Page 68 - DreamScapes Magazine | Spring/Summer 2026

Paying the Earth
In Chile’s northern Atacama Desert, a guided trek
reveals an Indigenous ritual, high-altitude
wilderness, and a rare sense of solitude
BY SUZANNE MORPHET
arranges his offerings; two bottles of beer, a
Alvaro Mamani kneels on a blanket and carefully
tetrapak of red wine, a handful of coca leaves
and a colourful paper chain. Raising a glass of
wine to the sky, he begins his pawa, the Indigenous
Aymara ceremony of making an offering to the land
known as pago a la tierra u ofrenda.
Alvaro, the owner of Trekking Aymara, is leading
three of us on a week-long journey through Chile’s
northern Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on
Earth, and among its most visually arresting.
Here, on the slope of a vividly streaked volcano,
honouring Pachamama—Mother Earth—is an act of
respect before hiking. “Reciprocity always,” explains
Santiago Tamani, Alvaro’s English-speaking guide.
“You give and then you receive.”
GUARDIANS OF THE DESERT
We begin in the coastal city of Arica. Rising abruptly
from the sand are monumental concrete sculptures
by Chilean artist Juan Díaz Fleming. Presencias Tute-
lares, or Guardian Spirits, honours Aymara ancestors
and deities. Further along, hundreds of small stone
cairns stretch toward the horizon. This is the Valley
of the Apachetas, named for the larger cairns ancient
traders built to mark caravan routes across the desert.
ACCLIMATIZING TO THE ALTITUDE
The Atacama Desert is anything but homogeneous.
The road winds through cacti-studded hillsides,
drifting sand dunes, windswept plateaus, and deep
DID YOU KNOW?
The world’s largest telescope, the
Extremely Large Telescope, is
under construction in the Atacama
Desert. Its exceptionally dry air
and dark skies make the region a
global hub for astronomers.
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DREAMSCAPES SPRING/SUMMER 2026