Portillo is an Andean ski resort northeast of Santiago, Chile near an Argentine  border crossing. At 10,000 ft (3000 meters) it is not far from Aconcagua which, at 22,841 feet (6962 meters), is the tallest mountain outside of Asia. In the evening of my brief overnight stay there was very unusual light as the sun dropped below the clouds with its rays filtered through the smoggy atmosphere of the coastal plain.