Max’s Buelo and Papá are master stonemasons and bridgebuilders. They live by the motto: “a Córdoba bridge never collapses. First things first, then stone by stone. That’s how to accomplish anything well” (35). Buelo and Papá’s hard work has peppered Santa Maria and surrounding areas with numerous bridges, so that the area has come to be called “the land of a hundred bridges” (3). These bridges are safe due to the care and dedicated work of Max’s family. Max helps build bridges all summer as Papá’s apprentice while his friends attend a prestigious fútbol clinic in the nearby town of Santa Inés, which initially makes Max feel left out. However, by the end of the summer Max has learned important life lessons and even earned himself an expensive pair of fútbol shoes. When bridges appear throughout the novel, they represent values of stability, patience, and hard work.

Bridges also represent crossings, transitions, journeys, and family legacy. Max’s world seems to slip in and out of reality as stories and dreams come to life—as if invisible bridges link this existence to another, or reality and imagination. Max is coming-of-age throughout the story and crossing over from boyhood to adult.