South America at Elevation

Above four thousand meters, in the middle of the Andes Mountains exists a magical land of vast deserts, pastel bodies of water and volcanic peaks. A land where buildings are made of salt bricks, natural landscapes resemble paintings, and rock formations are extraterrestrial.

The humans who inhabit this part of Earth are resourceful and humble, living symbiotically with their surroundings. Here, the air is thin. Labored breathing makes each step a task, and each scene one to remember. Oasis-like lagoons sprinkled with pink flora and fauna. Strange quadrupeds graze before violent mountains. Oddly striated valleys resemble Satan’s throat.

By evening, the horizon glows with a deep palette of oxidized iron, indigo, and lime. With no cities nearby, no light pollution exists. The sky at night is as dark or as a light as the moon and stars wish it. Shimmering celestial bodies, foreign constellations and foggy nebula clusters speckle the dry atmosphere.

Here, life exists at 4,000 meters.