The Wild West in 2008

I'm still in Uyuni. I was supposed to go on a tour of the salt flats and some other crazy places today but the plans I'd made with my friend Mark (who I met on the bike rides) fell through this morning. It's for the best though since the decisions I made yesterday went against what my gut was telling me I should do. We've got Mark almost all sorted out for his travel plans back to the UK and I'm going to spend another day here in Uyuni and go on a tour that I feel much better about taking. Let me rephrase that, we're going on a tour tomorrow, hopefully with two bangin' chicas since we've asked for the vehicle to only have 4 tourists instead of the normal 6 for the extra leg room. Mark is 6'6". I really wish more of the world were made for me. I hate having to pay extra because I'm a mutant.

A word about Uyuni...it's what I would imagine the Wild West would look like in the US if the Wild West existed in 2008. Not really a one road town with a brothel/bar and general store but not far from it. It's covered in desert dust and quite desolate when everyone is at a lunch. All the businesses close for lunch. One of the things that's quite different is the temperature. Man is it cold even with the sun out. The agent for tomorrow, who actually has an understanding of tourism, said it gets down to -20C in June and July. Where the hell am I? Mars? Maybe. I'll let you all know when I'm on the other side.

I'm editing this after going to the Train Cemetery. It's typically part of the Salar de Uyuni tour but since Mark and I had nothing really to do today we walked out there to check it out. The walk out to the Cemetery really shows one how much of the Wild West is here in Uyuni. I began to wonder why the hell this town is here at all. It's got to be because it's a jumping off point for tourists to see the Salar. I equate it to something in Siberia. I wish I had more faith in uploading pictures quickly (really I don't have the patience nor do I have my cord and I don't think I could really do it justice with one picture) to show you all how much of a desolate outpost Uyuni is.

Walking out to the Cemetery on the train track there's trash everywhere. It looks like there are rocks littering the landscape but they're really black plastic bags that are stuck on small bushes. So many plastic bottles on both sides of the track. I'm glad we got to see this instead of just driving out to it. Made the experience that much more real to see that the consumption and byproducts of human society.
After 25mins of walking we came to the Cemetery. Coming to the beginning there are piles of iron filings lying about. The 'entrance' starts with shipping cars which are just strewn about. We kept going to see the locomotives. They're about 200m from the 'entrance' of the Cemetery. They're the real old steam locomotives. Walking out to the locomotives, there are more and more and more piles of iron. The cash value of the cemetery in recyclable metal should be something. What's really striking about that place is the eeriness of it all. Just solidifies the feeling of being in a desolate waste land. A bit of a post-apocalyptic feel too. Utter silence drowned in cold sunlight surrounded by decaying beasts of commerce. I suppose the draw of this Cemetery is just the sheer strangeness of it all. I don't have the proper words to describe it all but I hope you get the idea. I think compounding this with the other things we're supposed to see on the tour will have a cumulative affect. I hope to have a good summation once I get to San Pedro.
Peace fam.