Amazing Race 13

Episode Three:
Fortaleza, Brazil to La Paz, Bolivia.

The incredibly lame episode titles continue with this week’s ‘Did You Push My Sports Bra Off The Ledge?’ Why do the producers feel they have to create drama where there is only petty bickering?

A much better title could have been taken from the Divorcees duette in the cab: ‘We have learned to read the clues’ rather than from the forced pseudo-drama between these still remarkably forgettable teams—although I am starting to like the Toni and Dallas (the mother and son team).

Phil reminds us that previously ten teams left Salvador, Brazil for Fortaleza, Brazil, on a race around the world…Nine teams remain, who will be eliminated next?

We see the teams at the pit stop in the Cidade da Crianca park, and right away we are into bra-wars. Totally a waste of precious time when we would much rather be seeing more information on how the teams are actually going to get to their next destination, or how much money each team will have for this leg of the race.

Ken and Tina arrived at the pit stop at 12:51 in the afternoon, followed by the Geeks at 12:52. Terrence and Sarah, Aja and Ty, and Toni and Dallas all arrive next starting at 1:13 and then each team was one minute apart until Nick and Starr, who were sixth, arrived at 1:17 and Kelly and Christy (the Divorcees) arrived one minute later at 1:18. Finally the Frat Boys and the Southern Belles arrived at 1:22. The teams are pretty close together, with only 31 minutes separating the first and last (non-eliminated) team.

Route Info: La Paz, Bolivia

As Ken and Tina leave the second pit stop we find out that the teams are on their way 1,200 Phil miles to La Paz, Bolivia. The teams are going to be heading from basically sea level, to 12,000 Phil feet above sea level.

Once there, the teams have to find their way to a statue of Simon de Bolivar in the center of the city in time to scour the morning newspaper for their next clue.

We have to assume that there is more information in the La Paz Route Info clue that tells them which ad to look for because the ad appears to be a simple black and white classified ad which reads:

HAT SALE!!
Make Your Way to
Narvaez' Hat and Shoe
Store near Plaza Murillo
and buy a traditional
Cholita Hat.

Additional Information:
Please hold on
to you Hat!

In a scene foreshadowing what lies ahead the Geeks discuss how they may not be the strongest, but “if we need to take a couple of seconds to analyze the situation while everyone else just rushes headlong into it, that’s paying off time-and-time again.” This really stood out to me because of the discourse on clue reading in last week’s blog, little did I know it would be a key issue so soon.

We never see how much money the teams get for this leg of the race.

The route from the pit stop to the airport in Fortaleza is pretty short and simple, about five miles, and at that time of night would probably take less than 15 minutes. The route is shown on the following map:


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The way Phil tells it, all the teams are making their way to La Paz on one of two flights, and of course the animation implies there is a direct flight from Fortaleza to La Paz, and by the way that the episode was edited it even appears that they leave Fortaleza in the middle of the night and arrive in La Paz early the same morning. But not so fast Phil, this time the description is pretty misleading unless the Race chartered planes or the airline’s schedule and routes have changed drastically since the Race was taped.

There is one flight that leaves Fortaleza for Salvador, Vitoria, and Sao Paulo at 1:17 AM, but I don't think any of the teams would have been able to leave the pit stop, get to the airport, check in and board that flight. And even if one or two teams did, the others would catch up with them later on the the route.

Why does it matter? Part of understanding why the teams do what they do is knowing how tired they are, and how long they were on a plane plays into that analysis. It is very likely that the teams had to hang around airport in Fortaleza (FOR) until 7:00 AM when they could catch TAM flight 3895, which arrives in Recife (REC) at 8:15 AM. This leg is 389 miles and takes 1:15. The same flight continues on, leaving REC at 8:55 AM arriving in Salvador (SSA) at 10:10 AM. This segment adds 403 miles and another 1:15. Then the same flight heads for Sao Paulo (GRU) at 10:50 AM, arriving at 1:10 PM. This adds 909 miles and takes 2:20. But it also adds in the complication of not just being up for 12 plus hours, but the teams have also crossed several time zones.

The teams likely leave Sao Paulo on a Peruvian Airline—Trans American Airlines (TACA) Flight 130, at 6:00 PM, arriving in Lima, Peru (LIM) at 9:00 PM. This flight takes 5:00 and covers 2,137 miles. Then they finally catch TACA Flight 39 leaving Lima, Peru (LIM) at 9:30 PM arriving in La Paz at 12:20 AM (the next day). The final leg takes 1:50 minutes, and covers 669 miles. So the teams have travelled a total of 4,507 miles in 18:20 (without connections the time in the air is 11:40).

So now the teams have been up at least 24 hours minus any cat-nap that they managed to squeeze in on a flight or while waiting at an airport.

All of the cities along this route can be seen on the following map:


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Once the teams are in La Paz they have to find the statue of Simon de Bolivar, which I think is located at El Prado—approximately where Avenue Mariscal Santa Cruz becomes 16 de Julio. Actually, I am not sure that one street becomes the other or whether at the statue, it is one street on one side and another street on the other side (parallel). Neither Google or Microsoft's map sites were able to supply driving directions, but it looks to be around 10 miles. It is kind of amusing to switch to the satellite view in the map below because very close to the statue is a street named ‘Canada Strongest’.


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It also doesn’t seem appropriate that we should just rush by Simon de Bolivar and treat him merely as the man on the statue that the teams slept under. I have concerns about using Wikipedia in general, but particularly when an entry has citation warnings; therefore, I have included several links about Bolivar from Wikipedia, About, and an interesting transcript of one of his speeches from Fordam University.

The teams spend the rest of the night camped out on the side walk under the statue, but at least they get really warm looking Bolivian blankets. Some of the teams try to talk La Pazians into spending the day helping them, but once the sun is up and the papers finally arrive the teams scramble to find the ad.

Route Info: Narvaez Hat Shop

Teams must now make their way to the Plaza Murillo, and the Narvaez Hat Shop, where they must buy a Cholita hat to get their next clue. This map shows the route, which is likely about half a mile.


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Now we get to one of the topics I was most excited to explore: What is the story behind the bowler hats and Bolivian women? I have seen pictures of women in the Andes, and always thought there had to be a story behind why these ladies wear these hats?

This kind of a query shows both the power and the disappointment of the Web. Here are the typical answers to this question, which are basically two different opinions: opinion one, and opinion two.

The real answer as is indicated in this post is somewhat more complex, and access to the journal article referenced is restricted, although likely I could get a librarian at Seattle University to get me access. So we may revisit this later. As to whether the hat truly demonstrates status in the community, or how that status is determined remains unclear.

Detour: Musical March or Bumpy Ride

A detour is a choice between two tasks...

In ‘Musical March’, Phil tells us teams must make their way to plazas several blocks apart, where they must collect some musicians and form a band. Then they must march with the strolling band to the Plaza Abaroa, where they will get their next clue.

In ‘Bumpy Ride’, teams must make their way to the Mercado de las Brujas, where they will each chose a locally ‘crafted’ bicycle, and then they will follow a map to ride the bikes to to the Plaza Abaroa. To be clear, the word bikes is used loosely here, the bikes look somewhat Flinstonian, and have the rough look of a chainsaw carving. It does appear that they have a rudimentary brake.

But more interestingly, here is what the Frat Boy’s clue looks like:

I know it is hard to read, but note the basic layout of the clue: the amount of text versus white space, and note that there appears to be additional information on a page still in the clue envelope.

Just to clarify, this is what I think the clue says:

Detour:

Musical March of Bumpy Ride

Musical March: Travelling on foot,
visit the three plazas listed below and
gather members of a traditional
carnival band at each stop. Once
you have all the members of your band,
deliver them to the Band Leader who
is waiting for you at Plaza Abaroa.

Bumpy Ride: Make your way on foot
to Mercado de las Brujas and search
for the marked bikes. Then each of
you must choose a bike and use the
provided map to ride them to the Plaza Abaroa.
Once there, deliver your bike to the Bike Leader.

Caution: U-turn ahead!!

The Frat Boys contemplate getting a cab, but then realize they can’t. The Geeks, grab a cab and start off to do ‘Bike It.’ Sarah and Terrence also grab a cab, but realize their mistake and head back to start again from the hat store on foot.

Here is the clue the Race shows us when Terrence and Sarah, riding in a cab, realize their mistake. The interesting question is why do these look different?

There are three possible answers to this question:

1. Different teams get different envelopes. Possible, but very unlikely and certainly very unfair.

2. There are multiple pages in the envelope, and once a team picks a detour task it can use a second clue page designed for that particular task. The clue for the chosen task deemphasizes the task not chosen.

3. The camera man has a clue designed for these shots. In the first screen capture, I don't think the producers thought anyone would attempt to read the text, particularly as it flashes by. This shot occurred when the Frat Brothers were the first team to open a Detour envelope. But that totally ignores the power of Tivo. In the second screen shot, the producers want us to see the text telling the contestants they had to walk—note the placement of the thumb just below the words ‘your way on foot’. Heck, that may not even be Terence or Sarah’s fingers.

I realize these shows are produced and edited to create drama even when none exists, just the fact that every reality show finale seems to align with a full moon. It seems as if the moon is full for all 39 days of Survivor. And even the night before the Bryant Park show on Project Runway it was a full moon. It must be the cheapest stock photo shot available from Getty. Anyways this kind of obvious staging is just sloppy and unnecessary. The show only works if even with the editing it appears to be fair and free from any rigging or favoring of one team over another. Enough nonsense, back to attempting to figure out the route.

We know that the racers are going to all end up at the same point: the Plaza Abaroa. This map shows my best guess as to the routes the two teams took on the detour.


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Two of the teams, the Frat Boys and the Southern Belles choose the marching band task, while the rest of the teams ride the bikes.

None of the teams used the ‘U-turn’, which forces a team to perform both tasks of a detour. A team can only use a U-turn once in the race, and it is unclear as to how many U-turns there will be. Teams have to stop worrying about ‘Being Nice’ or how they are perceived and start using all the tools they have to win, including U-turns. Also, there should be some obvious sign at the U-turn as to which teams have already past them, and therefore cannot be u-turned.

Route Info: Los Titanes Del Ring

Phil tells us that teams must now make their way by taxi eight Phil miles to the Multifuncional Center, where Los Titanes Del Ring are performing. When they arrive will find their next clue. The arena is in El Alto, which I am not clear as to whether it is a suburb of La Paz, or whether they are two cities that have grown together. I see it referenced both ways. I was unable to find this location on the map, even after attempting to find the arena on the Web and in the La Paz Yellow Pages. One interesting note: on the way to the arena, Terrence and Sarah notice a yellow and red checkered flag at a soccer stadium, and at least check it out quickly before determining it was just a coincidence.

In any event, it is not the arena but the wrestling that is interesting in this case.

Road Block: Who's Ready to Pick a Fight

One member of each team must pick one of the fighting Cholitas, and a wrestling costume of their own, and learn six wrestling moves that they will perform in one of two wrestling rings set up in the arena.

This wrestling is pretty well documented in these two articles: first from the New York Times, and the second from the Guardian.

The six wrestling moves are: the Chest Kick, Taunting, Re-entry, Duck and Flip, Kicked, and Slingshot.

When they have successfully performed these moves in the ring with their Chilotas, they will get the next clue.

Route Info: Mirador el Monticulo

Teams must now take a taxi to the pit stop, the Mirador el Monticulo, a hill-top park overlooking one of the highest peaks in the Andes. This map shows the location of this park:


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Ken and Tina are first to arrive at the pit stop for the second time in a row, and they win a trip for two to Cabo San Luca in Mexico. Toni and Dallas are team number two. Sarah and Terrence are team number three; hopefully Sarah will remember some of the wrestling moves that she learned. The Southern Belles are team number four.

On the way to the pit stop, the Geeks realize their earlier mistake.

Aja and Ty are team five, just beating Nick and Starr who are team number six. The Frat Boys are team number seven.

Mark and Bill are team number eight, but have to wait 30 minutes as a penalty for not reading a clue completely.. As a result, the Divorcees are team number eight, and the Geeks are eliminated.

Next it is on to New Zeeland, which should be another interesting route from La Paz.