The purpose of this article is to illustrate the experience of the research group that worked in Ciudad Perdida (Magdalena, Colombia) between 1979 and 1983 , and to discuss the production of anthropological knowledge as a spatial practice. The group's itinerary begins in an archaeological site and ends with the creation of an NGO and the invention of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta as a planning region. Through the reconstruction of the journey, the article explores the different spatial realities produced by the appropriation, study and management of the site. Finally, it juxtaposes them with the meaning that this place has for it's aboriginal inhabitants.