Today saw a tortuous bus ride lasting 10 hours over a dirt road into the Bolivian high plains towards the remote town of Uyuni. With a population of roughly 14,000 people, there really isn´t much here to see. Arriving at dusk, I scrambled to find accomodation for the night and quickly tried to book a ticket for a tour of the Salar de Uyuni and the southwest circuit. I can only report that there isn´t much here save strewn plastics near the outskirts of town and extremely dusty air that blows with a sense of sad abandonment. The folks who do live here seem to subsist mainly on the thriving tourist trade of those coming from far flung to see the Salar salt flats. The only other viable economic activity is the harvesting the bountiful salts here for consumption and industrial use.
I dont´plan to stay long, but this is one of those strange towns where one has a good sense that many are just drifting by with no sense of home rooted here. In any case, the excursions to the Salar begin tomorrow and should offer plenty feast for the eyes.