Day 3: The Journey

Pan-Americanism in Action

 Before you can be at the Restaurant Formerly Known As Chiken Drive, you have to get to the Restaurant Formerly Known As Chiken Drive. As fate (and literary conventions) would have it, there are two pathways:

A map. You like maps, don't you?

The first way is to get there is to walk alongside the Pan-American Highway. First conceived as a railroad system, the Pan-American Highway stretches from northern Alaska all the way south to the southern tip of Argentina (or south to north, if that's your thing). It's not so much a single highway as it is a general pathway- a suggestion, if you will, of how one might feasibly bring Argentinian steaks up to their Alaskan sled dogs. And while its name suggests otherwise, the highway doesn't necessarily have the aura of a bustling connective artery for all things Pan-american. 

Pan-American cows, probably on their
way home from Chiken Drive.

A Little Reminder To Keep Your Eyes On The
Road And Stop Taking Photos, Andrew!
Seriously, We Are Going To Die. Or Get Mugged.

Heck, what is "Panamericanism" anyway? Is it real? At least in the US, we tend to think of "America" as the fifty states and maybe a few colonies here and there. Latin Americans often have a different take: "America" is the continent- not "continentS" as there isn't the distinction between North and South America. But perhaps a little awkwardly, the word pan-american tends to include everyone BUT the USA. After all, the very idea of "shared goals and interests among the people of the Americas" seems a little laughable when the countries themselves have competing interests. 


But as you walk along the Pan-American highway, you will not be thinking about what it means to be "Pan-American." You will be thinking about the three-deep trucks speeding by, the smell of exhaust, and making sure your dog doesn't dart into the road. You will be thinking about your own mortality. And you will be thinking about the delicious deep-fried rewards that await you at the end of your journey.

The Big Game

However, you might decide to take another route. The second route is far more enjoyable. It involves a walking pathway, invisible from the highway. A series of windy dirt paths spiral out from the surrounding mountain communities, through various farm fields, over a few small bridges and dried-up streams, all eventually congregating at a well-worn soccer field.

La Laguna, One Of The Many Benefits Of Route #2.

Unlike the Pan-American highway, the Pan-Soccer Field Walkway feels far closer to resembling the heartbeat of a larger community. Men with shovels and bags of tortillas, families carrying wood, local kids coming to watch a soccer game- this romantic but (as far as I know) unnamed pathway isn't going to facilitate a Pan-American constitutional convention, it's not going to answer the question about what it means to be "American," but it is going to help some folks get to where they need to go. And you need to get to Chiken Drive.