WE MADE A BIG DREAM COME TRUE!

For years my hubby Farukh and I have been dreaming about having a home near the ocean. We scouted out options from Mexico to Bali looking for the perfect location… and last year we settled on the magical island of Puerto Rico.
On our first trip to the island we stayed in Dorado. A friend introduced us to John Lee Dumas and his girlfriend, Kate, who are residents here in Palmas, and they invited us over for a poolside BBQ at their home. We took the opportunity to scout out Palmas.

We stopped into Palmas Market and I saw a stack of Live & Life Palmas magazines so I grabbed one.
I read it cover-to-cover and immediately knew that we found our home. It was the 10th Anniversary Issue and showed all of the amazing things that have happened in Palmas over the last decade and what a FUN big-hearted community this is.
We then connected with fantastic realtors – Ricardo Casillas and his stunning wife, Liz Colon – and they quickly found
us our dream house here in Palmas.
Side note… if Palmas was going to have a prom king & queen, it would be Ricardo & Liz!
At 5:30pm on a Tuesday we got word that we were cleared to close. 36 hours later we hoped a 6am flight and then Friday night we closed on our tropical island dream home.
We had to head back to the east coast right after closing so we didn’t officially move here to Palmas until January 1st of this year. The week we closed was a crazy and exciting week, and our hearts were exploding with gratitude.
Pictured here with us is Farukh’s mom, Raziya, who I lovingly refer to as my Mummyji, and she lives with us. She just got back from her annual winter trip to India so she hasn’t had too much time to get settled into Palmas, but she’s looking forward to meeting more people and possibly teaching some Indian cooking classes.
She could easily be a world class chef… and brought an entire suitcase of special Indian cooking essentials. So if you’ve ever wanted to learn Indian cooking… you may get the chance.
If you want to connect with Farukh and I, or you’re interested in what we’re up to in life and business, head over to my
personal website at: HeidiDeCoux.com
You’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at our lives, including our 3-day BIG FAT Indian wedding! Cheers to making dreams come true.
Rose & Fred Kessler Shortly after our 25 th wedding anniversary, my husband had to stop working for health reasons. At the very same
time, the last of our four children left the house and our NYC apartment dramatically lost its purpose. My husband and I turned to each other and felt it was a good time, and for the first time in our lives, for us to determine where we would like to spend our time. We definitely wanted somewhere warm and with beaches. That had always been a dream of ours. It didn’t take too long before Puerto Rico came to mind. We had brought the family here on vacation and it always felt right. We love the culture and the welcoming atmosphere of the island. We consistently found ourselves
to be a little more lighthearted and fun and loveable while in PR and gave credit to the spirit of the Chinchorreo. We always left the island richer for the experience.
We came down to take a look in early October. We knew being about an hour from the airport would increase the chances of our children visiting, so we used that as a radius for our search. We came to Palmas and spent the
weekend here and fell in love. The landscape was incredibly beautiful…so green with a real life force. We treasured that there was a large variety of trees and a pterocarpus forest.
We saw egrets, iguanas, geckos, anoles, sandpipers and pelicans and at night relaxed to the rhythmic call of the coqui. There was so much going on and yet it could still be very quiet. We went to Art Night at Daniel and heard the band, we met Ivan at Pura Vida and he made us laugh, Cassandra from the market made us lattes and Linoshka from the Beach Club helped me with my Spanish. We walked the beach at sunrise and went to mass in Española. We loved that there was a school here and people of all ages. It was also a diverse community of people from all over.

Although everything was amazing, it wasn’t until we read the latest issue of Live & Life in Palmas that we knew for
sure that Palmas was the right place for us. We were able to understand from the magazine what the community valued…children’s science projects, recognizing and honoring community contributors, supporting local farmers…all great things! Palmas seemed like a vibrant community conducive to nurturing new friendships and allowing everyone to have a voice. We already felt at home here. We put a bid on a place and closed within the month. We’re thrilled to be here, we’re ready to contribute and we’re finding our way.