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General Carrera Lake Is Chile's Answer To Everything Blue And Beautiful (PHOTOS)

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Who's The Prettiest Lake Of Them All?
PATAGONIA, CHILE - UNDATED: (EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE) A general view of the Marble Cathedral on Lake Carrera in Patagonia, Chile. Welcome to the Marble Cathedral - a natural wonder that could be the world¿s most beautiful cave network. Like an azure temple created by nature, the walls of this network of water-filled marble caverns show just how magnificent the precious geography of our planet can be. Visitors to the water-sculptured blue caverns experience an incredible display of light, which is so rich thanks to the way the incredible sky of Patagonia is reflected into the waters of South America¿s second largest freshwater lake, General Carrera. The light from the water bounces into the caverns and strikes the strangely carved marble walls, creating this enchanting lightshow. The incredible set of pictures has been captured by talented landscape photographer and environmentalist, Linde Waidehofer, 67, from Colorado in the USA. ¿It is the water that formed the sinuous shapes of the marble walls - these waters are magic¿ explained Linde in her book on the caverns, ¿Blue Light¿. To reach this remote place located in the far southern tip of Chile visitors must fly from the capital, Santiago 1,200 miles to the nearest large city, Coyhaique and then drive 130 miles on challenging dirt roads south to the lake. (Photo by Linde Waidehofer/Barcroft Media/Getty Images)
Barcroft Media via Getty Images
PATAGONIA, CHILE - UNDATED: (EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE) A general view of the Marble Cathedral on Lake Carrera in Patagonia, Chile. Welcome to the Marble Cathedral - a natural wonder that could be the world¿s most beautiful cave network. Like an azure temple created by nature, the walls of this network of water-filled marble caverns show just how magnificent the precious geography of our planet can be. Visitors to the water-sculptured blue caverns experience an incredible display of light, which is so rich thanks to the way the incredible sky of Patagonia is reflected into the waters of South America¿s second largest freshwater lake, General Carrera. The light from the water bounces into the caverns and strikes the strangely carved marble walls, creating this enchanting lightshow. The incredible set of pictures has been captured by talented landscape photographer and environmentalist, Linde Waidehofer, 67, from Colorado in the USA. ¿It is the water that formed the sinuous shapes of the marble walls - these waters are magic¿ explained Linde in her book on the caverns, ¿Blue Light¿. To reach this remote place located in the far southern tip of Chile visitors must fly from the capital, Santiago 1,200 miles to the nearest large city, Coyhaique and then drive 130 miles on challenging dirt roads south to the lake. (Photo by Linde Waidehofer/Barcroft Media/Getty Images)

There's a cathedral sitting in the middle of South America's second most major lake, but it's unlike any cathedral you've ever seen.

What it lacks in wooden doors, pews or sermons, it makes up with an abundance of marble. There are no steps to get to the Marble Cathedral in Chile's General Carrera Lake. Travellers hoping to take in the cave's beauty can only do so by boat.

But before you hop on a boat, you'll need to drive four or five hours south of Coyhaique, the city closest to the lake in Chile. The area's popular with tourists visiting Patagonia, the southern region of South America made up of Chile and Argentina, (the locals in Argentina prefer to call the body of water Lake Buenos Aires) who come for fishing, hiking, or horseback riding, among other activities.

If you're a travel photographer, you'll want to make sure you carve out some time to see the Catedral de Mármol, better known as the Marble Cathedral. The network of tunnels, caverns and columns was created by 6,200 years of lakes waves weathering down the single block of marble. Today, boat tours regularly take visitors to the area, as well as the Capilla de Mármol (the Marble Chapell), a smaller island carved out of, well, marble.

Part of the cathedral's beauty is thanks to General Carrera Lake. Several rivers from the nearby Andes mountains supply the body with glacial water. As the glaciers melt, small particles are released and refract the blue part of sunlight, giving the lake its stunning turquoise tinge.

But don't take our word for it, take a look for yourself.

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