Amazing Race - 10.19.08

I am still in slight mourning over the loss of Geeks, Mark and Bill. I'll get over it, but I really had a soft spot for them.

Back in La Paz, Bolivia, the world's highest capital, Kelly and Kristy and Nick and Starr had another confrontation at the pit stop.

They are now all off to Aukland, New Zealand. Once there, they have to drive themselves to another location and properly untie a Gordian knot to get their next clue. Ken and Tina claim that their bickering is over, and Dallas claims to have no idea where New Zealand is. Nice. Terence and Sara are also claiming to have figured out how to work together properly. I'll believe that when I see it properly. Dan and Andrew admit to having leadership issues, and Dan has to remember that it isn't "The Dan Show."

Again, everyone seems to have arrived at the airport pretty much at the same time. Some teams are borrowing laptops from other people in the airport to look up flights. Dan and Andrew share their flight info with Marissa and Brooke, because they are cute. Not the best strategy, but there have been worse.

Kristy and Kelly have a different strategy - eavesdropping on other teams. Aja and Ty have a spat because she starts getting bossy, and he calls her "Fidel," because she is dictator, but they seem to make up pretty quickly.

In the end, it didn't matter (again) and everyone gets on the same flight (again). Yawn. I prefer the routes with 4 different possible flights and more of a race...

In the car on the way to the knot untying, Terence's stalker behavior resurfaces. "Can I have a little love, can you touch me a little, rub my hair?" *shudder*. Sara complies, I am creeped out.

A bunch of teams started off in the wrong direction, then Terence and Sara make a wrong turn right near the end, and then Ty and Aja got a flat tire. Poor things. In the middle of the night, they have to change a tire. Aja blames Ty for driving on the curb, and then she tries to flag down some help. She meets with success and a nice local man changes the tire for them.

At the marina, Ken and Tina get to the Gordian knot first, but Andrew and Dan get it untied first. They have to drive to the summit of Mount Eden, a dormant volcano. There is a fast forward. The first team that finds it and completes it can skip to the pit stop.

The Fast Forward is to go to the highest place in the Southern Hemisphere, a very tall tower, Skycity, and they have to scale it via service ladders.

Ken and Tina and Andrew and Dan are both trying to get to the Fast Forward. When they get there, Ken and Tina park in the marked parking (and block it so Andrew and Dan couldn't see it well. Tricky), and got into jump suits. Andrew and Dan had to go back and move their car (at least they noticed it), before giving up and heading to the Roadblock.

Meanwhile, the other teams got to a Roadblock.

One person in the team must choose an image of a traditional Maori tattoo, and find it among Maori warriors in a crowd. If they are wrong, they have to start over with a different tattoo. Terence got flustered really quickly (and it is night, so that's tough). He does find it first, though. After the roadblock, teams have to go to a hotel in the middle of the city.

Climbing the Skytower at night is also scary for Ken and Tina.

There is some trouble in the early morning of other teams finding the summit of Mount Eden. Toni took the Roadblock and was very quick.

Once at the hotel, teams must find Travelocity Gnomes with binoculars, and then locate them in the surrounding area to find their next clue.

Back at the tower, the wind is whipping around poor Ken and Tina, and Tina is scared of heights, so I give her credit for taking the initiative. They reached the top first and got the Travelocity Gnome at the top and got their Fast Forward, and got to take a helicopter to the pitstop.

Bringing up the rear are Marisa and Brooke, who seemed to be running hours later. I think they are probably going to lose unless there is some unforseen difficulty.

Kelly and Kristy and Andrew and Dan find their warriors with no problems.

The Gnome spotting also was going well, and Terence and Sara and Dallas and Toni headed to the next clue - a landmark called Kiwi 360. Nick and Starr and Kelly and Kristy go head to head, and Nick and Starr locate their gnome first even though they got there second.

Brooke is "cutely" terrified of the warriors. He's not going to hurt you, honey. Still, she found her proper warrior and they were on their way.

Joining Phil at the pit stop in his homeland is his dad. That's funny. Ken and Tina won a 7 night trip to Rio de Jinero during Carnival. Nice.

The other teams do a Detour at Kiwi 360.

A Matter of Time - Using bare feet, they have to crush kiwi fruit to make 12 quarts of kiwi juice, then drink a glass of juice to continue.

OR

A Matter of Skill - Properly assemble a pair of Blow Carts, then do 3 laps around a track.

Sara squealed unappealingly about the texture of kiwi underfoot (and seemingly rocks underneath the kiwi). Dallas and Toni also went for the kiwis. Terence and Sara sadly got done first, so they went onward to the pit stop, and Dallas and Toni quit and decided to do the other Detour. They seemed to have a clog and gave up instead of trying to clear the clog. Other people are also complaining about the pain of the kiwi. Nick and Starr and Andrew and Dan also gave up. Kristy and Kelly relished in the kiwi "exfoliation," and I like them a teeny bit more because of it. They said, "It's a good kind of hurt," and do a great job of it. Over at the Blow Carts, Dallas and Toni worked it out, and the Frat Boys had issues putting things together. Starr wiped out. Aja and Ty looked worn out before they had even started with the kiwis.

Kelly and Kristy came in third at the pitstop, followed by Toni and Dallas.

Back at the Blow Carts, Starr wiped out again and complained that she thought her arm was broken. If it was, she stuck it out and kept going to finish the laps. For some reason, she drove, even with a bleeding and possibly broken arm. After driving for a bit, Nick wisely switched with her.

Aja and Ty gave up on the kiwis.

Nick and Starr came in fifth and didn't quit because of her arm. We'll see how that turns out after a rest, I bet. Andrew and Dan are thrilled to come in sixth.

Aja and Ty have the devil of the time putting their Blow Carts together, and as night falls, Marisa and Brooke finally finish their kiwi juicing. The editors would have us believe that the two teams finish at the same time and make a race to the finish. In the end, Aja and Ty arrive seventh, and Marisa and Brooke come in last. It is an elimination leg, so the blondes are out. They got a hug from Phil's dad, so that was cute.

Next week, Terence gets pulled over on the road, and Kelly and Kristy get on Dallas' nerves. No word on Starr's arm. We'll just have to wait and see.