Once thriving Argentine spa draws tourists to ghostly ruins | See Pics

The visitors stop to read signs pointing out where hotels and restaurants stood before the salty waters of Lake Epecuen broke through a protective embankment during a storm in 1985 and submerged the village for the next two decades.

Cushioned by a soft silence ruffled only by occasional gusts of wind, tourists walk past rubble and metal shards lying in the streets of what was once the bustling resort of Villa Epecuen. Others photograph petrified trees dotting the apocalyptic scene.

The visitors stop to read signs pointing out where hotels and restaurants stood before the salty waters of Lake Epecuen broke through a protective embankment during a storm in 1985 and submerged the village for the next two decades.