時下臨近十二月底，酷暑正席捲南半球。然而，當清晨站在甲板上隨船從太平洋朝大西洋方向穿越麥哲倫海峽時，我牙齒打顫，渾身被凍僵了。 

      By December, a hot summer came to south atmosphere. However, the cold still numbed my teeth as we waited on the sun deck for the glaciers and sheer mountains to appear over the horizon in Strait of Magellan between the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean.

      Due to tidal constrains, we had to delay our arrival time by 2 hours in Ushuaia of Argentina this afternoon. Unexpectedly Glaciers Alley became our retreat. The cruise glided to Beagle Channel named after ship that carried the English naturalist, Charles Darwin, on a five-year voyage around the tip of Southern America. Glaciers Alley boasted a passage lined with spectacular hanging glaciers, icy rivers, dancing waterfalls and the walls of granite on each side. Spain, Romanche, Germany, Italy, France, Holland, etc. were given to each of 12 glaciers in European colonial flavors.

      因為潮汐關係，我們不得不推遲下午靠岸時間，即延後兩個小時抵達阿根廷烏斯懷亞。這麼一來，事先未列入計劃的冰川通道出人意料地出現在我們的行程之中。遊輪沿比格爾海峽行駛，那條水路得名於當年英國博物學家查爾斯•達爾文五年環南美航行考察所乘坐的“小獵犬號”。位於比格爾海峽上的冰川通道由十二個冰川組成，每一個冰川則以歐洲殖民國家命名，懸垂的冰川、浪漫的冰河、舞動的瀑布以及挺拔的高山，使得兩側西班牙冰川、羅曼徹冰川、德意志冰川、意大利冰川、法蘭西冰川、荷蘭冰川等更加奇特迷人。

      As the first stupendous glacier came into view, all my drowsiness melted away and was replaced by stunning awe immediately. The natural surroundings here evoked a feeling of infinite peace and made me feel like reliving the Ice Age again. The immense silence didn't seem to be interrupted until the creaks of glacier movement took place and the splash of waterfalls tumbled into the alley. We soaked up the marvelous scenery and inhaled the fresh sea air with a pleasant current. The glaciers were so large that I doubted five "Star Princess" cruise ships wouldn't even fill half of the ice. But something didn't sound quite right. There were thin icicles hanging down. The ice was melting slowly and tiny piece of ice carved off the glacier was instantly turning into water. Just like the others, tiny chunks were nibbled away by growing heat. I no longer needed my heavy coat.

      隨着第一座冰川映入眼帘，我立刻睡意全無，滿臉充滿驚喜。大自然洋溢着永恆祥和的氣息，仿佛帶我重新回到“冰期”時代。整個冰川通道萬籟俱寂，唯有當冰塊移動時而造成的斷裂聲或者瀑布跌落時而發出的拍打聲，才偶爾敲碎深沉的寧靜。我們陶醉在宛如仙境的景致當中，深感波浪輕快，空氣宜人。眼前冰川如此之大，我懷疑即使五艘“星辰•公主” 號遊輪也裝不下它。這時周圍好像有什麼不對頭，很多冰柱列隊倒掛，冰晶慢慢溶化，一點一滴地變成水珠，氣溫回升渙然冰釋，我也隨之脫掉了穿在身上的厚外套。

      When we finally sat down for lunch, I ordered some random items from the menu. The spicy soup tasted more like and the sandwich turned really messy. But I wasn't hungry at all. What I was really excited was to go onto any dry land again. Before I knew it, I boarded a tour bus to drive to the end of the world- Ushuaia, Argentina.

      午餐時我隨便點了些東西，辣湯味道偏酸，三明治吃得亂七八糟，反正我一點不餓，倒是十分期待找個乾燥的地方呆着。未容細想，我已經坐上開往世界最南端阿根廷烏斯懷亞的旅遊大巴。

      Ushuaia used to be a former Argentine penal colony in the past. Now it proudly became not only a southernmost city in the world, but also a gateway to the wilderness in both Argentina and Antarctica.

      烏斯懷亞過去曾為流放重刑罪犯的荒郊野嶺，現在不僅是眾人嚮往的世外桃源，而且還是阿根廷內陸和南極洲極地探險的交通樞紐。

      As I looked out the window through Martial Mountains whose glaciers reshaped the river pathway into a U-shaped valley, I spotted a small cleaning where no popular beeches but stumps grew in Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire) National Park. The beavers built up their community around the Pipo riverside and peat bogs. A stack of roughly cut logs neatly arranged to form a dam. The dam was already a speck among the trees and mushroom.

      進入阿根廷火地島國家公園內，我透過車窗遙望武俠山脈，U形山谷儼然是冰川融化後長期雕飾的傑作，周邊有一大片荒地，幾乎見不到該地區普遍流行的山毛櫸，被折斷的樹樁橫七豎八堆躺在皮泊河邊及沼澤地上，原來水獺常年在這裡築壩修堤安營紮寨，蠶食了許多本來可以長大成材的樹林。

      "Wait, mushroom?" I thought. Small yellow peach-like mushrooms, the size of my thumb were dotted with the entangled twigs. Just at the moment, the tour guide pointed at them and gave a quick reference about them. They were edible Darwin fungi and had a nickname as "Indian Breads". They lived on the trees all the time.

      “瞧一瞧，那是蘑菇嗎？”形如桃樣的黃色蘑菇簇擁在樹枝樹幹上下，大小跟我拇指差不多。正在此時，導遊指着解釋道，它們可作食用，學名叫達爾文真菌，俗稱“印度麵包”，喜歡與山毛櫸結伴同生。

      Chinese lanterns (Mizodendrum punctulatum) set up another example hemiparasitically lived on the deciduous trees. No matter whether the host trees were happy with these "lanterns" or not, they bundled in a colorful patch like land of fire.

      “中國燈籠”善於半寄生地打坐在落葉喬木上，不管宿主樂意不樂意，“燈籠”高吊枝頭，紅一片、黃一片、青一片，如火如荼，非常好看。

      Nearby, a single duck waded across the water as we passed by a small creek toward its nest in the center. We ran into a red fox that was patrolling this area haughtily. I wondered how they coexisted peacefully.

      附近不遠，一隻鴨子正朝水中游去，它的老窩築在我們剛剛經過的小溪中央。途中，我們恰巧遇到一隻紅狐狸旁若無人地穿過馬路，不知兩個傢伙怎樣和平共處？

      Down the unpaved road, Lake Fagnano was divided in part and shared by Argentina and Chile. Wild and snow-capped Andes Mountains began to come into view high up on the surrounding slopes. V-shaped valleys were carved by rivers as they passed over the land.

      法尼亞諾湖位於土路盡端，智利與阿根廷兩國各居一側平分秋色。遠處視野間，奔放雄偉終年積雪的安第斯山脈層巒疊嶂，各支河流爭相在山巒間切割出一條V型峽谷。

      Then we headed for the end-of-world post office in Ensenada Bay along Beagle Channel. The owner was the only man to greet a crowded of visitors from all over the world and stamped tons of the End-of-World postcards every day. Beagle Channel looked longer than a naked eye could see. Soon we were immersed in the beauty of glaciers plummet to the icy water and ever-changing island panorama in the backdrop.

      比格爾海峽上的恩塞納達灣有一所郵局可謂蓋世無雙，老闆是獨一無二的雇員，每天不僅接待來自世界各地大量的遊客，還要給無數張明信片加蓋“世界最南端”紀念郵戳。比格爾海峽一眼望不到頭，跟着它一路走一路瞧，我們不覺沉醉於寒冷刺骨景色旖旎的奇山異島之中而不能自拔。

      We made our last stop in Lapataia Bay on the Pan-American Highway, an astounding marvel of civil engineering that began in Alaska and stretched nearly 29,800 miles/47,958 kilometers in total length across two continents. Guinness' Book of World Records listed the highway as the world's longest "passable road."  If one biked from Alaska to Ushuaia, it would take at least 1.5 years to come down to the end of world. I wondered what type of a manic would do such kind of thing.

      我們最後鑑賞了火地島拉帕泰阿灣畔的泛美公路，這條舉世矚目的交通幹線北起美國阿拉斯加，南至阿根廷烏斯懷亞，橫亙北美和南美兩大洲，全長共達29,800 英里／47,958公里，作為全世界最長的可以通行的公路被納入《吉尼斯世界紀錄大全》。假如有人要騎自行車越野穿行的話，那麼至少需要一年半的時間。我想象不出何許狂人會作出這等壯舉。

      As a light rain began to fall, it was time for us to cruise away. We knew that we would come back again. Next time, we would surely take Icebreaker to Antarctica from Ushuaia instead of flight!

      小雨乍起，我們也該返程了。烏斯懷亞，我們後會有期。相信不久的將來探險南極時，我們定會到這裡專乘破冰船而不再坐飛機，依賴天氣主宰命運實在不靠譜！

(二O一二年十二月廿八日)