- In May 2024, Indigenous representatives left from opposite ends of the Western hemisphere — Alaska and Patagonia — to embark on a ceremonial relay run to fulfill ancient prophecies.
- Indigenous peoples have undertaken this intercontinental run every four years since 1992, involving sacrifice and physical exertion, to strengthen Indigenous collaborations, share ancestral wisdom, and unite their voices in a powerful display of solidarity.
- History was made this year when the two routes met in Colombia for the first time — the heart of the Americas. The routes arrived with hundreds of sacred staffs from native communities, calling for unity, spiritual regeneration, land rights, water protection and community empowerment.
- The journey concluded with a four-day meeting at the headquarters of the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC), bringing together global Indigenous leaders and representatives.
SILVANIA, Colombia — On a warm but overcast afternoon, hundreds of Indigenous representatives and spiritual leaders gathered to witness a remarkable convergence of native nations from across the Americas. Serving as ambassadors and messengers, runners took off from Alaska and Patagonia, some covering up to 16,000 kilometers (10,000 miles) across treacherous landscapes in seven months. Along the journey, they collected sacred staffs imbued with prayers from almost 200 native nations.
The runners, also known as chasquis, the name for messengers in the Inca empire, said they embarked on the journey to honor ancestral wisdom, restore balance with mother nature, strengthen the identity of Indigenous peoples, and promote global solidarity.
There were two routes. Runners on the Eagle route began their journey on May 2 in Fairbanks, Alaska, representing Indigenous peoples from the north. On May 23, runners from the Condor route left Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, in the south. Both routes met in Silvania, Colombia, on Nov. 29. They were led by runners and coordinators with more than 25 years of experience, like Jose Malvido and Nuna Wayna (also known as René Vergara), who guided the Eagle and Condor routes, respectively.
This was the Peace and Dignity Journeys, an intercontinental Indigenous spiritual run that seeks to realize the ancient Quito Quechua prophecy of Kuntur Anka. After 500 years of division and oppression due to colonization and Western civilization, the prophecy predicts the reencounter of descendants of the Eagle and Condor to restore the world’s harmony.
“The task is to find a balance between mind and heart,” Vergara said. Rather than just reacting to current injustices, the run focuses on restoring ancient relationships between Indigenous communities. Other prophecies from the Maya, Mexica, Anishinaabe and Hopi peoples also informed the direction of the Peace and Dignity Journeys.
The inaugural run in 1992 followed the First Continental Meeting of Indigenous Peoples in 1990 in Quito, Ecuador. The aim was to unite Indigenous people from North, Central and South America, and evaluate the state of sacred sites and communities displaced from ancestral lands. Since then, the run has taken place every four years, with the routes normally converging in Mexico, Panama or Guatemala. There was a pause during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the run was held virtually or limited to local runs.
For this ninth version of the run, the routes met for the first time in Colombia.
The Condor’s journey
Vergara, a retired social worker, left his Quechua community of Hatun Ayllu Visigza in Argentina, with a clear motivation: “Today our mentalities are colonized … We aren’t feeling the needs that Mother Earth demands from her sons and daughters.” He referred to all people who only value materials and industrial progress. He said true fulfillment depends on expressing gratitude and offering one’s steps, songs and sweat to the Earth.
Before running each day, Vergara emphasized the importance of asking “for permission from the mountains, waters, spirits of the forests, from all beings … so they know we will offer our steps, and they are attentive … accompanying us.” Every morning, both the Eagle and Condor runners would purify themselves and the altar of staffs with copal, a tree resin, accompanied by traditional songs from various nations. Each days concluded with the same reverence.
Despite logistical hurdles and financial constraints, Vergara said he found peace within the Andean cosmic order and interconnectedness, recognizing he was just part of the vast cosmos. Money was sometimes tight for both routes as they depended on raffles and donations from individuals and core runners. However, some governments also supported the Condor route by supplying vehicles or food, unlike the Eagle route that didn’t seek this assistance.
Core runners committed to completing the entire distance, while support runners joined for a few days or weeks. They all carried sacred staffs representing the spirit of a community, so they had to follow a protocol created by the original guardians of the peace and dignity run: Gustavo Gutiérrez, Francisco Melo and Tupac Huehuecoyotl. That meant no alcohol and no sexual relations, Vergara said. They must remain mindful of their thoughts and emotions. A relay running model also optimized their ability to cover long distances, ensuring every inch of land, sacred site and community was connected.
Colombian organizer and Embera Chamí leader Mauricio Gañan said most Indigenous peoples use staffs; they can represent medicine, sacred dances, guardians, or be used by the Indigenous guard. The staffs for the run were prepared with the medicines and spiritual practices of each territory and elder. Some have been in circulation since 1992, but the prayers are renewed each year.
While in El Alto, Bolivia, Vergara told Mongabay that “staffs are living beings that connect you to Mother Earth.” He said he could feel the Earth’s pain as they crossed Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, passing contaminated rivers, cities full of plastic, and more.
Staffs from the south symbolized calls to protect medicinal plants that yield things like ayahuasca; revitalize ancient ceremony; honor the sacred feminine; and advocate for missing Indigenous people.
Tahalí Chayle, from the Kilme and Atakama people in Diaguita, Argentina, also celebrated the warmy (“women” in the Runasimi language) runners who had paved the way for her to run and had overcome societal barriers to participate.
Vergara particularly highlighted the Mapuche people in Argentina, facing legal battles after attempting to protect their territories from mining. With lawyers financially out of reach, the run has offered communities hope as a basis for “returning to ceremonial dialogue with the mountains, rivers and lagoons again.” Running with a staff can lead to profound transformation, allowing individuals to find a sense of inner peace and transcend emotional pain, Vergara added.
Indigenous peoples, stewards of lands covering more than a quarter of Earth’s land area, often seek to protect vital ecosystems from “industrial-level human impacts.” However, many Indigenous land and environmental guardians have faced threats and violence from armed groups and extractive industries. For example, between 2018 and 2024, according to Colombia’s Peace & Reconciliation Foundation (Pares), Indigenous leaders in Colombia accounted for 37% of all environmental defenders killed.
As the Condor passed through Colombia, runners reported that Indigenous Nasa, Pasto and Yanacona leaders saw the run as a powerful educational tool, potentially motivating children to stay away from organized crime too. One Indigenous university in Colombia, the Pasto and Quillacinga Peoples’ University, delivered a staff to the Condor runners just eight days after the school’s legalization and inauguration.
The Eagle’s journey
The Eagle route crossed through Alaska, Canada, the contiguous U.S., Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama, before finally entering Colombia.
Mongabay spoke to a central and humorous figurehead of the Eagle group, Angel Retana Buitimea, a traditional sun dancer from the Yoreme people of Mexico. He delivered the Eagle staff in Silvania, and has participated in these runs since 2000.
“We were sent to run by our elders to … spiritually heal the land and the people, connecting the altars and sacred sites,” he said. He added he came into this world to be a runner and, when he learned about the Peace and Dignity Journeys, he felt he’d found his life’s meaning.
One story particularly stuck with Buitimea, he said: In a Ngäbe-Bugle community in Panama, governments and development banks had built a hydroelectric dam. Runners were told it had led to contaminated water and cut off the community from the fishing grounds they depended on to survive.
“We know that if our traditional way of living is torn away from us, which we inherited from our ancestors, we will be left with an empty world … a world where a large part of humanity has no heart,” Buitimea said. “Native people are willing to give our lives to sustain these altars.”
This ceremonial movement can pass down the generations. Amoneeta Beckstein, from the Aniyunwiya tribe, ran from Alaska to Colombia this year and said his parents ran back in 1992. Vergara’s son and grandson also ran some parts of the route.
As well as providing the runners food and a place to stay, some communities made other sacrifices too. Buitimea cited a Comcaac grandmother who fasted for four days to receive permission to sing a sacred, ancient song to greet the runners in Kino Bay, Mexico.
Upon arriving at each community, the main staff (with the head of the Eagle or Condor) was handed over to the hosts, where the runners would spend a night. Sometimes the runners barely slept because of taking part in speaking circles, sacred fires and medicinal plant ceremonies.
The Eagle route staffs included a range of prayers for native language preservation, fallen comrades (in El Salvador), LGBTQ+ rights, and more.
An anticipated reunion
Buitimea and the Eagle runners were half-skipping, half-running toward their Condor peers. Nidia Alvarado, a longtime guardian of the journey and member of the Ushuaia coordination, held the Condor staff. Buitimea and Alvarado rushed toward each other, raising their staffs in a swift, synchronized movement to finally join the two routes. Many runners burst into tears after months of physical and mental endurance.
The two lines of runners, now walking side by side, were greeted by waves of sound, color, smoke and performers in Silvania’s main square. Vergara and Buitimea shared a tight embrace, their bodies tired but spirits renewed, Buitimea said afterward. The staffs were passed to Adela Príncipe Diego and Salvador Reza, veterans of the journey who first participated back in the ’90s. Reza later urged runners to avoid post-journey emptiness by channeling their energy into positive change within their communities.
On arriving at Java Liviana, the headquarters of the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC), on the outskirts of Silvania, the runners all placed the staffs around the tulpa or altar. All participants received an opening cleansing from Berito Kuwaru’wa, the highly respected spiritual leader of the U’wa people.
The runners dedicated almost a full day to presenting all the staffs, explaining which communities they came from and their intentions. “When all the staffs are side by side, you see them unite, creating a circle of pure medicine … a glimpse of hope for the present, past and future,” said Iriany Itzel López-Hernández from the Hñähñú/Otomí people, who was part of the Eagle coordination team.
She and other fellow runners are now on the final leg of the journey, spreading seeds of hope and renewal, delivering the staffs back to the respective communities.
Banner image: Eagle Route Approach Condor. Image by Natasha Pentin.
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