Spotlight on Yauco, Puerto Rico

An introduction to the history and culture of this charming little city on the south side of Puerto Rico.

Un poco sobre la historia y cultura de esta hermosa ciudad vibrante en el suroeste de Puerto Rico.

CONNECT WITH US!

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/242722224736098/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082362745798
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boricuamerican_podcast/

Big thanks to Santos Cornier for composing our intro and outro music. Check out his music here: / Muchas gracias a Santos Cornier por componer nuestra música de intro and outro. Escuche su musica aqui:

https://www.reverbnation.com/santoscornier?fbclid=IwAR1_flS4Dy8i9t6JFhrCkzW220URLKJMVPfndmi0wl7idlA82ECx6Q-wW2Q

Thanks also to the following sites for music and sound effects:
https://pixabay.com/users/dmassaiii-42247146/
https://freepd.com/
https://pixabay.com/
https://freesound.org/
https://www.fesliyanstudios.com/

Transcript

Welcome to the BoricuameRican podcast, where we talk about a whole bunch of stuff related to Puerto Rico, from true crime and celebrities to food and drink and traditions. You can find us on Instagram at BoricuameRican underscore podcast, or join our Facebook group BoricuameRican or follow our Facebook page also called BoricuameRican!  I’m your host, Nancy Pinto. I was born and raised in New Jersey by parents who were born and raised on the island and made sure from day one that their kids would get to know their cultural heritage.
Last time we talked about Utuado, where my dad was raised. Today we’re gonna talk about where my mom is from, Yauco. 
Yauco is a city in the southwest, about 30 miles west of Ponce. It is Puerto Rico’s 4th largest city. The closest airport to Yauco is in Ponce. JetBlue and Frontier fly outta there, to JFK and Orlando.
Let’s start with the name Yauco. Where does it come from?  Yauco comes from the Yauco River, which was originally named the Coayuco River by the Taínos. Coayuco means “yucca plantation” or “yuca planting” – yucca is cassava, a starchy root veggie that the natives used and is still a staple of Puerto Rican cooking. 
On November 19, 1493, when Christopher Columbus discovered Puerto Rico during his 2nd voyage to the New World (well, new to him), the island was called Borikén and was inhabited by indigenous people called Taínos. He went ahead and claimed the land for Spain and the church, and renamed it San Juan Bautista.
The Taínos lived all over the island in villages ruled over by a cacique, a chief. If you would like to learn a little bit about the Taínos, please check out episodes 2, 46 and 75 (75 is in Spanish); we will include links to all 3 in the show notes. 
Yauco was a very significant Taíno settlement, home to the powerful cacique Agüeybaná, who was a prominent leader in the region. The name Agüeybaná is often interpreted as 'The Great Sun' (S-U-N) in Taíno tradition. Agüeybaná had a nephew named Güeybaná who is important to this story (a couple of sources say they were brothers, but this might be wrong; more on that later). Agüeybaná lived in a very large village, called in Taino language a yucayeque. The name of the yucayeque was Guaynia, near the Coayuco (Yauco) River.
Spanish colonization of Puerto Rico really got going in 1508, with the arrival of the explorer Juan Ponce de Leon. Yes, he was the Fountain of Youth guy (apparently that was just a myth and he wasn’t really looking for any fountain). He wanted to meet with Agüeybaná and explore Puerto Rico. He first arrived on Mona Island, where many Taínos lived (we did an episode on Mona Island too, that would be episode 51 from Feb. 03, 2024). They told him the way. On August 12, 1508, he dropped anchor at Guánica Bay, on the south coast, about 10 miles southwest of Yauco. Accompanying Juan Ponce de Leon was a Spaniard named Juan Gonzalez, who had spent a lot of time with Taínos and could translate between the parties. 
Some accounts suggest the Taínos initially thought the Spaniards might be gods. They were polytheistic, believing in many gods. It was entirely possible to them that these people, who looked and dressed differently, coming in on these big ships with all kinds of things they had never seen before, could be gods. And the Taínos were a peaceful people, so they extended hospitality and courtesy.

The meeting between Agüeybaná and PONCE DE LEON went well. They became good friends and allies. In fact, they even formalized it with a ritual called “guatiao”. Guaitiao means “friend” in Taino and is what they called the very important Taino Naming Ceremony. Think of it like marriage, where a set of rituals creates what should be an unbreakable bond. This was meant to forge a peaceful alliance between families. In this ritual, they exchange names, so PONCE DE LEON was named Agüeybaná and vice versa. They also exchanged gifts. PONCE DE LEON gave Agüeybaná mirrors and other objects, and Agüeybaná gave the Spaniards gold. 
Agüeybaná helped PONCE DE LEON and Juan Gonzalez in the exploration of Puerto Rico, giving them guidance, where to go, how to get there. 
At some point, circa 1509, the cacique took PONCE DE LEON to Hispaniola, the island of present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic, to meet with the governor there. He helped keep the peace between the Tainos and the Spanish colonizers. The Spanish had no intention of leaving. Taínos took their relationships very seriously. Caciques would carry out the guatiao tradition with many conquistadors.
Unfortunately, the conquistadors would eventually turn on the Tainos. While the Tainos tried to live in harmony, the Spaniards found ways to take advantage of them and their land to enrich themselves. They also had a mandate from the powers that be to convert them to Christianity, specifically Catholicism (remember, in those days the Church and the monarchy were intertwined). 

In 1510, a Spaniard named Cristóbal de Sotomayor arrived in Puerto Rico on a boat laden with supplies and permission from the Spanish crown to settle some land and use 300 Tainos for gold mining and to build forts. This forced labor practice was called “encomienda” and the people in charge were known as “encomenderos”. Under this practice, and another one called “repartimiento,” Taínos were obligated to work on a farm or a gold mine or doing whatever the Spaniards said. According to the crown, they were supposed to be given their freedom after their full conversion to Christianity, but that never happened. It quickly devolved into a slave labor situation. 
But because he trusted PONCE DE LEON, Agüeybaná agreed to let Sotomayor settle in his yucayeque, his village, which we mentioned before, called Guaynía. This would be the 2nd settlement on the island (the first was called Caparra, founded by PONCE DE LEON in 1508 close to present-day San Juan). Sotomayor named his little town Villa de Tavara, after his mother, but – and I love this – he had to flee the area due to a mosquito plague. By the way, of course the Taínos knew how to deal with mosquitos: they would paint their bodies with plants that repelled insects. Sotomayor then went about 35 miles northwest, to another yucayeque near the coast called Yagüecax (which was ruled over by a Cacique named Urayoán), near present-day Aguada and Añasco. He established a town, naming it after himself, Villa de Sotomayor. 

Agüeybaná died that same year, they say of natural causes. And now we come back to his nephew, Güeybaná. Güeybaná would take over as the number one cacique. It is very likely that he was a nephew because the Taino line of succession was matrilineal, and the rules state that for someone to become chief, the previous chief must die and must have inherited the position from his mother, the sister of the first chief. So, he must’ve been Agüeybaná’s sister’s son and next in line. Güeybaná became Agüeybaná II aka Agüeybaná El Bravo (The Brave). It is possible that any reference to Güeybaná as Agüeybaná’s brother comes from Spanish writings, and the Spanish might not have understood Taino inheritance practices. 
Agüeybaná II had some pent-up rage at the treatment of the Taínos by the Spaniards over the past 3 years. Understandably so. Some historians suggest that he actually murdered his uncle over his friendship with PONCE DE LEON. Others propose that he was in cahoots with the Carib tribe, another native tribe that had a reputation for violence and attacking the Tainos. In any case, he took over. And he was not as nice. First of all, he didn’t believe that the Spaniards were gods, and he decided to test the theory. At some point in 1511, he and another cacique ordered a few of their tribe members to drown a Spanish soldier named Diego Salcedo in the Rio Grande de Añasco. If Diego came back to life, then he was a god.
There are a few different versions of how they got to Salcedo. Even if they’re not true they’re part of the legend and fun to learn. In version #1, the Taínos told him they were gonna take him to a lake filled with Taino women and he could have sex with all of them. Then when he got there, there weren’t any beautiful women, just a bunch of angry natives who attacked and drowned him. In version #2, several Tainos offered to help Salcedo cross a river by carrying him in their arms. Well, he never made it to the other side because they drowned him! Version #3 is probably the most accurate. The Tainos ambushed Salcedo as he drank from the river. After Salcedo died, they kept watch over his body for 3 days. They had learned about Jesus rising from the dead after 3 days, so they figured if Salcedo rose up then he would be a god too. Of course, that didn’t happen. 

This was the last straw. Agüeybaná II was sick and tired of the Tainos being treated poorly by the Spanish. Being forced into slave labor. Being forced to reject their ways of life, their religion, even their language, replacing it with Spanish. After they killed Salcedo, he got together with other caciques of southwestern Puerto Rico and organized a revolt. Who else was involved? Guarionex, the cacique of Otoao, which is now Utuado, which we spotlighted in our last episode! Which we will link to in the show notes.

Unbeknownst to the natives, Juan Gonzalez, PONCE DE LEON’s little friend and translator also turned out to be a SPY, and disguised himself as a native to attend one of the cacique’s secret meetings. There, he learned of the Tainos’ plans to attack Villa de Sotomayor, kill Sotomayor himself, then head east to Caparra to kill all the Spanish settlers there. Gonzales ran to Sotomayor to warn him to flee, but Sotomayor insisted on warning the settlers in person. Plus he wanted to bring along some personal items, which he stupidly asked some Taínos to pack because this alerted them that he was getting out of town and they could tell the others. 
Sotomayor, the mosquito guy, set out with Gonzalez, Gonzalez’s nephew, and 2 servants. But the Taínos were ready. Armed with clubs, bows and arrows, they chased down the little entourage, wounded Gonzalez (but spared his life, perhaps because he begged and offered himself to them as a slave), then killed the other four and left them to become animal food. The hundred or so Tainos proceeded to kill almost all the settlers and burn down the village (which must’ve broken their hearts!). They won this first battle, known as the Battle of Villa de Sotomayor. However, they would not win again. Gonzalez was able to escape and get to Caparra, near San Juan, where PONCE DE LEON was living, and tell him what had happened. 
PONCE DE LEON and the Spanish soldiers struck back in an organized offensive that came to be known as the Battle of Yagüecas. Yagüecas is in the northwest, around present-day Anasco and Mayaguez. The Spaniards were actually outnumbered. There were an estimated 11,000-15,000 Tainos (this may have included members of the Carib tribe, which joined forces to fight against the colonizers) and only 80-100 Spanish soldiers. But the Taínos only had spears, bows and arrows, which were no match for the conquistadors’ guns. Agüeybaná II was killed in this battle. Many Tainos fled into the mountains. Some were captured. Some fought back, even for several years later. But ultimately the Spaniards won. 

This conflict came to be known as the Spanish and Taíno War of San Juan–Borikén, also known as the Taíno Rebellion of 1511. 
The aftermath of the war was very ugly for the Tainos. When the King of Spain, King Ferdinand, found out about Sotomayor’s death, he was grief-stricken and confused, because he was supposedly a decent guy. But there’s a story that may or may not be true about why Sotomayor was so viciously killed. They say that he was having an affair with a Taina named Guanina, who already had a boyfriend, a very jealous Taino. This Taino was part of Agueybaná II’s tribe – the cacique who already hated the Spanish with the strength of a thousand suns. 
According to some historical accounts, the angry King Ferdinand ordered the enslavement of Taínos and Caribs. One tradition suggests that those who resisted were branded with an ‘F’ on their foreheads, possibly symbolizing Ferdinand’s name, though this detail is not universally confirmed by primary sources. So we can’t take it as 100 percent fact. 

We know that after this war, the Tainos would be decimated but not completely eradicated. So many of them died from forced labor, disease, starvation, and war. Many were able to escape into the interior, where they could not easily be found. And many fled to other islands. We know from current DNA testing that Tainos did not become extinct. A lot of Puerto Ricans and other Latinos have Taino ancestry in their blood, including yours truly, ‘cause I did the test. And also a lot of words, we’ve talked about this in past episodes, a lot of words today are from the Taino’s language, so, they have survived. 

After 1511, Spain retained control of Puerto Rico, and for the next two hundred plus years focused on developing agriculture, limited mining, bringing over slaves from Africa, trading goods (although with some restrictions), and building forts and settlements to secure the island, including early ranching and settlement efforts in the Yauco region near San Germán. 
Let’s go to 1755. The Spanish settlers wanted to formally establish a municipality. Official recognition was important to recognize Yauco’s growth as a regional hub of agriculture. One of the requirements to establish a municipality, per the Spanish government, was that it needed a place of worship. So the townspeople built a little chapel and named it Nuestra Señora del Santísimo Rosario (Our Lady of the Holy Rosary), which is still there today, although it is probably not the exact same structure as it may have undergone renovations throughout the years. Once the church opened, they asked a local military officer named Fernando Pacheco de Matos, who was of Spanish descent, to ask the Spanish government on their behalf if they could officially establish a town. 
The king said yes, and on February 29, 1756, the town of Yauco was founded. It’s a leap year!
Pacheco was appointed First Lieutenant of War of Yauco. A First Lieutenant is a leadership position that’s part mayor, part military lieutenant, and part justice of the peace. Pacheco was also one of the largest slave owners during his lifetime. He died in Yauco on April 17, 1768, and it was said that his slaves were then split up among his wife and kids. This is a very sad part of life in those days. 
I’m gonna digress for a second now. This research got me curious because my grandfather on my mother’s side, his name was Ramon Velez Pacheco. My grandfather was from Yauco. The name Pacheco is of Spanish and Portuguese origin. When I did my DNA test, it showed I’m around 64% Spanish and Portuguese. My grandfather, who lived roughly between 1880 and 1948, was a wealthy landowner. Back then if you owned property you probably came from an influential family in Spain or another white, Catholic, European country. It’s not definite, and I have a lot of research to do, to find all kinds of birth, baptism, and death records to link his parents, grandparents and so on down the line but, there is a possibility, a very exciting possibility, that my family could be related to the founder of Yauco! And if I find all this out, I will report back. 
Now back to our story.

Yauco’s economy flourished. It became a huge player in the farming of coffee, sugar cane, and tobacco, with all the hard work being done by slave labor (slavery would not be ended in Puerto Rico until 1873).
On August 10, 1815, the King of Spain published a decree calling for European Catholics everywhere to move to Puerto Rico and help develop the economy in exchange for free land, tax breaks, trading privileges, and Spanish citizenship. This proposition was called the Real Cédula de Gracias (Royal Decree of Graces). At that time, there were grumblings about independence all over the island, and Spain needed to kinda squash that. They wanted to get more Catholic Europeans in, give em all the stuff, so they’d be very loyal to the crown. Get some strength in numbers. 
So hundreds of immigrants heeded the call of the royal decree! Italians, French, Germans, Irish, Scots, Portuguese, all flooded Puerto Rico and many settled in the south-central region. Yauco was ripe for development, having a lot of undeveoped land and a lot of potential. Many immigrants to Yauco arrived from Corsica, an island in the Mediterranean that is geographically closer to Italy but has belonged politically to France since the 1768. Puerto Ricans with Italian last names often have Corsican ancestry, especially in regions like Yauco. Corsicans were very skilled farmers, and they were Catholic.  When they learned about the opportunity Spain was handing out, they jumped at the chance. Napoloen had just been defeated at the Battle of Waterloo, and they were facing political and economic instability. Yauco sounded like the perfect place to start over. Yauco’s topography was perfect for cultivating coffee. Also, it was located near a port, which they could export from. Corsicans flocked to the area to run plantations and develop the industry, contributing to coffee becoming the island’s number one export and making Yauco the Coffee Capital of Puerto Rico. 

Just like during Utuado’s coffee boom, which we talked about in the last episode, the prosperous new residents built estates which are now landmarks. For example, the Casa Franceschi Antongiorgi was built by a rich Corsican landowner who loved the arts. The house is still there and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Other prominent establishments include Casa Agostini, Casa Filardi aka Casa Munoz, Chalet Amill, Logia Masónica Hijos de la Luz (Children of the Light Masonic Lodge, which is believed to be the oldest built masonic lodge on the island – in 1894), Residencia González Vivaldi, Teatro Ideal (aka Teatro de la Plaza), a theater, and last but not least, Residencia Antonio Mattei Lluberas, aka La Casona Césari ('the Césari Manor') aka La Casa de las Doce Puertas, (The House of the Twelve Doors). Ok I, I’m curious, next time I go to Yauco I would like to se some of these places, not gonna lie. 
But this last one, the House of the Twelve doors, I wanna spend just a couple of minutes on because there are a few interesting things worth noting. The estate was built in 1893 by a Corsican family who helped develop the coffee and sugarcane industries in Yauco and surrounding areas. It is or at least at one time was the largest property in downtown Yauco. It used forged cast iron imported from Paris for both the structure and design, something that was very new at that time (it actually looks like something you would see in New Orleans). Antonio Mattei Lluberas, who the house was named after, became one of the leaders in the fight for Puerto Rican independence from Spain (we will talk about one of those fights in a minute). He was exiled for taking part in those revolts, but returned to Yauco a year later and became mayor of Yauco during the Spanish-American War of 1898. The house changed hands several times throughout the decades, and has been used for everything from a residence to restaurants. It was badly damaged during an earthquake in 2020 and has undergone extensive repairs. 
Now let’s talk about that fight for independence we just mentioned. By the late 1800s, revolutionary groups, including exiles in New York, were planning revolts for Puerto Rican independence.
Now I’m gonna rant for a minute, forgive me. But a lot of Puerto Ricans today like to shit on Americans and don’t say one negative word about Spain, la Patria Madre or Madre Patria or whatever, but they forget that many of the Spanish leaders and landowners were assholes. Not all, but many. When my dad was a kid, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, he worked on a sugarcane plantation, and the owner once told him that if he didn’t work fast enough, he was going to start kicking him. He never did, but knowing my dad and his temper, he would’ve killed the guy, and my grandfather would’ve stood up for him!  

But I digress.  Back to Yauco and the revolution. The guy we mentioned before, 
And by the way, I have nothing against Spain and Spaniards. I’ve had some fantastic Spanish friends, I’ve been to Spain twice and loved it, loved the people, the food, the culture, I love Europe, and I know no one alive today is responsible for what happened back then. It’s just very complicated for me, as I’m sure for many of the Puerto Rican diaspora, when we talk about our history. So I just wanted to say that. 

Now back to Yauco and the revolution. The guy we mentioned before, Antonio Mattei Lluberas, met with several other community leaders in New York to plot a violent overthrow of the Spanish government. He got all excited and was rumored to have bought 30,000 machetes, which is probably an exaggeration. It is said he supported calls for U.S. intervention to kick out the Spanish. The group was also ready to fly the new Puerto Rican flag, which had been designed and sewn in 1895, and which is the official one still used today. 
Well, word leaked and reached the governor of Puerto Rico, who did not like this plan. And then the revolutionary leaders found out that the governor knew! So they launched their attack immediately, hoping to catch the Spanish forces off guard. 

On March 24, 1897, a group of approximately 60 armed rebels marched towards Yauco. Their leader was a guy named Fidel Vélez (and I wonder if we could be related to him too through my mom’s side, although Vélez is an extremely common Spanish name so the chances are slim. But it’s entirely within the realm of possibility and I intend to, when I have time, look into that as well.). Anyway. Their main goal was to attack the barracks of the Spanish Civil Guard and take all their ammo. On the way, in a neighborhood of Yauco called Susúa Arriba, they raised the modern day Puerto Rican flag on the island for the first time. 

However, as we said before, the Spanish had learned about their plans and had immediately mobilized.  Shots were exchanged and the rebels retreated. Two days later, on March 26, another group of rebels tried again, this time in a barrio of Yauco called Quebradas. Again the Spanish easily squashed the coup. An estimated 150 rebels were arrested and imprisoned in Ponce. Antonio Mattei Lluberas went into exile in New York City ironically, and Fidel Velez escaped to the island of St. Thomas. 
This revolt became known as the “Intentona de Yauco” (roughly translated as “Attempted Coup of Yauco”). It was the last major attempt by locals at overthrowing Spanish rule. 
A year later, on July 25, 1898, the US invaded Puerto Rico. The troops landed in Guánica, which is now its own city, but at that time was part of Yauco. Just a little over 4 months later, on December 10, the Treaty of Paris was signed, giving over control of the island to the United States. And as you all know, it has been under the control of the United States ever since.
On August 8, 1899, while Puerto Ricans celebrated the Feast of San Ciriaco, a hurricane slammed into the island, taking down coffee trees and destroying plantations. An estimated 3,369 people died. That hurricane became known as Ciriaco, the deadliest in Puerto Rican history in terms of casualties. In our last episode, Spotlight on Utuado, another major coffee producer in the region, we talked about the effects of the hurricane and the US takeover on Puerto Rico’s coffee industry. So I won’t go over all those details here, so please give that episode a listen.

Yauco suffered similar repercussions as Utuado, with a couple of key differences in Yauco’s favor. Yauco’s farms were bigger and their owners were richer; plus, while Utuado’s production was mostly for inland and domestic consumers, Yauco exported to Europeans with big bucks. So while both areas suffered collapse of the coffee industry, Yauco was in a slightly stronger position. But just like in Utuado, Yauco suffered physical and economic damage, the shift away from coffee to sugarcane and other crops, lack of US investment in Puerto Rican coffee, and workers moving out of the area to make ends meet. 
And just like in Utuado, Yauco had a renaissance and produces some top-shelf coffee to this day.
Yauco’s identity and pride revolves around its amazing coffee. There are several festivals held throughout the year, but the biggest one is the week-long Festival Nacional Del Café (National Coffee Festival, if you couldn’t crack that code), which takes place every February. The first one took place in 1949 and has evolved to become a well-known, prominent community event. There are coffee tastings, coffee competitions, music, performances, great food, arts and crafts, and educational exhibits. If you can get to Puerto Rico in February, which is a great time to go, make your way to the Yauco Coffee Festival please. 
Now let’s talk about a few more festivals. 
Another important festival in Yauco takes place in October to honor their patron saint, La Virgen del Santísimo Rosario (Virgin of the Most Holy Rosary). There’s food, music, amusement rides, arts and crafts and a religious parade. Like with all Puerto Rican festivals, you can see the influence of our mixed European, Taino, and African blood in the food and dances. If certain foods seem to be related to French or Italian cuisine, that’s the Corsican influence!

In January the whole island celebrates Three King’s Day on the eve of the 5th and on the 6th. 
In August, there’s the Festival Nacional Indígena Cacique Mabodamaca (the National Indigenous Festival Chief Mabodamaca. As the name implies, this is a celebration of Taino culture. There’s traditional music, dance performances, and demonstrations of native crafts including weaving and pottery-making. 

Another weeklong festival takes place every October, the Semana Cultural de la Danza Puertorriqueña (cultural week of Puerto Rican Dance). It is organized by the Ballet Folklórico de Yauco (Yauco Folkloric Ballet) to showcase Puerto Rican folk dancing from different parts of the island. Two of these dances are the well-known bomba and plena.
In November, they celebrate Thanksgiving. We know this for a fact because early in our marriage, we may not have even been married yet actually, we went to Puerto Rico during Thanksgiving week and decided to spend the holiday in Ponce. Everything was closed! 

At Christmastime in 2016 and 2019, there was the Festival Internacional de las Culturas (International Festival of Culture), which celebrated global and Latin American cultures with music, dance, and international foods. This may also be known as the Multicultural Navideño (Christmas Festival). 

Some festivals are not quite regular annual events, or the dates can change, so for these festivals I talked about, and any others that you may come across, always check before making any plans to attend anything. Because, you know, it’s island life. But also things can affect, like weather, or any number of factors can affect dates and times of events, so check first. But you can pretty much count on the coffee fest and the patron saint fest to take place every year, as those are huge.

Now this one I’m gonna mention is not a festival but it’s something really cool that transformed Yauco’s appearance starting in 2017: the Yaucromatic urban art project. They basically decorated Yauco with a bunch of colorful outdoor art installations and painted murals. A lot of Instagram-worth photo ops there. 
Yauco has a few nicknames: 
1. "El Pueblo del Café" (Coffee Town)
2. “La Capital Taína” (The Taíno Capital) – a nickname I suspect is claimed by more than one town. 
3. “Ciudad de los Corsos” (Town of Corsicans) – because Yauco had a lot of immigrants from, you guessed it, Corsica (an island in the Mediterranean Sea which is a territory of France)
The design of Yauco’s flag is two equal-sized horizontal bands: the top is black, symbolizing coffee, and the bottom is yellow, symbolizing sugar cane, with the Yauco coat of arms in the middle. Here’s the description of the Coat of Arms from the City of Yauco’s Facebook page, translated into English by my friend Google:
“The castle-shaped crown with four towers means that Yauco is a city; the edge of the shield represents the rosary beads; the cross in the center represents Christianity; the cauldrons with seven green snakes and their red tongues are the Coat of Arms of Don Fernando de Pacheco y Matos, founder of Yauco; the five-pointed silver flower is the coffee flower; the four red circles around the flower are the coffee beans, signifying the cultivation of that precious bean that distinguishes our City.”
FLAG OF YAUCO
 
There are many things to see and do in Yauco. You don’t have to stay in San Juan and the touristy area. Although San Juan is a must-see of course, but feel free to get out and about on the island. And go to Yauco. But first, my disclaimer, especially if you’re going to a rural or out of the way area: always go with a friend or two or a reputable tourist company. The locals are really nice but they may not speak English. And, like anywhere else, there are creepy people. So, go enjoy, just be careful, right? Common sense.

Yauco is a paradise for nature lovers, with hiking, camping, lakes, caves, and parks. It’s also close to beaches, and there’s so much sightseeing. The city and its plaza are vibrant and colorful. There are modern stores and amenities, anything you want. You could spend a week there and not see everything. 

So my friends that’s my brief overview of Yauco, a city that is definitely worth spending some time in if you are visiting Puerto Rico. And have the coffee, please, if you’re a coffee drinker!
There’s a lot more to learn, but I’ll close out with just a couple of my own memories. When I was 9, my mom took my brother, sister and I to Puerto Rico for the first time. We stayed in Duey, the neighborhood in Yauco where my mom’s from, and then Arecibo. In Yauco, the three of us city kids ran around the rural countryside and splashed around in the river. When I was 14, my mom and I visited the island alone. This time I ran around with my cousin Lourdes and her friend Jose, who I quickly got a crush on. One afternoon we ran through a dried-up riverbed, which for some reason my best friend back home and I started calling a bog. I remember her yelling at me, “YOU RAN AROUND IN A BOGGGGGGGGGGG???? You could’ve caught dengue!!” To this day, to me, a dried-up river is a bog, even though it’s really not. I remember jumping a fence and tearing my pants. I remember meeting countless relatives that I didn’t know, just amazed at how huge my family was, and just the feeling of being home, even though I wasn’t born there and never lived there. But just, even as a kid, just being like, Wow, I belong here! And I suspect that a lot of us, a lot of diaspora feel the same way.

And last but not least, I remember when, for a few years in the 2000s, a group of people from Duey now living in Cleveland organized an annual reunion of Yaucanos IN Cleveland. My family, my husband Chris (who was my boyfriend at the time) and I took the road trip a couple of times. They had food, music, and souvenirs.  I still have a T-shirt and at least one mug. No alcohol though, I remember my dad and Chris grumbling about that! I always thought it was extraordinary that this group of people from such a tiny town could stay in touch all these decades and get together, reunite once a year, and pick up where they left off. They were so eager to know how everyone was doing, to see families growing and prospering, to talk about the old days too. It was really lovely. 
So, a shout out to anyone from Yauco. To my family. Love you guys. Thanks for listening. Til next time. 

SOURCES:
Spotlight on Utuado: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1946209/episodes/17356234 

Taino 101 in English: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1946209/episodes/10238070
Taíno Beliefs on Creation, Burial, and the Afterlife: 
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1946209/episodes/13982723 
Taíno 101 in Spanish: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1946209/episodes/17073232 
Mona Island https://www.buzzsprout.com/1946209/episodes/14426518

https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/GKYK-VCM/cacique-ag%C3%BCeyban%C3%A1-1436#:~:text=Cacique%20Ag%C3%BCeyban%C3%A1%20was%20born%20about,as%20the%20son%20of%20Ines.
https://www.histopediadepuertorico.com/post/cacique-ag%C3%BCeyban%C3%A1
https://www.histopediadepuertorico.com/post/juan-gonz%C3%A1lez-int%C3%A9rprete-de-los-ta%C3%ADnos
https://trackstick.com/yauco-puerto-rico/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ag%C3%BCeyban%C3%A1_I
https://kids.kiddle.co/Ag%C3%BCeyban%C3%A1_I
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ag%C3%BCeyban%C3%A1_II#
https://taino-facts.blogspot.com/2007/06/guaitiao.html#:~:text=Did%20You%20Know:%20Traditionally%2C%20the,at%20Friday%2C%20September%2018%2C%202009
https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Ta%C3%ADno_rebellion_of_1511
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_Diego_Salcedo
https://www.histopediadepuertorico.com/post/crist%C3%B3bal-de-sotomayor-y-fundaci%C3%B3n-del-segundo-poblado-de-puerto-rico
https://www.progenies.co/people/fernando-pacheco-de-matos
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:National_Register_of_Historic_Places_in_Yauco,_Puerto_Rico
https://kids.kiddle.co/Revolutionary_Committee_of_Puerto_Rico
https://boricuaonline.com/festival-nacional-del-cafe-de-yauco/
https://www.facebook.com/GobiernoMunicipalDeYauco/posts/bandera-de-yauco-nuestra-bandera-est%C3%A1-dividida-en-dos-rect%C3%A1ngulos-horizontales-u/2075914865878937/
https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/421026#cite_note-15
https://www.discoverpuertorico.com/regions/west/yauco