PUERTO RICO: IS THIS AMERICA??

thank you to Squarespace for sponsoring this video it's a tropical Caribbean island with beautiful beaches great food and good-looking people Puerto Rico is a type of paradise that many people dream of work so hard in their day jobs to be able to enjoy and for many Americans that dream isn't too far out of reach because technically it's America and it has been ever since 1898 when it was taken by force after the Spanish American War ending 400 years of Spanish colonial rule and making it a US controlled [Music] territory Puerto Rico's origin story starts much earlier than the arrival of the Spanish in the 15th century more than a thousand years before Columbus the island was inhabited by the indigenous tyo people who called their Island Bing Ken and much of modern day boriqua culture stems from the Island's indigenous Heritage the colonial settlement of the Spanish in the early 1500s saw the tyo population drastically reduce due to a mixture of diseases and the introduction of enoma a system of extreme forced labor which saw tyo people in many cases worked to death [Music] I'm in the old historic Center of San Juan and this city has so much history we're talking 500 years of History so when the Spanish colonized the island of puer foro they decided to make San Juan their base and that's what they called it the city of San Juan so it's built on a hill and it has a very good vantage point over the coast which is why for them strategically made sense to have their base here and they built these incredible fortresses and castles to defend against Invaders it's a really beautiful area there's so many colorful Colonial houses and the architecture is very beautiful it really reminds me of other historical centers from the colonial era which I've seen in other Caribbean and Latin American countries it's a really nice place to walk around and just soak up some of that history this is one of the plazas in the historical Center and I absolutely love it because this is just a very relaxing place and you always see a lot of local life here I wanted to take the opportunity to talk about the sponsor of this video Squarespace they're an online website design service and they really helped me in my journey to creating a website a lot of people find it very daunting I know I did when I first started with the thought of making a website because I had no previous knowledge of how to build one and I know a lot of people feel the same Squarespace are incredible they make it really really straightforward for you to create a really professional beautiful looking website so they've got lots and lots of very nice looking ready-made templates they also have just launched a new AI technology which is Squarespace blueprint AI with this brand new AI technology it makes it very easy to select what pages you want for your website you can also feed it what your website is all about and it will come up with a professionally written really catchy bio making it really really easy to come up with a very stylish website so I used Squarespace for example and I came up with a really beautiful mobile template which is incredible because they have both website and mobile compatibility and it has just been such a straightforward way of creating my website so if you need a website for your passion project or your business I really recommend checking out Squarespace you get a free trial and once you're ready to launch your website you can get 10% off using my code Molen Angelica when you visit W space.com Millen Angelica during the Spanish Colonial period thousands of enslaved Africans were brought to the island to work in the gold mines and the sugar coffee and tobacco plantations that fueled the Island's economy several of the Island's musical genres have deep African roots and have evolved from ways of coping during times of violent oppression into expressions of Ora culture and resistance today [Music] [Music] [Music] this is the first time that I've listening to pla music pla is native to Puerto Rico it's pretty amazing though like you can really feel how connected the Puerto Ricans are to like the music of their land the music [Music] of for do you like this music a lot the pla music so the first thing that I would say is I am not a black person so pla uh came from black people in here in the Caribbean um and it is ancestral communion because they will sing songs about uh enslaved people and how they resisted yeah it's like a way to um through that storytelling keep um our history yeah and do you feel like it yeah like it connects you to your like history ancestors you can learn a lot from hearing the songs and the stories that they tell yeah [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] amazing 25 minutes up into the hills from San Juan is one of the Island's oldest weekend lunch Traditions the winding roads are dotted with Leonas specializing in one thing and one thing only Leon whole pigs slow roasted for up to 8 hours over hot charcoal ranoa is an institution in the world of lechon and has been serving up mouthwatering pork to its loyal customers for three generations wow [Music] so you are taking over so you're learning yeah so yeah it's done it's like it's ready yeah Wow first thing that they cut is the head whoa whoa okay this is an absolute Feast of everything traditional Puerto skin your this is the pork cheek and it just looks so tender stunning piece of meat let's try some of this pork shoulder now it's amazing as soon as you put it into your mouth and you start cheer just crackles so this is what you call bastellis in side you have pork and then around it you have What's called the Masa which is basically a mixture of green banana pumpkin then they stuff it with the pork wrap it in the Banana Leaf and steam [Music] it it's almost like mashed up pork and it's so good I love your accent no thank you are you from well your but you live St are you all live in the States now yeah we all live in the States now yeah whereabouts New Jersey New Jersey is this your first time back for for I actually been multiple times already here with my auns or my sister you moved to the states when you were very young my mom yeah she moved there over and then we did a couple years but we'll come back and visit most of the time cuz it's quite unusual obviously it's of the United States yeah US Territory so US Territory but so culturally different to the USA try to keep our you know yeah like if people ask you like where are you from or do you would you do you feel more like would you sayto Rican or would you say Americans I always say Puerto Rican it's always going to St in my heart I'm always going to be that Puerto Rican girl even if I go to America you know I can get Americanized but I'm still going to say hey I'm like Puerto Rican like it's me everything that I basically from here I brought it back to America and it's always been like that I was like I can still have my culture and everything and the experiences and my food and every you know be able to share that with everybody else fromer so I love it I love it that's nice that's really nice the historic neighborhood of laera sits just outside what used to be the Oldtown City walls and has Prime views overlooking the bay this is a tight-nit community of residents who have resisted the gentrification and commercialization which has spread throughout much of San Juan here one of the oldest musical genres on the island bomba is practiced and celebrated by its residents as a tribute to the enslaved people who first call this place home pretty amazing because the drummer follows the dancer the dancers lead every step the dance takes the drama mirrors so pretty to see that connection that communication now between the danc and the [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] musician pretty incredible you know when they hear what they're saying when they're singing It's like a story almost you know they're talking about being African and that kind of resistance that story of you know enslaved Africans here on the island bomber music for them it's in their vein and that's what she's singing she's like us African bombers in our vein and this is actually called Plaza deos which is Plaza of the black [Music] people the beaches in Puerto Rico are absolutely stunning turquoise Waters just so many green palm trees it's so exotic this beach is so local what I love is that you know all the locals bring you know their speed everyone's playing their own music you'll hear Bata salsa regon and it's a Saturday so everyone's just enjoying themel it's really cool because obviously it's really really hot and sunny the sun's out and what people do is they bring little makeshift chairs tables and basically they set them up underneath these huge palm trees all along the beach so it's so nice cuz you just see everyone sort of like doing their own little beach barbecues and Beach picnics are you having a [Laughter] [Music] yes [Music] for for [Music] [Music] [Music] wow I love the way the was like barbecuing the meat and they're so nice you know don't even know me and offering me a whole hamburger Burger [Music] [Music] [Music] so fun don't want to leave the party [Music] [Music] one of the things that's very very popular in Puerto Rico as a tradition is when you come to the beach the back of the beach is lined with all these kiosks just across the road so they're all doing really typical Puerto Rico fried dishes like alabas you've got Bala Cod fritters and everyone just comes here after the beat to basically drink eat and do a bit of kiosk hopping I'm going to try the alapa and the bakala the two traditional fried snacks here what does the alapa have inside you can have either meat like beef or or a which is like a land grab with a little p okay little little pante like P yeah pant yeah [Music] okay Al kabura with crab [Music] inside so good try the back out this is basically a Cod [Music] Fritter absolutely delicious okay I'm going to head to the next kiosk now cuz there are so many of them and I really want to soak up the kind of chin Chad Vibes chin Chad here is to basically you know hop from place to place get some drinks some food go on to the next place that's what they say is chin Chad I found a very cute Place laas Maria the yellow house right by the water they live music absolutely Pack full of people and it's such a great Vibe the live music the band they're amazing [Music] r well I have to say the culture in Puerto Rico is amazing it just really is all about music dance hanging out with [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Old San Juan is the place to come if you want to dance to regon now regon is absolutely new this is where you know regon is said to have been born in Puerto Rico and you've got this road here lined with bars blaring out reg so you know it's a pretty F Vibe people love it people love it here it's a very kind of sexy sexy music everyone's loving the regon here tell me about regon in Puerto Rico oh yeah here we have a lot of fun it's a party country um like the music is from here they say that regon came from Puerto Rico right yeah um starting from the 19s um with the noise group that started you know um a series of you know Gatherings of people to start hearing and had like Daddy Yankee yeah Daddy Yankee mad a lot of artist that we part of that um movement that gave of the [Music] yeah yeah that's the yeah girl wow people going absolutely crazy on it music and the dancing is so sexual they call p p is pretty much dry [Applause] humping down [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] r the central mountain range town of seales is famous for its roadside restaurants and is where many po Ricans come to on the weekend to soak up the fresh Mountain Air and feast on traditional dishes gavas is a long-standing institution which serves up old school Island recipes and house cocktails to a faithful weekend [Music] crowd this is your typical cool 1950s 60s grandma house you know Grandma style cooking so I've got a few things I got baselo mola deep fried pastry filled with minced meat the Moria the blood sausage and then what they're really famous for here which is the Peril Al caldero basically stewed pork in a bitter orange and it comes with tosas which are your green plantain very much you know Sunday lunch food typical after a night out on a Saturday drinking this is you know perfect hangover [Music] food so the food of Puerto Rico really has those cultural influences Spanish the African origin the island food that grows here just incredible really amazing food here is this like something very local [Applause] [Music] in hang out hang after hang so you go to like the bar [Applause] you guys always lived in Puerto Rico we lived in Puerto Rico and then we moved to the US and now we're back we're back we're back we're back to where everything started wow when you go out there you appreciate the island better yeah you yeah you don't have the you appreciate the things that you you have and then you lose them and then when you come back it's like wow it's like the blessings are highlighted more now that Puerto Rico is like a territory of America how are Puerto Ricans different to Americans in a lot of ways a lot of different ways um we have our own culture we got our own history our own everything I think it's very interesting that it's part of the us but culturally and historically it's got its own story its own cultural influences a particular situation because it's like we got our own culture and we feel like we are our own country but we we've been under first it was Spain and now it's the US so on paper we're not really a country but we really are a country like so yeah it's we yeah and it and it's weird we can't even we're under the us and we can't even vote for a president so it's like it's a weird Arrangement because certain people wanted to be a state some people wanted to be independent some people wanted to be like this still like this so there always that conflict that's like the main conflict you can believe in a political party a religion anything but at the end of the day like we all get together no matter what it is no matter what line it is that [ __ ] don't matter it goes beyond that and that I feel like that's the magic of Puerto Rican with the music everything the food everything the culture unites us so it's beautiful graas [Music] [Music] Puerto Rico is blessed with natural beauty and vibrant forest ecosystems the tropical rainforest of elun which sits on the slopes of the lukio mountain range in the east of the island is a place which was of great importance to the Island's first inhabitants the tyo they considered this area sacred and is said to have referred to the tallest peak in the range as yuk which means white lands and refers to the thick clouds that encircle the peak it's home to hundreds of native plant and animal species and has Natural Pools and waterfalls throughout it's a place of mysticism and Magic because of the tyo Heritage which lives on in the 28,000 Acres of sacred land which make up this tropical rainforest [Music] even after 500 years of Domination by foreign powers Puerto Rico's Spirit remains true to its borea roots it's about family friends good food and artistic expressions of identity the sounds of the island are what gives Puerto Ricans Joy strength and above all else the power to continue to resist [Music]

Channel: Malini Angelica

Views: 196,946

Keywords: #puertoricotravel, #puertoricovlog, #puertoricotravelvlog, #puertoricotravelguide, #puertoricobeaches, #puertoricoamericancolony, #puertoricofood, #puertoricosong, #puertoricoamericancitizens, #puertoriconightlife, #puertoricoushistory, #elyunquepuertorico, #puertoricodocumentary

Id: hyjjSWpwxAM

Length: 29min 47sec (1787 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 30 2024