Villa Puerto Edén is a

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 ...

an hamlet and minor port located in

Wellington Island Wellington Island is an island west of Southern Patagonian Ice Field, Chile. It has an area of 5,556 km2 and most of the island forms part of Bernardo O'Higgins National Park Bernardo O'Higgins National Park () is the largest of the prot ...

, in

Natales Natales (Spanish for "births") is a commune of the Última Esperanza Province in the Magallanes and Antartica Chilena Region of extreme southern Chile. Its capital and only port city is Puerto Natales. Geography The commune's area spans , making ...

commune,

Última Esperanza Province Última Esperanza ( es, Provincia de Última Esperanza, meaning "Last Hope Province") is one of four provinces in the southern Chilean region of Magallanes and Antártica Chilena. The capital is Puerto Natales and it is named after Última Espera ...

Magallanes Region The Magallanes Region (), officially the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region ( es, Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena), is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It is the southernmost, largest, and second lea ...

. It is considered one of

's most isolated inhabited places together with

Easter Island Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearl ...

and

Villa Las Estrellas Villa Las Estrellas (English: "The Stars Village") is a Chilean town and research station on King George Island within the Chilean Antarctic claim, the Chilean Antarctic Territory, and also within the Argentine and British Antarctic claims. ...

. The village is known for being the home of the last Kawéshkar people. Owing to the large

tidewater glacier The tidewater glacier cycle is the typically centuries-long behavior of tidewater glaciers that consists of recurring periods of advance alternating with rapid retreat and punctuated by periods of stability. During portions of its cycle, a tidewate ...

s caused by the region’s super-high precipitation, it is only accessible by sea, on the Navimag ferry from

Puerto Montt Puerto Montt (Mapuche: Meli Pulli) is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region, 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago. The commune spa ...

in the north, or

Puerto Natales Puerto Natales is a city in Chilean Patagonia. It is the capital of both the commune of Natales and the province of Última Esperanza, one of the four provinces that make up the Magallanes and Antartica Chilena Region in the southernmost part of C ...

in the south. There is also a monthly boat from

Caleta Tortel Caleta Tortel is a coastal village ( es, aldea) in Chile. It is the administrative centre of the commune of Tortel and is located between the mouth of the Baker River the largest river in Chile and a small embayment of the Baker Channel. The surr ...

. The population is 176 (2002 census). Owing to the extraordinarily humid climate the village has no roads, with only pedestrian boardwalks connecting the houses and shops. A weekly transport boat takes local fish and shellfish products (the latter mainly mussels) to markets.

Margarita Vargas López Margarita Virginia Vargas López (born 30 October 1969) is a Kawésqar politician in Chile. In 2021, she was 2021 Chilean general election, elected to serve as the Kawésqar nation's representative in the Constitutional Convention (Chile), Constit ...

, a member of the

Chilean Constitutional Convention The Constitutional Convention () was the constituent body of the Chile, Republic of Chile in charge of drafting a new Political Constitution of the Republic after the approval of the 2020 Chilean national plebiscite, national plebiscite held in O ...

, was born and raised in Villa Puerto Edén.

Climate

Villa Puerto Edén has an extremely wet

subpolar oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''Cfc'') and is widely reputed to be the place in the world with the highest frequency of rainfall,Lindenmayer, Clem; Trekking in the Patagonian Andes (Lonely Planet Walking Guide); pp. 17-31. though according to

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

the highest frequency of rain in a year occurred at Bahia Felix, a little further south, with only eighteen rainless days in the whole of 1916. The annual rainfall is almost exactly equal to that of Little Port Walter in the similarly wet

Alaska Panhandle Southeast Alaska, colloquially referred to as the Alaska(n) Panhandle, is the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Alaska, bordered to the east and north by the northern half of the Canadian province of British Columbia (and a small part ...

, but is more evenly spread across the year, with a minimum average monthly rainfall of as against in Little Port Walter.

Gallery

File:Puerto Edén 033.JPG, View of Villa Puerto Edén's docks File:Alacaluf_woman,_Villa_Puerto_Edén,_Chile_-_20060111.jpg, Alacaluf woman File:Chili-Puerto Edén Houses.JPG, Houses of Puerto Edén File:Calle de Puerto Edén.jpg, Street in Puerto Edén File:Puerto Edén harbour-2009.JPG, Harbour of Puerto Edén

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villa Puerto Eden Hamlets in Chile Geography of Magallanes Region Ports and harbours of Chile Populated places established in 1937 Populated places in Última Esperanza Province Populated places in the fjords and channels of Chile

Climate

Gallery

See also

References