Lago de Coatepeque - Coatepeque, El Salvador
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 13° 53.615 W 089° 31.863
16P E 226465 N 1537408
This lake is about 60-70,000 years old...and formed in the caldera of a volcano.
Waymark Code: WMGMXJ
Location: El Salvador
Date Posted: 03/22/2013
Views: 3
Lago de Coatepeque (or Lake Coatepeque) is located about 30 minutes from downtown San Salvador. The lake offers a cool break from the surrounding heat and humidity in the city. It is a prime destination for tourists and locals alike. On one side of the lake, hot springs warm the waters.
Wikipedia (
visit link) adds:
"Coatepeque Caldera, also known as Lago De Coatepeque (Nahuatl coatepec, "at the snake hill") is a volcanic caldera in El Salvador in Central America. The caldera was formed during a series of major rhyolitic explosive eruptions between about 72,000 and 57,000 years ago. Since then, basaltic cinder cones and lava flows formed near the west edge of the caldera, and six rhyodacitic lava domes have formed. The youngest dome, Cerro Pacho, formed after 8000 BC...
Lake Coatepeque (Lago de Coatepeque) is a large crater lake in the east part of the Coatepeque Caldera. It is in Coatepeque municipality, Santa Ana, El Salvador. There are hot springs near the lake margins. At 26 square kilometres (10 sq mi), it is one of the largest lakes in El Salvador. In the lake is the island of Teopan, which was a Mayan site of some importance."
This website (
visit link) has a photo in which the entire lake is visible including the island.