i'm elaine reyes in washington, d.c., and this is "americas now."n refugees head to south america with the expectation of building a new life after running away from a conflict zone. [man shouting in native language] man: maybe brazil is just a station for another movement-- man: yes. man: or maybe i will stay here in brazil. i don't know. but in brazil, i can't survive. i don't know. man: you can't? man: no, because i--there is no job. reyes: brazil opens the door to thousands of syrians, but life in the promised land is not easy either. man: the moment when you decided to leave... reyes: correspondent gerry hadden reports from sao paulo.

i'm elaine reyes in washington, d.c. and this is "americas now." first up... spousal abuse has left millions of mexican women single with children, and many have to move in withth relatives. laws are in place to end domestic violence, but are rarely enforced. woman:n: i think the idea is go. it''s the exececution ofof it, whether it realllly happens not, and that women can finallyy look at this as a place where they can come and find help. man: this is sort of off the beaten track. elaine: correspondent gerry hadden reports from the yucatan peninsula on the struggles of single motherhood and the

i'm elaine reyes in washington, d.c., and this is "americas now." [singing in native language] fifirst up, keeping the culturef a tribe alive by saving its language. that's the mission of a musician in chile. [man speaking native language] translator: we have to have a connection withihin ourselves.se need to know ourselves and whwhat's inside of us beyond wht our minds can create. reyes: correspondent harris whwhitbeck reports on how revivg the language is helping to resurrect his people's past.

i'm elaine reyes in washington, d.c. and this is "americas now." first up...o, bold malbec wines, and tender cuts of meat; 3 reasons why people travel from all over the world to experience argentina. but the beef industry has fallen on hard times as its production and exports have dropped. [man speaking spanish] translator: a while back, the market received over 20,000 animals per day. now it's between 8,000 and 10,000. man: but that looks set to change. elaine: correspondent joel richards went to the south american country's grasslands,

i'm elaine reyes in washington, d.c., and this is "americas now." [woman speaking spanish] reyes: firstst up, an award ceremony in ecuador seeking to promote environmental preservavation salutes sustainability projects in the americas. [speaking spanish] translator: the truth is we only have one planet, and we are certainly exhausting its resources. reyes: correspondent harris whitbeck reports on latin america's green awards andnd the impact they're having on the natural world.

i'm elaine reyes in washington, dc, and this is "americas now." first up--costa rica is thee eco-capital of latin america, offering rich biodiversity and generating most of its electricity from clean sources. man: i think they're doing a very great effort and a very good one. they'rere really interested in, let's say, adapting costa rican situation to the renewable energy area. woman: i indiscriminate e fishi. reyes: corresponondent g grace gonzalalez visits costa rica and shows us w why some people call it the switzerland of

i'm elaine reyes in washington, d.c., and this is "americas now."irst up, counterfeit money production has become a big illegal business in peru. authorities are on the lookout for forging factories printing fake u.s. dollars, then slipping them into circulation. enrique: i would say it's, like, about--they make, like, $10 million per day face value in--in u.s. dollars, so that's, like, about $3,600 million per year. [man speaking spanish] elaine: one counterfeiter takes correspondent dan collyns behind the scenes for a look at his production process.

i'm elaine reyes in washington, dc and this is "americas now." up, costa rica's largest peninsula also hasne of the largest populations of centenarians on the planet, with more residents who are over 80 than anywhere else on earth. man: they have sort of a positive outlook on life and they value a lot their social, their relationship with their families and with the community. [man speaking spanish] elaine: correspondent harris whitbeck visits the people of the nicoya peninsula. he'll tell us why inhabitants of this lush location live such long lives.

i'm elaine reyes here in washington, d.c., and this is "americas now." firsrst up, animals in the amazon rainforest are being captured and sold at an alarming rate.e. polilice conduct raids to stop the trade, but bribery is widespread. woman: some people have in their h house a monkey. ththis is commonon. selllling hundreds o of animals a year, and you're saying... collecting sometimes hundreds of animals, and people from outside are coming and pipicking ththem up, this is not common. reyeyes: correspondent dan collllyns reports from peru on the multibilon

i'm elaine reyes in washington, d.c., and this is "americas now." an speaking spanish] reyes: firstst up, an award ceremony in ecuador seeking to promote environmental preservatition salutes sustainability projects in the americas. [speaking spanish] translator: the truth is we only have one planet, and we are certainly exhausting its resources. reyes: correspondent harris whitbeckep

i'm elaine reyes in washington, d.c., and this is "americas now."nging in native language] fifirst up, keeping the culturef a tribe alive by saving its language. that's the mission of a musician in chile. [man speaking native language] translator: we have to have a connection withihin ourselves.se need to know ourselves and whwhat's inside of us beyond wht our minds can create. reyes: correspondedent harris whwhitbeck reports on how revivg

i'm elaine reyes here in washington, d.c., and this is "americas now."srst up, animals in the amazon rainforest are being captured and sold at an alarming rate.e. polilice conduct raids to stop the trade, but bribery is widespread. woman: some people have in their h house a monkey. ththis is commonon. selllling hundreds o of animals a year, and you're saying... collecting sometimes hundreds of animals, and people from outside are coming and pipicking ththem up, this is not common. reyeyes: correspondent dan collllyns reports from peru on the multibillion-dolbu

elaine duke visited the nation. >> after the devastating earthquake, the situation here is not satisfactory, but together we are getting there. >> reporter: but just outside san juan elizabeth reyes stood in the blazing sun with her 2-month-old daughter for hours. >> everyone is desperate. everyone wants water. everyone wants something to eat. >> reporter: today she got a few supplies. but then there's tomorrow. gabe gutierrez, nbc news, catania, puerto rico. >>> this is tammy leitner with the marines on a critical mission. vieques just eight miles off the coast of puerto rico is still desperate for aid. we went in on a marine chopper filled with food, water and medical supplies. this is one of many trips they'll be making to this island. food is dwindling, water is scarce, there is no fuel. nathan parents has flown 45 people off the island. >> a lot of people want to get off. >> reporter: rebecca anderson has lived here for nine years. >> we want to stay. but there's no work here for us. we work in tourism and there won't be any tourism for a while. it's heartbreaking. >> reporter: one family getting out. so many others wait at the airport desperate for news. >> we need fuel. we