February 27, 2025 • 21 mins
After a whirlwind journey through the continents, I finally land in Puerto Rico, only to face unexpected challenges at JFK Airport that turn my transition into chaos. From lost luggage to power outages, each twist and turn of my travels mirrors the intricacies of life itself. This episode delves into my experiences—from navigating flights across various countries to the moments of connection I built with the locals upon arrival.
As I recount my encounters, especially with Jamie, a captivating local who embodies the island's spirit through her fishing adventures, you'll discover how community and resilience intertwined to create a new chapter in my life. The discussions around food, laughter, and the shared stories of my new friends add a rich texture to the narrative, showing how essential human connections are to our survival and growth.Â
I also reflect on the deeper challenges lurking beneath the joyful experiences, realizing that while the island offers a beautiful escape, it also harbors stories of struggle that often go unheard. Through this journey, I invite you to explore the lessons learned amidst chaos, the power of shared meals, and the importance of community support. Join me as I share this migration saga, embracing both the joys and complexities of starting anew in Puerto Rico. Be part of the adventure—subscribe, share, and engage with the journey!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello everybody, this is Heidi and this is the
Surviving Changes podcast.
Hey, you're going to see acouple upgrades coming.
I want to thank the people thathave subscribed on TikTok and
I'm going to give you a shoutout an individual shout out at
the beginning of the nextepisode.
I need to get your guys' names.
Thank you so much, and alsoanybody who has done the Buy my
(00:24):
Beer.
It's because of you we're ableto continue right now and do
those upgrades.
So, thank you so much.
I appreciate you guys so much.
So today I'm going to talk aboutgetting to Puerto Rico, and to
get to Puerto Rico from Perth.
The way that I was doing itmeant going from Perth to Sydney
(00:48):
, from Sydney to Manchester,from Manchester to Abu Dhabi,
from Abu Dhabi to JFK, from JFKto San Juan, from San Juan over
to the west side of the island.
So there's a little bit of ajaunt there and I'll eventually
(01:13):
do once we're all caught up onthe kind of timeline as a whole.
I'll go back and do fun, littleand serious, little and
knowledgeable, little clips fromeach part of these journeys,
and you'll also find some onTikTok, some through the
subscribe, some through just onmy page.
My name is Heidi Hunt, if youhaven't got that yet, and so you
(01:36):
should be able to search forthat, and then the page or the
handle or whatever is atPellucci Pet Hero, because it
actually was my puppy's page tostart.
So my Puerto Rican street dog,as a matter of fact, he's like
yeah, you can have it, mom, I'mcool.
(01:58):
So by the time I was leavingAustralia I was so damn tired I
did not know.
I knew I was getting beat up.
I knew there was a lot ofpeople beating me up.
I knew it was a very structuredand coordinated effort that
probably cost a little bit ofmoney to beat me up, um, but I
(02:19):
still would not have guessed atthat point.
I knew my brother was involved.
I could point to certain peoplewho were involved.
I mean, that was easy Galen, mybrother, catherine Abel, chris,
marriott, my daughter, friendsand family employees and people
at the Linda Eide, people at theBar Association, judge Downs,
(02:40):
people in St Homer's County.
But I would have never guessedthat there was a place called a
fusion center.
That was a front I may haveknown.
There was a fusion center,certainly A place where all the
information goes and a lot ofgood people are out there
helping us.
That's not what it is.
(03:01):
I don't think that's what itever has been.
It's been a great way tosilence the people who are out
there trying to tell you hey,they're trafficking women in
Snohomish County.
Hey, these guys are stealingmoney from you right here.
Hey, that's what it's for.
And it was used quiteeffectively.
But at that point I didn't knowlike that's what it was.
(03:23):
I thought it was a bunch ofpeople that had got together
with my brother, linda Eide, youknow just a more local group
that had resources, clearly, butI didn't understand that they
had Obama-type resources.
Back then I was learning prettyquick, though I did get in a
(03:46):
fight with the immigration ladyon the way out, because that was
the first time I was ever eventold that there was a tax debt,
and I was mad.
I'm like, let me see that.
And she wouldn't let me seethat.
I'm like, oh, did they send itto you along with the check?
I pretty much told her to fuckoff on the way out, told her I
wasn't renewing shit, pieces ofshit.
(04:07):
So at that point I did know itwas also worldwide.
I thought I had to undergo forthe community market.
They made me undergo an extrahearing, essentially because
someone had contacted them andsaid that I had stole from all
those people and then sent allof the bullshit stuff from the
(04:30):
bar, and so the council had toactually do a whole extra vote
on that um, and council membershad to get up and actually
testify on my behalf saying, no,we've seen her through this
process.
We don't believe that we, webelieve that's dirty americans,
just like she said.
Um, and so the market wasallowed to go.
But uh, they obviously did thesame thing at immigration when I
(04:52):
was.
They didn't know for sure.
I was on my way out.
They were trying to shake medown for that five grand.
But so when I was leaving thereI didn't have a ton of money.
I put everything into thatmarket and into that community.
Lisa remember she was needingme to testify for her, or at
least not testify against her.
(05:12):
So I had a place to live.
I didn't have to worry aboutfood, basic food, electricity,
shelter.
It wasn't pleasant, but I grewup a hunt.
I can tune a lot of that shitout Pretty good.
I think it's probably a naturalthing that we're born with as a
(05:33):
defense mechanism.
So I didn't have a lot of money.
I knew that there was going tobe some money coming to me from
remember, the taxes that theyhad taken out on the real estate
deal and for a little while Iwas allowed to make some
sandwiches and do a couple ofstupid things like that.
But that money was gettingreturned to me in Puerto Rico.
(05:54):
But I had to leave the countryshow.
I left the country apply withina certain amount of time and
then it would take a certainamount of time.
So the money I had leaving wasvery, very limited.
I didn't want to spend anythingextra that I'd have to.
I didn't know when I was goingto get money again and I had no
idea what Manchester, abu, dhabi, jfk and JFK was actually
(06:18):
particularly.
I did it on purpose because Iwanted to know if they were
going to let me step back in theUS or arrest me.
You see, I was ready for atthat point.
I was ready for that challenge,healthy enough, had enough with
me that I believed that itwould be okay at that point.
(06:39):
But that whole tax deal that shewouldn't show me, that was
slightly disturbing because thatmeant that this group, whoever
it was, had been meddling evenfarther than my house, my cabin,
my car, my Jeep, my office.
I mean, how deep can you go?
(06:59):
Deep state is the real question.
I'm like fuck Deep, that's howdeep they can go.
So anyway, I talk a little bitabout Abu Dhabi and why I didn't
go to the Ferrari place there.
On TikTok, I'm not going to gettoo much into Manchester right
(07:22):
now I went from Sydney, saw theOpera House, from Perth to
Sydney.
I was able to see the OperaHouse before heading out Then to
Manchester and I'll just dolike little episodes on those
things.
And then, if you want to knowabout abu dhabi, because many
people were asking that's ontiktok and eventually I'll do it
(07:43):
on here too.
Um, and then went into jfk andas soon as I got into jfk and I
was, I was not feeling great, Iwas just tired, um, and whatever
it was they did to me, or if itwas like the MS spectrum, I
don't know.
Someone else said that's notthe correct term that they use.
It's, um, who knows, my doctormight have been dumbing it down,
(08:05):
but it's MS, intermittentremittance, something, um, I
don't know, because I didn'ttrust them at that point, quite
honestly, and I stopped going,remember, after the bad spinal
attack, um, but so I stilldidn't know.
And, and in Australia, remember, they said that they thought it
might be fibromyalgia.
(08:25):
So I don't know what it is atthis point.
I just know I'm fucking tired,um, by the time I get to JFK,
and as soon as I get into JFK,all the power goes out,
everything.
Imagine JFK with no power.
They eventually got thegenerators going as I was going
(08:47):
through customs.
So I don't know.
It was just very strange.
I've flown in and out of JFKdozens of times, um, probably
not hundreds, but dozens oftimes easy um, and never seen
anything like that.
We had to go a whole differentway to scan our passport, but I
(09:07):
don't know, um, but in thatwhole mess they ended up losing
a lot of luggage, and mine wasamongst it, and so I ended up
staying um looking for luggage,because all I have is my, what I
have on my back, and that's mypuppy ashes.
My puppy had some toys that Icarried, my Bible, some pictures
(09:32):
of my puppies.
I mean nothing of.
There's not a pair of underwearin there, there's not anything
to change into, and so I hangout at jfk it's kind of in,
because it's hot too, um,they're not running a lot of air
conditioning on the generators,um, so we're all just waiting
for our luggage laying around,um, for what felt like forever,
(09:56):
um, and then finally it was likeI can't keep waiting, I need
need to get to Puerto Rico, um,so I flew into San Juan without
my stuff and stayed in San Juan.
They ended up finding it aftera couple days and so it delayed
me to getting over to the westside.
Uh, but it worked out.
Got cheap rooms by the airport,ended up getting my luggage
(10:22):
back and um got the same one,and then got over to aguada,
which was the first place, um,and you're seeing the people on
tiktok.
I love it.
It's home, man, all of thosevideos, um, and lives and stuff
that you see from the beach,that's all like within, not very
(10:44):
far, but very easily walkingdistance.
I try to point it out to you.
But of where I, where the onlyplace I've ever felt like was my
home, um, and a really greatexperience, and where I got
paloo, so right on that beachthat you see on TikTok.
Now, remember I had gone from.
(11:05):
I was getting paid $500 an hourfor me, plus all of the lawyers
that were in there, plus, plus,plus, plus plus.
We had all got real fuckingspoiled to now.
I'm broke, almost coming intoPuerto Rico, but I ended up
meeting my neighbor, jamie, andBrian.
Brian ended up dying after thehurricane.
(11:26):
Um, we'll talk about that atsome point.
I'm not wanting to talk about itright now, but Jamie is one of
the most coolest individualsthat you'll ever meet and if you
looked at her you would saywhat are you talking about?
Um, you'd be like she's alittle bit crazy.
She's um, she has seizures, shedon't have no money.
(11:49):
Uh, she's from louisiana, lovejamie.
Jamie would go out there on thatbeach that I show you, with a
little piece of chicken on astring and a net and she'd go
crabbing Just like that.
Everybody else would put outcrab pots with, like, the heads
(12:10):
of dead fish that they hadcaught.
Not Jamie man.
She'd have a sangria in onehand, probably a pouch of
sangria in one hand.
Sangria in one hand, probably apouch of sangria in one hand,
probably the net hookedsomewhere into, like where her
bra is.
And um, got chicken on a littlestring, getting those crabs and
(12:35):
she caught them.
But, um, and then you can goover to Crash Boat Beach, which
is awesome.
It's one of my favorite placesin the world too, and you could
get lobster over there.
So if you're a good free diver,you could do it.
I don't like going down thatfar, but anybody will go down
(13:03):
and get them for you andliterally pull them out.
So I learned when I first got topuerto rico that to have fresh
crab, fresh fish, fresh lobster,um, all of the fruit that
organically grows on the islandthen there's a thing that grows
we called it breadfruit that youcould do anything.
That you would do with likepotatoes, from mashed potatoes
to like french fries, towhatever.
(13:24):
But you buy a little bit ofrice, maybe a couple beans, for
a couple bucks, and you were inreally, really good shape.
And if you couldn't affordsangria, probably one of the
locals had fermented all ofthese fruits.
And I don't remember what theycall it.
They have a specific name, but,man, I'd fuck you up.
(13:44):
So every single night, well,every morning, the guys would go
out fishing, do their crab pots, do whatever Me, jamie and the
girls would kind of wake up.
Jamie was kind of the center ofthat part, and then there were
other people.
I was super poor, not trying tostand out at all.
I've been called the tall poppyin Australia.
(14:06):
I'll tell you about that, butit'll break you pretty quick.
You get called it enough tallpoppy, um.
So I was trying not to be atall poppy when I first got to
um Puerto Rico.
So I'm first got to Puerto Rico, so I look like maybe I used to
(14:29):
be something, but not for awhile.
But so everybody do their stuffduring the day and then before
it, you know, as it startedgetting later, jamie would
collect everything that everyonehad to donate to dinner,
whoever caught fish or crab orlobster or um, if somebody
bought meat or whatever.
And then, because she's fromlouisiana, she loved cooking um
(14:52):
and she would make, like alwaysa jambalaya style something,
regardless of what it was.
And the only times that Ididn't eat with those guys was
when nobody caught anything andthere was no meat.
They would use iguana and I'mlike, no, I don't want that.
They'd have the dogs go catchan iguana.
Like, yeah, I'm good, or I'dpick around it, excuse me, but
(15:23):
anyway, so totally awesome.
I love puerto rico.
Um, I ended up selling.
So to get by, I, I needed justa little over 20 a day, not much
, and so I ended up making theselittle um hearts out of some
resin, out of the sand on crashboat beach, and then I'd go city
(15:44):
crash boat beach and just kindof send them out, and when
people walk by they'd be likewhat's?
And I'd tell them it's Sanford,right there, sell them for $5
or $10, and you're pretty good.
Also, at least at the time, thephone plans were different.
Like people would have to havea different phone plan and the
ones that didn't want to whenthey came over for their
vacation but still, like, neededto check their email and stuff
(16:05):
like that.
Remember that was would havebeen like 2017 ish, 16, 17 ish,
um, I'll check my tickets andupload them to the subscribers
on tiktok so we can see theexact things together.
But anyway, um, I'd also putout a little sign that says
check your email.
Won't let your kids play on myphone plan.
(16:27):
Because I had a hotspot forlike five or ten bucks, so it
wasn't too tough to make thattwenty dollars a day.
And then they sold beers for adollar a beer and they were just
cold, so anything extra, youcould have a couple beers and
have a great time.
Um, that is when I wasn't quitesure what I was going to do and
(16:48):
Google had the developer program.
They were trying to keep upwith Apple and they didn't have
enough developers, and so theystarted advertising that for $25
, they'd let you go throughtheir courses that taught you
how to be a developer, and thenyou could get certified for life
.
And so I had a first-generationiPad, because the only thing I
had that would work.
I left all my computers andstuff in Australia.
(17:09):
I didn't know how long it wasgoing to take me to get around
the other half of the globe andhow much energy it was going to
take.
So they're still in Australia.
But anyway, puerto Rico isawesome.
The reason that I ended upleaving.
(17:31):
I would have stayed here a longtime.
Now I did start seeing thatthere was more gang stalking
once I got here.
The white people on the islandstarted saying that woman is on
our island, like.
It became more clear thatbecause, remember, I was okay in
Australia.
It was tough, they had fuckedup immigration, but I didn't go
(17:52):
through any of that type stuff,except the extra vote that I had
to go through and theimmigration lady with the tax
thing.
But they were fine before thattax thing.
That was on the way out thedoor.
But once I got here it wasclear.
But it was also funny because,uh, my friend remember my friend
(18:13):
that did the grain boat he wasjust coming into town when I got
here.
I'd been here a couple of daysand then he got here and he's
like all right, let's go have adrink.
And so we went out and had adrink and, um, sit and talking
to the people at the bar, justshooting the shit, and the
person two people, two peopleover, uh was a nice lady and
we're talking and she's like,your voice sounds familiar.
(18:34):
And I laughed and said, well, Iused to do my radio ads.
Oh, my god, I thought so.
So her boyfriend, she said youdon't look the same.
I'm like no, she came in when Istill was a little bit.
Well, I've been never thin butchunkier on and off throughout
this, depending on how manyStarbucks mochas, extra whip who
(18:55):
would you stop that I've had orsodas Coca-Cola is a horrible
addiction, so it does depend onthat.
But she's like you don't lookthe same.
I'm like.
Oh, because I had to have myhair like a lawyer then I was
still trying to fit in, I wasstill a little more chunky,
because my office was aboutcarl's cookies and starbucks,
(19:18):
and she's like oh, I'm likeyou're talking to me like you
know a lot about us.
She's like, yeah, I came inwith my boyfriend, um, I was
with him when we talked to youand you told us all of how it
was going to happen, and then,um, we hired you and you got it
dismissed, exactly like you saidit would happen.
She's like I saw what they didto you, and I was always worried
(19:40):
about you and wondered aboutyou and prayed for you.
So I'm glad to see you're okay.
Um, so that was nice, but therewas equally as many crappy
people.
The local people were oftenJust not the white ones.
So what ended up happening,though, was Irma came.
(20:00):
That was before Maria.
The herd came before Maria, andit took out the power to the
entire island, and I didn't knowwhen it was going to come back
on, and at that point, peoplethat said they were my friends
and who I believed were myfriends, saw that I might
actually be worth a little bitof money again with these app
things, so they jumped right onthat, flew me back to the States
(20:24):
so they could be board members.
We'll talk about thatindividual.
It was an app called Two forfun, um, and it will probably
get started again.
It was a great idea and it wasestimated to be worth um from
this company in texas, um, uh,over 50 million dollars.
So we'll get back, we'll dothat again, but anyway.
(20:44):
So they flew me back to seattleso I could keep working on this
and that's when Maria hit.
So I lost some of my stuff overon the island at that time and
I lost friends, for sure, and Ilost a part of my heart, my head
and my soul, but I wasn'tphysically here.
(21:07):
But that's when I had to decidewhat I was going to do.
Next.
Let me tell you about that Timein Seattle, time in Imperial
Beach, California, time inPullman, washington, and then we
ended up driving on down toCabo.
So we have more fun stuff to go.
Thank you everyone.
(21:27):
Thank you for being here.
I appreciate you.
My name is Heidi and this isthe Surviving Changes Podcast.
Hello everybody, this is Heidi and this is the
Surviving Changes podcast.
Hey, you're going to see acouple upgrades coming.
I want to thank the people thathave subscribed on TikTok and
I'm going to give you a shoutout an individual shout out at
the beginning of the nextepisode.
I need to get your guys' names.
Thank you so much, and alsoanybody who has done the Buy my
(00:24):
Beer.
It's because of you we're ableto continue right now and do
those upgrades.
So, thank you so much.
I appreciate you guys so much.
So today I'm going to talk aboutgetting to Puerto Rico, and to
get to Puerto Rico from Perth.
The way that I was doing itmeant going from Perth to Sydney
(00:48):
, from Sydney to Manchester,from Manchester to Abu Dhabi,
from Abu Dhabi to JFK, from JFKto San Juan, from San Juan over
to the west side of the island.
So there's a little bit of ajaunt there and I'll eventually
(01:13):
do once we're all caught up onthe kind of timeline as a whole.
I'll go back and do fun, littleand serious, little and
knowledgeable, little clips fromeach part of these journeys,
and you'll also find some onTikTok, some through the
subscribe, some through just onmy page.
My name is Heidi Hunt, if youhaven't got that yet, and so you
(01:36):
should be able to search forthat, and then the page or the
handle or whatever is atPellucci Pet Hero, because it
actually was my puppy's page tostart.
So my Puerto Rican street dog,as a matter of fact, he's like
yeah, you can have it, mom, I'mcool.
(01:58):
So by the time I was leavingAustralia I was so damn tired I
did not know.
I knew I was getting beat up.
I knew there was a lot ofpeople beating me up.
I knew it was a very structuredand coordinated effort that
probably cost a little bit ofmoney to beat me up, um, but I
(02:19):
still would not have guessed atthat point.
I knew my brother was involved.
I could point to certain peoplewho were involved.
I mean, that was easy Galen, mybrother, catherine Abel, chris,
marriott, my daughter, friendsand family employees and people
at the Linda Eide, people at theBar Association, judge Downs,
(02:40):
people in St Homer's County.
But I would have never guessedthat there was a place called a
fusion center.
That was a front I may haveknown.
There was a fusion center,certainly A place where all the
information goes and a lot ofgood people are out there
helping us.
That's not what it is.
(03:01):
I don't think that's what itever has been.
It's been a great way tosilence the people who are out
there trying to tell you hey,they're trafficking women in
Snohomish County.
Hey, these guys are stealingmoney from you right here.
Hey, that's what it's for.
And it was used quiteeffectively.
But at that point I didn't knowlike that's what it was.
(03:23):
I thought it was a bunch ofpeople that had got together
with my brother, linda Eide, youknow just a more local group
that had resources, clearly, butI didn't understand that they
had Obama-type resources.
Back then I was learning prettyquick, though I did get in a
(03:46):
fight with the immigration ladyon the way out, because that was
the first time I was ever eventold that there was a tax debt,
and I was mad.
I'm like, let me see that.
And she wouldn't let me seethat.
I'm like, oh, did they send itto you along with the check?
I pretty much told her to fuckoff on the way out, told her I
wasn't renewing shit, pieces ofshit.
(04:07):
So at that point I did know itwas also worldwide.
I thought I had to undergo forthe community market.
They made me undergo an extrahearing, essentially because
someone had contacted them andsaid that I had stole from all
those people and then sent allof the bullshit stuff from the
(04:30):
bar, and so the council had toactually do a whole extra vote
on that um, and council membershad to get up and actually
testify on my behalf saying, no,we've seen her through this
process.
We don't believe that we, webelieve that's dirty americans,
just like she said.
Um, and so the market wasallowed to go.
But uh, they obviously did thesame thing at immigration when I
(04:52):
was.
They didn't know for sure.
I was on my way out.
They were trying to shake medown for that five grand.
But so when I was leaving thereI didn't have a ton of money.
I put everything into thatmarket and into that community.
Lisa remember she was needingme to testify for her, or at
least not testify against her.
(05:12):
So I had a place to live.
I didn't have to worry aboutfood, basic food, electricity,
shelter.
It wasn't pleasant, but I grewup a hunt.
I can tune a lot of that shitout Pretty good.
I think it's probably a naturalthing that we're born with as a
(05:33):
defense mechanism.
So I didn't have a lot of money.
I knew that there was going tobe some money coming to me from
remember, the taxes that theyhad taken out on the real estate
deal and for a little while Iwas allowed to make some
sandwiches and do a couple ofstupid things like that.
But that money was gettingreturned to me in Puerto Rico.
(05:54):
But I had to leave the countryshow.
I left the country apply withina certain amount of time and
then it would take a certainamount of time.
So the money I had leaving wasvery, very limited.
I didn't want to spend anythingextra that I'd have to.
I didn't know when I was goingto get money again and I had no
idea what Manchester, abu, dhabi, jfk and JFK was actually
(06:18):
particularly.
I did it on purpose because Iwanted to know if they were
going to let me step back in theUS or arrest me.
You see, I was ready for atthat point.
I was ready for that challenge,healthy enough, had enough with
me that I believed that itwould be okay at that point.
(06:39):
But that whole tax deal that shewouldn't show me, that was
slightly disturbing because thatmeant that this group, whoever
it was, had been meddling evenfarther than my house, my cabin,
my car, my Jeep, my office.
I mean, how deep can you go?
(06:59):
Deep state is the real question.
I'm like fuck Deep, that's howdeep they can go.
So anyway, I talk a little bitabout Abu Dhabi and why I didn't
go to the Ferrari place there.
On TikTok, I'm not going to gettoo much into Manchester right
(07:22):
now I went from Sydney, saw theOpera House, from Perth to
Sydney.
I was able to see the OperaHouse before heading out Then to
Manchester and I'll just dolike little episodes on those
things.
And then, if you want to knowabout abu dhabi, because many
people were asking that's ontiktok and eventually I'll do it
(07:43):
on here too.
Um, and then went into jfk andas soon as I got into jfk and I
was, I was not feeling great, Iwas just tired, um, and whatever
it was they did to me, or if itwas like the MS spectrum, I
don't know.
Someone else said that's notthe correct term that they use.
It's, um, who knows, my doctormight have been dumbing it down,
(08:05):
but it's MS, intermittentremittance, something, um, I
don't know, because I didn'ttrust them at that point, quite
honestly, and I stopped going,remember, after the bad spinal
attack, um, but so I stilldidn't know.
And, and in Australia, remember, they said that they thought it
might be fibromyalgia.
(08:25):
So I don't know what it is atthis point.
I just know I'm fucking tired,um, by the time I get to JFK,
and as soon as I get into JFK,all the power goes out,
everything.
Imagine JFK with no power.
They eventually got thegenerators going as I was going
(08:47):
through customs.
So I don't know.
It was just very strange.
I've flown in and out of JFKdozens of times, um, probably
not hundreds, but dozens oftimes easy um, and never seen
anything like that.
We had to go a whole differentway to scan our passport, but I
(09:07):
don't know, um, but in thatwhole mess they ended up losing
a lot of luggage, and mine wasamongst it, and so I ended up
staying um looking for luggage,because all I have is my, what I
have on my back, and that's mypuppy ashes.
My puppy had some toys that Icarried, my Bible, some pictures
(09:32):
of my puppies.
I mean nothing of.
There's not a pair of underwearin there, there's not anything
to change into, and so I hangout at jfk it's kind of in,
because it's hot too, um,they're not running a lot of air
conditioning on the generators,um, so we're all just waiting
for our luggage laying around,um, for what felt like forever,
(09:56):
um, and then finally it was likeI can't keep waiting, I need
need to get to Puerto Rico, um,so I flew into San Juan without
my stuff and stayed in San Juan.
They ended up finding it aftera couple days and so it delayed
me to getting over to the westside.
Uh, but it worked out.
Got cheap rooms by the airport,ended up getting my luggage
(10:22):
back and um got the same one,and then got over to aguada,
which was the first place, um,and you're seeing the people on
tiktok.
I love it.
It's home, man, all of thosevideos, um, and lives and stuff
that you see from the beach,that's all like within, not very
(10:44):
far, but very easily walkingdistance.
I try to point it out to you.
But of where I, where the onlyplace I've ever felt like was my
home, um, and a really greatexperience, and where I got
paloo, so right on that beachthat you see on TikTok.
Now, remember I had gone from.
(11:05):
I was getting paid $500 an hourfor me, plus all of the lawyers
that were in there, plus, plus,plus, plus plus.
We had all got real fuckingspoiled to now.
I'm broke, almost coming intoPuerto Rico, but I ended up
meeting my neighbor, jamie, andBrian.
Brian ended up dying after thehurricane.
(11:26):
Um, we'll talk about that atsome point.
I'm not wanting to talk about itright now, but Jamie is one of
the most coolest individualsthat you'll ever meet and if you
looked at her you would saywhat are you talking about?
Um, you'd be like she's alittle bit crazy.
She's um, she has seizures, shedon't have no money.
(11:49):
Uh, she's from louisiana, lovejamie.
Jamie would go out there on thatbeach that I show you, with a
little piece of chicken on astring and a net and she'd go
crabbing Just like that.
Everybody else would put outcrab pots with, like, the heads
(12:10):
of dead fish that they hadcaught.
Not Jamie man.
She'd have a sangria in onehand, probably a pouch of
sangria in one hand.
Sangria in one hand, probably apouch of sangria in one hand,
probably the net hookedsomewhere into, like where her
bra is.
And um, got chicken on a littlestring, getting those crabs and
(12:35):
she caught them.
But, um, and then you can goover to Crash Boat Beach, which
is awesome.
It's one of my favorite placesin the world too, and you could
get lobster over there.
So if you're a good free diver,you could do it.
I don't like going down thatfar, but anybody will go down
(13:03):
and get them for you andliterally pull them out.
So I learned when I first got topuerto rico that to have fresh
crab, fresh fish, fresh lobster,um, all of the fruit that
organically grows on the islandthen there's a thing that grows
we called it breadfruit that youcould do anything.
That you would do with likepotatoes, from mashed potatoes
to like french fries, towhatever.
(13:24):
But you buy a little bit ofrice, maybe a couple beans, for
a couple bucks, and you were inreally, really good shape.
And if you couldn't affordsangria, probably one of the
locals had fermented all ofthese fruits.
And I don't remember what theycall it.
They have a specific name, but,man, I'd fuck you up.
(13:44):
So every single night, well,every morning, the guys would go
out fishing, do their crab pots, do whatever Me, jamie and the
girls would kind of wake up.
Jamie was kind of the center ofthat part, and then there were
other people.
I was super poor, not trying tostand out at all.
I've been called the tall poppyin Australia.
(14:06):
I'll tell you about that, butit'll break you pretty quick.
You get called it enough tallpoppy, um.
So I was trying not to be atall poppy when I first got to
um Puerto Rico.
So I'm first got to Puerto Rico, so I look like maybe I used to
(14:29):
be something, but not for awhile.
But so everybody do their stuffduring the day and then before
it, you know, as it startedgetting later, jamie would
collect everything that everyonehad to donate to dinner,
whoever caught fish or crab orlobster or um, if somebody
bought meat or whatever.
And then, because she's fromlouisiana, she loved cooking um
(14:52):
and she would make, like alwaysa jambalaya style something,
regardless of what it was.
And the only times that Ididn't eat with those guys was
when nobody caught anything andthere was no meat.
They would use iguana and I'mlike, no, I don't want that.
They'd have the dogs go catchan iguana.
Like, yeah, I'm good, or I'dpick around it, excuse me, but
(15:23):
anyway, so totally awesome.
I love puerto rico.
Um, I ended up selling.
So to get by, I, I needed justa little over 20 a day, not much
, and so I ended up making theselittle um hearts out of some
resin, out of the sand on crashboat beach, and then I'd go city
(15:44):
crash boat beach and just kindof send them out, and when
people walk by they'd be likewhat's?
And I'd tell them it's Sanford,right there, sell them for $5
or $10, and you're pretty good.
Also, at least at the time, thephone plans were different.
Like people would have to havea different phone plan and the
ones that didn't want to whenthey came over for their
vacation but still, like, neededto check their email and stuff
(16:05):
like that.
Remember that was would havebeen like 2017 ish, 16, 17 ish,
um, I'll check my tickets andupload them to the subscribers
on tiktok so we can see theexact things together.
But anyway, um, I'd also putout a little sign that says
check your email.
Won't let your kids play on myphone plan.
(16:27):
Because I had a hotspot forlike five or ten bucks, so it
wasn't too tough to make thattwenty dollars a day.
And then they sold beers for adollar a beer and they were just
cold, so anything extra, youcould have a couple beers and
have a great time.
Um, that is when I wasn't quitesure what I was going to do and
(16:48):
Google had the developer program.
They were trying to keep upwith Apple and they didn't have
enough developers, and so theystarted advertising that for $25
, they'd let you go throughtheir courses that taught you
how to be a developer, and thenyou could get certified for life
.
And so I had a first-generationiPad, because the only thing I
had that would work.
I left all my computers andstuff in Australia.
(17:09):
I didn't know how long it wasgoing to take me to get around
the other half of the globe andhow much energy it was going to
take.
So they're still in Australia.
But anyway, puerto Rico isawesome.
The reason that I ended upleaving.
(17:31):
I would have stayed here a longtime.
Now I did start seeing thatthere was more gang stalking
once I got here.
The white people on the islandstarted saying that woman is on
our island, like.
It became more clear thatbecause, remember, I was okay in
Australia.
It was tough, they had fuckedup immigration, but I didn't go
(17:52):
through any of that type stuff,except the extra vote that I had
to go through and theimmigration lady with the tax
thing.
But they were fine before thattax thing.
That was on the way out thedoor.
But once I got here it wasclear.
But it was also funny because,uh, my friend remember my friend
(18:13):
that did the grain boat he wasjust coming into town when I got
here.
I'd been here a couple of daysand then he got here and he's
like all right, let's go have adrink.
And so we went out and had adrink and, um, sit and talking
to the people at the bar, justshooting the shit, and the
person two people, two peopleover, uh was a nice lady and
we're talking and she's like,your voice sounds familiar.
(18:34):
And I laughed and said, well, Iused to do my radio ads.
Oh, my god, I thought so.
So her boyfriend, she said youdon't look the same.
I'm like no, she came in when Istill was a little bit.
Well, I've been never thin butchunkier on and off throughout
this, depending on how manyStarbucks mochas, extra whip who
(18:55):
would you stop that I've had orsodas Coca-Cola is a horrible
addiction, so it does depend onthat.
But she's like you don't lookthe same.
I'm like.
Oh, because I had to have myhair like a lawyer then I was
still trying to fit in, I wasstill a little more chunky,
because my office was aboutcarl's cookies and starbucks,
(19:18):
and she's like oh, I'm likeyou're talking to me like you
know a lot about us.
She's like, yeah, I came inwith my boyfriend, um, I was
with him when we talked to youand you told us all of how it
was going to happen, and then,um, we hired you and you got it
dismissed, exactly like you saidit would happen.
She's like I saw what they didto you, and I was always worried
(19:40):
about you and wondered aboutyou and prayed for you.
So I'm glad to see you're okay.
Um, so that was nice, but therewas equally as many crappy
people.
The local people were oftenJust not the white ones.
So what ended up happening,though, was Irma came.
(20:00):
That was before Maria.
The herd came before Maria, andit took out the power to the
entire island, and I didn't knowwhen it was going to come back
on, and at that point, peoplethat said they were my friends
and who I believed were myfriends, saw that I might
actually be worth a little bitof money again with these app
things, so they jumped right onthat, flew me back to the States
(20:24):
so they could be board members.
We'll talk about thatindividual.
It was an app called Two forfun, um, and it will probably
get started again.
It was a great idea and it wasestimated to be worth um from
this company in texas, um, uh,over 50 million dollars.
So we'll get back, we'll dothat again, but anyway.
(20:44):
So they flew me back to seattleso I could keep working on this
and that's when Maria hit.
So I lost some of my stuff overon the island at that time and
I lost friends, for sure, and Ilost a part of my heart, my head
and my soul, but I wasn'tphysically here.
(21:07):
But that's when I had to decidewhat I was going to do.
Next.
Let me tell you about that Timein Seattle, time in Imperial
Beach, California, time inPullman, washington, and then we
ended up driving on down toCabo.
So we have more fun stuff to go.
Thank you everyone.
(21:27):
Thank you for being here.
I appreciate you.
My name is Heidi and this isthe Surviving Changes Podcast.
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