Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Locals also strongly advise against swimming out into the centre of the pool, where they say
occasional whirlpools can suck unwary bathers to their doom - best be careful and stay close
to the edge. There are further,less appealing hot springs beyond Tarapaya in the resort village
of Miraflores .
< Back to The southern Altiplano
Uyuni
Set on the bleak southern Altiplano 212km southwest of Potosí, the town of UYUNI has little
to recommend except its usefulness as a jumping-off point for journeys into the beautiful and
remote landscapes of the surrounding region. Founded in 1889 at the junction of the railways
that enter Bolivia from Chile and Argentina, in its heyday Uyuni was Bolivia's main gateway
to the outside world, a symbol of modernity and industrial progress. Today, by contrast, its
streets are lined with a collection of shabby houses and semi-abandoned railway yards.
At 3668m above sea level and with no shelter from the wind, Uyuni is a bitterly cold town
that has little to distract you for more than an hour or two. The effective centre of town is the
nineteenth-century clocktower attheintersectionofArceandPotosí.OnAvenidaFerroviaria
in front of the station are several monuments to the golden age of steam: keep an eye out for
the statue of a railway worker, spanner in hand, and the well-maintained steam locomotive ,
made in West Yorkshire in the early twentieth century.
Given the decline in the fortunes of Bolivia's railways, it is surprising Uyuni hasn't become
a ghost town like many of the mining settlements whose ore exports once passed through it.
That it hasn'tisduetothe ever-growingnumber oftravellers whocome here tovisit the spec-
tacular scenery of the Salar de Uyuni and the Reserva de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa .
 
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