Guañacos

Guañacos refers to the inhabitants of the Chilean highlands, specifically those living in the northern regions of the country. The term is often used informally and may carry connotations depending on the context and the speaker. It is generally used to describe people from the mountainous regions of the Atacama Desert and the Andean foothills in northern Chile. While not considered a formal or official designation, it is a term understood within Chile, particularly in its northern areas. The etymology of the word is not definitively known, but theories suggest it may derive from indigenous languages spoken in the region prior to Spanish colonization. In some contexts, the term can be used neutrally to simply denote origin, while in others, it might carry implicit regional or social distinctions.