Loaded with major ions — the essential minerals (Ca, Mg).
Buoyancy
Standard buoyancy
LowHigh
Soft water — natural, classic buoyancy.
BicarbonatesSodiumCalcium
Laguna Hedionda in Bolivia's Potosí Department is a high-altitude saline lake on the Bolivian altiplano whose chloride-rich, reddish-tinged waters create one of South America's most surreal landscapes, tinted by halophilic algae and inhabited by flocks of Andean flamingos. Sitting at over 4,400 metres above sea level in the Nor Lípez Province, the lake's extreme salinity and volcanic mineral content make it inhospitable to most life but extraordinary for visitors on the southern altiplano circuit. Hedionda ('stinking' in Spanish) refers to the sulfurous odour of the mineral-rich waters that give this remote Andean lake its otherworldly character.
Insider tip — Laguna Hedionda, whose name means 'stinking lagoon' in Spanish, sits on the Bolivian altiplano at over 4000 metres elevation, surrounded by flamingo colonies that feed on its algae-rich waters. The geothermal seeps fringing the lake offer a surreal contrast of near-freezing winds and warm mineral water rising through Andean volcanic crust. The remoteness of the Lipez region means visitors are often the only people for miles, sharing the horizon with volcanoes and pink flamingos. Dress in multiple thermal layers as temperatures can drop sharply even mid-afternoon.
