Big Bird visits Maria's family in Puerto Rico
Lin-Manuel Miranda in a 2017 social media video. [1]
The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico) is an unincorporated territory of the United States located east of the Dominican Republic in the northeastern Caribbean Sea. Puerto Rico, the smallest of the Greater Antilles, includes the main island of Puerto Rico and a number of smaller islands and keys, including Mona, Vieques, and Culebra.
Sesame Street resident Maria was born in Puerto Rico (and her portrayer, Sonia Manzano, has Puerto Rican parents). At the beginning of Season 11 — in a series of six episodes — the cast of Sesame Street took a trip to the Commonwealth to visit Maria's family. Mrs. Figueroa, Maria's mother, has occasionally traveled from Puerto Rico to visit Sesame Street.
Street residents Rafael and Mando were also from Puerto Rico, as well as guests Nydia Caro and Ray Barretto.
Other references to Puerto Rico include a song by Joe Raposo called "Puerto Rico", which was recorded by José Feliciano for the 1974 album ¡Sesame Mucho! Global Grover visited Puerto Rico in Episode 4105 to learn how to make musical instruments from marimbo fruit. In a Sesame Street Pageant about islands, Prairie Dawn shows Herry Monster what an island by pointing out Puerto Rico on her globe.