Not long ago, I told my mom that I was finally launching my contemplative travel agency.
She let out that laugh we all know from our mothers—the one that comes right before you realize they’ve been right all along—and said:

“It’s about time. You’ve been doing this your whole life.”

 A moment later, my phone buzzed. She had sent me a photo I hadn’t seen in nearly thirty years. 

Rossana, age 5,
Austral Highway, Chile

 She had taken it on the Austral Highway in Chile’s Lake Region (click here to see the region / view our trip to the region), long before smartphones, capturing me standing alone on the side of that wild southern road. I remember insisting on photographing every sign that marked the beginning of a place or shared information about the region, so that when we printed the photos later, we could see where one place ended and another began—for our travel log and memory of the journey.

 And then—before I could even reply—another photo arrived.
This time, it was me at Niagara Falls, from a recent trip, standing in almost the same pose as in that childhood image. (Read the story of that journey here.)

Seeing those two photographs—decades apart, yet somehow mirroring each other—I understood why my mom laughed.
This is who I’ve always been: someone with boundless curiosity, insatiably hungry to learn, drawn to landscapes, and most alive when there’s room to breathe, space to simply exist, and the chance to disconnect so she can truly connect—with the world, with nature, and with herself.

Rossana Pilar Barría Ailef is a perennial gardener, landscaper, and botanist trained at the Botanical Garden of Heinrich Heine University in Germany. She is also a lifelong volunteer and traveler.

Her path began with a personal search for calm, a life free of pain, and a deep connection with the natural world. Wanting to understand how people live, heal, and find balance, Rossana graduated from Universidad Austral de Chile with a degree in Occupational Therapy and Science, exploring why humans occupy their days in the ways they do.

Years later, while volunteering in Italy and then living in industrialized Germany, she felt the pull of the landscapes that had always called her. That longing led her to study botany, seeking a deeper understanding of the healing power of plants and the restorative effects of nature. There, she realized something essential: much of true healing comes from being fully present.

Through more than two decades of traveling, volunteering, and living across 30+ countries, Rossana cultivated a rare sensibility: a way of reading landscapes not only through science and ecology, but through curiosity, observation, and the stories the land carries. Her fluency in four languages—and counting—has been both a tool and a window, allowing her to connect deeply with people and cultures wherever she goes. From dense forests to desert plateaus, from coastal fjords to quiet mountain valleys, she has learned not only where to go, but how to be there—fully present, attentive, and with reverence.

Now based in the United States, she designs small-group journeys across Chile and South America’s most extraordinary landscapes.

Disconnect from urgency, from noise, from expectation.

Reconnect with the land, with local traditions, with the rhythm of the wind, with the whisper of the river.

Reconnect with yourself.

At Rayen Travels, our invitation is simple: disconnect to connect—and join me on a journey through Chile and South America’s most extraordinary landscapes. Growing up here, I know the hidden corners, the perfect moments, and the magic that often goes unnoticed—and I can’t wait to share them with you.