The Amazing Race > The Amazing Race Discussion
"Around the World for Free!"
georgiapeach:
INVITE:
Around The World For Free
Episode 3 "South American Reality Check"
Host: Alex Boylan, ATWFF
Type: Party - Movie/TV Night
Network: Global
Date: Thursday, April 30, 2009
Time: 9:00pm - 10:00pm
Location: YOUR COUCH
DescriptionHey everyone it’s Alex & Zsolt from Around The World For Free again!
Just wanted to remind everyone to please watch our series tomorrow night, Thursday April 30th, on WGN America at 9 PM EST (6PM PST) with an encore episode at 12PM EST (9PM PST).
This week we will be making landfall into South America and things get wild. From the slums of Caracas, Venezuela to a grueling six day bus trek…it is an episode you don’t want to miss. AND please get all your friends to tune in as well.
ALSO…Zsolt and Alex will be Twittering live during the show @atwff, @alexboylan, and @zsoltluka.
Around The World For Free was the first user-generated series of its kind, and now more than ever we need your help. We want as many eyeballs watching this show as possible. So PLEASE post on Facebook, message on Myspace and Twitter the heck out of this show telling your friends to tune in!
Once again… Thursday April 16th at 9PM EST/ 6PM PST on WGN America! Check http://www.wgnamerica.com/pages/channelfinder for the latest schedule.
Thanks a lot everyone and we look forward to hearing from you all soon.
And remember to never stop traveling.
The Around The World For Free Production Team
Alex Boylan, Zsolt Luka and Burton Roberts
http://www.aroundtheworldforfree.com
apskip:
Episode 3 Trinidad to Lima, Peru
Alex and Zsolt start in Trinidad (note- I somehow missed last week's episode from British Virgin Islands to Trinidad) this episode. I have an important observation to make about Alex's use of the term "for free". It isn't that at all. He has just managed to find a way to shift all of the cost of his trip to others. For example, people paid for his and Zsolt's plane fares from Orlando to San Juan, from San Juan to St. Thomas and Trinidad to Caracas, Venezuela to start this episode. None of it was free, so I think his fundamental premise for this trip is a bit bogus.
The intrepid team of 2 does arrive in Caracas Venezuela, where they will spend 8+ days, and is picked up by a driver. The driver is associated with Ivo, a cousin of a woman in Lima, Peru who is friends with a woman in Los Angeles who wants to help Alex and Zsolt. Ivo gets bedding for them from Zsolt and lets them use an apartment he is selling in days. He is leaving Venezuela as he is disgusted by its politics, paricularly those of its leader Hugo Chavez. Most of the individuals in his circle of friends appear to be anti-Chavez. They say that the lower cost of oil has helped car owners but hurt everyone else in Venezuela. From the original driver, Alex got an earful about not going into a barrio because "people get robbed or killed." He discounts such advice and when a doctor invites him to visit a clinic he goes. That doctor is doing exemplary pro bono work of reconstructive surgery, particularly useful when bullet wounds are involved. He also went to the soup kitchen run in her home by a poor woman who gets twice a week deliveries of ingredients from the government and turns that into healthy meals. There are no adults willing to appear on camera (the kitchen owner says it's because only the children can read and write, but I believe other more sinister reasons are responsible). When the fun of the urban jungles run out, it's time for Alex and Zsolt to head south. Their host Ivo and a friend of his buy them the tickets for a 4.5 day bus ride to Lima Peru.
So off they go on a real adventure. The bus looks reasonably comfortable. There is a mix of singles and families travelling, pretty much all relatively young. I don't think older people would be able to take this long a ride. They are stopped at borders and in other areas just for the fun of it. One family that was refused entry from Colombia to Peru is hidden in the bathroom to get them across the border without the knowledge of the guards, but with the complicity of all of the other bus riders. At one stop Alex pays "all the quarter in a bag" to get a huge meal of chicken and vegetables plus the beans offered him by another diner. The bus breaks down in southwestern Colombia and a replacement bus takes them to Quito Ecuador. That might seem to be a problem, but now they get a really nice bus for the remainder of the journey. Instead of 4.5 days, this trip takes them 6 days.
On arrival at the Lima bus station they are met by the woman Ivana who is the cousin of Ivo. She gives them decent accommodations, feeds them and gives them beer and later Inca Kola. I have been to Peru and fondly remember Inca Kola as one of the great beverages of the world. It's a lot like Mountain Dew but a lot cheaper. Ivana takes them with friends to the beach at Puerto Viejo 45 miles away and on the way back they stop for lunch at a renowned restaurant. It specializes in seafood (no surprise since they are on the coast) and eat mussels, ceviche (based on crawfish), jalea (seafood platter of shrimp, catfish and yucca a local vegetable) and corvina whitefish. They have a feast.
Presumably more adventures in Lima and probably Cuzco will follow. Alex was reading a travel brochure on Macchu Picchu on the bus, so he clearly wants to go there. What kind of route will he take further in South America and how we he get to Africa? I don't know so stay tuned each week.
Pedaler:
GeorgiaPeach: I'm just curious, but what kind of player was one of the executive producers, Burton Roberts, on Survivor?
Pedaler:
Does anyone have an idea what's going on regarding the schedule of this program? I was channel surfing and just saw the end of one of the programs. Alex went to Macchu Picchu.
Alex ended up stuck in Chile and now they're now showing one of the episodes when he was in the islands. Very strange sequencing.
georgiapeach:
Does the website help??
http://www.wgnamerica.com/pages/atwff_fm/
--- Quote from: Pedaler on May 03, 2009, 04:56:08 PM ---GeorgiaPeach: I'm just curious, but what kind of player was one of the executive producers, Burton Roberts, on Survivor?
--- End quote ---
I'm the worst one to ask, I forget them all by the next season! :funny:
Anyone??
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