Amazing Race 13

Episode One:
Los Angeles, CA, USA, to Salvador, Brazil.

This edition of the Amazing Race starts with Phil standing on the top of one of the two triangular-shaped buildings at Century Plaza, in Los Angeles, telling us that eleven teams are off on a race around the world for $1,000,000. The problem with the first couple of episodes of the Amazing Race is that there are too many teams to actually feel like you even know them, and you know a couple of teams will be eliminated so early in the race that you will not remember anything about them.

Housekeeping

A couple of housekeeping points before I get too far along in the first episode. A lot has changed since the last Race I covered, for example, the map programs from Google and Microsoft have improved significantly, and now combine many views. Therefore I will likely link to the maps at the site so you can pick a view, rather than reproduce them.

Let’s get another disclaimer about the flights out of the way. Obviously, I don’t know what date or day of the week that the teams actually travelled. I have to use dates in the future, and therefore the times and costs are likely to be different. If you did a search at Expedia or Travelocity today, you would find a different set of results. But I do try to figure out the most likely route because I am looking for two general pieces of information: what would it cost to take the same route as the racers, how many miles did they travel and how long did it actually take them.

And finally, I try to make sure that any content I link to is from a reliable site, but I am not responsible if the links are broken, if the sites are evil and try to download malicious software, or do anything else that you didn’t expect.

The Starting Line

The real starting line of the Race is at the LA Coliseum, about 7 miles away from where Phil opened the show. Phil tells us it is the only stadium to host two Olympic games.

Apparently Phil was correct. According the to Coliseum Web site, the Coliseum was constructed in the early 1920’s and opened its doors to the Los Angeles public in June 1923. From the looks of the place, some of the cracks in the coliseum date back to the 1920’s too, but it is the only facility in the world to play host to two Olympiads (X and XIII), two Super Bowls (I and VII), and one World Series (1959)...

We get a quick introduction to the teams and the relationship between the team members, and basically we have the usual suspects although one  person is eerily reminiscent of Jonathan from a previous race.

The race is going to have 11 legs, with eight of the pit stops having a team eliminated. Obviously this means that three legs will have non-elimination pit stops. We don’t hear how much money each team has for the first leg, but the first route marker says to fly to Salvador, Brazil.

Route Info: LA Coliseum to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)

According to Google Maps, the distance from the LA Coliseum to LAX is 14.7 miles and takes 19 minutes. The route in this map appears to be very close to the one most of the team members take, although at least one team uses the side streets.


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Flight Information

Note to potential future contestants: If you don’t see the little yellow and red flags near where you are going, like at the airline counter, you’re probably at the wrong spot—don’t these people even watch the previous shows before they apply.

Mark and Bill (geeks), Ken and Tina (separated), Terrence and Sarah (newly dating), Nick and Starr (siblings), Aja and Ty (long-distance dating), and Kelly and Christy (divorcees), get on the American Airlines flight. Toni and Dallas (mom and son), Andrew and Dan (frat bros.), Anita and Arthur (Bee keepers), and Marissa and Brooke (southern belles), and Anthony and Stephanie (break up already he’s not going to marry you cause you raced some part of the way around the world together) get on the United flight.

Despite the straight line the producers draw on the map from LAX to Brazil, there do not appear to be any flights that actually follow that path. Six teams get on the American Airlines flight, which likely stopped in Miami (MIA). We were told this flight would arrive three hours ahead of the United flight, but we find out there was some delay in Rio de Janeiro that likely halved that original difference in time. This map shows the relationship of Sao Paulo, Rio, and Salvador.


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For $1,424.40 you can take American Airlines flight 252, which leaves LAX at 1:55 PM and arrives in Miami (MIA) at 9:45 PM. This leg of the trip covers 2,339 miles and takes 4:50. (The flight in the race 242 doesn’t appear in the current schedule).

American Airlines flight 905 leaves MIA at 11:10 PM and arrives in Rio de Janeiro (GIG) at 8:40 AM (the next day). This leg adds another 4,179 miles and takes 8:30.

This group is delayed in Rio which eats into the approximate three hour lead we were told they originally had. Brazilian Airlines (TAM) flight 3192 departs Rio (GIG) at 12:40 PM and arrives in Salvador (SSA) at 2:40 PM. This adds 759 miles and takes 2.0.

The total distance on American Airlines was approximately 7,277 and took 20:45 with connections.

So what of the teams on United? We are told that they were on UA 843, which is still on the schedules. United flight 843 leaves LAX at 1:49 PM and arrives in Chicago (ORD) at 7:45 PM, travelling a total of 1,745 miles over 3:56. Like it isn’t really 4:00.

UA Flight 843 leaves ORD at 9:32 PM and arrives in Sao Paulo (GRU) at 10:05 AM (the next day). This is a distance of 5,216, and takes 10:33.

The leg from GRU to SSA is again on TAM, this time flight 4248 leaving at 12:55 PM. This is slightly longer then the distance from Rio at 909 miles, and takes 2:20.

Total distance for the teams on United was 7,870 miles and total time with connections of 22:31. The United flight today would cost $1390.40.

Okay, this is misleading, because it says a short history of Salvador, but nonetheless, probably worth a read.

Route Info: O Rei do Pernil

Teams have to find there way from Deputado Luis Eduardo Magalhaes International Airport to the O Rei do Sanduiche Pernil, which very roughly translated from Portuguese appears to be the ’King of Ham’. This map shows the approximate route of the 17 miles.

Note to future contestants: Know the native language of the country you are in—yelling instructions to cab drivers in the wrong language, such as in Spanish in Brazil, just doesn’t seem to work. Interestingly, Sarah and the geeks appear to not only know the language is Portuguese, but they are actually pretty fluent.


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Route Info: Praca da Se

If you zoom in and switch to ’Map’ view on the end point of the map at the sandwich shop, you will see the next route marker, the Praca da Se, (Praca appears to mean Square) where the teams must deliver a vendor’s cart filled with candy.

What I hate about the race is how they just drive-by the interesting parts. To get to the next Praca da Se, teams have to board the Plano Inclinado Goncalves, which is a funicular.

Route Info: 19th Batalhao de Cacadores

Once they deliver their candy carts at the Praca, the teams are sent to a military barracks: Ministério do Exército-VI Região Militar 19º Batalhão de Caçadores (for the night).


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This distance is only about five miles, but the order matters, because it will affect the time in the morning that the teams may leave the base.

Terence and Sarah, Nick and Starr, Mark and Bill, Ken and Tina arrive first, taking all the 9:00 AM departure spots.

Aja and Ty, Kelly and Christie, Andrew and Dan, get all of the 9:30 departure spots.

The rest get to depart at 9:45. These kind of penalties should be equal, that is either the gap is 30 minutes or the gap is 15 minutes, but it shouldn’t be variable like this.

In the mornings the teams basically return to the place in Salvador they were the previous day. They start from the Church Iglesia de San Francisco de Asis in Pelourinho.

Detour: Hard Way Up or Soft Way Down

In Hard Way Up teams have to go to the church at Escadaria do Passo, and climb up the steps in front of the church on their hands and knees, and then answer the ’mystery’ question. Now again, maybe I am too jaded but if you are asked to climb a long set of stairs on your hands and knees and then answer a question, wouldn’t you think someone would think to count the steps on the way up? Only the frat boys do this task, and have to do it twice because they did not count the stairs.

In Soft Way Down teams must find the Elevador Lacerda (which if you didn’t look at the information on the Funicular, you may want to go back. Once there they have to climb down a cargo net to the street 240-feet below. Only three teams may be on the cargo net at a time.

Again we see that actually reading the clue completely matters as one team misses the stair case and wastes enough time to let several teams pass them.

Pit Stop: Forte Sao Marcelo

Once they complete the detour, the teams have to make their way to the first (elimination) pit stop: the Forte Sao Marcelo. The fort is on an island, and boats for the island leave from the Rampa dos Saveiros, about two miles away.


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Nick and Starr arrive first and win an trip to Belize. They are followed by Ken and Tina, Terrence and Sarah, Mark and Bill, Kelly and Christy, Toni and Dallas, Andrew and Dan, Aja and Ty, Anthony and Stephanie, and Crystal and Brooke. Anita and Arthur are sent home to their bees.

Oh, and just for grins and giggles, there were 53 steps.

Teams that went on American Airlines have travelled 7,324 miles, and those on United travelled 7917 miles. We are three days into the race.