[upbeat Latin-tinged music] - Puerto Rico.

[speaking Spanish] It's just a short flight from the mainland.

But you can leave your passport at home.

Oh, that's right.

Despite those who say, "Go back to your own country," Puerto Rico is part of the U.S.

It's not a state.

But its inhabitants are 100% American.

And this right here is El Viejo, San Juan, the oldest part of a heavily fortified colonial city established in 1521 by none other than Ponce de Leon.

And the Spaniards named it Puerto Rico, AKA Rich Port, so you can get an idea of what their intentions were for this island.

Sugar, spices, gold, just a few of the perks the Spanish enjoyed for over 400 years.

That is, until the U.S. was happy to help, you know, liberate the island from the Spanish and make it a U.S. commonwealth.

That means Puerto Rico is neither an independent country nor an official state.

And its people don't have a vote in the U.S. Congress or in presidential elections.

Despite all of that, Puerto Ricans are unstoppable.

And their cultural impact on the U.S. and the world?

Massive.

To really get to the bottom of how Puerto Rico has not only survived but thrived requires an understanding of the cultural history of the island.

So that's what we're going to do now.

And in case you're new to this show, that's like our whole MO here.

[upbeat Latin-tinged music] ♪ [upbeat Latin-tinged music] Music has become the love language between the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

From the time of the Taínos to the enslaved Africans who were brought here later on to modern day, music has been an outlet and a voice of the people.

Even the great jazz pioneer Jelly Roll Morton once said, "You can't make jazz without certain elements of Latin music."

Well, let me-- let me translate that for you.

If it ain't got that Latin swing, it ain't a thing, all right?

And in today's political climate, Puerto Rico continues that tradition of artists using their voices to bring awareness and make change.

[Daddy Yankee's "Gasolina"] - ♪ Oh oh oh [singing in Spanish] - Listen, y'all, this is reggaeton.

And I'm sure by now you've heard of it.

Back in 2004, Daddy Yankee made it a household name with his global hit "Gasolina."

Reggaeton originated in Panama.

But Puerto Rico became known for the genre when Afro-Latino artists like Tego Calderon and Ivy Queen used the platform to tackle racism and political issues.

- [singing in Spanish] - Now, the number one artist in the world is Bad Bunny, who's taken the genre to the next level with hits like "I Like It," featuring Cardi B and J Balvin.

In 2022 alone, his music had well over 10 billion streams.

[upbeat music] This art form has become the voice of the next generation, including Puerto Rican artist Villano Antillano-- - [singing in Spanish] - --who Bad Bunny himself showcased as the next big thing to come out of the Reggaeton world.

- [singing in Spanish] ♪ - Oh my god.

That's hot.

- Hey.

- That's so hot.

- You like this?

- How are you?

- How are you?

- How you doing?

- How are you doing?

- [laughs] That beat is hot.

- Oh, yeah.

Isn't it?

- Yeah.

- I love Reggaeton.

- Me too.

- Yeah.

- I thought it'd be over by now though.

I thought, OK. - Yeah.

- [laughs] - Because I was like, oh, it's not going to last.

- I didn't really start in Reggaeton.

I feel like now, I found, like, a space.

Like, I, sort of, like, dipped my feet in Reggaeton.

And then I was like, ooh, the water's nice.

And I stayed there.

- [laughs] So play a little bit.

Play-- I want to hear it some more.

- [singing in Spanish] ♪ - Pa pa. - It's hot.

[laughter] - So-- so how did you get your start?

- Well, basically, I started making music with a collective that's called La Maldad.

And they're basically, like, a cultural project.

And they-- - Socially conscious.

- Yeah, yeah, they're very proud of our roots.

And they're doing a lot specifically for the queer community.

They knew that I made music.

And they saw something in me, Mitxhell De Leon specifically.

That's my baby.

And he was like, yo, I really like what you do.

And I think that I want to, like, give you the space for you to perfect it, and, like, I have a studio so I can just record you.

- Yeah, oh, amazing.

Amazing.

- Unheard of.

And that's how I got my start.

- And has your work changed since then to now?

- Entirely.

- Yeah, yeah?

- Like, everything.

It's been a lot of growing, you know, because, like, when I started releasing music with La Maldad, I was male-presenting.

I still go by the same name, which is Villano Antillano.

- The music collective La Maldad helped launch Villano's career with early hits like "Pájara."

- [singing in Spanish] - And my gender changed.

My gender expression changed.

I grew sonically.

And, like, when I medically transitioned, like, how I understood music changed.

- Changed as well.

- Because your brain changes.

And the way you process data and information changes.

- Oh, wow.

- Being true to herself paid off when her hit "Bzrp Music Sessions, number 51" found international success.

- [singing in Spanish] ♪ - Now you're a-- a huge star.

Can I say that?

- Yeah, I think so.

- Like, blew up.

- [laughs] - Congratulations.

- Thanks.

Thanks.

That's really nice.

- And it's pretty amazing.

- Yeah, it is.

- For you to be this big a star in-- in Puerto Rico in the world.

I mean, it's-- it's incredible what you're doing.

You're a pioneer.

- Thank you.

- And her fame keeps growing.

She recently became the first trans artist to crack Spotify's global top 50.

And check out her TikTok likes, over 6 million strong.

And what do you attribute your-- your success?

- I just think that as a human being, I've had to work, like, ten times harder than anyone just to be, like, granted.

Not even then, because I was never granted a seat at the table.

I grabbed the seat.

And I put it at the table.

And I sat there.

- [laughs] - And-- - Now what?

- Exactly.

- I'm at the table.

What?

- And I'm-- and I'm here.

- Villano is not only here, but she is making Puerto Rico and the world pay attention to the things that matter to her.

- Why is it that I'm 27 years old and I've never sought it with a trans doctor, you know, like a woman who was a trans woman who was a doctor?

Why do you make my life and the life of my collective so difficult?

Now I have a lot of, like, more resources and things that I didn't have before to tell my story and our stories better.

- What do you want to do with your story?

How do you want to move it forward?

- I think it just does that by itself.

I feel like now, I can just focus on being a superstar.

And people are going to, like, naturally be like, oh, this person had overcome so many of these things to get to where they are.

And they're going to look into that and be like, you know, why is it so hard for these people?

At the end of the day, I'm like, that's for the public to look into and think about.

- We're doing it.

- Yeah, no, I mean-- - The mo-- for the most part.

Society may be slowing catching up to trans issues.

But Villano is not waiting.

She's living her life on her terms and saying the things that need to be said.

- The obstacles are so many.

Puerto Rico is one of the most violent places to live in as a woman on this hemisphere also.

It's horrible, like, horrible.

We have death rates that are, like, just ridiculous.

That ties into a social revolution.

Literally is fighting against patriarchy and machismo and misogyny and all these things that are expected of women and that are imposed usually by men because most of the perceptions of what society thinks a woman has to do are ideas that a man came up with.

I feel like machismo and patriarchy is like, y'all are --- up.

- Is-- is part of the problem also that Puerto Rico is a commonwealth?

Is that part of the problem?

- I think the commonwealth is a farce.

And it's just a fancy term that is employed to hide the fact that we're a colony.

I feel like when you take a nation and you impoverish them, and you, like, destroy their education system, there's a lot of poverty.

There's a lot of, like, hunger.

And so, like, we're-- we get violent.

All of that ties back to the fact that we're not an educated population.

I'm, like, giving you a crash course of, like-- - Yeah, no, I know.

And I love it.

I love it.

- --why Puerto Rico is so --- up.

- Please do.

Puerto Rico for dummies.

- You know, it doesn't get to, like, if we were our own country.

Sadly, we're never going to know because we've never been our own country.

- Right.

- So I can't hypothesize.

- Yeah.

- But it's going to take years for us to become a more conscious people.

It's a lot.

It's a lot of things that-- - There's a lot going on in Puerto Rico, the devastation from Maria, Irma, the earthquake.

And yet, you're creating great music.

I mean, I-- that's what I see walk-- going through the island, yeah.

- But I feel like, historically, that's also-- we've also been very inclined into the arts because it's-- they've been a diversion from our problems.

- And that's where great art comes from.

It-- it is, sort of, a release valve.

- Sadly.

[chuckles] - Yeah, you know, an escapist.

- Yeah, it is a lot of escapism.

- Yeah.

- That's the precise word.

- Yeah.

- I feel like what we do in our music and a lot of Puerto Ricans do regardless is just, we make the story prettier and more attractive.

- Yeah.

- And, like, there's this magic to it.

- Magical realism.

- Or artist, yeah.

- Making life a little more fun, more exciting than it really was.

- Yeah.

- Art is what helps us survive everything.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, like, why not?

- [chuckles] - Why not, right?

Well, thank you for having me here.

What a pleasure.

Thank you for sharing.

- Sure thing.

Thank you for coming.

- Yeah.

- Thank you for stopping by.

- Villano is a great example of how Puerto Ricans combat obstacles with art and beauty.

- [singing in Spanish] - And she's far from being alone.

- [singing in Spanish] ♪ [upbeat Latin-tinged music] ♪ - Outside the fortress walls of El Viejo San Juan, you'll find the colorful and very private community of La Perla.

The settlement was created in the 18th century when the Spanish ruled Puerto Rico and forced enslaved Africans and nonwhite servants to live apart from the rest of the community.

It was a rough existence.

[suspenseful music] ♪ But the people had a secret-- [percussive music] --that allowed them to express themselves, communicate, and preserve their culture.

♪ Bomba.

♪ - [laughs] --- is hot.

What are you playing that's so hot?

- Bomba, man.

Bomba.

- That's Bomba.

What is Bomba?

- Basically, Bomba was developed mostly around the 1500s to 1600s.

- That early on.

Wow.

- Yes, by the enslaved people that were brought during the slave trade and the colonization of Puerto Rico.

And also, before the Spanish came here, there were a native Indigenous people, Taínos.

- Right.

Right.

- And so Bomba is actually a mixture of the different ethnicities that came to the island.

- It's a fingerprint of-- - Fingerprint of Puerto Rico.

- Enslaved Africans created Bomba more than 400 years ago, not only as a form of music, but as a way to share secret messages.

Certain moves or beats became codes and could be a protest or even a shout-out that they were plans to do something like open up a can of whoop ass and rebel.

Now when the colonizers finally got a clue about subversive messages buried in the beats, the ongoing battle to silence movements of independence began and have continued into modern times.

- It was gag laws.

- It is, yeah.

- Implemented, like, in the '50s.

- In the '50-- 1950s?

- Yeah, yeah.

- That late.

- Not that long ago.

- Yeah, yeah.

- To break it up.

- Police would come, arrest people, you know.

It-- it wasn't permitted.

- Yep.

- Bomba represents that resistance to oppression by governments or other countries as well.

- The families just held onto it-- to it.

- So they-- they kept it together.

And they kept the Bomba going, but in private spaces and family spaces.

- Right, right, right.

In secret.

Puerto Ricans have been fighting colonialism for five centuries.

The U.S. took the reins from Spain in 1898.

Since then, whenever there's been a push to become an independent nation, both the U.S. and Puerto Rican governments have said, not so fast.

I mean, get this.

You see this flag?

Pretty, right?

But as recently as the 1950s, it was against the law to fly it anywhere in the country.

Why?

Because it was a symbol of independence.

The ban is gone now.

But so is the original flag.

The shade of blue was changed to match the good old stars and stripes.

But through it all, Bomba has survived.

[percussive music] It's incredible how, sometimes, culture can disappear.

But a few people can bring it back to life.

And then, it has a whole new existence.

- We lost a lot.

- When we talk about Bombas, we have the drums.

- Yeah, yeah.

- And they actually have two roles.

We have one that keeps the groove going.

[percussive music] - We call that... - Buleador.

- And we also have...

He's the one who actually provides notes on the drum.

- There's also the...

The space where we play, which is batey.

- Batey, yes.

- Batey is basically the center of the community.

Anybody from the community can come learn and play.

- Right.

- It's not-- - So it's open.

It's open to everyone.

- Yeah, it's very open, batey.

- Yeah, yeah.

- So it's-- every Friday, we play our hearts out and-- - And so you're going to do that tonight.

You're going to play your hearts out.

- Of course.

- We are.

We can take you there.

- Oh, I can't wait.

- But I would like to show you some steps so you can-- - Yeah, please.

So I don't show up, like, you know-- - Yeah, man.

- [chuckles] So you can have some-- - --unarmed.

- But OK. Let's do it.

- If I were to be dancing, I say hello to the drummer.

And I would move.

♪ - Yo, this is totally off the chain.

There's a call and response between dancer and drummer.

You're not dancing to their beats.

The drummer plays the beats that go with your steps.

- So he has to keep up with you?

- Yeah.

- Exactly.

- You're setting the tone of the beat.

- I need to be aware of what he's doing.

- Right, right.

- Come on.

♪ - Every rhythm has a step.

This one is the basic step for sica.

You put your point, side, point, side.

Now quick, point, side, point.

There you go.

That's a basic step.

And now we're just going to move through the space.

We call this el paseo.

It's like taking a stroll.

- Right.

- So when you're ready to start, you look for the primo.

You salute.

And let's start carrerita.

There you go.

Quicker now.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

And now jump.

Say goodbye.

- Well, that was hot.

That was hot, man.

- Yeah.

Looking good.

- Really good.

That was good.

That was nice.

- So you're good?

Yeah, yeah, real good.

That's-- - So do you want to go to the batey?

- Yeah, let's go to the batey.

- Let's go.

- [chuckles] [gentle music] Now you'll see all the people gathering here.

And they'll-- they'll sing their heart out all night.

- It already sounds incredible.

- Yeah, man.

[all singing in Spanish] ♪ - Walking towards the batey, the ceremonial space, is an emotional experience.

And it's easy to see how this community has kept Bomba alive... [all singing in Spanish] - By continuing to pass it down to future generations.

[all singing in Spanish] ♪ - But it's when you join in that you really start to get it.

- [singing in Spanish] ♪ - With every slap on the drums, you start to feel the heartbeat of this place.

Through dance, song, and music the people here both tell stories and experience them.

They become a part of them.

- [singing in Spanish] ♪ - Even this space, the batey, connects them directly to the Indigenous Taíno roots of this island, reminded to never forget the past.

[all singing in Spanish] ♪ [gentle music] - [singing in Spanish] ♪ [gentle music] - I'm heading to the center of the island to one of the most important pre-Columbian archaeological sites in the world, the Caguana Ceremonial Grounds, a sacred place for the Taíno people who thrived here until the 15th century before colonizers like Columbus arrived on the island and changed the course of history.

Some archaeologists argue that the Taíno bloodline no longer exists.

I believed that too and even mentioned it in my show "Latin History for Morons."

So Columbus enslaves all the Taínos until he exterminate them.

And that, my lovely morons, is called the Caribbean Holocaust.

And that is the end of the Taínos and their time on Earth.

[percussive music] But here's the thing-- - --after my show, I got a letter from a woman who said, hold on a minute.

She's Taíno and very much alive.

So I met with some members of her tribe to educate myself.

- Historians in the PR government claimed the Taíno people have been conquered and wiped out.

But Bebe Naniki and Pluma insist that that's a myth.

- [laughs] - Can you tell us where exactly are we here?

- This is Caguana, one of our ceremonial centers that, unfortunately, we continue to struggle to be able to manage and caretake this space.

The government has basically said it's theirs.

And there's no more native people here.

So they are the ones to take care.

They see this as a dead place.

Those stones that you're going to see are live beings.

They're not just stones.

You know, every part of this area is sacred.

- Incrreíble... it's the same fight of Indigenous people-- - All over the world.

- --all up and down North, and South, and Central America to protect their lands, to get respect, to protect what was theirs, and-- and to get something back from what was stolen.

So how many Taíno are living and existing today?

"Smithsonian Magazine" has reported that 61% of all Puerto Ricans have trace Taíno DNA.

But here's the thing, the Puerto Rican government does not recognize the existing members of the Taíno community as an active tribe because the percentage of Taíno DNA in their blood isn't high enough to qualify.

Without representation and, at the very least, acknowledgment, what chance do the Taíno people have of getting their ancestral lands, like this one, given back to them or protected?

- We fought really hard around the issue of the privatization of Caguana because we understood very clearly that it was a test.

Let me calm down a second.

This illegal junta that's been imposed here by the United States would have decided to sell it off.

- Mm-hmm.

- Our sacred sites are not for sale.

- Right.

Strong language and a sentiment shared by many of the Puerto Ricans on the island as well.

Bebe Naniki feels that the U.S. involvement in Puerto Rican politics has put Caguana at risk of being developed for commercial use.

For decades, the Taíno people of Puerto Rico have taken their fight around the world asking for help from various organizations, including the UN.

And while their voices have been heard, still no formal decisions have been made.

- Their hope is to be recognized as an official tribe.

But how do you validate your existence?

What evidence does the government need?

Do you think the DNA test helps?

- Right.

I had-- had a feeling.

- Ah.

- Mixed race people are one major side effect of colonization.

And being Latino means that you are intrinsically of mixed blood.

But who gets to decide how much of your DNA makes you part of any one community?

If Indigenous blood is measured as proof of tribal membership, then depending on who sets the standard membership could also be denied.

For Bebe Naniki and Pluma, measuring DNA alone is not as valuable as the stories and traditions passed down from their families.

And the Caguana Ceremonial Center is a big part of that.

- [laughs] - Thank you.

[gentle music] Surrounded by their ancestors, this traditional ceremony is meant to bond our relationship as friends by making me a part of the community, an extended family member.

[maracas rattling] As the guatiao, or oath exchange, began, I felt instantly transported.

- [chanting] - With each gust of cleansing smoke, I felt a deeper connection to this place and its people.

- [all shouting, chanting] [horns tooting] [all shouting, chanting] - It's a powerful feeling that overtakes you.

I felt, like, you know, ancestors calling on me.

And yeah, I-- I felt all that.

It was very powerful.

- Don't find it weird if you start dreaming with ancestors because the ones that you are acknowledge them, they find a way to communicating.

- Bring it.

Bring it.

[laughter] I'm ready for it.

Give me some wisdom.

I'll take it.

You can't help but appreciate how special this place is.

And it's clear how important it is to native peoples.

It's my hope that it can continue to be used by the Taíno people as a gathering place for generations to come.

And from this point forward, I will carry Pluma's words with me.

We are not ghosts.

We are not extinct.

That is a myth.

[suspenseful music] ♪ [wind howling] [upbeat Latin-tinged music] Ponce was the capital of the South Coast of Puerto Rico under Spanish rule until the U.S. took the reins in 1898, relocating the center of commerce to San Juan.

This colonial city was one of the areas hit hardest by Hurricane Maria in 2017, the earthquakes in 2020, and then again by Hurricane Fiona in 2022.

[wind howling] I'm meeting with community advocate Javier de Jesus Martínez, architect and entrepreneur, who is determined to revive Ponce to its former grandeur.

- Many buildings were damaged, primarily because of the hurricanes.

Some of the buildings that were hit were hit again, in this case by the earthquake.

- Ah.

- It was double damaged.

- Right.

- And there's a whole process of reconstruction going on right now.

- Really?

To restore all these buildings?

- Yes.

Well-- - Are you going to be able to do them all?

- Yes, it-- they depends.

The ones that are on the public realm, there's things that are already back into-- into construction.

But the process of reconstructing a city or region, you have to consider the emotional, the cultural, the identity of a place in order to rebuild it.

If you are not considering those, you will have a ghost town.

I love cities.

I grew up in cities.

I traveled cities.

So I try to develop the cities in terms of their culture.

I'm also the founder of a school of architecture that exists in the city.

So I have a relationship with the-- with Ponce.

- What is the difference between old Ponce and the Ponce that we're seeing today?

- If we go back to the 19th century, Ponce was the commercial capital of Puerto Rico.

So the port was responsible for bringing products from Europe, managing those into the islands.

- It was a cultural hub.

- Yes.

- I mean, because you're equidistant from South America and the US.

It's the first country that you hit as you're coming from Europe.

- It was a cosmopolitan city with theaters, with music, with architecture.

- Yeah, yeah.

- After the change in sovereignty, many, many political decisions and economical decisions shift that activity into the Port of San Juan.

We have an economical crisis.

- Right.

- So it's not just the port.

It's old Puerto Rico.

It's finance.

It's economics.

And it's psychology.

- So how do we guide Puerto Rico out of this situation that Puerto Rico is in?

Because it gets hit by hurricane.

And then it gets hit by an earthquake.

I mean, all these things are devastating.

- I think identity, community, and culture are the foundation for us in order to-- to rebuild into the future.

- And what-- what do you mean by that?

- When-- when we go back to the days after those disasters, when there is no satellite, when there's no internet, when there's no TV, all we had, it was community, culture, and our identity.

- Right.

Because you didn't get the FEMA funding.

- It's a very long process in order to-- to get the reconstruction done.

- Who could forget the infamous paper towel incident when Donald Trump thought he was greeting fans and passing out swag in the aftermath of a disastrous Hurricane Maria?

Clearly, that wasn't the kind of help the people needed.

When Hurricane Fiona hit in 2022, the U.S. government stepped up and made a $60 million pledge to aid in the recovery.

As good as it was to finally get some attention and help, actually getting the money to the people is a slow process.

And Puerto Ricans' needs are still not being met.

So yeah, I-- I think part of the problem, Puerto Rico has three paths, right?

One is staying a commonwealth, going to statehood, or-- or going towards independence.

So what's going to make the U.S. care about what's going on here?

- I think you're pointing out to-- to a basic fundamental problem in Puerto Rico.

In order for a society to develop, depends on the capacity of that group of people of taking decisions.

So if you're not allowing a group of people making decisions, then you're allowing them to be completely colonized for the rest of their lives.

- Right.

Right.

- And in the case of Puerto Rico, right now, that political division still fragmenting the different intentions of society.

- You mean those who want commonwealth, those who want an independent side?

- Yes.

- So they're-- everybody's fighting against each other.

- Yes.

- The 2020 referendum in PR showed 52% of the island for statehood and 47% against it.

But despite the different perspectives, there's still a tremendous sense of community in Puerto Rico.

- The day that a hurricane hit us, the day the series of earthquake hit us, we realized that we have the capacity of getting together, sitting down, looking to each other, and realize, you know what?

If we're going somewhere, it's because we decided.

- Yeah.

- And Puerto Ricans, we have passed that moment.

There's communities are working in energy, water, participation.

It's difficult.

This is not something that will happen a day and a week.

But if we listen and if we be civilized, the right stories, the ones that really are constructing the new imaginary of-- of a future Puerto Rico, that-- that's what Puerto Ricans have to decide.

I have my position.

- Right.

- I want my country to be an independent country that can have negotiations with the United States and with the rest of the world.

That's fantastic.

- I know.

- Yes, it's going to be difficult.

- It sucks, yeah.

- It's going to be tough.

- But I hear you.

I mean, yeah, I-- I just think there has to be a choice made, you know, independence or statehood.

- Yeah.

- I'm more selfish.

- Well-- - Because I-- I grew up in the States.

So I want Puerto Rico to be a state.

- It's never too late.

If we have performed great on the past, it means that there is blood, that there is identity, that there is proud in Puerto Rico.

And I invest all myself on that because I'm pretty sure, from the ashes, they're going to come out a new era.

So I'm passionate about-- - I can see that.

- I'm passionate about it.

[laughs] - Good luck with that.

- Thank you.

- I hope to come back and see a beautiful thriving Ponce.

- I'm pretty sure you will.

- Thank you.

And no, it's been awesome.

- [chuckles] - Thank you.

You educated me.

[upbeat Latin-tinged music] Change may be on the horizon.

In December 2022, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill, the first of its kind that would allow Puerto Rico to hold a binding vote that would offer three options, statehood, independence, or sovereignty with free association.

There are still roadblocks.

But this would be a huge step in recognizing that Puerto Ricans should have a say about their status and their future.

[upbeat Latin-tinged music] - Ponce's vibrant community spirit shines beyond the rubble of recent disasters.

And it's easy to see that the people of this city still know how to bring the party.

♪ Like many places around the world, Puerto Rico celebrates Carnival.

But in Ponce, a mischievous character steals the show and the hearts of the community, the vejigante.

And the art form of making vejigante masks is so important here, it has its own museum.

- I met up with Chelimar, a volunteer who teaches visitors about Ponce's Carnival celebration and, of course, its star, the vejigante.

- It's a character participates in a Carnival.

His purpose is to bring joy, happiness.

He usually does that through dancing and music and being mischievous.

He chased little kids and scare them, steal things.

Well, not really stealing.

Borrowing.

- Borrowing, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So vejigante is not the mask.

It's the wearer at the ceremony.

- Yes.

Having the horns, being covered from head to toe, not recognizable.

And nobody should know who the vejigante is.

- The vejigante tradition began in medieval Spain and made its way to Puerto Rico 300 years ago, where communities like Ponce made it their own.

- Masks can be in many different sizes.

It can be made with many different colors.

It can be made with many different material.

Here, we exhibit a mascara that is made out of higuera.

Higuera is a seed from a tree.

And its purpose is to keep evil spirits away from the home.

- I-- I guess the scarier the mask, the better job you do of keeping-- - Yeah, it's-- it's the same as the gargoyles on churches.

- Right.

Right.

Right.

- Same-- same job.

- Same principle, yeah.

- Mm-hmm.

- The artist who created these masks, Don Miguel Angel Pérez Santiago, was a huge force in Ponce's vejigante culture.

When he died, the community banded together to preserve his art.

- His family did not know what to do with his property.

They just wanted to throw everything away.

- Right.

- And then, my grandfather and his colleague came forward to the family.

And they're like, hey, I don't think that-- - [laughs] - --throwing away these things are the wisest choice.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- So they decided to donate the house to make this a museum.

Every city has their own Carnival.

And there wasn't a museum to educate people that came to visit.

And it was such a magical thing.

- The materials in each mask are connected to the artist community.

Coconut masks come from Loíza.

Mesh masks from Hatillo.

And Ponce masks carry a distinctive five horns.

These vejigante masks are used to celebrate Carnival, also known as Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday.

This week-long celebration, yeah, a whole week of partying, is when Ponce really lets its hair down.

These festivals are often accompanied by another traditional Puerto Rican art form, plena.

[all singing in Spanish] - Plena music originated in Ponce and is famous all over the island for its call-and-response lyrics that can date back more than a century.

The instruments and rhythms are born from Native and African influences.

Today, a local band has gathered with the community to show us how Carnival is celebrated here in Ponce.

And guess who's going to join in the festivities?

[thunder rumbling] [rain pattering] [indistinct chatter] - Bye-Bye.

- Yeah.

- I'm no longer John anymore.

Vejigante.

- [singing in Spanish] ♪ - Now let me tell you, the spirit and beauty of Ponce and its people is something I have long admired from afar.

But being smack in the middle of it is a whole other thing.

This community, like all others in Puerto Rico, is proud of who it is.

The people persist.

They thrive.

And more importantly, they stay true to themselves.

- [singing in Spanish] [cheers and applause] - That was great.

I almost had a heart attack.

But it was worth it.

Gracias a todos ustedes.

Gracias.

I can't wait to come back and see this city rebuilt to its old glory.

The people of Ponce deserve it.

Thank you.

Gracias, reina.

[all shouting in Spanish] - I'm heading East from Ponce to a town called Juncos, a farming community known for its fertile soil and natural beauty.

It's in the foothills of this region that you'll find a restaurant called Bacoa.

And yo, let me tell you, this is not just any restaurant.

Thanks to Chef Raúl Correa, René Marichal, and Xavier Pachecó, it's widely considered one of the best restaurants in the world.

Hola, caballeros.

Qué placer.

- Oh, nice to meet you.

[all speaking Spanish] - Thank you.

Gracias, papito.

Yeah, what a beautiful spot this is.

- Yeah.

- I mean, the beautiful breeze, the beautiful location.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- How'd you make this happen?

- We all have our own spaces.

And we were looking to incorporate our-- ourselves, you know, to work together and have a life project.

- This is our homage to-- - Yeah.

- That was our abuelas food, you know.

This is a place where we-- we can look back and also at the same time see the future.

- So you're taking traditional recipes that your mom, your grandparents, as a jumping off place?

- We're Puerto Ricans.

We believe in our cuisine.

We believe in sponsoring farmers and all around that.

And what's Puerto Rican cuisine?

Because Puerto Rican cuisine has evolved.

It's not simply Mofongo, rice, and beans.

We have a lot of people from many other places that they have the third generations here in Puerto Rico.

- Like a pan Latin, kind of, a fusion.

- Definitely.

- That's the main idea, yeah.

Bacoa, the name is a combination of two words, Coa.

Coa is the instrument that Taínos used to work the land.

- Oh, OK. - And barbacoa is open fire.

- Right.

- So Bacoa is coa and barbacoa together.

And that's what we do here.

- No, it sounds incredible.

It sounds incredible.

- And now you're here.

So let's see you do something in the kitchen.

- Yeah, yeah, I'm ready to give back.

[laughter] - Go back to the kitchen; I have to leave.

I have a plane to catch, but I'm going to leave you-- - Oh, you're so busy, Mr. Busy.

- Yeah.

- Sorry.

Sorry.

But-- don't mean to keep you - You're with this guy, OK?

- All right.

All right.

- Good.

- I've been hearing about Bacoa for a long time.

And getting an invite to mess around in their kitchen is something I do not take lightly.

Though I played a chef in a movie once, let me tell you, I am no chef in real life.

But I'm always down for a challenge.

- Yeah, the dishes that we're going to do today is called funche.

- Funche.

- Funche, yes.

This dish is a very humble dish.

It also comes from our African heritage.

- Right.

Right.

- My father used to tell me it was a dish when he didn't have no money and you-- - Survival food.

- Survival food.

- Yes.

- That means very basics.

It's cornmeal, coconut water, coconut milk.

And we do equal parts of coconut milk and coconut water.

- Oh, wow.

Beautiful.

- So you come here.

[sizzling] - Oh.

- This here is called called el burén.

- El burén.

- El burén is very similar to La Plancha.

- Right.

- Xavier will teach you later how to cook fish here.

- The grill.

It's a grill, in English, here.

- It's a grill.

- Yeah.

- But it's a grill.

It's a wood fire grill.

- Yeah, I can-- nothing like wood fire.

- Yeah, no, I know.

- Right.

- You want to whisk it?

- Nothing ventured, nothing whisked.

- Do your thing.

Work it.

- I'm working it, my brother.

I'm working it.

- Work it.

- Yeah.

- You know what?

You're going to add in here, we call them funche.

In the U.S., you might call them grits or something similar.

- Oh, grits.

- Or if you go to Italy, you call them polenta.

- Right.

But where does it all come from?

- It's all come-- - Our people because corn did-- - Our people.

Our people.

- Our corn is ours.

And our corn products are ours.

- Yes, sir.

We've been-- we've been before everybody.

- That's right.

Another little food factoid for you.

The idea of barbecue was not born in the U.S., as some believe.

In fact, it originated right here in the Caribbean with the Taíno people, who called it barbacoa.

- This is what we do in Bacoa.

Remember, everything that we do, we put wood fire.

- Mmm.

- Yeah.

- Oh my gosh.

It's incredible, bro.

- Right?

- I've had grits all my life.

But this is way better than any grits I've ever had.

- Hey, coconut water.

Local coconut water.

- Mmm.

Mmm.

- Local coconut milk.

This is part of what we're doing.

This is the same funche.

But we're just playing with the texture.

It's the same stuff, just different texture.

It's all about the texture, man.

It's all about the look.

- It's like a-- like a consommé.

- It is a soup.

It's a consommé.

- Yeah, oh my god.

It's incredible.

- It is a foam.

It could be a whipped cream.

- Mmm.

- You can call it whatever.

This is where we come from.

And this is where we're going - Yeah, yeah, I got you.

It's amazing how the passion for their past has led these chefs to create forward-thinking dishes, bringing Puerto Rican cuisine to new heights with the same humble ingredients they have loved all their lives.

- I-- I wish that Raúl is going to clean my kitchen before I start cooking.

- Ah!

[laughs] - Mira, mira.

I'm going to set it up for you.

- In fact, Chef Xavier Pachecó has cooked around the world, but found himself back in his home of Puerto Rico with one goal, bringing the ingredients of this tropical paradise to the world.

- I'm going to start playing with our local swordfish.

- Oh, local swordfish.

- We're going to sear this.

We need some oil.

- Is that too much oil?

Or is that enough?

- No, that's perfect.

- All right.

All right.

- Then we're going to finish at the wood oven.

- So we're going to sear the flavors.

- Sear the flavor.

- Lock in the freshness-- - That's right.

- --and-- and the juices.

- And the juices.

And then-- - And then-- and then, bake it through.

- That's right.

- These are sweet potato leaves.

They're, like, little bitter, like sweet charred.

- Mmm.

Yeah, yeah.

- So we're going to sauté them.

And then, we're going to plate.

And people, it's-- they're going to believe that you are really, really good chef.

- Oh, yeah.

OK. All right.

I don't know.

I, kind of, feel like Chef Xavier didn't have me do any of the actual cooking.

I feel a little judged.

But, you know, as the saying goes, if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.

I just hope they don't forget about me, because I'm ready for some of that damn fine food.

Hey, hey.

How's it going?

- Hey.

- [speaking Spanish] - You cleaned up well.

[laughter] - Sit down.

Sit down.

Sit down.

- Our parents experienced poverty or our grandparents experienced poverty.

- Yeah.

- And-- and it gets trickled down through the memories, through storytelling, a nostalgia for what they went through.

- Yeah, man.

- So that's why funche for you reminds you of your parents' struggle.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- So it's good food.

- Yes.

- Yeah, yeah.

- And simple is difficult.

- Yes.

- Really.

It's really difficult.

- Right.

Right.

It's more work.

It's-- it's definitely more work when you don't have gas and you got to do it all by wood fire.

- And let me tell you this, this is the dish that you just make.

- Yes.

Yes.

- Yes.

- This is the swordfish with the bat leaf, and confit tomatoes, and brown butter.

And this is carne frita, which is a smoke pork.

And then, we did fry it in the wood fire oven with a bunch of onions and local peppers.

This is probably one of the first dishes that we ever put in the menu.

- Yeah, yeah.

Yo, I don't know if the camera is doing this food justice, because this is some of the most beautiful food I have ever seen.

It's the kind of meal your eyes get to enjoy as much as your mouth.

Mmm.

- Es diferente.

- So good.

- We're very grateful and humble-- - Thank you for being here.

- --for having you here.

- Oh, thank you for having us, man.

- Your generosity, your friendship, is beautiful, man.

I feel it.

- Thank you, hermano.

- Gracias.

[gentle music] - As I start to unpack my journey through Puerto Rico and reflect on the incredible people I've met here, it's clear that sharing an identity is important.

This island and its people are all working to preserve and protect their roots in history.

From the Indigenous Taínos, whose language music, food, and traditions still live on, to the contribution so many African peoples made to this island, Puerto Rico is a rich port indeed.

[upbeat Latin-tinged music] ♪ ♪♪