[birds chirping] [upbeat music] - Denver, capital of Colorado, the Mile High City.

You know, I thought it was just a figure of speech, but its official elevation is exactly one mile.

And this city is known for its fantastic weather, amazing views, and idyllic lifestyle-- also for its altitude sickness.

[wheezes] By the early 19th century, what we now know as Colorado was actually part of Mexico.

And today, Latinos make up nearly 30% of Denver's population.

Some of our greatest heroes were born right here, like my favorite civil rights leader, Corky Gonzales.

These days, Denver is a surprising blend of cultures.

And one thing's for certain-- everyone living in this city has a unique way of preserving their own traditions, from dance, to food, and even wrestling.

That's right.

I'ma throw down and do a little lucha libre.

And later-- you already know this-- I'ma be eating like a maniac.

[upbeat Latin music] ♪ Denver might be better known for mountains, man buns, and microbrews.

But I'm here to unmask something a little more exciting.

That's right, lucha libre, aka Mexican masked wrestling.

And there's one person everyone says I have to meet-- Hugo Soto at Hugo's Lucha Libre.

[speaking Spanish] - [speaking Spanish] - Lucha libre can be traced back to the 19th century, known for its lightning quick fighting and high flying acrobatics.

It's not just entertainment.

It's a cultural art form.

[indistinct announcer speaking] - For luchadores, nothing is more emotionally charged than their mask.

A source of identity and symbolism, the lucha mask is never removed, except in a lucha de apuestas, or wager match, in which the loser must reveal his true identity and then retire his mask permanently.

Ooh, harsh.

And get this.

As wrestling was blowing up in the '90s, WWE superstars started incorporating the electrifying aerial work of lucha into their acts.

And crossover wrestlers like Rey Mysterio and Psicosis helped cement lucha maneuvers into the mainstream.

- Talk about father of the century, Hugo built a whole damn school just so his daughters could train as luchadoras.

And in 2014, they opened Hugo's Lucha Libre.

And now, it's one of the go-to spots in the Denver area.

[energetic music] - Oh.

Oh.

That's gotta hurt.

♪ How do you watch?

How do you watch?

[laughs] - That was fantastic.

Incredible.

- Thank you.

- You must have practiced hard.

- Yes.

- Oh, yeah, yeah.

- I was really impressed by it because it looked painful.

- Yeah, it is.

- Oh, it is.

That's why it looks painful because it is.

How old were you when you started?

- 12.

She was 10.

- 10.

- Yeah, we started together.

It's always been like this thing for men, you know?

But I think we've handled it really good, like, showing everyone that us being girls, we can still do it.

- Right.

- Before we started wrestling, we were so shy.

My parents just speak Spanish.

We couldn't make friends.

We didn't even speak English.

- You overcame it, and look at you now.

- Yeah.

- Nothing shy about you.

I want to try it.

Can you teach me some moves?

- Oh, yeah.

- We can teach you.

- All right, let's try it.

- Right now, we're going to practice running.

1, 2, 3, 4.

- All right.

- OK, go ahead.

- Bounce, bounce.

There you go.

- Bounce, bounce.

- [grunts] - Push, push.

- I'm trying.

- Oh.

[laughs] - Y'all, make no mistake.

These girls have power.

[screams] Or, as they say in Mexico-- I can't beat-- I can't beat you.

She's strong.

♪ - Are you OK?

- Yeah, no, it was good.

It shook all my organs and my brain.

It was great.

Shaking your brain is good, isn't it?

I think I'm ready to take you guys on.

- Oh, let's do it.

- I love the confidence.

- Let's do it.

[suspenseful music] ♪ [cheers and applause] [booing] [hip-hop music] ♪ - As an actor, I've played gangsters, criminal masterminds, and even a killer clown.

Let me tell you something.

Being the bad guy is way more fun.

- [speaking Spanish] [energetic music] ♪ - And there you have it, folks.

Did I get tossed around like a rag doll?

Yes.

Am I the next King of the Ring?

Probably not.

- Did calling me The Ugly One hurt my feelings?

100%.

But I was spared the shame of unmasking.

So, El Feo lives on.

- I bet you didn't know Denver was a cornerstone of the Chicano movement in the '60s and '70s.

But looking around today, you might not feel that rich history.

So I'm riding with Juan Fuentes to understand why.

Juan's a high school art teacher and photographer who documents the city's disappearing Chicano history on his Instagram account, olddenver.

And when it comes to Hispanic displacement from gentrifying neighborhoods, Denver is ranked number one in the country, according to a 2019 report.

We're getting pushed out, and our footprint is eroding.

So today, Juan's going to show me a spot that was the center of it all.

- We're here in La Raza Park, man.

- This is La Raza Park?

- Yeah, man, used to be Columbus, but we changed that.

- Wow.

- We never really wanted to acknowledge it as Columbus Park.

- Right.

- So we always called it La Raza Park, despite the fact that the sign didn't say it.

- Right, everybody called it what they thought it should be called.

- As a matter of fact, that sign was spray painted over a few times.

- [laughs] As it should be.

That's right.

In 2020, Denver Latinos claimed their park and their history, and it wasn't the first time.

In 1970, Chicano activists, fed up with the city's neglect, took over the park and turned it into the place for everything from pool parties to political rallies.

And leading the charge of the Chicano movement in Denver-- my hero, Corky Gonzales, a boxer and poet, who founded the Crusade for Justice in 1966, advocating for equity in Chicano pride.

My man was a featherweight in the ring, but a heavyweight for La Raza.

And it was Corky's daughter, Nita Gonzales, who spoke at the renaming ceremony.

Oh, and our boy, Juan, documenting it all behind the camera.

And how does it make you feel, having this finally?

- Man, it, you know, makes us feel seen.

Having a place to come to and be able to exist and be here, man, it's all we ever wanted.

It's all we wanted.

- What's this beautiful structure over here?

- So this is the Kiosko.

- It's beautiful.

- It's our temple, man.

- Yeah.

A little Aztec temple in the middle of Denver.

- Yeah, man.

- Yeah, it reminds me of the Zócalo in Mexico City, the Diego Rivera, that beautiful mural that tells the history of being Latino.

- Yeah, I mean, a lot of our Chicano murals here are-- you know, come directly from down there, you know?

- What is Chicano anyway, man?

Break it down for me.

- You're Mexican-American, but the word Chicano is more politicized.

- Mm-hmm.

- Chicano, in a sense, was derogatory.

It was to put us down, to make us the other.

But that reclaiming is really what gives it the power.

We strip it away from them, and-- - You reclaim it.

- We reclaim it.

- Something that once hurt you no longer can hurt you if you own it.

- Exactly.

- So yeah, what started as a slur against low-income Mexican immigrants was turned into a badge of pride and resistance by progressive Mexican-Americans who were inspired by the Civil Rights movement.

- The Chicano movement really got a spark during the late '60s when Corky Gonzales wanted to activate the community.

- The movement was a reaction to being redlined.

- Yeah.

- Schools not getting fundings.

They were fighting all this discrimination.

And that's why you had all these activists speaking out.

- Our ancestors have roots here.

- Yeah.

- So that's why we always had the feeling of belonging, and also, like, we deserve to be here, you know?

- Yo, Juan is right.

He and all Latinos native to this area belong here, and yet they are being displaced.

In 2000, this neighborhood, Sunnyside, was 50% Latino.

But by 2022, it was less than a quarter Latino.

That changes the fabric of a place.

- With that influx, they brought in a monoculture.

They're taking away these buildings, these institutions from us, and they're knocking them down just to build very sterile, very plain-looking things.

- Are there any other landmarks that are still standing?

Are there any holdouts?

- Yeah, there's some spots.

Like, the Aztlan Theater has a lot of history, and that's still owned by the original owner.

He's constantly getting offers from different people to buy it up.

It's going to maybe be sold and turned into something else.

But with the renaming of the park, I mean, it felt like a huge kind of reawakening to reclaim and try to bring community back together.

[mariachi music] ♪ - Who's your biggest hero from Colorado?

Do you have one?

- Honestly, my hero would have to be my dad.

- Oh, wow.

- [chuckles] ♪ He migrated here in the '80s.

He's somebody who I see as an important figure because he's somebody who feeds the community.

And to me, that's where I've learned a lot of my lessons is, it has to come from the heart.

- Yeah, and your dad gave you that by example.

- Yeah.

- So what's your dad's, like, really mad specialty?

- The specialty is carnitas.

- Carnitas.

- Yeah, he's been doing that for over 20 years now, straight out of his garage.

Matter of fact, he's cooking right now.

- Is that an official invite?

- Let's do it.

[upbeat music] - Garage carnitas, now that's as homemade as it gets.

Sign me up.

Can't wait to meet your famous pops.

- I can't wait for you to try these carnitas, man.

- Carnitas are my favorite.

Oh, yum, yum, here we come.

- [speaking Spanish] - All right, well, this is Don Juan, so I think you're in good hands.

- Am I OK being left alone with him?

- Well, he's going to put you to work, so I don't know if-- - That's what I was afraid of.

- So Don Juan's Carnitas is a family-run biz that operates on if you know, you know.

And so you do know his garage door opens every Sunday to sell a whopping 200 pounds of mouthwatering carnitas.

And what started as a weekend side hustle to supplement his day job in construction is still going strong 20 years later.

There's nothing more rewarding than serving your community.

And I'm stoked to get in on that action.

- Damn, I thought stirring was the work.

♪ Now, for the newbies out there, carnitas are Mexican-style, slow-cooked pork that's simmered until super tender and then roasted crispy.

And I hear Don Juan's are the best.

- But, I better do a taste test, just to be sure.

- [speaking Spanish] - Mm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

He's not joking.

This is amazing.

Like, if you're a purist, this is it.

[soaring music] - [speaking Spanish] - Once you try these ones, when you go to another one, you can't do it.

- Because those are the best carnitas in town.

- Yeah, enjoy.

Who's next?

- From Corky Gonzales and La Raza Park to Juan and Don Juan-- - This city's Latinos aren't afraid to claim and reclaim their space, and I'm here for it.

Good-looking people.

- Let's be real.

For over a decade now, the Mile High City has taken on a new meaning.

Yeah, I'm talking about that good good, that Mary Jane, the devil's lettuce.

In 2012, Colorado became one of the first two states to legalize recreational cannabis.

And let me tell you, it's brought the local economy a whole lot of that other green.

- What's up, John?

- What's up, what's up, my dude?

How you doing?

- Good, good to see you today.

- Great to see you.

I'm here at Tetra, a bring-your-own-bud cannabis lounge, to talk and toke with Steve Duran.

Steve owns a dispensary in Pueblo, Colorado, blazing trails in the industry where Latino ownership is less than 13% locally.

- It's a difficult climb.

You know, we started from very humble beginnings, so... - How humble?

- I come from a single-parent home, disadvantaged area in the city of Pueblo.

I was just in the streets, selling drugs and all these other things.

From 12 to 16, I would get in a ton of trouble, which would lead me to being locked up.

- For carrying how much?

- In this particular time, it was less than an ounce.

- Crazy, crazy.

Look, it's no secret that the war on drugs has targeted mainly Black and Latino people since the '70s.

- Which will give us tougher penalties against drugs and against crime.

- Marijuana could very well be one of the most dangerous threats to an entire generation of Americans of any drug that we know.

- The gravest domestic threat facing our nation today is drugs.

- We will have the means by which we can say punishment will be more certain.

- And even though weed is now legal or decriminalized in over half the country, there were still over 200,000 possession busts in 2022.

Not only that, but a recent five-year study found that Latinos made up a staggering 71% of Federal sentences, and white people, 11.8%.

Go figure.

I feel like Latin and Black communities were put into communities where our education is bad, our infrastructure is bad.

We have no services.

And you have all these struggling young people left to their own devices.

What do you think is the difference that saved you?

- You know, honestly, it's my daughter.

I had her when I was 19, and that would change my life.

It would give me a sense of direction.

It would make me feel responsible and get a job.

- Yo, his baby girl flipped his world right-side up.

Steve worked as a school janitor and later at the local power plant to provide for his family.

And in 2010, he decided to jump back in the cannabis game--legally.

He got his medical marijuana license and rocketed up the ranks to head cultivator.

And that's when he decided to strikeout on his own, scoring the first owner license in Pueblo.

But then came the challenges.

- We started in 2013.

City of Pueblo had a medical program, but no one had opened a store because of the stringent rules and regulations.

We spent a good part of a year just searching for a facility.

You literally drive around the city saying, this one fits zoning regulations.

- Right.

- And then you got to make the call and then get the no.

The people who own the properties now are typically not people like us either.

Anytime you're a minority and you get into business, we're at a disadvantage because we don't know anybody to show us these ropes.

That's square one for anybody else, right?

- Right.

- Any industry, there's barriers that are set up for us to fail naturally.

Without the capital-- - Yeah.

- It's all just a pipe dream.

- You need that backing.

You need the backing that everybody else is getting, that we're not getting into our communities.

We're just not.

So what kept you-- what kept you going to see your vision through?

- You know, what gave us drive, John, was the fact that failure is not an option.

- Ah.

- You know, that we come from nothing, and we can always go back to nothing.

- Right, right, right, right.

- You know, and I know what that feels like.

So to get in there, we're going to have to work twice as hard as the average person.

If you ain't got that in your heart, then give up.

- Yeah, my grandfather always used to say, mijo, as a Latino, you have to work three times as hard to get half as far.

- It's a fact.

It's a fact.

- And Steve's hard work has paid off.

He's a first-generation business owner with over a half a million customers served and plans to expand to other states.

But what makes his success even sweeter is that now he gets to pay it forward, mentoring young folks from backgrounds like his and opening doors that he had to break down.

- You know, bro, we forgot almost the most important thing, which is to smoke some of the-- - The product.

- --smoke some of the product, man.

We got us some really good flower here, some of the best in Colorado.

We'll roll one up.

We'll break it down first.

- That's a lot, a nice fatty.

You're pretty masterful at rolling.

- Yeah.

- Why don't you hit on that thing, and you let me know what you think.

[exhilarating music] ♪ - It's nice.

Wow, one toke and I already have the munchies.

Is that even possible?

- It's about taco time, huh, bro?

- I see that truck over there.

- Should we do it?

- Let's do it.

- Let's do it, my brother.

- Yeah, I feel it already.

Wow, that was strong.

I wonder if it's because of the altitude.

Yo, it might be the weed, but I'm feeling optimistic that more will be done in this industry to right the wrongs of the war on drugs for our people.

In the meantime, we'll celebrate small victories like Steve's success-- Have a great day.

And this grub.

- Damn, man, that quesadilla is good, huh, brother John?

- So good.

So good.

- Can you think of a better way to end this cannabis adventure?

- Oh, hell no, my brother.

Cheers.

- [laughs] Cheers.

- Coloradans are some of the most outdoorsy people in the country.

And I'll be honest--even though I am wild at heart, I'm definitely a city slicker.

But I'm eager to see what the Rocky Mountain state has to offer.

And I know just the guy to go to.

- Hey.

- What's up, primo?

[speaking Spanish] - Welcome home.

- This is beautiful.

- This is your home.

[upbeat music] - With Colorado Treks, Dominic Lucero helps kids and families connect with nature.

And for some, it's their first experience in the great outdoors.

- Out here was very peaceful, and my soul felt like it was at home.

- With these free excursions, it's his goal to introduce kids to the healing power of Mother Nature.

- Here at Colorado Treks, teamwork makes the dream work.

- And if anyone's up to the task, it's Dominic, who spent 15 years working in special ed before this.

But the real inspiration for this program was his own childhood.

- I started this in 2016, but in reality, Colorado Treks started in '93.

When I was 12 years old, I got stabbed five times.

And what really helped me understand my impacts was when I was with my grandfather and we were out there fishing.

My grandfather was a World War II veteran, so he had some trauma of his own that he was carrying.

And he would see his grandson struggling.

And he's like, oh, yeah, mijo, let's go fishing.

Let's go camping.

And I would see the calmness within him, and then I would gain that myself.

I'm like, there is medicine in these mountains.

- Look, studies show that time in nature benefits our mental and physical health.

But a majority of Latinos live in nature-deprived areas.

And for low-income folks, hiking or camping is simply out of reach.

All that gear ain't cheap.

Even a picnic can be impossible if you don't have a car.

So no wonder we think it's just not for us.

But trust me, that's not the case.

Your grandparents go way back on this land in Colorado.

- So we've been here since pre-statehood.

My grandmother was born and raised up in the mountains in Oak Creek, Colorado.

And on my paternal side, my grandmother was born in Montrose, so we are people of the mountains.

- I grew up thinking camping and all that stuff was what white people did.

But then we're cheating ourselves out of an experience.

- Yeah, that's why we started Colorado Treks in general.

[gentle music] - Dominic's mission is about way more than just fishing.

By introducing these kids to the natural world, he's reconnecting them with their ancestral right to the medicine of the mountains.

- Can I help you out right here?

Because of the weight of this line, it'll just pull it straight down.

Happens to us all the time.

♪ When I'm out here, and I think of my grandfather, and I think of my grandparents, I'm like, yeah, they never left, right?

And so we teach that when we're learning this cultural practice and-- [speaking Spanish] Right?

We know how to cure ourselves.

Out here is the medicine that we been seeking for so long, whether it's fishing, hiking, or if it's just being in community.

- I do feel that sometimes when I'm horseback riding or in certain parts of America, that I feel like this ancient calling that you feel your ancestors.

You do.

- I do.

- So who are we meeting now?

- We're going to go meet some of our youth.

They're down here at the lake.

- So how did you guys get involved in this program?

You feel like it's changed you in any kind of way?

- Yes.

Seeing how all the kids interact shows how community is brought up in the mountains and puts positive vibes out here.

- It feels nice to be out in nature.

I do jewelry and ceramics.

When I come out here, it inspires me to think about ideas I want to make into art.

- That's cool.

That's cool.

And you, Delilah?

Have you found yourself more in tune with yourself out here?

- School and everything, it's hard.

Because I was bullied a little bit.

- Oh, yeah, why?

- Because I'm light skinned.

- Oh, wow.

- And like, I say I'm Mexican, and they just don't believe it.

When I go outside, I go back and like, think to myself, I'm special in my own way, and they don't need to know about that.

- Right, right, right.

- And it just healed me.

- Yeah, it empowers you because you're skillful, and you're succeeding.

- Yeah.

- So I want to start fishing.

Hook me up with some fishing skills.

- Let's get him lined up with a pole.

- I'm from Jackson Heights.

There's no fishing or ponds there.

I would stand back from me because I'm a novice.

I don't want to pierce anybody by accident.

♪ Oh, yo, where is it?

- Yo, perfect.

Just really nice and smooth, just like that.

♪ - Orale, right there.

There you go.

- Oh, good one.

- Reel it in nice and tight.

Might be hitting the bottom.

Maybe reel it in a little faster.

There are fish in here.

♪ - Oh, yeah.

I caught seaweed.

At least I caught something.

- [laughs] - I didn't want to catch any fish anyway.

I wanted to save the wildlife by not capturing it.

I'm not into capturing animals.

- It's a natural conservation.

- Yeah, that's why I didn't really want to catch anything.

OK, so I didn't bag a fish.

But I know it ain't just about that.

It's about connection with the beauty that surrounds us, with our community, and with ourselves.

Dominic is right.

- This is Westwood, one of Denver's historically Latino neighborhoods and one of the few still fending off gentrification with almost 70% Latino residents, oof.

Their secret?

Resilient locals who've invested in the community and its businesses.

And I'm about to meet one of them.

Damaris Ronkanen, the award-winning chocolatier and founder of Cultura Chocolate.

She's as committed to her heritage as she is to her hood.

Oh, my God, it smells incredible.

What is that?

- We're making chocolate.

- What a beautiful store you have here.

- Thank you so much.

So this is Cultura Chocolate.

And we do our chocolate from bean to bar.

So we bring in cacao from different parts of Latin America and do it all from scratch.

So that's what I'm going to show you today.

We're going to be making champurrado, a beverage that has the cacao and corn together and cinnamon in it.

- Champurrado is a chocolate version of atole, a Mexican hot drink traditionally mixed with corn masa.

The drink dates back to pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica, and it's basically a rich, thick, hot chocolate.

OK, I'm drooling.

The process of making chocolate like the Mayans, and the Aztecs, and Amazon Inca people did, how is that?

Chocolate doesn't just happen.

- Exactly.

Yeah.

After the cacao gets harvested, what they do is they lay it out in the sun to dry, and then that ends up getting toasted and ground up.

Now, today, obviously we consume chocolate mostly in a bar form, but traditionally, it was always consumed as a beverage.

- Chocolate wasn't just consumed by our Indigenous ancestors, it was revered.

They used this as money.

- Chocolate was definitely used as currency, and, you know, it was considered very sacred.

It had a lot of status within pre-Hispanic societies.

And what I love about what we're going to be making today with champurrado is that it's bringing together both cacao and corn.

Corn is like what you use for your everyday sustenance.

It doesn't have necessarily that same status.

- Right, chocolate was for the Illuminati.

It was for the elitist.

- Yeah.

- That's right.

Long before American companies started marketing slabs of sugar and wax as chocolate, our Indigenous Mesoamerican ancestors were consuming it as a bitter beverage more like coffee than cocoa.

Sugar was added thousands of years later by the Spanish conquistadors.

And then in the 1800s, it was the Brits who invented the chocolate bar.

But whether you prefer milk or dark, peanut or plain, you best be giving thanks to the Olmec, Aztec, and Mayan peoples.

- The first thing we're going to do is put it on this little tray right here and I kind of just start to inspect it.

And I put, like, all the good beans over here on this side over here, and-- - I see.

Where do the bad beans go?

I was a bad bean at one certain point in my youth.

Damaris was born in Denver, but like many Latinos, never really felt connected to her culture because she didn't speak Spanish.

The only way she could communicate with her abuela was through my favorite language--food.

- I've always been kind of a sweets person.

I thought I wanted to go to culinary school, so I started working in restaurants.

I was a pastry chef for a little bit, but it was always going back to my childhood and remembering my grandmother, my abuela, making champurrado.

And that was, like, my favorite beverage growing up.

- It's the memories.

- Yeah.

Our next step in the chocolate-making process is to winnow it.

During pre-Hispanic times, you'd do this one by one.

- Right, - So we're going to use this machine over here called a winnower.

Dump the whole thing.

Try not to drop valuable currency on the ground.

[rattling] Awesome.

Turn this on.

All the cacao nibs coming out, and it's separating the outer shell into this compartment right here.

We're going to turn this on.

So you see, it starts to spin.

Just sprinkle a little bit in there.

[whirring] So this runs anywhere for one to four days, depending on what type of chocolate we're making.

- Four days you let it run like that?

- Mm-hmm, and it has a combination of air getting incorporated into it, and then we usually have a heat source on it, just to keep it warm.

- So what did our ancestors do?

They were doing it by hand.

- Exactly, so you're grinding it by hand, and the flavor would be a little bit different.

Do you want to try a little bit of it?

- I'd love to try it.

- That's a lot.

[laughs] - Mm, that's fuego.

That's fuego.

- We're going to actually take this chocolate after it's been ground up and add the sugar and the ingredients into it and make little disks that we're going to turn into the champurrado.

- You've won awards for your chocolate.

- We've won a few awards, yeah.

- That's amazing.

Now that we have the award-winning chocolate ready, It's time to prepare the atole base.

- To make the masa, we need to nixtamalize the corn.

So that's the process of cooking the corn with an alkaline solution.

- I love nixtamalize.

If I have another child, I'm going to call her nixtamalize.

- [laughs] Nixtamalize.

- I love it.

- So I have some that I made the other day that's already washed, and it's ready for us to go ahead and grind into masa.

- Can I taste that as well?

- Mm-hmm, yeah.

- Come on, y'all know me.

I'm a tactile learner.

Mmm.

Yeah, delicious.

I gotta touch, smell, and taste everything.

- We're going to go ahead and grind it.

[grinding] - Like flour.

[relaxing music] - Yeah, this olla right here, let me turn it on.

- These are the ingredients that are in the pot-- vanilla, brown sugar with molasses, and then this beautiful Ceylon cinnamon.

[sniffs] Mmm.

This must have taken you years to figure out how to do all this.

- [laughs] It's definitely been an evolution.

It's looking really good.

And service.

- Are we going to sit down over there, or-- - Yeah, let's go sit down.

- Let's go sit down.

We worked hard.

We deserve it.

We've earned it.

- [laughs] ♪ - Ah, so good, so rich and sweet at the same time.

It's like a meal in a way.

- Mm-hmm.

It is a meal.

And atole was treated as a meal.

I mean, I feel like there's so many different varieties.

You know, I love these sweet ones, but there are savory versions.

- Now, let me ask you, because I want to get to the heart of it.

What made you do all this?

- It was really all about kind of exploring my own heritage.

Through having the opportunity to visit Mexico and visit cacao farms and learn more about the food, I just have such a strong drive to reconnect with that.

When I started coming here in Westwood, I started seeing all the work that was happening here.

You see all these beautiful murals.

You see all these small businesses.

You see a lot of street food vendors.

And it just has its own really beautiful identity.

So we kind of banded together and formed what we call Hecho en Westwood.

It's a collective of small businesses in this community really wanting to showcase our culture.

- You know, you hit something for me because I grew up in the United States, and I didn't have value as a Latin person.

And in reclaiming my history through studying my culture and the empires, I started to get self-respect and self-love.

- It's so powerful, just the impact that can have on you-- knowing who you are and where you come from and having other people who see that as well, too.

- Well, here's to you.

- Thank you.

[chuckles] - To chocolate.

Yo, Damaris is doing the work out here in Westwood, but she ain't the only one.

This whole neighborhood is dedicated to honoring and preserving their ancestral traditions.

[upbeat music] - So listen up.

Hecho en Westwood, the neighborhood organization Damaris founded, isn't just about promoting local businesses.

With youth programs like Danza Mexika, they're also empowering the next generation through a profound connection with their ancestry.

So I'm meeting up with dance instructor Metzli Aragon and community elder Siri Martinez to learn more.

Can you explain the ceremony of danza for us?

Can you break that down?

- The core of danza is an offering.

It's an offering to life.

It's an offering to the spirits, an offering to the elements, the energy around us.

We're asking the energy to be with us in that circle.

In that moment, the altar is the center of the world for us.

So it's not a God, but it's the energy that represents the thunder or the rain or the lakes.

So for us, everything is energy.

Everything has energy.

- So danza is an Indigenous spiritual ceremony from Mexico that mixes prayer with song and dance.

During the Chicano movement, Mexican-Americans rejected European customs and embraced their own traditions and practices, like danza.

Soon, ceremonies like these became mainstays at Chicano gatherings across the country.

What made you get started in all these aprendizajes and all these ceremonies?

- I was in Mexico back in 2007, and I started dancing there.

[melancholic music] It was an amazing experience for me.

I never felt like it before.

You know, like, when you hear a song, and you're really like, that beat's fire?

It was like that.

It was just amazing.

It helped me break the trauma with my children, so I'm raising them in the tradition.

And it's family, too, that you gain with being a danzantes community.

- I grew up in the United States, so I have no connection.

I was cut off from my Indigenous upbringing, my Indigenous mythology.

Do you think our religions were destroyed, or were they preserved?

- I think we preserve pieces.

Everybody will do certain little things.

You go to Arizona, you go to New Mexico, you go to Canada, everybody has their little aspects that they preserve.

- What makes you keep it alive here in Denver?

- Danza has been in Denver for 50, 40 years.

- Oh, really, really?

- Yes.

People from Mexico, that's kind of where most of the danza comes from.

They brought it over.

They shared with people.

I mean, a lot of people have that thirst for belonging, you know?

So you hear the drums, and they feel some sort of connection.

- A pull, a pull.

- Yes, exactly.

- A cultural pull.

- Yes.

- Metzli and Siri aren't alone in feeling that cultural pull toward danza.

The program speaks to people of all ages.

- My goal is to help these kids have this identity, to know these traditions that are centuries old that people lost their lives to preserve.

And I really, truly believe by touching this youth that this can change the future.

This world is not just about me.

It's about all of us.

- The people who survived and continue to tell it underground, you are those guardians of it.

Now, I understand there's going to be a danza this afternoon, right?

- Yes, you got to go get your whites on, and we'll meet you over there.

- Oh, whites, does it have a symbolic-- - It's what we start off with is wearing white, and then we add to that.

- So get this.

Every bead, belt, and feather is earned as you progress in your Danza Mexika education.

White is for the rookies, like me, as if I wasn't going to stand out already.

- Come on in.

I want to welcome you to our circle.

So go right ahead.

[speaking Spanish] So what we're going to do is, we start off with our march.

And it's kind of like a backwards march where we're here.

Ay, natural.

[laughs] [instruments rattling] So when I put my arm up, we're going to run forward and back for four counts.

Now, go backwards.

Now, go forward.

Now, go backwards.

So that's the first part.

- All right, we're on our way.

- Whoo!

- So now, we're going to go into afuera, entro, adelante, atras, corte.

- As we moved through the steps, I was impressed by the dedication of Metzli's young students, especially her son, Axel.

Axel, can I ask you a question?

Just so curious.

What does this whole dance mean to you?

- Besides representing my ancestors, I feel like it's a way for me to, like, teach the youth in my community and, like, make right for, like, what's wrong in the world, you know?

So actually, I have a poem about what it means to me.

- Oh, yeah.

Let's do it.

- I'll read it.

[percussive music] - "As I mark each of my steps, I envision my ancestors "preserving the way of our people, "making sacrifices for the future generation.

I give all I have to honor and represent..." ♪ "What was stolen, "to reimburse, and to replenish.

"In the midst of the movement, being nervous is unavoidable, "but the thought of influencing the youth, "my body just flows with the beat.

"Releasing trauma in thoughts of stress, I feel welcomed, "and a sense of belonging builds from each moment, a purpose to keep moving."

- That's beautiful, man.

It's beautiful.

[energetic drumming] ♪ As the sun sets on my Denver adventure, one word echoes--reclamation.

From customs and cuisine to city parks and the great outdoors, Latinos here are restoring their culture and forging their future, one in which they are vibrantly and proudly themselves.

And if that ain't a beautiful thing.

[bright music] ♪