Breaking Ground — When the Dream Became Real

December 2025 marked a new beginning for Ancora Living.

The Christmas season has always meant returning to Puerto Rico, spending time with family, reconnecting with home, and enjoying traditions we've carried with us wherever life has taken us.

But our visit during the 2025 holiday season felt different.

This time, we weren't just coming home for Christmas.

We were watching a dream begin to take shape.

From a Piece of Land to a New Beginning

For years, this land in Camuy, Puerto Rico had been part of our family's story.

We originally purchased it in 2010 with dreams of building a family home close to those we loved. Life eventually took us in a different direction, but we held onto the property and the memories we had created there.

Fifteen years later, the land was finally ready for its next chapter.

Construction had begun on what would become Ancora Living—our first short-term rental property and the beginning of a completely new journey for our family.

Standing on the property and seeing the first stages of construction made everything suddenly feel real.

Breaking Ground on More Than a Building

There's something powerful about seeing an idea move from paper to the physical world.

Until that moment, Ancora Living had mostly existed through conversations, plans, drawings, budgets, and countless ideas about what the property could someday become.

Now there was construction underway.

And with it came a mixture of excitement and reality.

We knew what we were beginning would require a significant commitment of time, resources, patience, and learning. Building a property is challenging enough. Building one while living outside Puerto Rico, while simultaneously thinking about furnishing, technology, operations, hospitality, marketing, and the eventual guest experience added another level of complexity.

But standing there during that Christmas visit, those challenges didn't feel discouraging.

They felt energizing.

Because for the first time, we could begin imagining what this place might actually become.

Imagining the Guest Experience

Walking around the property gave us an opportunity to look beyond the construction itself.

Where would guests gather?

How should the spaces feel when someone walks through the door after a day exploring Puerto Rico?

What details would make someone's stay easier?

How could we create something that felt comfortable and modern while still maintaining a connection to the place and community around it?

Those questions would eventually influence everything from the interior design and furniture to the technology, welcome guide, website, and experiences we hope to recommend to our guests.

It was also when we began realizing that Ancora Living needed to become more than simply a vacation rental in Camuy.

We wanted to create a place where people could feel at home while discovering this part of Puerto Rico.

Building Something New

There was another feeling that came with breaking ground: possibility.

After years focused primarily on careers and raising our family, this project represented an opportunity to build something of our own.

Something creative.

Something entrepreneurial.

And hopefully, something that could grow beyond this first property.

We don't know exactly where that journey will lead, and perhaps that's part of what makes this chapter so exciting.

Every construction milestone brings us a little closer to welcoming our first guests. At the same time, every decision teaches us something new about real estate, hospitality, Puerto Rico, and ourselves.

The Beginning of the Ancora Living Journey

Looking back at those first construction moments during Christmas 2025, the property looked very different from the home taking shape today.

But that's exactly why we're documenting this journey.

Someday, guests will arrive at Ancora Living, open the door, set down their bags, and simply see a beautiful place to stay in Camuy, Puerto Rico.

We'll see something else too.

We'll remember the family land that came first.

We'll remember the plans spread across tables and the countless decisions along the way.

And we'll remember standing there during Christmas 2025, looking at the beginning of construction and realizing:

We're actually doing this.

That was the moment Ancora Living began to feel real.

And we were only getting started.

Follow Our Journey as we share the process of building Ancora Living—from construction and design to creating the guest experience and eventually welcoming our first visitors to Camuy.