Parinacota, Hamlet in Putre commune, Arica y Parinacota Region, Chile
This high-altitude settlement consists of traditional adobe and volcanic stone houses that are arranged along narrow unpaved streets in the northern Chilean Andes at approximately 4,430 meters above sea level.
Indigenous Aymara communities have inhabited this location for centuries, developing agricultural and livestock practices adapted to extreme altitude conditions and maintaining their ancestral way of life through colonial times to the present.
The local church, declared a National Monument in 1979, serves as a central meeting point for religious festivals and community gatherings that preserve Aymara traditions, music, dance, and textile weaving techniques passed down through generations.
Visitors should prepare for severe high-altitude conditions with cold nighttime temperatures and limited accommodation options, mostly consisting of family-run guesthouses accessible by rural roads from Putre during the dry season from May to October.
This settlement holds the distinction of being the highest permanently inhabited location in Chile, situated near Nevado de Parinacota volcano, Lake Chungará, and Cotacotani lagoons within a protected typical zone declared in 1979.
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