If you are wanting to reconnect with your ancestral land/history/family, or wanting to build relationships with movements for liberation in Borike as an ally, this is a good opportunity for you. If you are an islander boricua who wants to connect

with community in the metro area or is wanting to land in a temporary safe space while you are in transition, this is a good opportunity for you. We are interested in hosting people who are not entitled and who want to offer from their skillset to support a just ricanstruction. The month-long solidarity visits are not created for someone who is only looking for a winter getaway. If you are approaching your visit with a spirit of gratitude, humility and gentleness, this is a good space for you.

If you will be paying for housing with grant money or sponsored by an organization, we ask that you pay at the full cost range ($800-$950 per month or $75-90 per night) regardless of what you score as an individual on the sliding scale questionnaire. We further invite potential visitors to use the redistribution rate ($1000 + per month ) when developing your budget.

We see this as a way to make transparent the costs of consumption in Borike and invite you to be in a deeper practice of being conscious of how you use the earth’s resources while you are here. We are living in a world in deep ecological crisis. We must be aware of how we are showing up for it. Turn off lights and fans when you are not at home. Use a/c only as needed. Make sure to stop running water by closing fixtures properly.

Bills will come anywhere between 2-6 weeks after you have left the apartment. We will send you the bill once it comes and ask that you pay the consumption costs in the apartment within one week upon receiving notice of the amount due. If your stay does not match the dates of the reading, we will prorate based on your consumption. The minimum you can expect to pay for water during a month is $29.88. The electricity bill has gone up seven-fold since the grid was privatized so it is difficult to provide an estimate. At a minimum, you can expect to pay $48 for one month, but that can be more if you are using a/c.

Our questionnaire is designed to invite people to take stock of their financial resources and look deeper at different levels of privilege or systemic barriers to help determine what they pay for their stay. Sometimes, if we have grown up in poverty or hold marginalized identities, we need a reminder of where we currently fall on the economic-stability scale so that we can make an informed choice about our contribution. We want to work towards a fair economy as a community. We recognize that not everyone has the same access to resources and capital and we also believe that it is possible to create a scale where everyone is able to participate while honoring a fair exchange.

We require a security deposit of $200 for all stays, regardless of the length of time you are staying with us. Once we receive your deposit, we will block off the dates of your stay in the calendar. We will return a portion of this deposit within 10 days of you vacating the space. If you take excellent care of the space and leave it clean, we will only deduct a $75 cleaning fee. This sum goes to pay the people who are cleaning (usually Meli and/or Lau) and to defray the cost of maintenance. We will keep more of the deposit if we spend more than five hours cleaning or if there are any damages to the space. Please replace all things that are broken and refer to the solidarity visitor manual you will receive after your stay is confirmed for a list of check-out cleaning tasks to ensure you get the biggest return.

Depending on your current situation and the needs of CEPA at the moment, you may want to offer manual labor or a public workshop or event. Previous visitors have painted the apartment, bought or made decorations for the visitor space. Others have brought donations to the apothecary be they plants, essential oils or supplies to bottle medicines. We have had visitors offer concerts and musical presentations in the space. Still other visitors have offered free clinics and limpias to the community. Other people have offered workshops on topics as diverse as understanding your gender, carpentry 101, making agua florida, someone else made us a compost bin. Another visitor made improvements to the garden by building a couple of raised beds and they got "seeds" cangres when we wanted to put in some root vegetables. Other folx have moved money to the project from their contacts abroad. The possibilities are really endless!

The money goes directly towards any improvements to the space that are needed for its evolution. We recently acquired the property and are slowly working towards fixing the physical structure. Each contribution makes it a little easier for us to dedicate our time to the healing work we do.

The apartment and Casa Taller are located in Río Piedras in the Municipality of San Juan. There is some public transportation available including a train station about 15 minutes walk from the casa-taller, but they require patience as they are often unreliable. We can also lend you a bike if you are accustomed to city-riding and are willing to pay to replace it in the event it is damaged, lost or stolen. Uber is also a solid option to get around the city if you have expendable income. Please note there is no uber outside of San Juan, so while you can get a ride anywhere, you will likely have trouble finding your way back. If you’d like to get across the island to visit Mayagüez and you aren’t in a rush, you can take the Linea Sultana bus; their terminal is a 10 minute walk from the house.

If you need a ride from the airport or want to travel with us somewhere in particular, please let us know! If we have the time, we love to support visitors in this way. In exchange, we ask that you pay for gas and tolls and give us advanced notice of your request.

We require all first-time visitors to stay for one-month before discussing longer stays. If you live in Borike already and we have prior experience of working together closely, we will make considerations for a longer visit on a case-by-case basis.