Pan American Games start in disarray with cleaners still working around the National Stadium

Workers and volunteers at the Pan American Games were still removing bricks, pieces of wood and construction machinery from outside competition venues on Tuesday, the fourth day of the largest multi-sport event in the region.

Construction material is scattered around many of the entrances to the National Stadium compound, where six venues are set to stage 30 events at the Pan American Games in Santiago.

Chile is hosting the Olympic-style event for the first time and public officials have invested $507 million in the area.

Near the stadium's main entrance, dozens of empty boxes, crates and pieces of wood were untouched between Friday, the day of the opening ceremony, and Saturday. Some of those leftovers are linked to the last-minute installation of rootless trees, two volunteers told The Associated Press.

The volunteers spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists.

One of the workers continued cleaning and picking up trash while two local policemen dressed in green, known as carabineros, watched from one of the entrances to the compound.

A lack of volunteers and signage around Pan American Games venues has left many fans struggling to find their way to and around the National Stadium area.

Mexican fan Luis Miguel Cruz, a 56-year-old engineer, attended the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara and has been disappointed by the lack of organization this year in the Andean nation.

"I am a bit frustrated. It was hard to get here from downtown, I didn't know where to get the right subway. I didn't know which entry to use here and neither did the first volunteer I found," Cruz told the AP as he ate a hot dog from a food truck at the National Stadium. "In Guadalajara, the food