Uyuni

Hot in the sun, cold in the shade and bitterly cold in the wind and at night, Uyuni was founded in 1889 and is one of the starting points for trips to the and other attractions in the southwest. For much of the 20th century it was important as a railway junction, today activity revolves around the tourist and salt trades.

Uyuni's functional architecture, wide, dust-blown streets, freezing cold winds and flat surroundings, give it a strange feeling. Plaza Arce is a two-block pedestrian walkway joining the train station with the church. It has a number of agencies, restaurants, a museum and a clock tower, which at times houses a tourist information office. Beyond the church Avenida Arce leads to the bus companies and cheaper hotels and agencies. The little-used main plaza is along Avenida Ferroviaria, two blocks east of Plaza Arce, it has a couple of large hothouses with plants, the only way to see something green here. Along Avenida Ferroviaria are a monument to a railway worker, a small steam engine and a monument to the Chaco War. Uyuni is noted as the first place where a plane took off and landed on Bolivian soil in 1921, and possibly has the distinction of being soccer's point of entry into the country, introduced by British railway engineers.