In prehispanic times, goods were transported by two means-either carried overland by people on foot or shipped by canoe across the shallow lake system that covered much of the valley floor (Hodge and Minc 1990). Pochteca merchants traveled great distances, both by foot and by boat, to obtain luxury goods like bird feathers or precise stones. Just how far Aztec merchants journeyed in their travels is unknown (Haemig 1978). It is possible, as Lothrop (1942) has suggested that Aztec Pochteca based in Mexico City regularly visited ports of trade as far away as Panama. If this is true, they could have come into contact there with merchants from South America and traded with them. Some anthropologists, however, believe that the Pochteca usually did not travel that far. They believe that goods from Mexico and South America flowed through Central America mainly by short hops, from one neighboring trading enclave to another, and did not necessitate extremely long travels by merchants. On the other hand, archaeological evidence collected within the last twenty years strongly suggests that there was direct over-the ocean trade, on a regular or sporadic basis, between Mexico and western South America for thousands of years prior to the Spanish Conquest (Haemig 1978). I feel that there was some direct long distant trading, but also, a lot of just short trading between two neighboring cities. It seems that the Pochteca would be able to travel very far distance when they needed, however it seems more feasible that they would not on a regular basis go on journeys from present day Mexico City to Panama.
