The lake was mostly dry now, only the deepest section still holding water. The rest of it was captured by huge pipes and channeled downstream. Lucero could see the needle reflection of the observation tower in the silvery water—an old amusement park structure where people used to ride up high on a cylindrical metal tower to get a better view of the area in the revolving observatory at the top. The observation platform had long rusted to the column and had not moved in the years since Lucero had visited San Marcos.