Hotel Antumalal and Spa in Pućon offers the most authentic marriage of man-made structure and nature I have ever encountered within a commercial setting. The hotel is a mid-century modernist masterpiece with unrivalled views of Villarrica Lake and its namesake picture-perfect snow-dusted Volcano. Built in 1948 by Czech wartime refugees in a Bauhaus style from local materials, it was meticulously designed to enhance the natural contours of the 5-hectare park that surrounds it. This is both indigenous Mapuche territory and a ski resort where the 16th century Spanish once mined gold. Waterfalls map lightning threads to cool rock pools in mossy grottos and vines now grace the distant volcanic slopes. The hotel exists thanks to a series of fantastical chance events, culminating in the unlikely arrival of the Queen and Prince Philip on their landmark trip to Chile in 1968. Catalina Pollak and her mother, Davita, recognised the power of this place in 1944 when having fled Nazi Europe, they o
A journey into Chile’s ancestral heartland, the perfect place to go a little slower
The country s Lake District offers labyrinthine waterways, roads less travelled, and a chance to get to know the Mapuche people
Volcán Villarrica
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“When a child is born, we bury the placenta under a tree and that helps to decide the child’s fate,” said Regina, as we sauntered around Feria Walüng, the Mapuche market and farm. “It also means we don’t cut down any trees.”
As autumn sunlight crept through spindly silver birches, the market’s makeshift food stalls and the sturdy rucas (traditional houses) nearby were speckled with white. Volcán Villarrica towered ominously overhead, chicks fluttered underfoot, and a nonchalant sow let out the odd grunt as a busy litter clambered over her head.