A Story by Melissa Farlow

Pan-American Highway, National Geographic Book

A myriad of countries and cultural experiences are connected along the 10,000 mile portion of the Pan American highway that stretches through Latin America. Images of rural life in desolate areas contrasts the bustling, sophisticated cities in Mexico, Peru and Chile.

Cloistered nuns play a private game of kickball ball behind the walls of a Monastery in Arequipa, Peru. They pray nine times a day and live their lives in silence. During this short break, the novices spend time together in the garden.

Bustling Monterrey, Mexico, known as Sultan of the North, is a commercial mecca boasting the best of both modern and Spanish colonial art and architecture. Santiago, Chile, in the south presents a similar cosmopolitan vibe.

Celebrations are a vital part of …

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The most recognized symbol of Monterrey, Mexico is Cerro de la Silla, the saddle-backed mountain range. It is the backdrop behind the modern orange sculptural monument with laser beams, “Faro Del Comercio” or “Beacon of Commerce,” by sculpture Luis Barraz which contrasts Baroque style Cathedral of Monterrey, the traditional cathedral. Beyond the Macro Plaza, both colonial and contemporary architecture are found on the streets. The third largest city in Mexico, Monterrey is the capital of Nuevo Leon. It is an industrial and commercial city with cultural interests. It’s said that Monterrey faces more to the north and the United States than South to Latin America.

Novices play ball in a courtyard during a short break from the strict everyday life in a cloistered convent at Santa Catalina Convent in Arequipa, Peru. Older nuns allow this scheduled play for the young nuns to help them adjust more easily to their new rules and a routine where they are always silent, pray seven times a day, and never leave the grounds. Visitors to the convent can attend mass but never see life behind the walls where 23 women ranging in ages 15 to 93 make their home.

Sand from a secluded beach blown by strong coastal winds begins to reclaim the paved road along a isolated section of the Pan American highway in the Sechura Desert south of Casma, Peru.
The Pan American highway connects a myriad of countries and cultural experiences along the 10,000-mile portion of road that stretches through Latin America. Bustling sophisticated cities contrast desolate desert and rural countryside in Mexico, Peru and Chile.

Pedestrians heading south walking down stairs to use an underground walkway to International Bridge #1 connecting Nuevo Laredo and Laredo, Texas. The bridge links two countries, Mexico and the United States, where cultural exchange is blurred, and yet families are divided with members living on separate sides. Every year five million people walk across the bridge daily to work, and to buy supplies. The interdependence is obvious as Mexicans lug shopping cats of dog food, pampers tired from a long day at work and Americans in cowboy hats cross back carrying piñatas after a stop at a pharmacy stocking up on cheaper drugs.Four international bridges link Texas and Mexico at Laredo, with an average of 11,000 trucks crossing the border daily on those bridges.Besides, commerce, the bridges over the Rio Grande River between Laredo and Nuevo Laredo also connect families who have relatives on both sides of the border.

A father and son cross the Mexican border to celebrate a 21st birthday at a bar in a border town to Laredo, Texas. The two laughed and sang with the Mariachi band in the atmosphere among other tourists among the piñatas. Nuevo Laredo is known for its lively nightlife, but Texas authorities are discouraging resident from crossing over because of recent gang-related violence.

Cactus forest in the Southern Highlands of Mexico, where massive candelabras of Myrtillocactus geometrizans thrive in the arid region of mountains, plateaus and valleys, outside of Oaxaca. The plants can grow up to 16.5 feet tall with dense growth producing a blueberry-like, edible fruit.

Fields full of yellow flowers are cultivated to decorate altars and graves for the Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico. A grandmother works picking flowers with her family under the smoking volcano Popocatepetl in nearby Atlixco, flower capital of Mexico.

A photographer has sold Polaroid pictures to tourists at the base of Cascada Cola de Caballo, Horsetail Falls, for 50 of his 73 years. The waterfall makes a dramatic 75 foot drop through Cumbres de Monterrey in Las Cumbres National Park south of Monterrey, Mexico. The falls and surrounding park are a draw for Mexican families for picnics.

El Tatio geysers north of San Pedro at 4300 meters above sea level in the Andes Mountains in the Chilean Atacama desert. The world’s highest geyser field has over 80 active geysers with a steaming field of boiling water that spews and sprays at sunrise leaving white mineral deposits.

A Huastec Indian man and woman haggle over the price of a pig at a traditional, local market near San Luis Potosi in Mexico. He holds up a young pig enticing the buyer as they barter over the value. The Huasteca region is in the Sierra Madre Oriental where the indigenous people concentrated in the area number around 150,000. They are thought to date back to the 10th century, and are unusual as they are one of the few cultures that attained civilization and built cities but did not wear clothing. They were conquered by the Spanish in the 1500s and began wearing clothes under pressure from Catholics.

A worker follows his donkeys loaded with firewood to a mescal factory in rural Oaxaca. The region is where 80% of the mescal made in Mexico. Workers harvest the Maguey plant and bury it with dirt placing it in an oven with hot rocks for 36-48 hours. The burned plant is milled with a horse pulling a heavy stone. It is fermented 8-10 days and the manager plays classical music to help the process. It is distilled twice to be about 70% alcohol and stored for 3-6 months.

A young Zapotec woman adorned in a flower wreath sits in the shadows during a wedding celebration in the Chagigo neighborhood of Juchitan. Wedding celebrations happen on weekends in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, where traditional culture is strong. Women take leading roles in business and government in the town with the population of approximately 70,000 people. The Isthmus never became part of the Aztec Empire, as resistance to the Spanish was strong in the mid-1500s.

Mexicans gather at a popular local bookstore/coffee house to take in the ambiance. A trendy meeting place, the casual club atmosphere draws a young crowd to drink, smoke, talk and listen to live music in Puebla.

A hat seller walks through the marketplace among trucks heavily loaded with Terciopelo flowers as people prepare to celebrate Day of the Dead, Mexico’s premier fiesta. Atlixco is the flower capital for exporting roses and gladiolas in the state of Puebla.

A grandmother and her six-year-old grand daughter collect grasshoppers for dinner after working a long day making pottery in San Bartolo Coyotepec, Mexico. The city is known for dark clay and artistic black pottery. Grasshoppers are a source of protein and part of the authentic Oaxacan Cuisine.

Children play in the courtyard in front of their traditional thatched-roof adobe home in Palictla, Mexico. Families in this tropical region are orange pickers. The family of Hipolito Marcial, includes seven children. The thatch called “zacate” grass will last around 20 years before it must be replaced. South of Ciudad Valles the Pan American highway passes through Huasteca Indian country. At one time the Huastec population was once estimated to be one million, but today they number about 150,000.

Farm families crowd in a truck on their way home from an Indian market in Mexico. Streets are chaotic on Sunday in this small Huastec mountain village when the narrow streets fill with people coming to buy and sell animals, locally grown coffee, sugarcane, copal incense and corn tamales. South of Ciudad Valley, the Pan American highway passes through Huasteca Indian country. The population was once estimated to be one million, but today they number about 150,000.

Amador Ballumbrosio, learned to play Afro-Peruvian music from his grandfather when he was four years old. He taught his children and grandchildren the music he first learned which was like the blues, he says. But the popular dance of the community is now more upbeat. His grand daughter watches as he plays in the living room of his home. The community of El Carmen is made up of slave descendants from Africa, well known for their Afro-Peruvian music and dance.

Sisters dance to the beat of their brother’s drums as they perform for family in their home in El Carmen, Peru. The community descended from slaves brought from Africa by the Spanish and is known for their love of Afro-Peruvian music and dance.

A convoy of military trucks filled with soldiers emerges from mountain fog in the Sierra Madre Oriental along a scenic portion of the Pan American highway. The road winds through Los Marmoles National Park in Hidalgo state of Mexico renown for its sheer marble cliffs and thick pine forest.

A lone diner sits in hotel balcony restaurant overlooking El Zocalo, the main plaza in the heart of Mexico City. Plaza de la Constitucion, the historic center’s formal name is bounded by the Metropolitan Cathedral that sits above the site of Aztec ruins, a 16th century cathedral (Metropolitana), the Mexican capital government buildings and palace. This was a gathering place for Aztec’s and today the scene of most political demonstrations in Mexico. Mexico City’s approximately 20 million people has extremes including the highest culture and some of the worst crime in the world.

Hausos are Chilean cowboys topped with white Andalusian hats surround a ring northwest of Santiago to watch competition in a rodeo. Huasos ride horses and wear a straw, flat-brimmed sombrero called a chupalla. Growing popularity of the rodeo as national sport is found in central and southern Chile.

Chilean cowboys also known as Hausos dressed in traditional flat-brimmed sombreros or or chupallas or Adalusian hats waiting for the rodeo competition to begin. The term Huaso refers to a cowboy skilled at riding horses. In a Chilean rodeo, a team of two riders works together in an arena to pin a calf. Riders are required to wear traditions costumes that also include a poncho. It was named a national sport in 1963 and has gained popularity so that more Chileans attend rodeos than soccer or their professional football.

A Spanish costumed matador narrowly escapes a bull’s charge in the historic Plaza de Acho ring in Lima. Toreodors execute formal moves which can be interpreted to connect and inspire the crowd. Armed with a red cape and sword, the matador planted sharp barbed sticks in the bull’s shoulders to anger and yet weaken the bull. In the final stage of the fight, the toreodor attracts the bull in a series of passes, manuvering him into to position to stab him in the heart. Manuvers are performed at close range where timing is crucial in the “fight to the death” ceremonial killing of the bull.
Bullfighting traces its roots back to prehistoric animal sacrifice. Proponets of bullfighting argue it is a cultural tradition and art form while opponents advocate it is a blood sport that is cruel to the animal. The October Festival of Bullfighting is to honor the Lord of Miracles in Peru.

Models put prepare to walk the runway at Expo Boda, a wedding show held at Monterrey’s Convention Center. A cosmopolitan city shows its face at the fashion show that features eveningwear and bridal gowns. Mexico’s third largest city of 3 million, Monterrey is modern and industrial. It is described as most Americanized of Latin American cities.

A Zapotec bride and groom share a private moment at their wedding party. Dancing and celebrating has begun under a tent the covers the guests and festivities. Tradition rules that the man’s side of the family covers the cost of the mass, food, drinks, band–everything connected with the wedding and party. The woman’s family gives money and presents to the couple. The party can last up to three or four days with the total cost hovering around $20,000 U.S.

Zapotec Indian women wearing traditional clothing dance into the night at a wedding party in the street of Juchitan, Mexico. Weekends are full of wedding celebrations in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the narrow and flat part of the country where the Zapotec culture is still strong. Women are noticeably open and confident, taking a leading role in business and government in matrilineal traditions. The Isthmus never became part of the Aztec Empire and resistance to the Spanish was strong in the mid-1500s. After the church wedding, the couple walks through the streets of town following musicians. They collect family and carry food to where the street is blocked off for the party.

A young boy patiently waits for cake at a wedding reception at Iglesia Virgen de Fatima in Miraflores, a suburb of Lima, Peru. The district if one of the upscale areas of the city that is known for it’s culture and entertainment.

Novices take break from their prayers to walk in the garden at Santa Catalina Convent. The young nuns never leave convent grounds and live a life of contemplation in Arequipa, Peru. The older nuns allow the young women free time once a day to help them adjust to the cloistered, regimented life. Having just left their families they will never see again, the vow of commitment the novices take is a serious lifelong decision.

Colorful flags, religious statuary and plastic flowers decorate an alter that marks the Pan American highway in a wind-blown desolate section of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. Animitas,are the name of the roadside shrines to the dead that line the roads, numbering in the tens of thousands, especially along rural highways and in poor and working-class areas of small cities and towns. The word refers not only to the shrine, but to the soul of the dead housed there. Animitas are not simply memorial markers, but serve as homes for the souls of the departed. They are places where the living can visit and seek intercession from those souls, the suddenness of whose death gives those deceased special spiritual power. Bodies are not buried there. Instead, the animitas mark the spot where body and soul were separated, and where the soul may linger and still be reached, at least for a while, by the living. According to a Catholic writer, they are not sanctioned by the church.

The Nazca Lines are a series of ancient geoglyphs located in the Nazca Desert in southern Peru. Pampas de Jumana, a monkey figure, appears in an aerial photograph as the lines are only visible from the air. Besides, lizards, spiders, hummingbirds, llamas and other animal’s shapes, there are geometric shapes that measure up 200 meters long. The most popular explanation about the origin of the lines are that they were made by the Nazca and Paracas cultures during the period between 900 BC and 600 AD. Maria Reiche, a German mathematician who spent much of her life studying the lines considers them to be an astronomical calendar for agricultural purposes. The formations were made by lighter colored soil being exposed to light when sun-baked stones were piled. The stable climate is dry and windless as well are remote, which has helped preserve the lines. The landscape is mostly flat, desert-like and barren when viewed at ground level.

Fingers of a giant sculpted hand reach out of the relentless heat of the Atacama desert sands along the Pan American highway in Chile. Mano de Desierto is a work of Chilean sculptor Mario Irarrázabal, who used the human figure to express injustice loneliness, sorrow and torture. Its exaggerated size emphasizes human vulnerability and helplessness. Built in 1980, the sculpture stands 11 meters or 36 feet tall.

Santiago’s Carabineros de Chile, the uniformed Chilean national police force and gendarmerie march though city streets at noon hour with starched white gloves and military precision. Created in 1927, their mission is to maintain order and create public respect for Chilean laws. They also re-establish order and security through civic education doing police work. In a war situation, they act as a paramilitary force since all members have military training.

El Misti volcano rises behind the Basilica Cathedral of Arequipa on the Plaza de Armas, which radiates a shocking sunset glow in the city of Arequipa, Peru. The imposing Catholic Church is one of Peru’s most unusual and famous colonial cathedrals since the Spanish conquest. The cathedral was originally constructed in 1656 and stood for two centuries until it was gutted by fire. It was destroyed in an earthquake in 1868 and rebuilt although it has sustained damage from earthquakes many times. A large earthquake hit Arequipa in June of 2001, which toppled one of the cathedral’s towers.

After three decades of uninterrupted economic growth, Santiago has transformed into one of Latin America’s most sophisticated metropolitan areas. The city has a European feel although the Chilean city has a mixture of architectural styles.

Pan-American Highway, National Geographic Book

Pan-American Highway, National Geographic Book

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