Loiza, Puerto Rico (original) (raw)

Loiza is a small town in the northern coast of Puerto Rico, near Canovanas, Carolina and San Juan. A beach-town with multiple hotels and apartment complex buildings, Loiza is on one of the two main landing paths to Luis Munoz Marin International Airport; pilots of airliners landing from the west at Luis Munoz Marin usually fly over Loiza. In the 1970s, an Aero Virgin Islands DC-3 plane crashed in a Loiza beach, with no fatalities.

Loiza was populated by African slaves early during the town's first years. Because of this, most of Loiza's population is of Black skin. Many of the people who live in Loiza live under poverty standards. Loiza has never had any professional sports teams, its proximity to San Juan in particular meaning that professional sports events arent that far away anyways.

One of Loiza's barrios, Loiza aldea, is famous across Puerto Rico. Loiza has also been a talent pool for dancers and artisans, and there is a yearly celebration in San Juan where people walk around wearing Mascaras de Loiza on their faces. Mascaras de Loiza are a type of mask made in Loiza. Usually they are made of wood and painted in multiple colors.