Through the travel diaries of José Arnaldo Márquez and Pedro Paz Soldán y Unanue and other writers we will be participants of their experiences on the route from Callao to New York, which so many people used in search of opportunities, crossing the isthmus of Panama. The Callao to New York route was quite dynamic between 1848 and 1865, after the rise of the English steamship companies on the western flank of South America and their North American counterparts on both oceans in the northern part of America. Important historical events, such as the expansion of imperialism, the Californian gold rush, capital investments in the construction of the railway line in the Isthmus of Panama, accelerated the connection of different strategic ports of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans with the rest of the world.