A short walk southwest of Uyuni, beyond the edge of town, the ground is littered with the rusting carcasses of nineteenth-century steam locomotives and freight wagons. There are dozens of them, half-buried in salt-laced sand, their cabs stripped, their boilers torn open. Local children climb on them, photographers stage moody portraits against them, and the wind sets loose sheets of metal banging.
The Cementerio de Trenes is the standard first stop on Salar de Uyuni day tours, but you can walk out from town in about twenty minutes if you would rather take your time. Go in the early morning or late afternoon — at midday the light is flat and the desert glare brutal. There are no facilities at all, so bring water and sunscreen.