Punucapa

Punucapa
View of Punucapa's church
Region	Los Ríos
Province	Valdivia
Municipalidad	Valdivia
Comuna	Valdivia
Government
• Type	Municipalidad
• Alcalde	Carla Amtmann
Population  (2017[1])
• Total	119
Sex [1]
• Men	43
• Women	76
Time zone	UTC-4 (Chilean Standard)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-3 (Chilean Daylight)
Area code	Country + town = 56 + 63

Punucapa (from Mapudungun Cunucapi, black/fertile earth for legumes^[2]) is a hamlet (Spanish: caserío) of pre-Hispanic origin in Los Ríos Region, Chile. Its isolated location by the Cruces River and the Valdivian Coastal Range has made the village an ecotourism attraction. The wetlands of the river is the home to thousands of birds; the black-necked swan is the most emblematic. In 2017 Punucapa had a population of 119 inhabitants up from 75 in 2002.^[1][3]

Apart from ecotourism, Punucapa is also known for its old tradition of chicha beverage that started with the first appletrees introduced by the Spanish. There is also a brewery run by the Chilean actor Andrés Waas. Close to the hamlet lives the Spanish writer Pablo Gonz.

Notes

1. "Ciudades, pueblos, aldeas y caceríos 2019" (PDF) (in Spanish). National Statistics Institute. 2019. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
2. de Moesbach, Ernesto Wilhelm (2016) [1944]. Voz de Arauco (in Spanish). Santiago: Ceibo. p. 184. ISBN 978-956-359-051-7.
3. Chile: Ciudades, pueblos, aldeas y caseríos, Instituto nacional de estadísticas, June 2005, retrieved January 10, 2014

39°43′S 73°18′W