Land of Fire and Ice

By+Chu+Jiwang

During a business trip to Ar- gentina， I visited several famous tourist attractions with my son Chu Jiang. Most impressive to me were Tierra del Fuego（Land of Fire） and Argentino Lake.

Located in eastern Argentina with its western half stretching into Chile， Tierra del Fuego is the southernmost land in the world other than Antarctica. It was August， the hottest season in China， but extremely cold there. No green could be seen – only vast expanses of snow and ice.

Why was it so named？ Our tour guide explained that natives used to burn timber to battle the cold. When the Spanish ar- rived by ship， they saw flames everywhere， hence its name.

Argentino Lake， the third largest in South America， is fed by runoff from the Andes. We boarded a boat there on a sunny day. Snowflakes sprinkled onto the icy water and hit our faces like knives. It hurt badly. Our hands quickly became numb after taking a few pictures of the icebergs， and we rushed back to the cabin. Other than the magnificent icebergs， we didnt see hardly anything： no trees， no birds， and no inhabitants.

We walked up a hill to view the lofty glaciers. A long wooden staircase leads towards lakeside glaciers， enabling a closer look. We witnessed the water pouring down the ice with our own eyes. The massive pressure on the glacier could lead to collapse at any moment. The lake was blocked by glaciers， which froze the water and created an iceberg.

Snow runoff drips down from the Andes year-round， bringing pieces of ice which pile up and snowball the iceberg.

From the wooden staircase， we were thrilled by the earsplitting crashing sound and colorful spray as chunks of ice fell off the iceberg. In the sun， it looked like a 3D movie or a game involving piling blocks.

I couldnt say whether the melting we saw was the result of global warming. Im not an expert on such subjects. What I saw was not simply a melting iceberg – it seemed part of a cycle， but Im not qualified to speculate on such fantastic natural phenomena. Still， I saw glaciers that I will never forget my whole life.