<
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260710-ride-argentinas-first-solar-train-through-10000-years-of-indigenous-history>
"The train – a sleek, glass-sided, two-carriage capsule – looked almost too
futuristic for the landscape it was about to enter. As it eased out of the
historic village of Volcán, panpipe music drifted through the carriage and the
Quebrada de Humahuaca opened around us, a narrow, high-altitude valley of thorn
scrub, red earth and folded peaks that has carried people, goods and beliefs
for more than 10,000 years.
This is one of South America's oldest cultural corridors, a route first crossed
by hunter-gatherers around 9000BC and later travelled by Indigenous traders,
Inca messengers, Spanish colonists, muleteers and railway workers. Today,
another chapter has been added to that long history: Latin America’s first
solar-powered train.
Launched in June 2024, the Quebrada Solar Train revives part of a 19th-Century
railway through Indigenous villages in Argentina's Jujuy province. The 42km
(21.6 mile) route links historic villages where pre-Inca, Inca and living
Andean traditions still overlap. Along the way, it follows part of the Qhapaq
Ñan, the vast Inca road network that once connected communities across the
Andes, from present-day Colombia to Argentina and Chile.
But the train is not just a sustainable way to sightsee through Andean
mountains and adobe villages. Officials hope the zero-emissions railway will
bring tourism income to communities and archaeological sites along the valley,
helping younger residents remain on ancestral land while honouring the values
that have long shaped life here: respect for Pachamama (Mother Earth),
reciprocity and balance.
And for visitors, it offers the chance to travel through a landscape where
ancient traditions remain part of everyday life."
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
