Arriagada García was born in Chillán Viejo, Ñuble Region, 1807, of an aristocratic family.

She was the daughter of Pedro Ramón Arriagada, a public figure, and Maria Antonia Garcia.

She was educated in Santiago and married a German military man, Eduardo Gutike.

She carried on a relationship for almost 16 years, though letters, with the German Romantic painter, Johann Moritz Rugendas, who arrived in Chile in 1834.

Her letters, not necessarily private, but rather meant to be shared among friends and family,[1] were written in French and English.