Termas El Amarillo

Termas El Amarillo flows in the volcanic wilderness near Chaitén in Chile's Los Lagos region, at the northern edge of one of the most dramatic geological events in recent Chilean history — the 2008 eruption of Chaitén volcano, which had been dormant for approximately 9,000 years before erupting violently in May 2008, covering the nearby town of Chaitén in volcanic ash and pyroclastic material that forced the complete evacuation of its 4,000 residents and left the town partially buried, creating one of the most striking ghost-town landscapes in South America. The surrounding Pumalín Park — the enormous private nature reserve created by US conservationist Douglas Tompkins and now transferred to the Chilean state as a national park — protects vast tracts of temperate Valdivian rainforest of extraordinary biodiversity, including ancient alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides) trees that rank among the oldest living organisms in the world. The bicarbonate thermal springs of El Amarillo, emerging from geothermal activity connected to the same volcanic system that produced the 2008 eruption, provide mineral bathing in a landscape where geological time is measured in decades rather than millennia and the relationship between volcanoes, forests, and hot springs is visibly and dynamically alive.