There is a place in northern Chile, 3,500 meters above sea level in the Andean Altiplano, where almost nothing survives. The Salar de Pajonales is a salt flat of savage extremes temperatures swinging from −23°C to 26°C, solar radiation among the highest measured anywhere on Earth, annual rainfal l that barely registers, and winds that rip across the surface at over 100 kilometers per hour. And yet, life is there. ...read more read less