Drought wipes popular Chilean lake from the map

The cows and horses would have come for the last blades of grass.

Now their bones are scattered on the cracked earth, victims of drought that wiped Santiago's weekend playground Lake Aculeo from the map.

Lake Aculeo's demise is so sudden and complete it seems as if someone had pulled a giant plug and let all the water out.

So sudden was it that as recently as 2011 the 4.6 square-mile (12 square-kilometer) lagoon was a thriving weekend getaway for people from the Chilean capital an hour away.

Thousands came here to swim, water-ski, sail or simply cool off in the long austral summer. They camped along its shores and lined up for tables at busy lakeside restaurants.

Now, water and cooling summers on Lake Aculeo are a fast receding memory.

"We have been suffering drought for 10 years, and now the lake has disappeared, with tourism, camping, business, everything," laments Marcos Contreras, a campsite employee.

Wooden jetties now poke out grotesquely over the flat plain of the lakebed.

Canoes and speedboats gather dust on the former lakeshore.

A giant sign on the approach shows the lake as it was -- stark blue against the backdrop of the towering Andes -- saying "Help us to protect the lagoon."
"In the future, we see that there is a tendency for rainfall to decrease, so it is very likely that the next few years will be as dry as those we have experienced."