On Sunday we called at Puerto Chacabuco. Again, the Cruise Director and Loney Planed agree, nothing here, get out of town. We chose to take a bus excursion into the Andes and the regional capital of Coyhaique. Normally the border follows the highest peaks in the Andes. This is the type of border Southeast Alaska has with British Columbia. The watershed does not always break at the highest peaks, so we have transboundary rivers. This causes friction between Alaska and B.C. because B.C. mines upstream pollute salmon producing areas in the Alaskan estuary.

But the Chilean city of Coyhaique is east of the highest peaks of the Andes and although to some minds, should be in Argentina is in Chile. British/Chilan naval officer Enrique Simpson was sent to explore and survey the area in the 1870s. He trekked along the river that now bears his name and laid claim for Chile. In 1912 a small group of German settlers founded Coyhaique as a agricultural settlement west of the Andes after a British led arbitration confirmed the boundary in 1902. The arbitration put the whole Simson River watershed into Chile.

Our tour took us up the Simson River to the Simson River National Reserve where we got out and had a chance to walk around.

I loved the walk, and, of course, found a decaying log to photograph.

Following that we crossed a mountain pass above the Simson River, traveled through a tunnel, to the East Slope to Coyhaique. It was Sunday and we enjoyed a little time on the Plaza de Armas…

…before heading for a delightful lunch above the river valley overlooking the mountains.

So what has this got to do with the Empire State Building? We were the last ones on the bus so were stuck in the very back. We were last because we followed the crew’s instructions filling the tender from back to front. First on, last, off and therefore the last on the bus.

The back seat is cramped, off to the right, instead of a window we looked at the toilet. The window on the left was smaller than others. But the main thing is that being behind the rear wheels we bounced a lot. We realized something was odd when Suzi’s fitness watch played the celebratory tune that it does when she reaches 10,000 steps. How could this be? We we’re sitting on a bus. Yes, we had walked a little in the national park, but 10,000 steps? Then I looked at my iPhone. I had climbed 106 flights of stairs. Each bounce on Suzi’s watch was a step, and each bounce on my iPhone, compared with the GPS measured altitude was another stair. My phone thought I had climbed 106 flights of them. Empire is 102 stories high, so I must have just kept going up the television mast. (Which I did when I was 19 and working at WOR-TV. One day when on duty on the 83rd floor I put on the WOR white lab coat, grabbed the keys and actually popped the trap door on 102. To the awe of visiting tourists, I disappeared onto the “roof” of the Empire State Building and climbed up the inside of the mast to our FM antenna. Unfortunately I did not have a camera. But I do know the secret of the top of Empire. There are rumors that there is a small plaque reading “Fay Wray was here.” I am honor bound not confirm or deny but when Ms. Wray died the building dimmed its lights for 15 minutes in memorial.)

(Another aside, when I told this story one cruise mate said that her watch registered a step every time she knit a switch. Knitting is good exercise!)

Our bouncy ride had a happy ending. The driver had forgotten to charge the mic battery, so the guide had no mic. She walked up and down the isle talking to each of us and answering questions. When she got to the very back, I asked if we could stop along the way at a turnout so I could see some of the mountains. She said no but realized that Suzi and I could see very little from our seats.

The guide has two front seats reserved for her, one for her and one for her gear. She offered Suzi and me the front seats. She took the jump seat usually reserved for the guide.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, please.”

So we took her offer. There’s more to the story but I will save that for a later post. For now, I rejoice that sometimes.