Uyuni
A remote and sleepy town on Bolivia's south-western frontier, Uyuni is a cold and tourist-filled town, and the gateway to the nearby Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest and highest salt flat. Really no reason to stay here for long, except to book a tour to the salt flats, and perhaps to grab a pizza or two. There's also a train line that goes through Uyuni, from Oruro further north, down to Villazon in the South; with an additional line heading west into Chile, from Potosà in the east.
Uyuni train cemetery
This morning, our group of six people met our tourguide for our three-day tour of the Salar de Uyuni, we piled into the customary Toyota Land Cruiser 4WD that's used for such tours, and we began our tour with a trip to the "train cemetery" just outside the town of Uyuni. Quirky, although not-so-beautiful, start to a beautiful trip. Big wreckages of trains, piled onto a bunch of tracks. Makes for an interesting 5-minute stop, although not worth much more than that.
Technically outta Bolivia
This morning, Chris and I left for our tour of the Salar de Uyuni, on a three-day trip with Esmeralda Tours (actually, ended up being Olivos Tours — meh, same diff). But before we left, we went to the immigration office in Uyuni, and we officially exited Bolivia. So, despite the fact that we won't be in Chile until Wednesday, as of today we're technically no longer in Bolivia. Technically, until Wednesday we're not in any country at all.
Sunday in Uyuni
Since Chris still ain't feeling 100%, and since we haven't got too much of an urgent hurry (we have about 7 visa-free days, out of 30, left in Bolivia), we just relaxed and hung out in Uyuni today, and we'll start a salt flats tour tomorrow. Uyuni's actually quite a pleasant place to chill for a day; although "chill" is definitely what you do there, since it's so daym cold!
Hotel Avenida, Uyuni
Accommodation is all pretty similar in its lack of quality — in particular, in its lack of warmth — here in cold, cold Uyuni. Hotel Avenida is probably above average in this regard, but that's not saying much. The rooms are still bloody freezing at night, and have no heating. When you come to Uyuni, wherever you stay, make sure to bring thermal nightclothes, and a very warm sleeping bag. You'll need it!