Gente de Pucon

Considerando el origen étnico, más la influencia de los colonos extranjeros llegados a principios del siglo XX a Pucón, y en la actualidad, un alto porcentaje de extranjeros residentes crea una diversidad cultural de pacífica convivencia, cuyo denominador común es el apego a la naturaleza y la valoración de la calidad de vida.

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Considering the ethnic origin, and the influence of foreign colonizers that arrived at the beginning of the 20th Century, and nowadays, a high percentage of foreign residents creates a cultural diversity of pacific cohabitation, whose common denominator is the love of nature and valuing the quality of life.

In the census of 1992 the population counted up to 15 million habitants and for the last census carried out in 2002 the population rose to 21 million people. This is not because of a rise in the birth rate but because of the phenomenon of immigration.

Used to encountering people from other latitudes, the people of Pucon are welcoming and friendly. Most people know each other or are acquainted. Social life is amusing and develops in centric restaurant bars that remain open throughout the year.

Their job sources are related to the economy of tourism, they live in peaceful areas or residential developments and their children get along at school, the plazas or the beach.

In education, the municipal schools are incorporating subjects related to tourism and for years they have been placing a special emphasis on learning English. Private schools also incorporate subjects that involve their students in the nature surrounding them and special care of their environment.

The need of delivering quality tourism generated in secondary and college education institutions that deliver specific subjects related to tourism. The results have been successful because those graduated are part of the active workforce in Pucon and are required from other tourist destinations of the country.

In the rural areas of Pucon you can see the diversity described. Large extensions of land have been sectioned and used as lots which are attractive to people with greater buying power. These lots border with the locals, who view selling their land as an interesting source of income.

The Mapuche population has incorporated in the development of the area. There are no pure descendants of this ethnic group and little by little they have started to share with the "Huincas" (non-Mapuche Chileans) ancestral ceremonies such as the Guillatun (ceremony to thank the land) or the New Years' celebration on the 24th of June, to which it is only possible to assist having been previously invited by one of the members. In these activities it is possible to see them dressed in their traditional attire.

In the sector of Palguin, Llafenco, Quelhue and Reigolil can be found the largest amount of indigenous inhabitants. They live on subsistence agriculture and only a few families are taking on the recently discovered ethnotourism.

Another face of town is lived in the midst of commercial activity of Pucon. The young adult population with work stability generally take their time of rest at the end of the high season. They are people with levels of technical and professional education or business entrepreneurs who mostly travel to other countries as a way of probing the world tendencies in relation to tourism.