I take it all back.

I don´t fully remember what I said about glaciers, but I remember it wasn't much. This is just as well because what I saw yesterday pales in comparison to what I saw today. I take back anything I said about glaciers. We three returned to El Parque Nacional de los Glaciares but this time we took a car with a kind fellow named Juan, who explained the story behind the town of El Calafate (a paste from the calafate plant root was used to fix a leaky canoe, so far as I could understand) and told us about Glaciar Perito Moreno, the most famous glacier here and the one we saw today. The thing about Moreno is that it formed due to a gap in the mountains which allows storms to cross into the Argentinian side of Patagonia from Chile. The extra precipitation in the form of snow adds to the glacier and further compacts it into very hard ice. All this is fine and good, except that Moreno happens to advance (remember, glaciers are very slow moving rivers of ice) in such a way that it creates a dam of sorts between Lago Argentino and Brazo Rico, another arm of the lake. Lago Argentino drains to the sea through several rivers, but Moreno blocks waters in Brazo Rico from draining in the lake, and thus a difference in water levels begins to build. As water builds up in Brazo Rico, an enormous amount of pressure is exerted on the glacier, which is acting as a dam in the first place. Meanwhile, remember that the ice is highly compacted and very strong, and won't simply yield. A LOT of pressure can accrue, but eventually (every dozen years or so) the enormous ice dam ruptures. This is, as you can imagine, rather beyond the imagination. We didn't see anything this spectactular (the last big break was in 2004), but that didn't detract from Moreno's immensity and grand splendor. From an outcrop across the canal from the glacier face, we saw several huge ice chunks calve off and tumble into the lake. You cannot replicate this sight or noise, nor can you represent the sound of cracks forming in the glacier, booming ruptures and fissure crackling. The glacier itself is enormous and mesmerizing, and since we saw it from land (as opposed to from a boat, like yesterday), we could see it from above and appreciate its vastness. I would have been very happy to sit and stare for hours. And this, I must add, would have been completely possible, for though we are in the middle of Patagonian winter, I am blessed with good, warm gear. I like good gear. On the ride home we saw some condors (quite a few) soaring magestically (if not ominously) over a bit of carrion.
This evening we played cards, watched a bit of the World Cup (if you aren't doing this, then you are not a citizen of the world... the entire globe outside the United States is glued to this), and then went for a bit of a jog. Some of you know that I recently completed a half-marathon. I don't know how it happened, because I am now gasping for breath at even one chilly, downhill mile. Go figure.
Tomorrow we leave for "the uttermost part of the world" as we head to Ushuaia. Anything could happen.