About Me: Name: Maria Leticia Suarez Age: 22 Location: New York City My Family history, culture, traditions and customs are things that have been kept alive in me due to the effort of my parents. I am very proud of who and what I am. There's a saying " yo no naci en Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico nacio en mi". " I wasn't born in Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico was born in me." Even though I was born in this country (America) and in this city (New York) my heart hears the call of Borinquen. That is not to say that I don't love the United States because I do. It's just that with Puerto Ricans the love is a little bit more complicated...lol I think the love we feel for our island must be part of our DNA because how else do you explain the love a place that many in my generation have never even been to? It was documented that when Columbus returned to Puerto Rico after his "discovery" of the island that the Taino Indians he had taken with him to guide him back to the island jumped out of their boats and into the shark infested waters when they spotted their beloved Borinquen. They so desperately loved their island they were willing to risk death to get back to it. Now that's love, it seems to be a love that lives within the hearts of all Boricuas towards our homeland. As a child I had been told my elders that I had Taino ancestry. That my coloring and features were a result of who my people had been. But I was stunned none the less at the results of a mtDNA study done in Puerto Rico. You can read more about that in the "Glossary" section of this page. Imagine being taught in school that this race which is part of your ancestry was gone and then finding out years later that it still lives and that YOU and others like you are living proof of that it still exsists. My curiosity was aroused and I felt the need to document our family history, to preserve it for the future. With this in mind I began questioning family members and researching my family history and I was pleasantly surprised and recieved a re-education about my roots in the process!!