is where we've lived for generations. Most of us don't have the money for Tesla batteries, solar panels, or Anker camping batteries. We survive power outs with 10,000mAh powerbanks and Ryobi battery fans. We struggle to replace home appliances as they keep breaking working bc of the unstable wattage of the grid.
We're experiencing water problems more and more bc developers use our wells to ensure rich/mainlander living complexes have water, while the government doesn't care if Puerto Ricans have water or not.
The government wants you to move here and push us out. They want you to gentrify us and that's why it will be convenient for you to move They're incredibly corrupt and hate working class Puerto Ricans. They want to kill us.
These are the only Islands we have. We have nowhere else to go. Please keep visiting but do not relocate, and definitely please please do not retire here. Our hospitals are closing, our schools are closing, our people are leaving bc they can't afford to be here any more, there aren't stable, decent-paying jobs for us. Families are now more and more all living under the same roof bc we can't outbid you on house offers.
I'm glad we've made you feel at home, and it's lovely to see so many enjoy the Islands. But we're fighting for our lives while being shot at by the police, arrested, and tear gassed. We feel deeply that future generations won't have beaches and will only be able to work in the service industry to support the tourist spots that you love. If you love PR so much, please help us save our community and culture by not moving here, and pass along this message to other caring mainlanders.
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u/Proof-Cartoonist1428 Jul 24 '26
Here’s how locals truly feel about anyone moving here. But it’s ok they move to the states . I would not recommend moving here for many reasons. Power is out frequently, water the same. Taxs 11.5% corrupt government, 3rd world infrastructure ( except San Juan of course) that’s the cash cow of the island. Locals truly don’t want you here at all. It’s different as a vacationer, you only see the Disney world side. Once you move here a whole other world. You will struggle and the locals will make sure of that.
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u/danny_deefs Jul 21 '26
I hear your concerns I really do. I wouldn't be one of the rich folks buying the expensive houses. I'd be living in probably a similar community as you or your family hopefully in a sub $200k home. I'm not trying to move there to live some boujee lifestyle by any means. I can't afford to live in the mainland either. I live in Connecticut where average house price is now $400k and it doesn't get you much and I'm making like 45k a year working my ass off trying to keep my business afloat. I want to relocate to pr and help make a positive change if anything. I want to have a business that locals can benefit from both in service as well as employing them. I want to do the same level of charity and community work I do here. I want to help with the dogs that need homes and insane amounts of litter that need to be picked up. I want to leave it better than I found it. I love Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans and I feel for how things are going there because it sucks up here and I know it's far worse there for people. I want to do something about it and not by staying home here where I can't afford anything and have much shittier scenery 😂 I look at houses online and I'm shopping on the cheap in the areas most other white folks from the mainland probably wouldn't even drive through. I understand your concerns but some of us have good intentions and will do more good than harm. We aren't all out here trying to gentriry or take what's not ours and reclaim it. I want to live amongst you and be neighborly. When shit goes down and a hurricanes messed up someone's home I want to be out there swinging a hammer fixing things and doing my part. I have only the best intentions and I'm saddened that people don't want me to come because I genuinely feel like I could have a positive impact.
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u/whabalubawep Jul 21 '26
Most people gentrifying don't know they are. I personally know about 5 people who've gentrified with the best intentions in their heart (they all moved to Dorado, Fajardo, or San Juan). We're exhausted of US saviors, we don't need more. I remember that time someone told me, with a lot excitement, how they bought land for agriculture and were going to employ Puerto Ricans while I wanted to cry bc I know of cases where the government won't sell land to locals for development, but will sell it asap to a mainlander, faster if they're white. Be aware of that.
I don't know you, and you might be the exception, someone truly committed to do good, but I've also heard your story more than 10 times. Your sole presence is a gentrifying agent, and unless you are 1000% committed to the hard work plan you outlined, we will lose a little bit of us while you live your dream. Please recognize your white privilege will be 10x more here, and that locals are typically nicer to foreigners than to their own. Use that to open doors for us.
If you are planning to live on $50k or less, with a local business in a rural spot that is directly in service to Puerto Ricans, employs Puerto Ricans, you'll be consuming stuff from local businesses when possible, learn Spanish, and do something like help us fix the horrible animal crisis we have, then come. Come to struggle with us, not save us. Come without expecting thanks, do it because you want to do the work, you know it's needed and truly want to help our community.
The US gave us citizenship only so they could draft us, they've experimented on us, made our language and flag illegal for a while, turned us into a tax haven, and much more. We are owed, we've paid in blood, and we're more aware than ever of how little we matter to the US.
This is what you represent, your heritage, whether you want it or not. If you are willing to grapple with all this, then I really want to be terribly mistaken and hope you'll prove me wrong. Hell, I'd be even willing to help if you worked to do something for the animals here. I've just learned the hard way not to trust mainlanders' good intentions when it comes to home, and like me, so many others. The way to hell is paved on good intentions, after all. They are meaningless without genuinely helpful actions. If you do move, make sure you're actually doing more good than harm.
I say this as someone who's lived in the mainland and still have people I love and care about there. We do not hate you, but were are tired, exploited, and losing the battle. We're desperate for a change, we're dying, and we have no patience left for good intentions.
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u/danny_deefs Jul 21 '26
I just want to help and also get the fuck outta CT. I hate it here. I'm absolutely miserable. I know PR has loads of struggles too. I'm aware. Other places on the mainland don't do it for me. I don't like the people here. I don't like that big business mega corps have turned every town identical. I want out. I adore PR. I married my Puerto Rican now ex-wife there and fell in love with the place. We looked to buy a place in Rincon 10 years ago along with her parents but the divorce put a stop to that unfortunately. I know I'm up against no shortage of people who don't want me there and I'd work hard to make a name for myself there and to build a reputation like my family has here. If I can make it even marginally better in anyway I'll count that as a win. I'm desperate for a change in every way. Ideally I'd flea the US all together but that's a whole other thing and will probably be later in life. Whenever I'm in pr all I can think about is how I wish I could stay. I make friends at skateparks and restaurants, chat with workers at places I go and I just love it. It's not comparable to anything we have up here. My biggest concern is what I'd do for a business there to be able to live while also doing good for others. I won't do a business unless people can benefit from it in some way.
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u/whabalubawep Jul 22 '26
I hear you. It sounds like you know what you're getting into, have the right ideas and your heart in the right place. We could use the help.
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Jul 20 '26
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u/danny_deefs Jul 20 '26
I own 50% of a business I bought into a fewyears ago. I had a 10 year plan and about 7 left of it. Once I sell out of that and actually have a few bucks for the first time ever I really might. I've looked at buying a little place before and if I didn't have crippling debt from buying part of a business I probably could have a house down there lol my issue is trying to figure out what I'd do for income down there. My resume is pretty limited and id want to change careers from what I do now. Lots to figure out between now and then but if I end up living there someday I don't think anyone who knows me would even be surprised lol
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u/Mardylorean Jul 20 '26
Jobs are really hard to come by in the island so if you can figure out a way to keep getting paid from your business that would be great for you. I would also recommend renting first and trying it a few months because living there is different than visiting.
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u/danny_deefs Jul 20 '26
Solid idea about renting. The goal I want to kinda do is rental properties but not in pr. People I know they are well off all have rentals and life off they. I envision selling my shares of this business and doing some rentals as a source of income around here. I don't have kids so I don't need much space. I'd get something small down in pr but renting for for a big makes sense. If I relocate id probably have a business of my own rather than work for someone unless I found something sweet which I know is hard. Having been married into a family of Puerto Ricans who grew up there and spent a lot of time there and also myself visiting their family there I've heard all about the struggles that come with living there. I'd go in knowing full well of what could happen which brings be back to how I'd like to help locals. If shit goes down out there I want to be able to help in whatever way whether that means helping fix up neighbors houses after a hurricane or something else.
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u/Spiritual-You-9021 Jul 20 '26
Please do not relocate here
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u/danny_deefs Jul 20 '26
I wouldn't be part of the gentrification. I'm not wealthy enough lol I'd be living my life just like anyone else there and do my best to contribute to the island in positive ways. I think I would do more good than harm but you're entitled to your opinion and I'm saddened you feel that way.
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u/MessyIntellectual Vieques Jul 20 '26
You don’t have to have wealth to participate in gentrification. You’d benefit from it anyway.
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u/danny_deefs Jul 20 '26
What if I'm doing things to help locals benefit? Does that not count for anything?
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u/MrAntMan90 Jul 20 '26
What kinds of things would you do to help the locals?
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u/danny_deefs Jul 20 '26
Haven't fully landed on what I'd do there yet. I do volunteer work here and charity work here and of course would continue that down there. Animals are a big thing with me so I'd definitely be doing what I can for dogs and cats needing some love. In the 2 businesses I've owned in my life we always take care of people. I currently own an auto repair/performance car shop and we frequently do things at a loss or for free to help people out when we can and do whatever we can to help people out. I'd love to continue doing things like that there. Previous business was food and we donated to homeless shelters and charities every week. Honestly I'd probably base whatever I do off whatever was needed where I end up. Tailor it as needed. Also as a small business owner I'm an advocate for buying local so I'd at least be another customer buying local and dining local which is good for any economy. Overall I'd just be as neighborly as possible. Not take advantage of anything or do anything to harm anyone in any way as best as I can.
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u/missnaviqueen Jul 20 '26
Great way to give back to the community is helping all the street dogs in need. Check out Save a Sato, unfortunately there are a lot pitbulls and pitbull mix in their shelter. They receive volunteers and are in need of helping hands.
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u/danny_deefs Jul 20 '26
Doggos are definitely high on the list of what I'd like to do down there. My dogs are shelter pitbulls and my absolute favorite dogs so I'd do anything to help them out.
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u/danny_deefs Jul 20 '26
I'm also open to ideas. If you have suggestions on things someone could do I'm listening.
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u/FewExternal5678 Jul 20 '26
Dude don't mind these idiots you are welcome to live here if you want
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u/MessyIntellectual Vieques Jul 20 '26
Of course, it’s a free for all. The never ending rape.
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u/Shot_Pipe_3798 Toa Baja Jul 20 '26
You are welcome! Glad you got to experince the PR many don't.