The lore of a desert dive.

• Author: Reinhard, Johan
• Position: Lake Chiu-Chiu in northern Chile

It is said that Tupac Yupanqui, the fifteenth-century Inca emperor, once passed through the remote Atacama Desert of northern Chile and spent some time at the village of Chiu-Chiu. Thanks to the presence of a beautiful maiden named Inca Kolla, he delayed longer than expected. But he finally continued his journey, with a promise to return to marry her. Inca Kolla waited for two years that time gave birth to the emperor's son. She then heard he had married another woman, and in the depths of despair she threw her son and herself into a nearby lake. Some people claim that the lake took the color of her eyes and that even today her sad cries can be heard during the night of the full moon.

Such legends are commonly heard in the Andes; yet through more than a dozen years of field research in the region, I have come to find that some of these stories contain elements of truth. For example, in one story - considered myth even in A.D. 1623 - an Inca emperor commanded that offerings be lowered in carved stone boxes to a sacred place in Lake Titicaca. After having recovered dozens of such boxes near this sacred place - each uniquely carved and containing Inca gold and silver statues - I know that the legend has some basis in fact. Stories of Incas having buried gold artifacts on the summits of the high volcanoes in the region also have occasionally proved to be true, albeit the amounts considerably exaggerated.

The Atacama Desert is the driest place on earth. It has so little rain that the Sahara might be considered wet by comparison. Yet, in the center of the Atacama is a lake, in apparent contradiction to nature's laws. And, in another seeming contradiction, the lake is formed in a perfect circle. Something strange once took place in this remote region of northern Chile, and it has not failed to give the natives, and visitors, some food for thought.

From the times of the Incas to the present, the lake of Chiu-Chiu has been the source of legends. The lake lies about three miles east of the village of Chiu-Chiu at an elevation of eighty-three hundred feet. Situated in an oasis near the confluence of the Loa and Salado rivers, the village is in the midst of some of the most desolate terrain imaginable. Only a limited amount of agriculture along the river valleys and the tending of sheep, Ilamas, and alpacas is possible; even wild animals, such as vicunas, are rare.

Some archaeological remains at Chiu-Chiu date back over forty-five hundred years, albeit...