Overturned fishing skiffs lie abandoned on the shores of what was once Bolivia's second-largest lake. Beetles dine on bird carcasses and gulls fight for scraps under a glaring sun in what marshes remain.
Lake Poopó was officially declared evaporated last month. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people have lost their livelihoods and left the area.
High on Bolivia's semi-arid Andean plains at 3,700 meters (more than 12,000 feet) and long subject to climatic whims, the shallow saline lake has essentially dried up before only to rebound to twice the area of Los Angeles.
But recovery may no longer be possible, scientists say.
"This is a picture of the future of climate change," said Dirk Hoffman, a German glaciologist who studies how rising temperatures from the burning of fossil fuels has accelerated glacial melting in Bolivia.
As Andean glaciers disappear so do the sources of Poopó's water. But other factors are in play in the demise of Bolivia's second-largest body of water, behind Lake Titicaca.
Drought caused by the recurrent El Niño meteorological phenomenon is considered the main driver. Authorities say another factor is the diversion of water from Poopó's tributaries, mostly for mining but also for agriculture.