Termas de Tolhuaca

Termas de Tolhuaca nestle in one of Chile's most ecologically significant protected areas — Tolhuaca National Park — whose ancient Araucaria araucana forests of monkey puzzle trees, the sacred tree of the Mapuche people known as pehuén, create a primeval landscape of gnarled, prehistoric-looking giants that have survived for up to 1,000 years on the volcanic slopes of the Araucanía Andes. The Mapuche, whose resistance to Spanish and later Chilean conquest across centuries earned them a place in South American history as one of the most formidable indigenous forces ever to confront European colonialism, consider the pehuén and its large nutritious seeds (piñones) central to their cosmology and subsistence, gathering the seeds each autumn in communal harvest ceremonies that continue as a living cultural practice. The bicarbonate thermal springs of Tolhuaca, flowing from geothermal sources associated with the volcanic chain of the Chilean Andes including the nearby Lonquimay volcano, provide therapeutic bathing in a sacred forest landscape that represents one of the most complete overlays of indigenous cultural significance, volcanic geology, and ancient forest ecology found anywhere in the Southern Hemisphere.