La Frontera with Pati Jinich

Pati, voice-over: Lost highways... Leslie: This is a deadly place.

Pati, voice-over: Ghost haunting desert trails... Leslie: You see the bullet holes?

Yeah.

Pati, voice-over: And ancient seeds.

I love it.

It has that toasty flavor.

Smoky flavor.

Pati, voice-over: The borderlands consist of some of the most wild, untouched places in North America, steeped in legend and tradition.

Man: Raised in this region for thousands and thousands of years.

Cheers!

Pati, voice-over: But none more so than the border between Arizona and Sonora.

The piercing beauty of the Sonoran desert is matched only by the compassion of those who are called to help.

This same landscape that makes your heart sing is also a place of suffering for many looking for a better life.

This is like one small thing I can do.

Excelente.

Pati, voice-over: But the harsh conditions are also a place of hope for the future.

Let's weave our way this way.

Pati, voice-over: A lab of sorts for researchers studying the resiliency of food that thrives here in ever climbing global temperatures.

It's beautiful Pati: It's so beautiful.

Hello.

You're gonna give me a ride?

Pati, voice-over: But we'll start from where we left off, at the very edge of Baja California in Los Algodones.

Pati: Whoa!

Pati, voice-over: Where perhaps we found the most wild place of all.

Pati: Oh, so all of this are dental, dental, dental.

Pati, voice-over: A town of dentists.

Show me something.

Come, come.

Show me.

Una, dos, tres.

Pati, voice-over: I'm Pati Jinich.

I'm a chef.

A writer and immigrant.

On this season I'm traveling the border from California and Baja to New Mexico and Chihuahua to uncover the stories beneath the headlines and celebrate the beauty of the people who call themselves "fronterizos."

Really?

Pati, voice-over: Mexico is my heart.

The United States is now my home.

And in the space between is "La Frontera."

Pati, voice-over: Los Algodones is the northernmost point in Mexico and located on the farthest edge of Baja California.

It's surrounded by 45 miles of sand dunes that were once used by the U.S. military for desert warfare training in World War II.

But I'm here for a very different reason.

I'm here to face my dentophobia.

Welcome to a town that is said to have more dentists per square mile than any other place in the world.

Pati: Josu.

Hello, hello.

Hello.

You're gonna give me a ride?

S.

Let's do it.

Pati, voice-over: Josu is a local who works for one of the hundreds of clinics in town.

He is tasked with driving around a golf cart and bringing Americans to and from the border for their appointments.

Josu: So that one is the line to go back and then there's people going back walking.

That's the line.

Oh, wow!

Pati, voice-over: The cost of healthcare in the U.S. is causing many U.S. citizens to look for more affordable ways to get dental work, turning the borderlands into a medical paradise.

Pati: Are a lot of people moving here to provide services?

Josu: Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of new dentists.

There's always new dental assistants.

Yeah.

The patients come from all over?

Yeah, they come from all over Europe, Canada, Kansas City.

You know, anywhere.

Pati, voice-over: In the late 1800s, the Southern Pacific Railroad opened a connection to the west that brought immigrants as labor, some of whom settled in and around Los Algodones.

The agricultural era began, and cotton was heavily harvested in the area.

Hence, the name "Los Algodones," or cotton plants.

During prohibition, Los Algodones saw its first tourism boom with many visiting for its cantinas and bars.

Lupita: Empez con las farmacias, ms bien, haba uno que otro dentista y luego fue creciendo, otro dentista, otro dentista.

Y hasta lo que es ahorita, mil dentistas, yo creo, en una manzana.

Pati, voice-over: Lupita Zazueta started her famous street tacos stand 20 years ago.

And the constant flow of doctors and patients has allowed her to expand her food business, and even get into real estate.

She now owns buildings she rents to the dentists and pharmacies.

Entonces, tienen gente que va y viene, tienen turismo mdico todos los das.

Todos los das y todo el valle mucha gente trabaja, Mexicali, San Luis, todo el valle.

Ya lo tengo atendido aqu, ya.

Yo quiero taquito de camarn.

Uno o cuntos les hago?

Dos y dos?

Dos y dos.

Dos y dos.

Platcame un poquito de cmo es la vida aqu que ests entre dos, ms, entre dos estados, dos pases.

Mis hijos, ellos estudian en Arizona.

A diario cruzan, los tres a diario cruzan y, pues, empieza el da, pues, bien tempano en la maana.

All tenemos casa y estamos, pues, pero ms, 80 %, estamos aqu.

Pues, estn nuestros tacos, nos los comemos?

Limn.

Crema.

[Music] !Mmm!

Por eso eres tan famosa.

Est buensimo.

Gracias.

Buensimo, buensimo, los camarones estn... super como plumpy, crunchy.

Y el capeado est delicioso.

Super fluffy, las salsitas y los garnishes fresqusimos.

Pati, voice-over: In auspicious times, Los Algodones can see up to 10,000 patients a day.

The population of the entire town is only around 5000.

Man: We're from Marana, which is, like, Tucson.

OK. OK. How far is that?

190 miles.

Something like that.

180 miles.

We came to get some dental work done, actually.

Yeah?

Is this your first time doing dental work here?

Yes, yeah.

And how did you hear about it?

My aunt came here.

OK. And she gave a really good report.

Have you had good experiences here?

Oh, you did!

That's why you have such a beautiful smile.

That's why he said, "I'm glad I spent all this money."

Because I told him he had a nice smile.

Oh, like, every time you need dental work, you come here.

Here, yeah.

!Billete!

[Laughing] Pati, voice-over: Three blocks away is the Figueroa, a mother-father-and-son team who moved here from Guadalajara, Mexico, following the gold rush of medical tourism.

Y cmo llegaron aqu?

Un compaero de mi generacin nos invit y l decidi venirse cuando pasaron las explosiones en Guadalajara.

Pati, voice-over: In Guadalajara in 1992, a series of sudden explosions caused by a gas leak killed more than 200 people and leveled 20 squares city blocks.

Pati: Cuando se vinieron, empacaron todas su cosas en un camin.

Man: Fue una aventura porque... Pati: Qu pas?

Pati, voice-over: Somewhere along the 1200 miles from Guadalajara to Algodones, their moving truck disappeared.

And they ended up in a new town with nothing, but their suitcases.

But the people at the borderlands surprised them.

Laura: Hubo gente que vea que no tenamos consultorio y yo rent aqu, pero sin tener ni sillones, nada.

Y hubo gente que me dijo: "Yo tengo un silln, te lo presto".

Y se me haca muy raro eso, que alguien hiciera eso.

Entonces, poco a poco, nos dimos cuenta de que la gente de aqu era muy diferente.

Hombre: Atendemos pacientes de Romania, atendemos pacientes de Alaska.

Lugoj: Come, I'll show you something.

Show me something.

Show me.

Oh, oh, Dracula.

Yeah, you see?

Transylvania.

You're actually from Dracula's town?

Yes, I came with all my family here.

My son had big trouble in mouth, in teeth.

They removed all the teeth.

He did the best surgery, they made the best teeth for him.

OK, but you love it.

I love it.

Yeah.

Son muchos aos, son muchos aos de estar aqu.

Y, pues, estamos contentos.

Viven en un pueblo que es en su mayora dentistas, pues.

S.

Pero todos vamos y venimos.

Casi toda la poblacin se va en la maana-- llegan en la maana y se van en la noche.

Es un lugar nico.

Pati, voice-over: The people are warm and welcoming and the tacos here were amazing.

But I'm always on the hunt for more heat.

I'm leaving Baja California and making my way to where the wild things grow.

In one of the most remote places in the Sonoran Desert of Southern Arizona I'm hunting for a treasure thousands of years old.

Pati: This is so exciting.

I mean, this is like a-- like a chile hunt, a chile hike.

I've never done that and I'm obsessed with chiles.

Pati, voice-over: The foods I love, cook and eat all have one thing in common: the chile.

Pati: So you see all the way up there.

We're gonna go up there just to find some really yummy chiles.

Pati, voice-over: Not just any chile, the chiltepin chile is believed to be the original from which all the other chiles have evolved.

I'm trusting the maternal spirit of Erin.

That's the way to do it.

All right.

Pati, voice-over: Which is why the husband and wife desert research team of Erin Riordan and Benjamin Wilder based in Tucson, Arizona, are interested in studying them in the wild.

If chiltepines can survive for thousands of years in the Sonoran desert, one of the hottest places in North America, then what can we learn about growing food in a hotter future?

The reason the chiltepin has survived is the same reason it's so hard to find, it grows in small bushes in sheltered areas under trees and rocks that protect it from the harsh environment.

So up we go.

OK. After hours of climbing... Oh, there it is!

Pati: Ay, mira, ah estn.

Superrojos.

So red.

Wait, there's more there, there's one over there.

I have never seen them in the wild.

Would you like one?

Yes, please.

[Laughs] So shiny and bright.

Just beautiful.

So beautiful.

This is where every salsa that you have tried began.

Salud.

Salud.

You don't get more wild than this.

Oh, wow.

Oh!

Ah, ah, ah.

Wow, wow.

And it's a little numbing.

Like my tongue feels a little, but, like, deliciously numb.

It's the first chile experience I've had where every second that is passing is just changing.

It's just, like, I feel it all over.

One of the things that I love about them is not just the heat, which there's a lot of.

But there's also that flavor.

Oh, the taste, it's a little citrusy.

It's very complex.

So why is it to you that it's at thing worth studying?

Erin: One of the things that I love about this chile is because it is a wild ancestor of our other domesticated crops, it's really retained all of these qualities that we've tried to tame.

If you think about how we grow food, and the crops that a lot of us are really familiar with today.

Well, they're kind of wimpy.

They wouldn't be able to handle it out here.

They can't, they're shy.

And so, in one way, it's just a... a lot of information to learn about the chile and its history and its cultural uses.

But there's also a lot to learn about how maybe we can use this plant to help bring back some of that hardiness that it still has in the wild to other crops, and maybe that can help us when we're coping with temperatures that are getting hotter.

There's been such a close connection between people, and this plant, in particular, for, at minimum, 8000 years.

So when we're trying to understand how people have changed the crops or the plants of the region, you need to look no further, than as you said it, the mother of all chiles.

Pati: Yeah.

Pati, voice-over: If a chile can survive for thousands of years, then our team should be just fine driving the unmarked roads out of the desert.

Oh-oh.

So I drove the car into the mud.

The second time that I do it in two days, which isn't bad, it is actually bad.

Pati, voice-over: Erin and Ben are the only people who know the area and they left 20 minutes ago.

And we have no cell-service.

Man: Pati, you wanna come see the road that you're driving down?

I mean, they just told me, "Go left, go..." Oh, my God!

This is the road.

[Laughs] I drove the car into a creek.

Our producer Ren is somewhere searching for a signal to call Erin and Ben.

And everybody... everybody's optimistic.

Yeah, yeah.

We're waiting to be saved at this point.

Pati, voice-over: And just in the nick of time.

Yay!

Woo-hoo!

Pati, voice-over: Miraculously, Ben has a four-wheel drive and a wench.

Yo, stop, OK. Looks like we're out.

Show goes on.

Yay!

[Horn honking] Pati, voice-over: This is the true beauty of the border.

United by the chiltepin, our friendship sealed by kindness.

We're at the home of a pioneer desert researcher, Gary Nabhan, who founded Native Seeds, a group which finds, collects and preserves the plants of this region.

In this county, it's the northernmost limits of the chiltepin or chile silvestre, the wild chile.

It goes all over down to Guatemala.

Pati, voice-over: Gary is like a mad scientist.

He's written more than 30 books on the chiltepin and other native foods.

You have your own chiltepin little heaven here.

I can't live without them.

I'm addicted to them.

Pati, voice-over: His deep desire to share what he knows about the native plants of this arid desert will help farmers adapt to climate change.

On both sides of the border, we desperately need crops that use far less water than alfalfa or--or cotton.

These plants don't use much water, but per acre, the yield in income is much, much higher than any other crop that could be grown in Sonora or Arizona.

But they need help now or they'll lose their farms.

And specialty crops that have high value per pound is one of the answers that we can offer them.

Pati, voice-over: This evening, Gary is hosting a dinner made with mostly native ingredients.

Erin and Ben are joining us.

And, did I mention?

Ben's father is a James Beard award-winning chef?

I've heard so much about you and I've heard so much about your food.

Pati, voice-over: Janos Wilder revolutionized Tucson's farm to table dining scene.

And the use of cooking with plants native to this region.

I'm honoring what I've found here, the people that came before me, and set the stage for me to be able to do my work.

And that's hom-- an homage in a sense.

Pati, voice-over: His salad is a story of the desert.

Filled with prickly pear, mezquite honey and two things I've never seen before.

Janos: These guys are little white wheat berries.

So the wheat berry is an old world-- wheat is an old world crop that was brought here.

And this is also a pomegranate, you said?

Yeah, that's a white pomegranate.

I have never seen a white pomegranate.

Taste that.

That is so sweet.

So that is... That pomegranate is from the root stalk that was brought here by Father Kino.

Pati, voice-over: Spanish missionary, Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, was an influential early explorer of Sonora.

In the 1690s, he brought European agriculture seeds and cattle to the 24 Jesuit missions he founded.

And that brings us to what we're eating today.

Pati, voice-over: The chiltepin rubbed, adobe oven roasted lamb is ready.

I rubbed the lamb in orange juice and chile powder and a little bit of garlic and some coffee as well.

And I marinated that, smoked it, and slow-cooked it and then finished it in this oven.

Pati: Oh!

The meat is...

Perfectly baked.

Right the way we want.

It's so tender and smoky.

Pati, voice-over: The lamb complements Chef Janos' salad along with heritage tepary beans in a hardy squash soup.

So that squash has been raised in this region for thousands and thousands of years.

It's a drought resistant squash.

And this particular variety is harvested by the Tohono O'odham, who lived in Tucson and crossed the border.

And so this is their squash.

This is--this is their story.

Gary, here?

Right here?

OK. Shall I let you sit here?

No, no, no.

Well, let's make a toast.

Yeah, OK. To the chiltepin.

To the chiltepin!

All the stress that it brings to make us stronger.

To the red-hot mother of all chiles.

Here, here.

[Music] You're doing the research.

You're doing the cooking of food that are binational and you're collaborating with people on both sides of the border to research, to cook.

Well, you know, and Gary has so much to do with that by starting Native Seeds Search, which is now a repository of these seeds that have grown here for thousands of years and many of them in danger of extinction.

Ben: Each one of the ingredients on our plate has its own story in terms of seeds and history, but it's also the people that cultivated and brought them here.

And incredible amount of knowledge that you can eat and share.

And it's easier to share that knowledge when you can eat it, right?

That's right.

If we don't keep these on the table, and support the growers or the foragers that make a living off this, if they can't make a living anymore, they'll drop that.

And so my friend Papi says, "Honey, if you want to save it, you've got to eat it."

[Music] Pati, voice-over: Now, one final treat.

Gary's biting chiltepin flan.

Man: How hot is it?

Gary: Can I pass another to...?

Mmm!

Gary.

It is... wow!

It really--It makes the sweet of the flan have another dimension.

Because you're feeling the flavor of the chiltepin, and as you taste the sweet, you're getting the heat.

It really just brings your taste buds to life.

Yeah.

You've done well, Gary.

My respect for you was already like there.

And now I can't even reach.

Pati, voice-over: Eating food rich in ancient DNA is made only sweeter when shared with the brilliant minds dedicated to their conservation.

I mean, this sky with the chiltepin flan together is such a gift.

Pati, voice-over: But while science might see these foods as a way forward, the desert people of the borderlands see them as a way to reconnect with their stolen past.

For more than 10,000 years, the borderlands have been a home to Tohono O'odham Nation, whose people know no boundaries.

The reservation is about the size of Connecticut, each shares 75 miles of international border with Mexico.

And the border splits their nation in two.

They have fought assimilation from different governments since the 18th Century.

The O'odham language has struggled to survive.

and the militarized border has split up families and blocked access to sacred sites.

The San Xavier mission next to the reservation, is a good illustration of all the governments that have attempted to colonize the O'odham people.

Having had the flags of three nations flown above the church.

since 1797.

Spain, Mexico, and the United States.

All the more reason for going back to their roots.

And a younger generation of O'odham see an opportunity to go back to those roots through food.

This is the coolest, tallest, most modern sophisticated tractor I've ever seen.

Connecting the past with the future is the job of Duran Andrews.

Born and raised on the reservation.

He manages the 1000 acre cooperative farm.

The mission for the farm was for the preservation of the food.

Pati, voice-over: In the 1970s, landowners in the San Xavier district created the co-op to grow their traditional crops, but for many years they hired outsiders to manage the farm, who changed the focus to cash crops like hay.

Tell me a little bit about those ingredients you want to bring back.

What's their meaning?

I mean, right now the culture has struggled, you know, and, uh, I like to think of our food as survival food, you know, we--we need the culture to survive this-- this struggle.

You know, we need to emphasize it, we need to put it out there and talk the language, you know, the Ni'ok.

That's really important for survival.

And that's what we've been doing since we lived here generations from others.

Pati, voice-over: About 80 % of the farm is hay for animal feed.

Duran would like to make that 50 % feed.

And 50 % traditional food.

But it's no easy task.

Traditional food means more traditional methods like hand-planting seeds.

They also don't use any pesticides or chemicals.

It's surprising to me that when you talk to a lot of people, they don't know about the farm here, in Tucson.

And when they do find out about it, they get surprised, "I gotta go there and get what I want."

They wanna get ingredients.

Mezquite pods, you know, mezquite flour.

They definitely know where to come now and that's what we wanna be.

We wanna be that hub that has food for them.

You have a little knife or a little spoon?

Yes.

Pati, voice-over: Amy Juan is also a manager at the farm.

Born in the 1980s, she comes from the last generation to move freely between both sides of the Tohono O'odham nation.

Our family isn't even my family.

Our roots are in the white hill, which is a community on the other side of the border.

There's a lot of ties, those ties are still there despite the politics, despite the border wall.

And different things like that, we're still continuing our food tradition.

Pati, voice-over: But politics have always been the primary challenge for the O'odham people.

Duran recalls a moment when walking through the desert to school on the U.S. side, when he was tackled by border patrol.

I had my headphones and didn't think anything of it, and then, out of nowhere, I--an individual got me and pushed me down to the floor.

And out of instinct I kind of, I don't know, I fought back like, "Oh, my God, I'm being robbed."

Yeah?

But, um, I looked up at this guy and I started to speak in English, "What are you doing?"

He stepped back and realized, "Are you a U.S.

citizen?"

And then I said, "Yes, what are you doing?"

Yeah, so, he--their confusion was like, "I'm sorry, sir."

They moved on with what they were doing, but you know, it's like that--that perception.

There are so many experiences like that in the reservation.

It's horrible, it's unfortunate.

Pati, voice-over: Amy is preparing traditional ingredients for the Annual Heritage Celebration, where contestants will compete in a food competition.

Foods like 60-day corn, cholla buds, saguaro syrup, mezquite flour, and wheat berries.

So what do we have here?

Here we have the 60-day corn.

Mmm!

Yeah.

Pati, voice-over: 60-day corn is an ancient seed that is planted and ready for harvest in just 60 days.

It uses significantly less water than modern corn.

I love it.

It has that toasty flavor.

That smoky flavor.

I've been a part of the food work in the nation for a while.

And because of different things that we've gone through in our history, we almost lost a lot of our food knowledge and culture.

And so we've been working hard for the past ten years to bring a renaissance of food back to the community, and a big part of that is seed saving.

In our stories, as O'odham people, as desert people, we see these beans as making up the formation of the Milky Way.

These foods are an essential part of who we are as O'odhman.

For me, personally, growing up and learning about these foods and learning how to cook them meant time with my grandmothers.

And so my grandmothers are gone now, and so for me to spend time with the foods and to cook them is my way of continuing to be with them.

[Music] Pati, voice-over: The Heritage Food Festival is another way to get people from inside and outside Tohono Nation excited about traditional foods.

All right, everybody, thank you so much for joining the Cooking Competition.

Pati, voice-over: Each contestant gets a bag of ingredients and has an hour to create a new dish.

You have cholla buds.

And you have the white tepary beans and the red tepary beans.

If it's your first time using these ingredients, that's okay, that's your introduction to the ingredient and, hopefully, it inspires you to eat it more, to utilize it more, uh, because that's also what we want to do, is encourage traditional food in our everyday meals for our family.

We will start now.

[Music] What are you guys making?

I'm not sure.

A mess.

He thinks he can cook better than me.

Who's the better cook?

Me.

My wife.

I guess--I guess we will find out right now.

Pati, voice-over: Some of the contestants are members of the tribe, and some are visitors here learning and trying something new.

I mean, I'm not a part of that--but, um, of the nation, at the same time, I feel pride living in this area.

Pati: Paloma.

Pati, voice-over: Paloma is making enchiladas with a bean sauce using red tepary beans.

She's a student at the University of Arizona majoring in food studies.

I think, you know, a lot of us have like lost connection to the foods that our ancestors had built relationships with.

But it's like super powerful to, like, see the, um, you know, that these crops are still here, like, on this land.

To us, they're superfoods.

Yeah?

And because they're drought-tolerant and, uh, we can grow those during the Monsoon.

It doesn't--You don't have to put out a hose to-- to water them.

Pati, voice-over: Phyllis Valenzuela is a farm chef and a judge at the competition.

She's one of the driving forces behind bringing back traditional food.

I walked around and I asked the employees, I said, "Do you guys eat what you grow?"

"No," and I said, "Well, here you go."

Since I've been here, that's what I've been doing.

Everything that comes out of the garden or the larger fields... You cook.

I prepare it and I give to the employees.

The elders come in and they say, "I haven't had this food since my grandmother cooked it."

Oh.

And I hear that a lot.

Pati, voice-over: The results of the competition were so tasty and creative.

But the real victory for Amy is the conversation and participation.

But food isn't the only way that younger O'odhams are reclaiming their birthright.

It's also through fate.

As a teenager, Amy told her Catholic grandmother she was no longer attending church.

That was a little upsetting to her.

But, um, once we showed her that we are learning our culture, we're also learning how to pray, we're learning how to sing, we're learning more about who we are as O'odham, she was happy about that.

And her thing was, "As long as you have faith."

Are there songs for when you're planting and are there songs from when you're harvesting?

Yes.

And what would the songs be now?

Well, harvesting songs.

Do you sing those, too?

I do.

Can you share a bit with me?

Yes.

[Sings in O'odham] Pati, voice-over: The wounds of colonization may never fully heal, but little by little, through the passing down the food, language and song, the O'odham people are regaining some of what has been lost.

[Sings in O'odham] You've touched my heart.

It's so beautiful.

Thank you.

Thank you.

[Music] Pati, voice-over: The nation's traditional food may be thousands of years old, but that doesn't mean they can't be used in exciting new ways.

Fifteen minutes away from the co-op, Borderlands brewery in Tucson makes a killer new blonde ale made with the nation's 60-day corn.

So I have my glass, it's chilled.

It's important that it's chilled.

Yes, especially for these beers, so want them to be nice, cold and refreshing.

So the name of the beer is Pueblo... Viejo.

Pueblo Viejo.

Pati, voice-over: Pueblo Viejo is the invention of head brewer, Ayla Kapahi.

And there you go, beautiful, you can stop there.

That is the perfect pour.

I am feeling so good about this, I don't even wanna move.

I know, it's so beautiful.

OK, so cheers to the first one.

Cheers.

And the 60-day corn.

Absolutely.

It's so delicious.

It's crisp.

It's a little bit sweet, it's a little bit earthy.

Exactly.

It's delicious, and light and bright.

Especially to have a beer in the desert um, along the border, it's-- you know, we want that.

[Music] Pati, voice-over: Breaking new ground is nothing new for the brewery.

Borderlands is the first in the state of Arizona with an all-female brew crew.

Well, crew of two.

Ayla and Savanna Saldate run the entire production.

Some months canning up to 25,000 beers.

So it all starts, basically, with a big pot of oatmeal.

So we're mixing hot water and malted barley.

I know we're making beer, but it smells like morning to me.

Exactly.

So this is roasted barley.

And it's a local one that we sourced just about an hour away.

And this one, you can kind of taste the sweetness, It's kind of nutty, a little bit of, like, toffee and biscuit notes in there.

So.

Yeah.

It's like granola.

Exactly.

Pati, voice-over: Ayla started from the bottom, cleaning floors and scrubbing kegs.

She worked her way up to assistant brewer, then head brewer, and now she's part owner and director of production at Borderlands.

Ayla: When I started brewing eight years ago, I had never seen or met anyone who looked like me in this profession.

Um, and at times, that had been almost a little bit of a--a lonely journey.

And, you know, fortunately now, here we are, a decade later, and we see there are about 15 other women brewing just in Tucson.

Pati, voice-over: Ayla hopes to empower women and minorities in the craft beer industry through education and collaboration.

It enriches when you diversify any community.

Pati, voice-over: Ayla's other half, Savanna Saldate, started as a bartender, but became fascinated with craft brew culture.

Savanna: Being able to work with and for women is--is an incredible experience for me.

Especially being minorities in multiple senses.

Tell me about that, of the senses.

Um, so, well both of us being brown, Latino origin and women in general is a minority in this-- in, uh, this industry, for sure.

Um, so just being able to work with somebody that you can relate to, that looks like you, that has a similar background and, um... feelings about things is just--it's a relief, honestly.

Pati, voice-over: Collaborations like Las Hermanas or The Sisters is a program that Ayla co-founded that brings together women brewers from both sides of the border.

We've brewed with over 40 women brewers in Mexico City just last month.

Pati, voice-over: But collaborating with local growers, like the Tohono O'odham nation and others is the key to making her beers stand out.

We know it's a sacred ingredient.

We're so humbled to be able to work with the community to use this maize.

And, you know, the best thing, too, is that 60-day corn, remember, it's sustainable.

Pati, voice-over: Ayla and Savanna are brewing up many delicious flavors of beer like this German chocolate cake porter.

It's exactly what is sounds like.

It's dessert in a beer.

Are you ready to try some?

Yes!

Remember, this beer is not quite finished yet.

I have such a sweet tooth, you guys.

So natural.

Look at this beauty.

Oh, the smell!

Yeah, don't forget to smell it.

Oh, wow!

Oh, it smells sweet.

Oh, it smells chocolatey.

Mmm!

It's so good.

Oh, wow!

Oh, yum.

I taste the chocolate and the coffee so intensely.

This is dangerous, you guys.

This can now be my morning coffee.

I know.

That wouldn't be a good thing.

Be careful.

It is so yummy.

Salud.

What a treat.

Pati, voice-over: Not far from the Tohono O'odham nation, whose land and water is held sacred, there's a place where people took from the earth until there was no more to give.

So they left.

All that remains are the ruins of Ruby, an abandoned mining town deep in the Arizona wilderness, not far from where we hunted for the chiltepin and near the Mexican border.

Leslie: This is a deadly place.

In fact, the original sign on the gate was, "Trespassers will be shot on sight."

So you see the bullet holes in the back end of the building.

Yeah.

Pati, voice-over: But it's not all ghosts.

The town has a population of one.

Meet caretaker Leslie Case.

So two beautiful names.

I have a Leslie in a town called Ruby.

Ruby.

When you're a gentleman and you--and you've been out too long, and you've been playing cards with the guys and drinking all night, you come home and the only way to make your wife happy is to name a town after her.

And that's how Ruby got his town.

So this was a lead mine or a zinc mine?

Zinc and lead.

Zinc and lead at the same time.

Right.

And it was originally gold, silver, copper and zinc.

And this was the actual mine.

There are several open pits that are around here.

It was over-mined.

They call it "undermining."

OK.

When it's been too mined.

Right, so you don't hike on that mountain because you actually... You could fall.

700 feet into the earth.

You could think you have earth there, but...

This is so deep then.

It breaks through.

Pati, voice-over: At its height, in the 1930s, 1200 people lived here.

In 1940, it all ended, and people had to leave at that point, there would be no mercantile, no post office.

And the mine was closing, so no work.

Pati, voice-over: Ruby's current owners have hired caretakers over the years to give tours and prevent vandalism.

You have to be a certain way to actually take a job like this.

It's not easy.

So you're idea in the beginning, when you took this job, was to stay for how long?

I--I had made a commitment for a year.

And now I've been 17 months here.

Pati, voice-over: What Leslie signed up for was taking care of Ruby.

I think this is fascinating.

Pati, voice-over: But in the process she found a new kind of purpose.

Pati: We're just three miles from the border.

Leslie: Yeah, just to the right of Montana Peak.

But you have 70 miles of treacherous desert that they've already crossed where there was nothing but this really rocky country.

Pati, voice-over: She's describing the footpaths taken by those trying to cross the border.

Pati: Every day you'll find people, you'll give them water.

Yeah, I'm a nurse by trade and, you know, I have to give first aid to people.

It's a real, big drive for me to--to be here.

By the time they reach Ruby, coyotes say, "Tucson is five miles."

And Tucson is 78 miles from Ruby.

So when they come up over the hedge, they come here and they say, "Tucson?"

And I go, "Oh, no."

I'm not gonna be naive enough to say that absolutely every single person that crosses this border is good, but you know what?

The majority of them are so polite and so kind and just very desperate.

Pati, voice-over: So many of the lost pass through Ruby that their presence has attracted another kind of person.

The vigilantes that actually come in here, they actually will tell you straight up that they're hunting for immigrants.

And they have done everything they can to try to scare me.

And so I had to ask myself, you know, "Are you strong enough to not really become afraid of all of that?"

That has given me more incentive to be here, you know, uh, as a-- as a first aid person.

We're all humans and I don't want to allow people to think that I'm being scared off by them.

Being an Arizona guide, I have actually met lots of people from lots of countries.

And you know what my main question is, Pati?

What?

What do you make for dinner?

Because food is something that we-- everybody does it.

But it's a cultural thing.

OK, so we have onion, garlic, mushrooms, carrots, a whole bunch of roasted jalapeos.

Yum.

And this go mixed into that.

So it's called the western... Cottage pie.

I mix this together.

So it's your veggies, your meat and your potatoes, all in one pot?

Exactly.

Shall I add some pepper?

Yes.

This is looking so delicious, Leslie.

I'm so grateful.

This is a traditional thing and it was just so inexpensive to feed a lot of people.

We use this.

Oh, yeah.

Because we'll get that cheese melted.

Yeah.

See?

Leslie knows what she's doing.

So yum.

Let's see here.

It looks delicious.

Oh, oh, oh.

Come see the layers.

Mmm.

It's so comforting.

And you love heat as much as me.

Leslie, this is incredibly spicy.

Pati, voice-over: Not many of us could live alone in a ghost town, but Leslie doesn't feel alone as the path she's taken has made her feel like we're all a family.

I think you're my sister, no, I have a family.

They're standing right here.

Pati, voice-over: Leslie has made an art out of making travelers feel welcome.

In Nogales, Sonora, in Mexico, is a man who makes art from his travels.

Jose: Los que caminamos en el desierto siempre llevamos jarrones, los galones de agua negro.

Pati, voice-over: Jose Luis Otero keeps black water jugs in his apartment in Nogales, Sonora.

A visual reminder of the hidden trauma he's faced.

Entonces, t pasaste ya por el desierto dos veces.

Pas por el desierto.

Pati, voice-over: Two desperate attempts to flee violence and certain death.

The second journey landed him in detention.

Ah estuve un ao, pero lo tom de una manera positiva.

Porque estuve el ao encerrado y comenc a dibujar.

Pati, voice-over: As a child, Jos Luis watched Bob Ross paint on TV.

Decades later, he found his passion.

Y ahorita en qu est trabajando?

Ahora estoy trabajando en una versin de la--de la leyenda que existe entre Mxico, Sonora y Arizona de la Dama de Azul.

T ya habas odo de la Dama de Azul?

S, la Dama Azul, en muchas partes por la frontera de Arizona dicen que los migrantes que estn a punto de morir la ven.

Y parece que la ven como una luz azul o la ven, as, como en forma de virgen.

La gente que sobrevive nos cuenta que eso es una de las ltimas cosas que uno ve.

Ver la obra de--de Luis me impresion mucho porque es como una ventanita de la realidad que uno experimenta en el desierto.

A m, como estudiante de arte, artista, curadora, me impresion mucho ver el desierto visualizado de esta manera en Kino.

Entonces, me impresion mucho los talleres que estaba dando para los migrantes y lo que estaban pintado, las cruces.

Pati, voice-over: Gia del Pino met Jos Luis at Kino, where she works.

More than just a shelter, Kino offers hundreds of holistic programs to help migrants, including art.

Hola, mucho gusto.

Pati, voice-over: Today, Jos Luis is an art teacher here, helping migrants express their feelings... Excelente.

Pati, voice-over: with paint.

As, maestro?

S, sin miedo, no le tengan miedo al pincel.

Pati: Digo, qu bonito, pero de lo primero que les enseas a hacer es a pintar en una cruz.

La cruz es muy simblica.

Si tuvieran la oportunidad de caminar en el desierto, este, se van a dar cuenta que hay miles de cruces.

En el desierto?

En el desierto.

Por qu?

Porque hay muchas organizaciones que ponen--la ponen como-- donde encuentran cuerpos de migrantes y es muy significativa y adems es--es este, como les representa ms, la podemos vender ms fcil para--para que ellos tenga un ingreso.

Pati, voice-over: This group of migrants have just arrived at Kino and this is their first class.

T, ensame la tuya, cmo te llamas?

Pati, voice-over: This boy escaped the threat of the cartel with his mother and two siblings.

Y, entonces, no hay de otra ms que irse, pues.

Nio: Jvenes como yo, la verdad, los estn reclutando para vender sus drogas.

Y t diras que mucha gente que est saliendo de la zona es porque no tienen otra opcin?

O sea, si se quedan, estn en riesgo de... De muerte de-- con sus adversarios, muerte de droga o, si te quiere salir, pues, los matan a ellos.

Pati, voice-over: Jos Luis has experienced first-hand the therapeutic nature of art and encourages travelers to paint what they've experienced on their journeys.

Y estando ustedes aqu, en la clase, t ves cmo les cambia el... Hay veces que ves cmo pintan y logras ver su-- su depresin.

Todo lo ves en la pintura.

Y, cuando ellos tambin se expresan, y dicen: "Es que me alegr la vida un poco la pintura".

Entonces, eso es para m bien satisfactorio, no?

Pati, voice-over: Few things are as satisfying as nourishing a human need.

For Jos Luis, it's healing through art.

For Lupita Len, it's healing through food.

Usted tiene aqu un restaurante.

S.

Verdad?

S.

Pati, voice-over: Lupita is a chef at Kino.

Her warm smile and incredibly tasty food greets weary travelers every day.

Y t ves aqu, cuando est la gente, viene por su comida, t qu--qu sientes?

Qu impresin te dan?

Pues, a veces, los veo--cuando vienen, los veo alterados.

O sea, y esa es una tristeza que me da.

S.

Esa es una--una tristeza que a m me da porque, pues, yo tambin.

Calabacita?

Calabacita, mi nia?

Porque, eh, se me refleja a mi-- Este, cuando yo vine aqu.

Pati, voice-over: Lupita and her family migrated to the U.S. from Michoacan, Mexico, with documentation looking for better work.

But after two years struggling to make ends meet, they came back to Nogales, Mexico.

T que ya fuiste a Estados Unidos y ya regresaste y encontraste aqu tu lugar, en la frontera, pero-- pero aqu, en Nogales, Sonora, t crees que a veces tienen unas ideas equivocadas de lo que es llegar al otro lado y que tienen sueos demasiado grandes de lo que es el otro lado?

S, yo a varias personas les he dicho--les he dicho que no es lo que parece estar ah al otro lado porque tambin se sufre mucho estar al otro lado.

Pati, voice-over: When she returned, she opened a food stand nearby, but also volunteered at Kino.

And, when the previous chef retired, Lupita was offered the job.

Y esto fue hace cuntos aos?

Cinco aos.

Dice: "S, porque t eres muy buena concierta, muy buena persona".

Y le digo: "Noms porque usted me quiere tanto, por eso me dice".

"No", dice, "Yo s".

Qu bien les haces.

Pati, voice-over: Lupita feeds so many people here and has no plans of going back to the U.S. Yo siento que ya encontr aqu mi hogar, aqu.

Pati, voice-over: Lupita's food is a comfort blanket for so many searching for stability.

[Music] Qu delicia.

Pati, voice-over: She even fed Jos Luis when he was a guest at Kino.

O sea, mi sueo es dar a conocer el tema de inmigracin al mundo.

!Padrsimo!

Pati, voice-over: And the world is noticing.

His art is popping up in murals around Nogales and much farther.

While he can't cross the border, his art can.

Luis Sotero.

[Applause] Pati, voice-over: Gia is helping him set up shows in both Mexico and the U.S. hoping that through his art he can open minds and hearts to the story of the migrants' fight.

Migrants like Jos Luis who choose to cross through the Sonoran desert are traveling through one of the harshest regions in the western hemisphere.

86,000 square miles.

Temperatures reaching 118 degrees, and not a drop of water in sight.

Let me help you with water... What can I help you with?

Pati, voice-over: For 20 years, the Tucson Samaritans have been hiking into the desert including Walker Canyon, to leave water for migrants.

This is like a 3.5 mile hike.

It goes all the way to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Um, it's a frequented migrant trail, so we like to leave water, now that is cold, we're leaving blankets and socks, and food.

Pati, voice-over: There are about 400 members of the Tucson Samaritans, all volunteers.

Gia joined the group when she moved to Tucson three years ago.

Pati: So what are most of the stories that you find these days?

Gia: You know, mostly, people are--are journeying, they're leaving their home countries due to a lot of violence.

They're trying to find security, safety, you know, a more dignified life.

Pati, voice-over: Border patrol estimates that since 1998, 8000 migrants have died trying to cross the desert.

It's probably many more than that, still that is not a deterrent.

Most migrants used to come from Mexico, but now they come from South America, the Caribbean, Africa, and even Eastern Europe.

Pati: What are the most surprising things that you've found?

Love letters.

Photos.

Bibles, rosaries.

I think they found something up here.

They found something.

We've just noticed that there's one slipper here.

It's a traveler's slipper.

Pati, voice-over: These carpet-sole booties are made to hide footprints.

They are one of the few supplies that migrants received from the coyotes.

Smugglers who demand thousands of dollars from each migrant.

Those who survive spend their lives repaying the coyotes who often lie to them and leave them for dead in the wild.

Here, these are border patrol just going on on ATVs.

[Engine rumbling] They're just searching the terrain to see if there is any migrant activity.

So you're very cordial with each other.

They know your work, you know their work.

Yeah, and I think that's important just to reduce harm, and allow us to do what we need to out here.

We left the water in the last car.

So you have the legal right to provide water... Food, aid.

I think the phrase is "further somebody's illegal presence."

We can't help somebody physically move further.

But we can help them when we encounter them or leave things that they can find.

It's just relieving pain and being humane.

It's preventing deaths.

[Music] Pati, voice-over: At each water drop, volunteers check to see what supplies have been used.

We usually write some message of hope.

When you drop the water, you put the date so that people know...?

Brian: So that we know when we come back.

And so that you know.

Tell me about the meaning of the messages in the bottles.

Yeah, I wrote here, "Migrar, migrar es amar."

"Migration, to migrate is to love."

"Estamos contigo," "We're with you."

"Que Dios te bendiga," "May God bless you."

Pati, voice-over: For Gia, this work is personal.

Her mother is an immigrant from Venezuela, seeking the American Dream and her father was a political prisoner in Cuba in the 80s who sought asylum in the U.S. What drives you to do this every day, Gia?

No, me va a hacer llorar.

[Laughter] No.

Sorry.

This is so embarrassing.

No.

No, no, no.

Because you're... You're so connected to these stories every day, I've seen you at work.

It's my calling, and it's very hard work.

It's very emotionally-taxing, but it's also very rewarding.

The idea of just families and people making this journey and perishing and it's-- it's a preventable death.

These are-- This is not meant to happen.

This is like one small thing I can do.

It's not much, but sometimes it's life-saving.

Pati, voice-over: As a Mexican immigrant fortunate enough to have the means and family support to get a visa, and become a United States citizen, I can't help but imagine, if circumstances were different, what would it take for me to risk it all in this unforgiving desert?

The transformative nature of traveling through these borderlands requires an ability to hold space for all the complexities it has to offer.

Look at the sun.

Pati, voice-over: The light that shines perfectly in the dark corners of reality.

Parts of me are a little broken and torn.

[Sings in native language] Pati, voice-over: And parts of me have more hope than ever before.

But all of me is transformed and awake.

[Music] Announcer: "La Frontera" with Pati Jinich is available on Amazon Prime Video.

To order "Treasures of the Mexican Table" cookbook, visit Shop PBS or call 1-800-play-pbs.

The journey to "La Frontera" continues at pbs.org/lafrontera where you can watch exclusive interviews and video extras, get recipes and more.