EP3: 10/12 'Did You Push My Sports Bra Off the Ledge?'

[puddin]

Episode Detail: Did You Push My Sports Bra Off the Ledge? - Amazing Race 13
The nine remaining teams travel from Fortaleza, Brazil, to La Paz, Bolivia, on the third leg of the race.



Leg 3

La Paz, Bolivia and beyond ..(no photos  )

La Paz, Bolivia 4/28/08


Updates on our life in (La Paz), Bolivia
*ok, fun tidbits now! The day we took possession of our apartment we were crossing the park in front of our building and noticed a lot of people and some really weird all wood bicycles.
*I noticed a lot of the people around them looked like the rich gortex-wearing tourist we see and/or the Discovery Channel crew that worked with us last year.
*Then I noticed it: a yellow signed that said "U-Turn" with a yellow and red flag on it... It was The Amazing Race!!!!! (It's a fun reality show, google it if you don't know what it is) I was sooooooo excited! I was torn between staying there until contestants showed up or going into our apartment. Given Wes' lack of enthusiasm I decided to go back home. But hey, next Amazing Race they will be showing our building and our park!

Update

Hi peach,

sorry I didn't reply earlier, we didn't have any internet access for the last 10 days.
*As for your questions, it's a bit hard to remember (as I'm not as obsessed by details as you guys are!) but we are rather certain we saw the Amazing Race on May 28th in La Paz.
*They were in Plaza Abaroa (sometime called Plaza Avaroa), in the neighborhood of Sopocachi. From our apartment, we also noticed a lot of commotions and big tv lighting in the parc of the Monticulo, near Plaza Espana.
*I am like 80% sure the sign said U-Turn but as soon as I shouted "Oh my god it's the Amazing Race" some of the workers covered the sign. I know it wasn't one of those thing where you can put the picture of another team.
*So just a big yellow sign with the flag beneath it. What else... The bikes were similar to the ones on the picture you sent but less shabby looking. And they were next to wooden head gear with lots of feathers on it. I didn't see any teams. Oh, but also, there were lots of brass bands typical of Bolivia. I'm not sure why they were there. 



Chateau d if:
  El Monticulo aka Subida Monticulo and inside is this Neptuno en el Monticulo

Chateau d if :Here is a company that makes wooden bikes in Santa Cruz, Bolivia:  Holzkönig
They have several variations of frames.







Blog: Santa Cruz, Bolivia 4/29/08

Blog:Santa Cruz to Buenos Aires
Tuesday 4/29/08 

Now, airports are not on my list of favourite places to be stuck at the best of times, and unfortunately Santa Cruz airport is fairly small - apart from when we saw Phil Keoghan (of Amazing Race fame) waiting for a plane too - now we are wondering if the Amazing Race was in town - that would be cool!


Santiago, Chile 4/30/08

Teams seen in Santiago Airport:
My flight out of Santiago   by Justin Vorel  
*And as a special bonus the several teams from the Amazing Race through the airport while I was there.

More from Jason
*He was in the airport on April 30th.
*He saw teams, each accompanied by a camera and sound guy start arriving in the early evening.
*They all appeared exhausted and after ticketing at different counters, some went for a bite to eat and some just crashed. He emphasized that he didn't know what they had been doing, but all seemed tired and dirty.
*He saw teams arriving in 2 "waves".
*The first prob 5 to 6 teams (some difficulty sorting out camera people from teams) arriving earlier maybe 4-5PM and the second smaller group of 1 or 2-3 arriving an hour or so later.

Re teams:
*He saw 2 girls he called "the sisters" (but could have been friends also) dressed in blue shirts
*2 younger teams --couples he thinks
*One older gray haired maybe 45 yrs man (unclear here whether racer or production)
*He points out that almost all the Int flights leave Santiago in the eve. He thinks most of the teams were going by 7+ or so. His flight left about 8.

[Kiwi Jay]

lol. who do you reckon that is. I think its Mark 

[puddin]

RACERS PUT THEIR LUNGS AND WRESTLING SKILLS TO THE TEST IN THE HIGH ALTITUDE OF BOLIVIA, ON "THE AMAZING RACE 13," SUNDAY, OCT. 12 

"Did You Push My Sports Bra Off the Ledge?" -
*When Teams square off against a Bolivian wrestling group, Racers find themselves struggling for every breath due to the high altitude,
*The high altitude of La Paz, Bolivia leaves one Racer breathless—literally. Will he be able to catch his breath before it’s too late?
*Racers don spandex and take up the mantle of Fighting Cholitas.
*One Racer flies out of control on a Stone Age bike and a conflict over a sports bra sparks a mad-dash to the U-Turn.
*and an argument over a lost piece of clothing carries over to the course as two Teams battle to avoid elimination.
 
 



Fortaleza to La Paz .... race race
 

Roadblock wrestle cholitas





Aja/ Andrew/Pinky/Bill

  Mark 

Dallas

  Nick

Dan

  Kelly

  umm a Blond

Ken

Ty thanks peach



*One Racer flies out of control on a Stone Age bike and a conflict over a sports bra sparks a mad-dash to the U-Turn.
*and an argument over a lost piece of clothing carries over to the course as two Teams battle to avoid elimination.
Christy-"'Did You Push My Sports Bra Off the Ledge?




Detour, ride wood bicycles down a cobblestone road


Christy & Kelly

Ken & Tina

Terence



Detour option, shopping?

Aja

Dallas and Toni

Bill

Marisa & Brooke

Pitstop

Terence & Sarah (pitstop?)

Brooke and Marisa Bolivia Plaza per Boingo (pitstop?)

[puddin]

Q. This season's show includes stops in three new countries: Bolivia, Cambodia and Kazakhstan, the former Soviet republic best known as Borat's fictional homeland. Impressions?
A. La Paz, Bolivia, is the most extraordinary city. We fly in (to one of the world's highest airports at 13,000 feet) and climb from there up to this place where the teams have to perform with cholitas, or female wrestlers.

USA Today

[puddin]

As I suspected, these probably belong here

[puddin]

Holy sh!T!!


The Fighting Cholitas

[puddin]

El Alto international Airport

[Slowhatch]

Thanks, Puddin.  According to this article, El Alto (isn't that the airport town?) is the center of Cholita action. And there's a TAR tie-in: the director/producer (click "about")  of "The Fighting Cholitas" used to work TAR.

[puddin]

I moved your post over here Slowhatch! Good find!!

[Slowhatch]

The "Titanes del Ring" seem to do their thing at the Centro Multifuncional de El Alto--no address yet. If this photo is any guide, then Flying Skull Man will have his work cut out for him facing the likes of Jennifer Two-Face.

[Chateau d If]

Q. This season's show includes stops in three new countries: Bolivia, Cambodia and Kazakhstan, the former Soviet republic best known as Borat's fictional homeland. Impressions?
A. La Paz, Bolivia, is the most extraordinary city. We fly in (to one of the world's highest airports at 13,000 feet) and climb from there up to this place where the teams have to perform with cholitas, or female wrestlers.

USA Today

I want to perform with the Cholitas!   

[Chateau d If]

They had those oxygen tanks on hand for the first leg of TAR7 in Cuzco, also very high altitude.

[puddin]

I saw the bikes in the latest commercial ... I'll get it up soon.

[georgiapeach]

Remember we have the feathered headresses in La Paz too...

[Kogs]

the faboulus women of glow make an appearance in this episode? cool

[Slowhatch]

Compare #4 (page 1) with this Altena beauty pageant shot. It might be El Alto instead of La Paz proper.

[georgiapeach]

Good one slowhatch!!

[puddin]

well it was hard to get ..

[georgiapeach]

Heee...  I knew those feathered things would turn up somewhere! 

Is that Ken?

[puddin]

Yeah, green bandanna = Ken

[zackattack308]

Could the bike be the roadblock? They do the Detour and hit the U-Turn and Roadblock at the same time, like India last time I think.

[north09]

Woah, I was looking at this National Geographic for pictures, and they had an artical about the fighting Cholitas in La Paz. I thought it would be awsome if they were featured this season, and now they are!

[Chateau d If]

This clip was taken here



The buildings that appear in the shot have green boxes around them in the GE image.

Here is a panoramio shot of the more distant building.  It looks like a good match to me.  It's the building with the yellow diamonds at the top.



I suspect the biking racer started at El Prado (a fancy boulevard) and rides 3/4 to 1 mile (depends on where along the boulevard they start) and went down to the 'park across the street' from our Canadian ex-pat's condo.  That destination is the Plaza Abaroa where she saw production milling around wooden bikes.  The elevation drop is 11830 to 11680 feet along the ride.

[Chateau d If]

Here is the proposed bike route:

[Chateau d If]

This shot was taken between 9:32 and 10:05 am (assumes April 28th).