Puyuhuapi (Puyuguapi) is a village in southern

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

in the

Aysén Region The Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region ( es, Región de Aysén, , '), often shortened to Aysén Region or Aisén,Examples of name usage1, official regional government site refers to the region as "Región de Aysén"., Chile's of ...

. It is located on Route 7, the

Carretera Austral The Carretera Austral (CH-7, ''in English: Southern Way'') is the name given to Chile's Route 7. The highway runs south for about from Puerto Montt to Villa O'Higgins, passing through rural Patagonia. Carretera Austral provides road access t ...

, where the Rio Pascal enters the head of the Puyuhuapi fjord, a small fjord off the Ventisquero Sound. Its harbor on the fjord is called Puerto Puyuhuapi. Puyuhuapi is administratively in the Chilean

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Cisnes Cisnes (Spanish for: "port swans") is a Chilean commune located in the Aysén Province, Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region. The commune spans an area of . Demographics According to data from the 2002 Census of Population and H ...

. In the 2002 census it had a population of 535, but by 2007 it had grown to 826. Just southwest of the village are the Puyuhuapi hot springs. The government invited German settlement in the village, which was founded by

Sudeten German German Bohemians (german: Deutschböhmen und Deutschmährer, i.e. German Bohemians and German Moravians), later known as Sudeten Germans, were ethnic Germans living in the Czech lands of the Bohemian Crown, which later became an integral part ...

settlers from Hranice (former German name Rossbach) in present-day

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

and Mapuches from

Chiloé Archipelago The Chiloé Archipelago ( es, Archipiélago de Chiloé, , ) is a group of islands lying off the coast of Chile, in the Los Lagos Region. It is separated from mainland Chile by the Chacao Channel in the north, the Sea of Chiloé in the east and t ...

. German settlers gave temporary work to the Mapuches in the area, and then they settled with their families, which gave rise to a mestizo population. It is served by Puyuhuapi Airport. Among the local handicrafts are hand-made jerseys.

In popular culture

Puyuhuapi was featured in the 2014 '' Patagonia Special'' episode of ''

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...

'', and in 2019 on DW News's documentary "On route 7 into the heart of Patagonia"

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Puyuhuapi Populated places in Aysén Province