Puerto Rico: Caribbean Cowboys

The distance and differences between Jackson Hole and Puerto Rico explain why, as recently as 2013, there were only five Puerto Ricans living in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Teton Valley, Idaho, combined and only 33 Puerto Ricans in all of Wyoming, according to the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College in New York City. In 2018, when this project began, more than 200 Puerto Ricans called Teton County, Wyoming home, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

This project focuses on the Puerto Ricans making new homes and lives for themselves in a landscape that is almost as different from their homeland as the moon.

Objects on the bed of the home of Emily (27) and her boyfriend at the time, now husband.
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During a snowstorm, last March, Teresa Rivera, and Luis got married. The ceremony was outside, in the backyard of a home in East Jackson. The officiant was the home’s owner, Cynthia M. Dahlin, whom Rivera first met through her job as a manager at th
Teresa Rivera says, “I have been able to create a family here when there was none,” Rivera says. “I walk down the street and people are always interacting with me, Latinos and non-Latinos. The non-Latinos speak to me in Spanish, to practice the lang
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On August 25th, 2019 this project organized the first time 35 Puerto Ricans met to celebrate Puerto Rico and to connect. With three Puerto Rican decorated cakes, tons of flags and salsa music, we created our first cultural connection to home while b
The Klein family moved to Jackson in 2017 looking for a different pace from what they left behind in Puerto Rico. Cruz says, “Very slowly, we are creating a home for ourselves and our kids. We’ve slowly added furniture, plants, and our children have
Emily Rivera works six days a week between her two jobs. During her limited free time, she takes mini road trips around Teton County and Grand Teton National Park with her husband or sister, exploring and connecting with their surroundings. Emily lo
David Figueroa arrived in Jackson in December 2015, looking for better opportunities to provide for his partner and daughter back home in Puerto Rico. He works 14 hour days and often uses his one day off a week to fish and connect with nature. Figue
Edgar Gonzalez (middle, smiling) at the first gathering of Puerto Ricans in Jackson Hole at Mike Yokel Park last August. There were about 35 of the islanders at the party and they played dominoes, listened to salsa while admiring the Tetons, and ate
Andy Klein is back in a restaurant kitchen, as executive chef at the Whistling Grizzly, which is inside the Wyoming Inn. There Klein has created a menu of “Latin-inspired cowboy cuisine” that includes mofongo (mashed green plantains, vegetables, ric
In Teton County, Covid has greatly affected the Latinx population. Teresa, a Puerto Rican living in Wyoming was forced to leave Jackson when she and her husband lost their income due to extended quarantines and lack of steady employment. Facing Jack
David Figueroa, expected the outdoorsy lifestyle of the valley, even if he had never heard of Grand Teton National Park and only knew Yellowstone through Yogi Bear and a documentary film. But he says he never imagined he would find the community he
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Community

A Puerto Rican community did not exist in Teton County, Wyoming prior to 2018. Inspired by this project, a reunion occurred in August 2019. It was the first time a Puerto Rican community got together in Teton County Wyoming, and began to create a Puerto Rican presence in this mountain town.

Publication

The project received a publication in Jackson Hole Magazine, Summer 2019 issue, titled “Caribbean Cowboys”. It was the first time the magazine wrote entirely about Latinos in the magazine, and offered the story in English and Spanish.