I know I speak for our entire crew in thanking you for choosing Ruta Pantera as your travel destination today. Sit back and relax…as we’ll be flying over 35 distinctive countries of Pan America; I'm turning off the seatbelt sign so you can move about the cabin and break into wild salsa dancing if you like.

You might be interested in how this project was started, and who is occupying the pilot’s seat. A warm welcome to you all!

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My name is Christopher Engholm. I graduated with a degree in history at University of California, before working as a business journalist and then entrepreneur. As emerging markets came online after the fall of the Soviet Union, I wrote business trade books for Prentice-Hall, Kodansha, John Wiley, and Simon & Schuster before taking an executive position with “America’s largest builder,” where I worked as a land acquisition director. That ended with the 2008 recession after which I formed a software development company. With its success, I then had the time to self-publish books about history and culture, write plays, and curate museum exhibitions from a farmhouse in the Ozarks.

After my parents’ passing a few years ago, I started the pursuit a long-held dream to travel more and write about interesting places. When I stumbled upon an eco-project called Paseo Pantera begun at Yale in the 1990s, I found the conceptual armature for my digital portal. The notion of re-connecting disparate ecosystems and habitats for the purpose of rewilding the hemisphere emboldened me and became a metaphor for reconnecting cultures and disparate societies, too. And for pursuing "Pan American Unity" in the face of devastating climate changes. I soon imagining a new travelers’ pilgrimage route in our home hemisphere and deemed to put myself on this route to visit all 35 countries in my backyard.

Two whirlwind years later, I now spend half my time in Medellin, and with our team of 7 talented Colombians, manage a travel portal that houses over 600 articles and 5,000 TravelAnswers that we hope will “inspire deep travel in Pan America.” Over the last 18 months I have spent time in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Canada, Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, United States, and in my adopted home of Colombia. What could be more exciting? What could be more inspirational for anyone fortunate enough to retire early and pursue an impractical dream?

But enough about me. I’m just the cheerleader here.

Our team members have grown and learned faster than I imagined possible, especially across our (now-diminished) language divide. What a joy to see young talent find expression and develop skills that will send them forward in life prepared to prosper and succeed. You will have the chance to meet them and know them through our livecasts and reelfilms.

Our journey is taking us to every corner of the hemisphere. We invite you to come along for the ride -- "to join us in Pan America,” among its diverse nations, fabulous peoples, and intricate histories.

Travel fosters empathy and understanding. Travel is progressive and good for the mind, as well as the soul. It can rejuvenate. It can benefit mankind, if pursued with intention and an open heart and mind. It is our job as travelers to learn from other peoples and bring that knowledge home. And it is our mission at Ruta Pantera to provide the background for your engagement, to inspire you, to help you comprehend and accept differences, to listen and transform yourself into the person you envision.

Travel can change us. And we change the people and places we visit, in small but important ways. Let’s make that change positive. And let’s make it benefit our hosts, their countries, and the hemisphere as a whole. Travelers have the power to change the world.

Welcome to Ruta Pantera, and thanks for joining us in Pan America!

---Christopher Engholm