I wake in the night to flashes of light over the mountains. Neon wakes too and says the flashes are lightening in a storm on the other side of the mountains. But they’re otherworldly, more like seeing the northern lights for the first time, than just looking like lightening. Nothing out here is ordinary.

The area this route travels through is the Puna de Atacama, with an average elevation of ~4500 meters. 85% of the Puna de Atacama lies within Argentina’s border, and the other 15% lies in Chile. It’s very dry here. The area is characterized by large salt flats and high mountains, especially a string of six thousand meter peaks, hence the route’s name “Ruta de La Seis Miles” or “route of the six thousanders”.