The Amazing Race > The Amazing Race Discussion
"Around the World for Free!"
Pedaler:
Alex, I'm not asking for details, but just a one word answer to a very important question regarding your trip from New York down to the Chilean border:
Did you get any? :tup:
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Alex starts this episode at 3am on a dark night in Arica, Chile. He is thirsty, hungry (not having eaten in 36 hours), and afraid. I think I have figured out how he is getting video without Zsolt filming. The show Africa Trek is done entirely without the benefit of any cameraman. There is a camera harness which must go around the waist so turning your waist make the direction of the camera change.
Alex has a pretty rough time at the start. He walks to the south end of Arica (population 192,000) on railroad tracks, then hitchhikes south to start the 1200 mile journey to Santiago. He gets a bus ride for free to a remote truck stop in the Atacama Desert. Then he has a car stop, not be able to take him in the correct direction, but give him 20,000 pesos ($40U.S.) to help him survive. He gets another ride although he mistakes his interim destination Iquique for Arequipa Peru back to the north. Fortunately the people in that car speak good English and correct him. Part of the money buys him the bus ticket 5 hours to Iquique. There he finally makes contact with Zsolt back in Lima, who has been trying for days to contact him. Robert Hutchings back in Orlando, who bankrolled their first flight Orlando to San Juan, has bought them both a plane ticket from Santiago to CapeTown. Zsolt will meet Alex in Santiago.
Ivana back in Lima, who Zsolt has been staying with, has made arrangements for Alex to sleep at the house of a friend in Iquique. Alex arrives at 6am and takes a taxi rather than trying to get there on foot. It costs a few precious pesos, but navigation across Iquique (population 216,000) could have been very difficult. Alex stays with Cecilia long enough to sleep and then he returns to the bus station and gets the bus through Antofagasta to Santiago, almost 1000 miles. That takes a full 24 hours.
A network member picks him up in Santiago and introduces him to his family and later to his friends. Alex has one day to see Santiago. He is told that Santiago has mountains to the east, desert to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the west and "the most beautiful land ever" to the south. There is a cookout in Alex's honor involving the local equivalent of paella except that the rice is cooked separately and is put on the bottom of the plates. The disco fish is a dyed form of the Indian glassfish, Parambassis (formerly Chanda) ranga. These fish have been injected with coloured dye at multiple sites using a hypodermic needle. They are not illegal but in advanced countries they are unethical to catch and eat. Disco fish is sauteed in a huge pan that is not as flat as a paella pan with beef, chicken, sausage, onions, and Chilean white wine. Everyone eating this dish loves it.
The flight goes to Rio de Janeiro, then Sao Paulo and then across the Atlantic Ocean to CapeTown, South Africa. Network member Tom picks them up and takes them to the suburb of Muizenberg on False Bay. Alex asks about sharks and Tom tells him they only lose about 5 or 6 humans to the sharks each year. I don't think he was kidding because some of the worst shark concentrations are near the confluence of the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean off CapeTown. There is a party and Alex runs up a drink bill at the Drunken Skirt band plays. He asks the bartender how he can work it off. He is sent to the Stellenbosch wine region where he clips the tops of growing vines and puts clips on them. The average worker is a female teenager who puts in 8 hours a day of this. Alex doesn't last that long.
georgiapeach:
Thanks for coming Alex!! We are so glad to see you here! :hearts:
:bigwelcome
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Here are the episode times for the May 25 Memorial Day Around the World for Free marathon, all on WGN Superstation:
An All-American Launch Mon 5/25 2:00-3:00pm 307 WGNAMER
Caribbean: Bliss & Extreme Mon 5/25 3:00-4:00pm 307 WGNAMER
South American Reality Check Mon 5/25 4:00-5:00pm 307 WGNAMER
Peruvian Sunshine Mon 5/25 5:00-6:00pm 307 WGNAMER
A Turn For the Worse Mon 5/25 6:00-7:00pm 307 WGNAMER
South African Kaleidoscope Mon 5/25 7:00-8:00pm 307 WGNAMER
In to the Safari Spirit Tue 5/26 12:00-1:00am 307 WGNAMER
Thu 5/28 9:00-10:00pm 307 WGNAMER
Sun 5/31 11:00-12:00pm 307 WGNAMER
Also note the the episode after the next one (South Africa) will be at the unusual time of midnight between Monday and Tuesday with replays on Thursday night and Sunday morning.
That also clarifies that the Sunday morning episodes are repeats of the shows premiering ususally on Monday nights.
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SOUTH AFRICA
In this episode Alex starts and finishes in South Africa, admittedly a large country. He is staying with Tom, a member of his network in a CapeTown suburb and goes to visit Boulders Beach, which is known for its penguins visiting seasonally and finds them in breeding season. Next he goes to the Great White Shark capital of Gansbaai. He and others are in a shark cage, but it is the off-season and there are no sharks to hassle them. He does see some Southern Right whales. His hosts serve him a braai, or South African barbecue. To me it appears to me the same type fixings you get in the U.S.
Next a network member, Simon, in the The Crags, near the city of George, indicates they can be their next host. Friends of Simon are returning from CapeTown to The Crags so they volunteer to drive Alex and Zsolt. This proves to be problematical when they have 2 fan belt breaks. The tow truck operator offers them a place to stay and a meal, so there is a silver lining on this cloud.
Simon came to Swellendam to pick them up. They went from Swellendam to the Karoo National Park region and its ostriches and went to the Cango Caves. They visit a cage of crocodiles and he has a close encounter with a large one. Alex gets to try the largest commercial bungy jump in the world at Blouwkrans Beach at 216 meters or 375 feet. When they finally get to George, Jan holds another braai in their honor. Then the plan is for Alex and Zsolt to hitchhike from the Port Elizabeth area to Joahnnesburg. Simon and his wife drive them to the area for long-distance truck travel and point out the license plates starting "GP" for Gauteng that are the ones they want (the NP for Natal being the ones they don't want). However, Simon has discovered that he can fly Alex to Johannesburg for 600 rand. At an average exhange rate of 10 rands per U.S. dollar) that's a reasonable $60. Nothing is said about Zsolt, which suggests in combination with Zsolt's separate transportation in Peru that Zsolt may have separate funding from Alex's claim of "no money". All four of them tour the Port Elizabeth area in Jan's car for 3 hours while waiting for this flight.
When they arrive at Johannesburg airport they are picked up by network member Caz, short for Carolyn, who takes them to her Praetoria home. There is another braai. Arrangments are made with a friend of Caz's husband for a visit to Soweto. Alex is told that there is a lot of crime all over South Africa and to be very careful, but of course nothing of that sort happens on his visit. Alex learns that the South African townships created by the defunct apartheid system have left a legacy of high density, poverty and crime. However the mood is hopeful that the future will be better. Next is a day trip to see hippopotami, black mamba snakes (fortunately there are none present), crocodiles and leopards. Then they transfer to the Pretoria home of Lo, who has a country home some distance north of Pretoria in Hazyview and they take their sons, Alex and Zsolt there. The boys and Alex ride 4 x 4 dune buggies. There is a beautiful Lundquist waterfall on the route.
This episode ends with Alex stating that they are close to Kruger National Park. Hazyview appears to be about 20 km (12 miles) from one of the many entrances to Kruger National Park. It appears that Kruger National Park is next on his trip. That is an expensive place to stay. Let's see how Alex finesses that in the next episode.
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