The chain of conversation is intermittently broken as he playfully whistles at a familiar passerby, shakes hands with a good friend, or negotiates with an avocado hungry customer. Benny is what he refers to “a helper” or “ayudador” in Spanish. Selling avocados is just one of the many ways that he hustles to make money. He also considers himself a “tour guide” in that he assists stranded travelers get to their final location. These types of highway workers appear at each of the border crossings along Central America’s Pan-American Highway and play an important role in mitigating the confusion and unceasingly long waits that travelers often encounter when crossing international territories. I’ve heard them referred to as tramitadores (document processors), ayudadores (helpers), touts, ratas (rats), ladrones (thieves). But, in my research I call them ’para-legals’…although in a different vein than the paralegals that work in the law offices of the United States.

   For me, ‘para-legal’ is a play on the root words para—meaning “alongside, next to, or outside of” and legal- meaning of or relating to the law. The para-legals of the Pan-American Highway earn their money in tips (propinas) by mediating the ephemeral relationships between border crossers, customs agents, state officials, and the material structure of the highway. Like a border shaman, their work requires them to navigate both the light (legal) and dark (illegal) worlds of the highway community. Most of the time, they simply assist border crossers (primarily tourists and truck drivers) in finding the appropriating government buildings, understanding the exit/entrance procedures of the customs offices, and completing required paperwork. Part of this work, however, also requires them to know how to bypass the law by understanding which customs agents will accept a bribe to “look the other way” during inspections or how to misrepresent information on documents; both techniques used to save valuable time passing through national borders. The para-legal is also a guide who can divulge information about where to find “essential things” within the community. They will point you towards the best vendors for cheap, quick food and drinks. They will direct you to the liveliest bars and restaurants. They will even tell you where to go if you want a good place to dance or need a place to sleep for the night. Of course, the underbelly of this knowledge is their familiarity with where to find the best drugs, sex workers, and other “illegal” items for which many highway users may be searching. It’s for these reasons that it is appropriate to use the term ‘para-legal’. At one moment they will facilitate customs procedures, but at the next they will slide behind them—thus working both alongside and outside of the law. While we could label their work as being both “legal” and “illegal”, it is not legality that calibrates their moral beacon, but the demands of the people who encounter the mobility barrier of the customs checkpoint…therefore being the means to generate tips and earn a livelihood.