Cotacotani lake

The downward gravel road led us back in parallel to the main road to the views of the Cotacotani lake. Its a beautiful lake with many islands separating the water into channels and smaller lagoons. We got some nice views of the laguna from an elevated position. The track eventually lead us down to the shore of the lake and continued on the left side of the lake. At one point we could see the reflection of the Parinacota in the Cotacotani lake.

Laguna de Cotacotani (hispanicized expression) or Quta Qutani is a lake located in the Andean Altiplano of Chile. It lies 4 km northwest of Chungará Lake, which is one of the highest lakes in the world and is surrounded by several volcanoes, such as the Payachata volcanic group (Parinacota and Pomerape), Sajama volcano and Wallatiri. Cotacotani is separated from the lake Chungará by a strip of volcanic rock and receives groundwater inflow from that lake.
Cotacotani Lake's main feature is the considerable number of islands and islets that it holds, which are really lava hummocks generated by a past volcanic event. With a surface of 6 km², the Cotacotani holds a volume of water between 30 to 40 million of m³, which empty through Lauca River into Coipasa Lake, in Bolivia.En savoir plus