Topic: Racing reports TAR 36, episode #9 is on page #1

[maf]

And we're back...

[maf]

Racing report
Amazing Race Season 36, Episode 1, "You can't drive while you're crying"
Film date: 2022-10-25

This season was the 35th season filmed. Then CBS just sat on it while they filmed another season. That season, which was the 36th filmed was released first and is thus known as the 35th season. This season, which was the 35th to film will henceforth be known as the 36th season. This makes my head spin like a bunch of Voladores.

The starting line of this season is the beach in front of the Westin Resort & Spa in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

The teams in this season are:

• Angie & Danny, mother and son
• Kishori & Karishma, cousins
• Rod & Leticia, married couple where he is a former NFL player
• Sunny & Bizzy, firefighter moms
• Juan & Shane, military pilots
• Michelle & Sean, married aerobic instructors
• Anthony & Bailey, identical twins
• Chris & Mary, father and daughter
• Amber & Vinny, dating nurses
• Yvonne & Melissa, girlfriends from San Diego
• Maya & Rohan, sibling students and super fans
• Derek & Shelisa, grandparents (ex police)
• Ricky & Cesar, Boyfriends

At the starting line Phil tells the teams that there will be no non-elimination rounds. He also tells them they will visit two new countries which the race has never visited before.

Phil tells teams that the first clue is located on a set of cars which are parked in front of the hotel. He then asks them to put on their backpacks before he starts the race. We note that Amber & Vinny seems to be the only team who only has one backpack.

Route info: Welcome to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Drive yourselves to downtown Puerto Vallarta and find the Voladores along the Malecon for your next clue.

There are no maps in the cars so teams will have to find their way on their own, the Malecon is 9km away. The clue also names two streets where they can park their cars.

 "I wish I didn't fail Spanish twice now", one of Anthony & Bailey
 "I'm sadly monolingual", Karishma about her being half Mexican
 "We just started the race, I'm sweating like an animal, I should have exercised maybe a little bit more", Michelle
 "My Spanish is decent, I minored in Spanish in college", Vinny
 "As a little kid i dreamed about The Amazing Race", Danny
 "You can't drive while you're crying", Angie gets the title when she is talking about how happy she is to watch her son fulfill his dream to be on the race

On their way to the first clue box Maya & Rohan get really lost, it seems as if this makes the flustered which is not good for navigation...
 "Hopefully there is a team which is just as lost as we are right now", Rohan
The later interviews they say that they did not have a map and thought it was going to cost them too much time to get one.

When they get to the right area Maya & Rohan turn in on the wrong street. This turns out to be narrow, and a cul-de-sac. Rather than back out they start to turn their car, however the street is not much wider than the car is long so this is not easy. In fact it reminds us of a scene from an Austin Powers movie. When they are almost halfway through the turn they seem to give up for a while.
 "We're sideways, I don't know how we are going to get it back up", Rohan
In a later interview they say it took them 20-30 minutes to get the car turned around. Even so they do encounter other teams on the next task, so I guess other teams also struggled with navigation.

Teams reach the clue box by the Voladores in the following order:
  1. Ricky & Cesar
  2. Rod & Leticia
  3. Derek & Shelisa
  4. Yvonne & Melissa
  5. Anthony & Bailey
  6. Amber & Vinny
  7. Chris & Mary
  8. Michelle & Sean
  9. Kishori & Karishma
 10. Angie & Danny
 11. Sunny & Bizzy
 12. Juan & Shane
 13. Maya & Rohan

Detour: Pick'em up or Pin'em down

In Pick'm up teams need to pick up two rocking horses from a street high up on a hill and transport them down to the beach (300m). The horses are on wheels but the streets are very uneven so the wheels hardly helps. Once they arrive to the dropoff locations they are given tools and have to remove the wheels.

In Pin'em down teams get to watch 40s of a battle royale between 16 Luchadores. Actually there are 8 pairs of two fighting each other, in the same ring. The task is then to take 10 drawings of the masks they are wearing and pair up the wrestlers who were fighting each other. There are fights every 5 minutes so if they do not get it right they can watch the next fight.

The clue also says that only 7 teams may complete each side of the detour.

Ricky & Cesar have been in Puerto Vallarta before so they know that the rocking horses are big, and therefore they decide to do the wrestlers instead.

On their way to the rocking horses Shelisa's backpack opens and out drops three crossword books. They leave the books behind.

 "I didn't think about the cobblestones", Derek

An interesting small scene occurs when Kishori & Karishma arrive to the wrestling square. They come from the back so they appear behind Ricky & Cesar and can thus see their answers.
 "Oh, we're not looking, I promise", Karishma

The rocking horse task is so popular that nine teams want to do it. Chris & Mary arrive as team #8 and by that time there are no more horses so they have to switch. On their way down they run into Juan & Shane and the tell the boys that there are no more horses.

 "Whatever it was, it's over", Juan & Shane are overwhelmed by the chaotic fight between the Luchadores
 
Team complete the detour in the following order:
  1(+0) Ricky & Cesar, wrestlers
  2(+0) Rod & Leticia, wrestlers
  3(+6) Kishori & Karishma, wrestlers
  4(-1) Derek & Shelisa, rocking horses
  5(+1) Amber & Vinny, rocking horses
  6(-1) Anthony & Bailey, rocking horses
  7(-3) Yvonne & Melissa, rocking horses
  8(+3) Sunny & Bizzy, rocking horses
  9(+3) Juan & Shane, wanted to do rocking horses but had to do wrestlers
 10(-2) Michelle & Sean, rocking horses
 11(-1) Angie & Danny, rocking horses
 12(-5) Chris & Mary, wanted to do rocking horses but had to do wrestlers
 13(+0) Maya & Rohan, wrestlers

Route info: Drive yourselves to Lienzo Charro Miguel "prieto" Ibarra.

Nothing much happens on the way to th next route marker. But some tams inevitably get lost.

Team arrive to the next clue box (8km) in the following order:
  1(+1) Rod & Leticia
  2(-1) Ricky & Cesar, just after #1
  3(+1) Derek & Shelisa, as #2 are leaving
  4(-1) Kishori & Karishma, as #3 are leaving
  5(+6) Angie & Danny
  6(+1) Yvonne & Melissa
  7(+2) Juan & Shane
  8(+2) Michelle & Sean
  9(-3) Anthony & Bailey, as #8 are leaving
 10(-2) Sunny & Bizzy
 11(+1) Chris & Mary, just after #10
 12(-7) Amber & Vinny
 13(+0) Maya & Rohan, as #12 are leaving

Road block: Who's feeling loopy?

In this road block contestants must jump through a series of seven spinning lassos. And they need to wear a big hat and a handkerchief while doing it, the rope may not touch the hat. If they fail any of the jumps they must restart from the beginning.

 "Hopefully they have a big lasso because I'm pretty tall", Rod
 "I'm from Texas", Karishma when Kishori asks if she can throw a lasso

Karishma commits race sin #1 by not reading her clue thoroughly. This hurts her because she forgets the handkerchief, so when she manages to jump through all of the lassos on her 18th attempt she is not given her next clue. She asks Kishori for the road block clue and rereads it carefully.

Michelle & Sean run a double dutch studio so it would look bad for them to struggle at this task, which is just another kind of rope jumping. But Sean is struggling for a little bit before he gets the hang of it.

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):

1(+0)	Rod* & Leticia	(1-0)	On his 5th attempt
2(+0)	Ricky & Cesar*	(0-1)	On his 4th attempt
3(+0)	Derek* & Shelisa	(1-0)	On his 1st attempt
4(+3)	Juan & Shane*	(0-1)	On his 2nd attempt
5(-1)	Kishori & Karishma*	(0-1)	On her 23rd attempt
6(+0)	Yvonne* & Melissa	(1-0)	On her 8th attempt
7(-2)	Angie & Danny*	(0-1)	On his 11th attempt
8(+0)	Michelle & Sean*	(0-1)	On his 5th attempt
9(+0)	Anthony* & Bailey	(1-0)	On his 1st attempt
10(+0)	Sunny* & Bizzy	(1-0)	On her 2nd attempt
11(+1)	Amber & Vinny*	(0-1)	On his 1st attempt
12(-1)	Chris & Mary*	(0-1)	After more than 6 attempts
13(+0)	Maya & Rohan*	(0-1)	On his 1st attempt

Route info: "Drive to your very first Pit Stop at Plaza de Los Arcos del Malecón and find Phil on the mat. Warning, The last team to check in will be eliminated!"

The mat is actually very close to the location of their first clue.

 "They are less than 10 minutes out, we can still make it", Maya as she & Rohan leave he road block.
 "Now that I'm thinking about it, this road is actually going opposite of where we want to go", Vinny
 "I don't know how fast I can book it to the mat but I'll try", Chris realize they are fighting for last

Teams arrive to the mat (9km) in the following order:
  1(+0) Rod & Leticia
  2(+0) Ricky & Cesar
  3(+0) Derek & Shelisa
  4(+0) Juan & Shane
  5(+3) Michelle & Sean
  6(+0) Yvonne & Melissa
  7(+0) Angie & Danny
  8(+1) Anthony & Bailey, just after #7
  9(+1) Sunny & Bizzy
 10(-5) Kishori & Karishma
 11(+1) Chris & Mary
 12(-1) Amber & Vinny, just after #11
 13(+0) Maya & Rohan, are eliminated

 "However, you're still racing", Phil to the first 12 teams reaching the pit stop
 
Instead of a prize or some well deserved rest teams are given a new clue by Phil. That is all but Maya & Rohan who are the last to reach the Pit Stop and get eliminated. Apparently they weren't that far behind because when they are nearing the mat they see the two teams before them leave it.

 "It's been a dream come true", Maya

[maf]

Racing report
Amazing Race Season 36, Episode 2, "Trust but verify"
Film date: 2022-10-25

The last leg ended on Plaza de Los Arcos del Malecón in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. At the mat Phil handed teams a new clue and told them that they were still racing.

I guess that there was a small pause here because nobody is near Phil or the mat when they read the clue, and we clearly see Ricky & Cesar look at their watch as if checking if they are allowed to start now.

Teams are shown opening their next clue in the following order:

1.	Rod & Leticia	12:05
2.	Ricky & Cesar	12:10	+0:05
3.	Derek & Shelisa	12:22	+0:17
4.	Juan & Shane	13:07	+1:02
5.	Michelle & Sean	13:11	+1:06
6.	Yvonne & Melissa	13:12	+1:07
7.	Angie & Danny	13:15	+1:10
8.	Anthony & Bailey,	13:16	+1:11
9.	Sunny & Bizzy	13:18	+1:13
10.	Kishori & Karishma	13:31	+1:26
11.	Chris & Mary	13:41	+1:36
12.	Amber & Vinny	13:42	+1:37

Route info: "Keep racing and make your way on foot to Puerto Vallarta's Zona Romántica and find your next clue at the center of the Iguana bridge."

 "We didn't get first, it was a little disappointing", Ricky
 "I'm big on trust but verify", Melissa gets the title
 "At 12 I was hosting mini Amazing Races in our town", Danny feels like a real super fan

Anthony & Bailey ask the staff of a nearby restaurant for directions. Then while they are talking to the camera a couple of steps away one of the staff gives them back the clue they just forgot there. This is a bad sign for their longevity.

Michelle & Sean and  Kishori & Karishma stumble upon the road block while they are looking for the Iguana bridge.
 "I don't think this is it", Kishori
Even if Kishori thinks this is wrong they also start doing the task. The next team to arrive is Juan & Shane and Kishori immediately ask them if this is the first thing they encountered. As the boy say that they have already done a detour the girls realize that they are in the wrong spot and after a short discussion they leave for the bridge. Michelle & Sean are seated next to them so they overhear everything and also realize that they must leave.

Teams find the clue box on the Iguana bridge (800m) in the following order:
  1(+0) Rod & Leticia
  2(+0) Ricky & Cesar
  3(+0) Derek & Shelisa
  4(+0) Juan & Shane
  5(+1) Yvonne & Melissa
  6(+3) Sunny & Bizzy
  7(+1) Anthony & Bailey
  8(-1) Angie & Danny
  9(+3) Amber & Vinny
 10(+1) Chris & Mary
 11(-1) Kishori & Karishma, just after #10
 12(-7) Michelle & Sean, just after #11

DETOUR

Detour: 'Balloon Collection'
or 'Color Correction'

Balloon Collection: Collect
three hundred balloons.
Then deliver them to the
balloon vendor at Centro
Cultural Cuale to receive
your next clue.

Color Correction: Search
among the colorful cut out
flags for a strand that does
not match the rest. Then
...

In Balloon collection teams must collect balloons from three different vendors. Each team member must pick up one bunch of balloons at each location. They will get their next clue when they deliver all of their balloons. It doe snot seem to matter if a few of them pops on the way. The furthest set of balloons is about 500m away. Most of the teams have passed at least some of the balloon givers on their way to the clue box so they already have a good idea of where they may be.

In Color collection teams must search the plaza in front of Centro Cultural Cuale for one strand of paper flags (aka Papel Picado) which does not match the others. Each strand holds 10 flags and there are a lot of flags flying over this plaza. On tricky part about this is that teams are only told that they need to search for a strand which does not match the rest. They are not told how the strand will differ. We eventually learn that each strand holds 10 flags of different colors and on the non-matching ones two of the flags are switched.

The end of the balloon detour is right at the square where the color correction task takes place.

Rod & Leticia play rock, paper, scissors about which detour to take.

 "We ran by all of the balloons so we know where they are", Cesar

Ricky & Cesar go to the farthest balloon vendor and grab one bunch of balloons, this is a mistake as they need one each. They grab one from the next vendor as well, but then they meet Rod & Leticia and see that they have two bunches of balloons. They immediately reread their clue and realize their error. It was kind of impressive to see how quickly they realized heir mistake and went to correct it. It was also smart of them to start picking up balloons from the vendor farthest away so they did not have to run around as much with them.

A little bit later Derek & Shelisa, who are still looking for the clue, encounters Ricky & Cesar. They ask for help finding the clue box but the boys only respond with a "sorry". Amber & Vinny has a different experience when they run into Angie & Danny who have no problems telling them where the clue is.

 "We are very proud to be our age and being able to keep up with some of the younger folks", Shelisa
 "I'm proud of mom for sticking up in this heat. Probably harder than childbirth, yes mom or no?", Danny
 "We'll see at the end, what comes out", Angie
 
Teams complete the detour in the following order:
  1(+0) Rod & Leticia, balloons
  2(+0) Ricky & Cesar, balloons
  3(+0) Derek & Shelisa, balloons
  4(+0) Juan & Shane, balloons
  5(+0) Yvonne & Melissa, balloons
  6(+1) Anthony & Bailey, started flags but quickly switched to balloons
  7(+1) Angie & Danny, started flags but quickly switched to balloons
  8(+1) Amber & Vinny, balloons
  9(-3) Sunny & Bizzy, flags
 10(+2) Michelle & Sean, balloons
 11(+0) Kishori & Karishma, started flags but eventually switched to balloons
 12(-2) Chris & Mary, started flags but eventually switched to balloons

Route info: "Make your way to Lázaro Cárdenas Park to find your next clue."

On the way to the next clue Danny convinces Angie to give him her backpack. But she still looks like she is struggling in the heat. But the strongest sign that she is really struggling is the fact that in one shot you see the medic walking a few meter away.

Chris also has a hard time so he has to sit down for a while. While he rests Mary prepares some electrolytes for him and he recovers.

Teams reach the clue box at the park (900m) in the following order:
  1(+0) Rod & Leticia
  2(+0) Ricky & Cesar
  3(+0) Derek & Shelisa
  ---- Michelle & Sean, while looking for the Iguana bridge clue
  ---- Kishori & Karishma, while looking for the Iguana bridge clue
  4(+0) Juan & Shane
  5(+0) Yvonne & Melissa
  6(+0) Anthony & Bailey
  7(+1) Amber & Vinny
  8(-1) Angie & Danny
  9(+0) Sunny & Bizzy
 10(+0) Michelle & Sean
 11(+0) Kishori & Karishma
 12(+0) Chris & Mary

Road block: "Who has a skeleton in the closet?"

In this road block the participating team member must paint their team mate's face with a simple skeleton design. They are given a reference picture and all the needed materials. Since the Day of the Dead also coincides with the Monarch butterfly migration the judges are dressed up as butterflies and when done all racers are given a set of butterfly wings which they must wear for the rest of the leg.

 "I feel very qualified for this. I've done drag makeup, I've done musical theater", Ricky
 "My issue is that I'm a perfectionist", Ricky
 "This is harder than it looks, I'll tell you that much. Stop sweating, you're messing up my makeup", Shelisa
 "Anthony's sweat is making this very hard", Bailey

The judges are very lax at this task. Some of the approved face paintings looked like they were made by a 3 year old. To be fair, it is hot and humid so most players are sweating profusely. Ricky and Vinny do the best paintings, by far.

Halfway through Angie tells Danny that she is feeling really dizzy. She lays down and the medic comes with a cold towel. Danny keeps painting her while she lies down on the ground.

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):

1(+0)	Rod & Leticia*	(1-1)
2(+0)	Ricky* & Cesar	(1-1)
3(+0)	Derek & Shelisa*	(1-1)
4(+0)	Juan* & Shane	(1-1)
5(+0)	Yvonne & Melissa*	(1-1)
6(+0)	Anthony & Bailey*	(1-1)
7(+1)	Angie & Danny*	(0-2)
8(-1)	Amber* & Vinny	(1-1)
9(+1)	Michelle* & Sean	(1-1)
10(-1)	Sunny & Bizzy*	(1-1)
11(+0)	Kishori* & Karishma	(1-1)
12(+0)	Chris & Mary*	(0-2)

The next clue instructs teams to run to the next pit stop at Casa Kimberly. Phil will be waiting under "The bridge of love" which connects Elisabeth Taylor's and Richard Burton's houses.

 "Hey bro, you've got to ask. I'm not approaching people looking like this", Bailey feels that his face paint may not look the best
 "I don't know who Elisabeth Taylor is", Anthony is asking for help (and he gets a laugh for that)
 
Teams reach Phil at the mat (1km) in the following order:
  1(+0) Rod & Leticia, win Expedia points for a trip to Lisbon, Portugal
  2(+0) Ricky & Cesar, just after #1
  3(+0) Derek & Shelisa
  4(+0) Juan & Shane
  5(+0) Yvonne & Melissa
  6(+1) Angie & Danny
  7(+1) Amber & Vinny, just after #6
  8(-2) Anthony & Bailey, just after #6
  9(+1) Sunny & Bizzy
 10(+1) Kishori & Karishma
 11(-2) Michelle & Sean
 12(+0) Chris & Mary, are eliminated

 "I gave you all the action I could today, don't ask for any more when we get back to the hotel", Leticia
 "As a life long fan of The Amazing Race it is truly a dream come true, bucket list checked", Mary

[maf]

Racing report
Amazing Race Season 36, Episode 3, "It's not over til Phil sings"
Film date: probably 2022-10-28

This leg of the race will take place in Guatapé, Colombia. Teams will depart in three groups every 15 minutes. We do however get a shot of all teams departing simultaneously so they must have filmed at least one false start as well.

The episode starts with some product placement where Phil talks about Expedia designed adventures. This leg will be inspired by such adventures.

Teams are released from the parking lot in front of El Peñón in the following order:

Group 1: 07:15
 * Rod & Leticia
 * Ricky & Cesar
 * Derek & Shelisa

Group 2: 07:30
 * Juan & Shane
 * Yvonne & Melissa
 * Angie & Danny
 * Amber & Vinny

Group 3: 07:45
 * Michelle & Sean
 * Anthony & Bailey
 * Sunny & Bizzy
 * Kishori & Karishma

The first clue tells teams to climb the stairs of El Peñón to find their next clue.

El Peñón is an imposing rock standing behind the racers. Racers will have to climb more than 60 stories to get to the top. According to Wikipedia there are 740 steps to the top. Climbing these stairs is no walk in the park.
 "My age is killing me", Shelisa
 "Try keeping a good pace, keep the breathing under control, counting my steps", Ricky is smart
 "We're just gonna take it in moms pace", Danny
 "Slow and steady today", Anthony & Bailey
 "I'm petrified of heights", Sean

We learn that during the pit stop Sunny got news that her grandmother passed away.
 "This leg's for grandma", Bizzy

Teams reach the top in the following order:
  1. Ricky & Cesar
  2. Derek & Shelisa
  3. Rod & Leticia
  4. Amber & Vinny
  5. Juan & Shane
  6. Yvonne & Melissa
  7. Angie & Danny
  8. Sunny & Bizzy
  9. Anthony & Bailey
 10. Michelle & Sean
 11. Kishori & Karishma

Detour: Bandeja Paisa or Yipao

In Bandeja Paisa teams must cook three servings of this dish which includes Rice, Beans, Chiharrones, Eggs, Carne Asada, Plantains, Arepas, Chorizo and Avocado. Their plates will then be judged by a panel of three local grandmothers. They are given a recipe, with a picture what the finished should look like. The instructions are in English while some ingredient names are in Spanish. They are also given the ingredients they need and the clue mentions that there is a limited number of extras if needed. Each clue also contains a unique photo. Teams doing the cooking must match this to the Zócalos (frescoes) to find their cooking station.

In Yipao teams must pack a Willy's jeep to match a given example. This is much harder than it sounds as there is an awful lot which needs to be packed. In fact it turns out to be so hard that the teams which attempt it all eventually switch to cooking.

To get to the detours teams need to get into one of the provided high speed water taxis. Once they have selected a driver they may not switch. Which Angie & Danny probably hoped that they could because their boat has a very hard time getting the engine started. They can not do anything else than just sit there while their driver desperately tries to get the engine going. Eventually the motor starts and they are on their way, but not before two other teams have passed them.

The two last teams; Anthony & Bailey and Michelle & Sean seem to get lost on the way to the boats so they fall further behind.

Most teams decide to go cooking as they have just climbed a bazillion steps and they do not feel up to any physical challenges.

 "You can't beat this experience", Rod is happy in the boat
 "Shelisa want to come on The Amazing Race because she had a cancer scare about 3-4 years ago", Derek
 "I'm still in recovery mode", Shelisa
 "Today we're gonna try to use our brain more than our body", Vinny

We learn that Juan was born in Colombian, his family moved to the USA when he was about 7 years old.

 "I'm a chef and I do freelance, I work a lot in catering", Cesar feels that this detour is made for him
 "We do not cook together", Shelisa

Sunny & Bizzy were planning to do the jeep task but when they stumble upon the cooking stations they decide to do that instead.

We learn that neither Kishori nor Karishma has ever cooked meat before as they are vegan and vegetarian. They ask Derek & Shelisa for help to identify the ingredients.
 "Thanks mom & dad, we love you", Kishori & Karishma to Derek & Shelisa
 "I have no idea how to fry an egg", Danny

 "It was an example of a truck, we could kind of look at it to see how they did it. Which still did not help. We looked at it and it looked more difficult", Derek describes the truck loading task

 "This dish is disorganized. You need to know where to put each item.", The judge (in Spanish) to Rod & Leticia after their first attempt at cooking

So the judges really care about the presentation of the dishes. Fortunately for the racers the recipe includes a picture so all Rod & Leticia need to do is to go back and rearrange the food and then they get approved.

Anthony & Bailey start the Jeep detour but do not feel up to trying to solve the puzzle of how to pack the things. So they switch to cooking.
 "This is like really beyond us", Anthony
Michelle & Sean are also struggling so they also switch with the boys. Once at the cooking Anthony & Bailey look at the recipe and are dismayed. I am not sure what they expected but apparently this is not it. They do not recognize most of the ingredients, so they decide to switch back to the Jeeps. This time they actually make some progress on the packing. But then it is time to tie some knots...
 "Are we like the first team ever to switch detours like four times?", Anthony
When they get back to the cooking everybody but Michelle & Sean have left.
 "It's not over til Phil sings", Anthony gets the title

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
  1(+0) Ricky & Cesar, cooking
  2(+0) Derek & Shelisa, cooking
  3(+0) Rod & Leticia, cooking
  4(+1) Juan & Shane, cooking
  5(+3) Sunny & Bizzy, cooking
  6(-2) Amber & Vinny, cooking
  7(-1) Yvonne & Melissa, cooking
  8(+3) Kishori & Karishma, cooking
  9(-2) Angie & Danny, cooking
 10(+0) Michelle & Sean, started jeep but switched to cooking
 11(-2) Anthony & Bailey, started jeep, switched to cooking, switched back to jeep before switching to cooking again

The next clue is a route info which tells teams to make their way to El Cordero de Guatapé and there they must get into one of the marked Tuc-Tucs which will take them to Casa Loma.

The last bit before Casa Lorma seems to be a fairly substantial hill. Amber & Vinny's Tuc-Tuc does not have enough power to climb it so they jump out to push.

 "Dude, I'm just pumped to be moving", Anthony & Bailey are happy to be done with the detour
 
Teams reach the clue box at Casa Loma in the following order:
  1(+0) Ricky & Cesar
  2(+0) Derek & Shelisa
  3(+0) Rod & Leticia
  4(+0) Juan & Shane
  5(+0) Sunny & Bizzy
  6(+0) Amber & Vinny
  7(+0) Yvonne & Melissa
  8(+0) Kishori & Karishma
  9(+0) Angie & Danny
 10(+0) Michelle & Sean
 11(+0) Anthony & Bailey

Road block: Who's feeling picky?

ROAD BLOCK

Get ready for an
Expedia Experience!

Hand pick and process
enough ripe coffee
cherries to produce 1
kilogram, or 2.2 pounds,
of coffee beans for the
Recolector to reveal your
next clue.

The chosen team member must pick ripe cherries and then use a machine to remove the husks. It seems as if there is a sorting step as well but nothing is said about that (I guess a judge checks that all the picked cherries are ripe). They will also eventually learn that the husk make up at least half of the weight so they need to pick at least 2kg of cherries to get 1kg of beans.

We see that Sunny & Bizzy figure out what the task is going to be before they open the clue.

The coffee plants grow in a relatively steep slope.

 "I'm the height of Danny de Vito", Karishma

Vinny is smart, he gets close to a bush and puts his basket between his legs so he can use both hands to pick. Most other racers hold the basket in one hand and use the other to pick.

 "Pick those cherries Kishori, your bum looks great from here", Karishma
 "Alright mom, you got this. Eight teams have already come and left", Danny is pressuring his mom
 "That's not helpful, that's just pressure", Angie does not want to know

 "Oh, hell no, I don't know about this", Sean does not want to go down the rather steep path to the road block area
It actually looks like Sean refuses to go down the stairs.
 "I'm really scared of heights", Sean
Eventually, after some cajoling by Michelle, Sean gets down.

When Anthony & Bailey are on their way to the actual road block location they meet Angie & Danny who have just completed the task.
 "You are still in it, there is still a team down there", Danny

 "A dude, look at that bird. That's absolutely beautiful", While picking cherries, Bailey points out a bird to the camera person

While the last two teams are picking cherries it starts to rain, which makes the steep slope even slippier.

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):

1(+0)	Ricky & Cesar*	(1-2)	Before any other team has even arrived to this task
2(+4)	Amber & Vinny*	(1-2)
3(+0)	Rod & Leticia*	(1-2)
4(-2)	Derek & Shelisa*	(1-2)
5(-1)	Juan & Shane*	(1-2)
6(-1)	Sunny* & Bizzy	(2-1)
7(+0)	Yvonne & Melissa*	(1-2)
8(+0)	Kishori* & Karishma	(2-1)
9(+0)	Angie* & Danny	(1-2)
10(+0)	Michelle* & Sean	(2-1)
11(+0)	Anthony & Bailey*	(1-2)

The next clue reads: "Find Phil, here on the Casa Loma Coffee farm."

We get to see a lot of shots of teams looking for Phil so may not have been trivial to find.

Teams find Phil and the mat in the following order:
  1(+0) Ricky & Cesar, win Expedia points for a trip to Cape Town, South Africa
  2(+0) Amber & Vinny
  3(+1) Derek & Shelisa
  4(+1) Juan & Shane, won a footrace against #5
  5(-2) Rod & Leticia
  6(+1) Yvonne & Melissa
  7(-1) Sunny & Bizzy
  8(+0) Kishori & Karishma
  9(+0) Angie & Danny
 10(+0) Michelle & Sean
 11(+0) Anthony & Bailey

The race is fairly tight in the middle, so tight that teams 3-8 are all on the mat at the same time.

 "It's pretty cool we just even got the chance to be here and we're happy that we got to be here", Bailey

[maf]

Racing report
Amazing Race Season 36, Episode 4, "Those who wanders are not lost"
Film date: probably 2022-10-29

The last leg ended in Guatapé, Colombia. During the pit stop teams are transported to Medellín. This episode start with all the racers doing some tandem paragliding from a mountain down to the to the starting line at La Meseta in the municipality of Bello. Once there everybody is unstrapped and then they are released in three groups:

Production may have planned to release everybody at the top of the mountain. But the weather was kind of iffy so once there was a gap in the clouds they had to launch all the teams as soon as possible. Which may explain why they did the start after the jump.

Group 1: departs at 09:15
 * Ricky & Cesar
 * Amber & Vinny

Group 2: departs at 09:30
 * Derek & Shelisa
 * Juan & Shane
 * Rod & Leticia
 * Yvonne & Melissa

Group 3 : departs at 09:45
 * Sunny & Bizzy
 * Kishori & Karishma
 * Angie & Danny
 * Michelle & Sean

The first clue tells teams to get into one of the marked taxis and make their way to Comuna 13 en Reversadero #1. There they will find their next clue near the base of the escalator.

 "We're not as fast, we're not as smart, not as cute", Derek compares themselves against the other teams

We learn that Karishma is a licensed skydiver so she was very pumped after the jump.

The taxis drop teams off at the intersection of Calle 38a and Carrra 109 which is about 200m away from the start of the escalators.

 "I need you to slow down", Amber
 "I need you to speed up, you're super slow", Vinny

The clue box is not right at the base of the escalator but rather on a ledge a bit to the side so it is not trivial to spot. Angie & Danny have a hard time finding it. Danny wants to go up the escalator but Angie points out that the clue says that it is by the base of the escalator. As they are looking Amber & Vinny come running past after having finished the detour. They shout out a question and Amber points towards the area the clue box is at.

Teams find the clue box by the escalator (16km) in the following order:
  1. Ricky & Cesar
  2. Amber & Vinny
  3. Juan & Shane
  4. Yvonne & Melissa
  5. Derek & Shelisa
  6. Rod & Leticia
  7. Kishori & Karishma
  8. Angie & Danny
  9. Sunny & Bizzy
 10. Michelle & Sean

Detour: Dance vibe or Wall scribe?

In Dance vibe racers must join a break-dancing troupe and perform a 30s routine.

In Wall scribe teams must go to a wall of murals. Among them they will find 8 race markers each bearing a part of a rebus puzzle. Their task is to solve the puzzle and tell the judge. The correct solution is "The world is smaller than you think".

Both detours require teams to first travel to the top of the escalators. The clues tells teams that they may not walk or run on the escalators.

 "I grew up break-dancing in the 80s", Rod
 "I can't dance at all", Leticia

The last pane in the rebus is a face with what looks like horns and a small thought bubble above it.
 "Evil thoughts?", Cesar
 "The world is bigger than your evil thoughts", The first guess by Ricky & Cesar
 "I eat rebus puzzles for breakfast", Danny

For the wall detour the clue says that the order in which you see the puzzle pictures is the order you should remember them to reveal the answer. This tricks Sunny & Bizzy who try to solve the rebus after the order they found the panels, which is not the order they are on the wall. The girls try many fanciful combinations:
 "Those who wanders are not lost", Sunny & Bizzy get the title
 "The world is smaller than I thought", a close guess
 "The earth I find, then we think"
 "The world is smaller than I think", Sunny & Bizzy are very close on their 31st attempt

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
  1(+1) Amber & Vinny, wall on their 1st guess
  2(-1) Ricky & Cesar, wall, on their 5th shown guess
  3(+5) Angie & Danny, wall, on their 2nd shown guess
  4(-1) Juan & Shane, dance, on their 2nd attempt
  5(+0) Derek & Shelisa, dance, on their 3rd attempt
  6(+0) Rod & Leticia, dance, on their 5th attempt
  7(+3) Michelle & Sean, dance, on their 3rd attempt
  8(-1) Kishori & Karishma, dance, on their 4 attempt
  9(-5) Yvonne & Melissa, dance, on their 5th attempt
 10(-1) Sunny & Bizzy, starts wall but after 31 attempts they switch to dance which they get on their 1st attempt

Route info "Take your taxi to Plaza Botero and search for your next clue'

In the taxi we get to see Amber & Vinny discuss the fact that Vinny was pressuring Amber to be quicker. I wonder if this team will have a hard time later on in the race when they are even more tired.

The taxi ride apparently takes close to 45 minutes as the streets are very congested.
 "I though LA traffic was bad", Shelisa

On the way to the plaza Ricky & Cesar borrow the driver's phone and look at pictures of the plaza and the statues therein.

Teams arrive at Plaza Botero in the following order:
  1(+0) Amber & Vinny
  2(+0) Ricky & Cesar
  3(+0) Angie & Danny
  4(+1) Derek & Shelisa
  5(+1) Rod & Leticia
  6(-2) Juan & Shane
  7(+0) Michelle & Sean
  8(+0) Kishori & Karishma
  9(+0) Yvonne & Melissa
 10(+0) Sunny & Bizzy

Road block: Who's feeling artsy?

This plaza is filled with statues made by Fernando Botero. Each participating racer is given a map of the plaza with 23 pegs on. They are also given 12 placards with names of statues on. The task is to place their placards on the correct pegs which indicates where in the plaza the statue is located.

 "Amber is not the most directionally inclined individual", Vinny
 "I really want to look at hers, 'cause she hasn't put her shades down. But I'm going to play it fair", Ricky does not look at Amber's map

 "Where is a the map?", Shelisa, standing in front of the board with the map on it
 "Those are the things Kishori is great at", Karishma when she reads the road block clue
 "Are you a name station", Karishma summons her inner candelabra and asks a local guy when looking for the maps

Rod and Shane decide to work together and locate six statues each.

 "And this is where they show on TV how may I got right and how many I got wrong", Shelisa on her first attempt (she got all wrong)
 "I'm in college, I can do this", Karishma gets a grip on the situation

We do not know if Michelle ever got the board correctly. We are just shown her getting her clue as it is starting to get dark and we have seen all the other teams reach the mat.

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):

1(+0)	Amber* & Vinny	(2-2)	On her 1st shown attempt
2(+0)	Ricky* & Cesar	(2-2)	On his 1st shown attempt
3(+0)	Angie & Danny*	(1-3)	On his 2nd attempt
4(+2)	Juan & Shane*	(1-3)	On his 3rd attempt
5(+0)	Rod* & Leticia	(2-2)	On his 2rd attempt
6(+3)	Yvonne* & Melissa	(2-2)	On her 1st attempt
7(-3)	Derek & Shelisa*	(1-3)	On her 8th attempt
8(+2)	Sunny* & Bizzy	(3-1)	On her 2nd attempt
9(-1)	Kishori & Karishma*	(2-2)	On her 18th attempt
10(-3)	Michelle* & Sean	(3-1)	after more than 19 attempts

The next clue is a route info which tells teams to race on foot to the next Pit Stop at a bridge in Parques del Río Medellín.

Ricky & Cesar complete the statue task just after Amber & Vinny. The latter are still getting directions (the lady they are asking is very slow), and the boys do speak Spanish so they are quicker in getting directions and take off. At that time Angie & Danny arrive so Amber gives Danny some help.

Teams reach Phil in the following order:
  1(+1) Ricky & Cesar, win $2500 each
  2(-1) Amber & Vinny
  3(+0) Angie & Danny
  4(+1) Rod & Leticia
  5(-1) Juan & Shane
  6(+1) Derek & Shelisa
  7(-1) Yvonne & Melissa, just after #6
  8(+0) Sunny & Bizzy
  9(+0) Kishori & Karishma
 10(+0) Michelle & Sean, are eliminated

 "I want my see my kids see their parents going for it", Sean

Then at the mat Phil asks for a lesson in Double Dutch skipping. He makes a good job of it. And the scene ends when the rope catches the camera.
 "That will make the cut", Phil to the crew

[maf]

Racing report
Amazing Race Season 36, Episode 5, "Save the stress for later"
Film date: probably 2022-11-01

The last leg ended in Medellín, Colombia. During the pit stop teams are transported to Santiago, Chile. Teams are released in three groups from Plaza De Armas.

Group 1: starts at 09:00
 * Ricky & Cesar
 * Amber & Vinny

Group 2: starts at 09:15
 * Angie & Danny
 * Rod & Leticia
 * Juan & Shane

Group 3: starts at 09:30
 * Derek & Shelisa
 * Yvonne & Melissa
 * Sunny & Bizzy
 * Kishori & Karishma

Route info: "Welcome to Santiago, Chile. Find Marilyn Monroe's Thunderbird to receive your next clue."

The clue tells the teams to pick up their cars on Monjitas street. Once there they will see that the cars have a manual transmission, and they will find a map inside. The clue also seem to list which address the Thunderbird can be found at. So teams just need to navigate themselves there. The last group miss the parked cars and it seems they run quite a bit before turning back.

 "We can only go a s fast as we go together", Vinny will let Amber set the pace
 "Having a map is an absolute game changer for sure, we know where we are going we don't have to stop for directions", Shane

We learn that Danny has been going to school in Santiago so he knows the area.

 "I can drive anything, pilot anything", Sunny about the manual transmission

This year it seems Karishma is the only one shown having a hard time driving stick, and that is only shown once so it seems it is not an insurmountable obstacle.

Teams find the Thunderbird at Argomedo Performance Garage (10km) in the following order:
 1. Ricky & Cesar
 2. Amber & Vinny
 3. Angie & Danny, just after #2
 4. Rod & Leticia, just after #3
 5. Juan & Shane
 6. Yvonne & Melissa
 7. Derek & Shelisa
 8. Kishori & Karishma
 9. Sunny & Bizzy

Route info: Drive yourselves to Skatepark Parque Araucano to find your next clue.

Danny turns out to be very good at navigating so he did catch up to Amber & Vinny at the first route marker. His mom wants him to not share his navigating skills as to give them a bit more of an edge as she is weaker physically.
 "I shouldn't be working with other teams, but my heart wants to work with other teams", Danny

 "Save the stress for later", Cesar gets the title when telling Ricky to calm down

Teams reach  the clue box by the skate park in the following order:
 1(+2) Angie & Danny
 2(+2) Rod & Leticia
 3(+2) Juan & Shane
 4(-3) Ricky & Cesar
 5(-3) Amber & Vinny
 6(+1) Yvonne & Melissa
 7(+0) Derek & Shelisa
 8(+0) Kishori & Karishma
 9(+0) Sunny & Bizzy

Road block: Who's feeling board?

In this road block racers must assemble a skateboard to match one used by one of the skaters in the park. The parts they need to add are the trucks and wheels.

One unexpected difficulty here is that there is one guy riding the example all the time so you can not rally get a good look at it. Then you can turn the trucks the wrong way and the wheels are all different colors so they need to be put on correctly. The board is decorated with the text "AR35", which reminds us that this was filmed as the 35rd season.

Danny quickly realize that the differently colored wheels needs to be put on in the right order.

Rod is quick in assembling his board, but he has installed one of his trucks facing the wrong way. And when fixing this he drops one of his nuts. He spends the next 20 minutes looking for it. The irony is that the clue said that they could get extra parts if needed.
 "A nut for a nutcase", Rod
 "I just don't know what they are looking at, I just don't know what is wrong", Juan after the judge says no the second time (he has the wheel colors wrong)
 "Rod, colors, colors", Juan gives Rod some advice when he is leaving
 "I can't put IKEA furniture together, I don't own a drill, don't know the difference between a nut and a bolt", Melissa

Karishma decides to do the task as she knows how to ride a skateboard. But she does not know how to build one.
 "I build furniture, I build all sorts of things", Kishori
 "I hate building", Karishma

Rod & Leticia get lost on their way to the detour. They get out on the freeway in the wrong direction and end up driving 12km before turning around.

 "So meeting Rod, he was very used to these I call "Yes girls". Girls that are just excited to be with a football player.", Leticia
 "I come from very humble beginnings so I was a lot spicier and I wasn't easily impressed.", Leticia

 "The stupid little bolt is stuck in the stupid little thing", Karishma is struggling
 
Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):

1(+0)	Angie & Danny*	(1-4)
2(+1)	Juan* & Shane	(2-3)
3(+1)	Ricky & Cesar*	(2-3)
4(-2)	Rod* & Leticia	(3-2)
5(+0)	Amber & Vinny*	(2-3)
6(+0)	Yvonne & Melissa*	(2-3)
7(+0)	Derek* & Shelisa	(2-3)
8(+1)	Sunny & Bizzy*	(3-2)
9(-1)	Kishori & Karishma*	(2-3)	Karishma later said it took her 4h to complete this task

Detour: Perform for pesos or Climb for clues

In perform for pesos one team member must put on a one man band outfit (a bass drum with a cymbal on top of it). They must then learn a short routine, and together with their partner earn 2500pesos (~$2.5). At least Phil say they need to learn a routine, in the episode it just looks they bang the drum a bit and ask for money. This detour takes place in Parque Quinta Normal (14km).

In climb for clues both team members must complete a 6 stories high climbing wall built on an old cement factory. This takes place at Parqye de escalada los silos (12km).

Danny loves climbing, but his mom does not have the upper body strength and she pulls the mommy card so they go and perform.

 "Some of the other people will have to navigate on their own, and we will see how works for them", Danny left before Rod & Leticia

Nobody is really struggling with any of the detours so all the place shifting is due to navigational issues. But there seems to be quite a lot of those. It seems every team struggled with getting from A to B. Partly because almost every street in Santiago is a one-way street.

Initially Rod play the drum and Leticia asks for money. But she is not having much success. Eventually they switch and Rod is much better at getting people to open their wallets.

 "You've got a model body", Karishma encourages Kishori
 "You got these long legs, basically Tyra Banks", Karishma again

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
 1(+2) Ricky & Cesar, perform
 2(+0) Juan & Shane, climb
 3(+2) Amber & Vinny, climb
 4(-3) Angie & Danny, perform
 5(-1) Rod & Leticia, perform
 6(+0) Yvonne & Melissa, climb
 7(+1) Sunny & Bizzy, climb
 8(-1) Derek & Shelisa, climb
 9(+0) Kishori & Karishma, climb

The next clue tells teams to drive to their next pit stop at Estacíon Mapocho.

As usual editing tries to trick us into believing it is a close race between the last two teams. In reality they did not look close. But it looks like Derek & Shelisa expected to be last beacuse they look very surprised when Phil tells them they are only next to last.

Teams reach the mat (~4km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Ricky & Cesar, win Expedia points for a trip to Singapore
 2(+0) Juan & Shane, as #1 are stepping off the mat
 3(+0) Amber & Vinny
 4(+0) Angie & Danny
 5(+0) Rod & Leticia
 6(+0) Yvonne & Melissa
 7(+0) Sunny & Bizzy
 8(+0) Derek & Shelisa
 9(+0) Kishori & Karishma, are eliminated

 "I really couldn't have asked for a better team mate and we 100% honored our parents", Kishori

[maf]

Racing report
Amazing Race Season 36, Episode 6, "Our alliance strikes again"
Film date: probably 2022-11-04

The previous leg was in Santiago, Chile. During the pit stop teams are transported to Córdoba, Argentina. Teams are released from a bridge in Cordoba at Caseros.

Group #1 departs 08:15:
  Ricky & Cesar
  Juan & Shane

Group #2 departs 08:30:
  Amber & Vinny
  Angie & Danny
  Rod & Leticia

Group #3 departs 08:45:
  Yvonne & Melissa
  Sunny & Bizzy
  Derek & Shelisa

The first clue is a route info which welcomes them to Cordoba and tells them that this will be a mega leg. They should first pick up a car and drive themselves to Plaza del Bicentenario.

The cars are parked outside Municipalidad de Córdoba and there are maps in them. Teams get 23,000 Argentinian pesos (~$26) for this leg.

Right from the start we learn that the teams in group #2 are working together and they are all following Danny to the next location.
 "Our job today is is not to win the mega leg, it is to survive the mega leg", Danny
 "Getting lost is what you don't want t do", Rod (even if they are following Danny Leticia is also following along on the map)
 
Teams arrive to Plaza del Bicentenario (2km) in the following order:
 1. Ricky & Cesar
 2. Juan & Shane
 3. Rod & Leticia
 4. Amber & Vinny
 5. Angie & Danny
 6. Yvonne & Melissa
 7. Derek & Shelisa
 8. Sunny & Bizzy

This plaza is filled with giant standing rings and there are clues hanging from a lot of them. It is not shown in the episode but a large portion of the clues were fake and only said "Try Again". But this does not seem to have really affected the race so it is not shown (but you can see a bunch of racers holding multiple clues in their hands).

Detour: Bicicleta or Boleadora

In Bicicleta teams must pedal a stationary bike which is attached to a small grinder to grind up enough plastic bottles to fill a container.

In Boleadora teams will get ten attempts to wrap a Bola around a moving target in the form of a bull. A Bola is three balls held together with string and the goal is to wrap at least one of them around the legs of the bull. Both team members must succeed within the same set of ten. To make it harder the throwing team member must sit on a simulated horse. There are four throwing stations and you may not retrieve your Bolas as long as anybody is throwing theirs.

The Bicileta takes place at Plaza Ex.Vélez Sársfield (1.7km) and the Boleadora at Parque Sarmiento (2km).

After a while the alliance (the three teams in the second group) arrive to the Boleadores but they think it looks too difficult so they decide to switch to Biciletas.

Yvonne & Melissa arrive to the Road Block as Ricky & Cesar are leaving. So we can assume that it took the boys at least 30 minutes to complete the Boleadores.

 "We can pedal our little hinnies off", Sunny
 "This thing is extremely hard", Vinny about riding the bike
 "He beasted that detour", Amber about Rod's cycling

When Sunny & Bizzy arrive to the Bicileta challenge the alliance teams have already left. And they complete it before Derek & Shelisa arrive.

Derek & Shelisa start with the Boleadora and make 18 throws before they give up and go to the Bicileta. It beats me why Derek did not even try to make his last two throws (Shelisa had already made a good throw in this round).
 "Your throws were completely off", Shelisa

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
 1(+1) Juan & Shane, Boleadora, on their 2nd attempt
 2(-1) Ricky & Cesar, Boleadora, on their 5th attempt
 3(+0) Rod & Leticia, went to Boleadora but immediately switched to Bicicleta
 4(+1) Angie & Danny, went to Boleadora but immediately switched to Bicicleta
 5(-1) Amber & Vinny, went to Boleadora but immediately switched to Bicicleta
 6(+0) Yvonne & Melissa, Boleadora, on their 3rd attempt
 7(+1) Sunny & Bizzy, Bicicleta
 8(-1) Derek & Shelisa, started Boleadora but gave up and switched to Bicicleta

The next clue tells teams to drive themselves to Cicuito Lobo Race

The alliance has decided to stay together so when Rod is done with the cycling he and Leticia start gathering directions while they are waiting for the other teams.

Teams arrive to the racing circuit (19km) in the following order:
 1(+1) Ricky & Cesar
 2(-1) Juan & Shane
 3(+0) Rod & Leticia
 4(+1) Amber & Vinny, just after #3
 5(-1) Angie & Danny, just after #4
 5(+1) Sunny & Bizzy
 7(-1) Yvonne & Melissa
 8(+0) Derek & Shelisa, more than 2h after the other teams

Road block: Who's got a good sense of direction?

In this road block the participating racer will have to suit up and will then be taken for a lap on the local circuit. Once they are done with that they must recreate the track on a board in max 3 minutes. If they fail they have to take another lap before making another attempt.

Effectively this is a quick lap to disorient the racers followed by a 9 piece puzzle where they have to connect a line.

An unexpected difficulty in this task is the temperature. It is hot in the cars and the racers are wearing heavy coveralls so they get hot.

 "No way man, he's not that smart", Shane doubts Juan will get it on his first attempt
 "My brain just wasn't clicking", Ricky

Angie struggles with this task. And the heat is getting to her so she has to sit down a bit and get attended to by the medics. She starts talking about taking the 4h penalty, but Danny is not having it.

 "It's ok, you go run your race", Angie does not want Amber to wait around for her
But Amber does wait around for Angie to go another lap in the car and then she helps her with the puzzle.
 "We came here as a team and we're leaving as a team", Amber

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):

1(+1)	Juan* & Shane	(3-3)	On his 1st attempt
2(-1)	Ricky* & Cesar	(3-3)	On his 4rd attempt
3(+1)	Amber* & Vinny	(3-3)	On her 3rd attempt
4(+1)	Angie* & Danny	(2-4)	On her 3rd attempt, with help from Amber
5(-2)	Rod & Leticia*	(3-3)	On her 4th attempt, with help from Amber
6(+1)	Yvonne & Melissa*	(2-4)	On her 2nd attempt
7(-1)	Sunny* & Bizzy	(4-2)	On her 2nd attempt
8(+0)	Derek* & Shelisa	(3-3)	On his 7th attempt

 "Are you freaking kidding me? It took you THAT long to figure this puzzle out?", Shelisa gets to see the puzzle when Derek is done
 
The next clue tells teams that the mega leg continues and they should make their way to Estadio Francisco Cabasés

In reality there was a 2h break after the racing road block. The way it works is that once a team is done with the road block the clock starts for them and 2h later they may continue racing. This gives them and the crew a chance to eat a bit and change batteries in all the equipment etc. It also allows them to see how far behind the other teams are. And in this case they do not see Derek & Shelisa at all so they know that they are at least 2h behind everybody else. Which probably makes the other teams feel much better as they do have a decent cushion.

It seems as if the alliance lets Amber & Vinny lead the way to the stadium, which is a bad idea as they get lost.

Teams arrive to the stadium (25km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Juan & Shane
 2(+0) Ricky & Cesar
 3(+4) Sunny & Bizzy
 4(+2) Yvonne & Melissa
 5(+0) Rod & Leticia
 6(-3) Amber & Vinny
 7(-3) Angie & Danny
 8(+0) Derek & Shelisa

Road block: Who want's to score?

In this road block one team member must join a bubble soccer team and score one goal in under 1.5 minutes. Their team will help them score to their best abilities. Each game only uses half the field so there can be two games going on at the same time.

Teams quickly learn that the opposing team does not hesitate to run into them and when they do you tend to bounce away and fall over.

Juan plays a lot of soccer and really wants to do this. But Shane points out that Juan is also more rounded and has better memory. So Shane should do this in order to save Juan for future road blocks.

After having failed three times Cesar realizes that if he first runs into the opposing team members to throw them to the ground then he will have a much easier time to score. And this plan works beautifully.

 "The way that we win this race, if we can knock out some road blocks for mom right now", Danny knows that one team is trailing
 "Anything where we can get physical and a ball is in play, I wanna do it", Rod (the ex NFL player)

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):

1(+0)	Juan & Shane*	(3-4)	On his 1st attempt
2(+0)	Ricky & Cesar*	(3-5)	On his 4th attempt
3(+0)	Sunny & Bizzy*	(4-3)	On her 5th attempt
4(+0)	Yvonne* & Melissa	(3-4)	On her 4th attempt
5(+0)	Rod* & Leticia	(4-3)	On his 1st attempt
6(+0)	Amber* & Vinny	(4-3)	On her 2nd attempt
7(+0)	Angie & Danny*	(3-4)	On her 3rd attempt
8(+0)	Derek* & Shelisa	(4-3)	They make it look like he got it on his 1st attempt

Route info: Find your next clue on he step overlooking the city in Mirador del Coniferal.

We are not shown how teams get to the steps but we can see that the alliance are there together so I wonder if the first teams just waited again by the stadium.

Teams reach the steps (3.4km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Juan & Shane
 2(+0) Ricky & Cesar
 3(+0) Sunny & Bizzy
 4(+0) Yvonne & Melissa, just after #3
 5(+0) Rod & Leticia
 6(+0) Amber & Vinny, just after #5
 7(+0) Angie & Danny, just after #6
 8(+0) Derek & Shelisa

Detour: Who did it? or What's your beef?

In Who did it?, teams must find a fingerprint on an object and then compare it to other prints on file. Once they find the suspect they will get their next clue. This looks fun but unfortunately no team do this.

In what's you beef?, teams must learn to identify 14 different cuts of beef. After having learned their names in Spanish teams must make their way to one of 3 available tables and then correctly place them on a board. The board has a picture of a cow and he different parts are labeled. One difficulty in this task is that the pieces of meat do not look exactly the same at the different stations and the demonstration.

The beef detour starts at Firgorifico "Gral Paz". There is a guy who names all the cuts for them, but he just names all of them in one go and does not stop or take questions. The boards can be found around the block at Patio de los Naranjos.

Sunny & Bizzy and Yvonne & Melissa decide to work together, probably because they feel pressured by the three team alliance. They get to the detour before the alliance. However when they fail the test and go back to study again the alliance moves in and occupies all the judging tables. Danny has read the rules and realize that there is no time limit and not requirement to go back so they can just stay there and make guess after guess and thus they keep the girls from getting to the tables. Eventually Rod & Leticia get approved and they then help the other teams in their alliance.

 "I know my cuts, in English", Bizzy
 "That is not a nice strategy", Danny about his strategy

Once they are done Danny tries to help Yvonne & Melissa but Angie shuts him down.

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
 1(+0) Juan & Shane
 2(+0) Ricky & Cesar
 3(+2) Rod & Leticia
 4(+3) Angie & Danny, with help from their alliance
 5(+2) Amber & Vinny, with help from their alliance
 6(-2) Yvonne & Melissa
 7(-4) Sunny & Bizzy

The next clue tells teams to race to the pit stop at Plaza de San Martín.

It seems as if after the detour Danny wanted the teams to go separately to Phil, but the others just follow him anyway.
 "So we might need to loose them a tiny bit", Danny when they see that the others are following them

Angie & Danny have promised to let Amber & Vinny step on the mat before them due to the help Amber gave to Angie at the racing road block. So even if they are first of the alliance to reach the plaza they wait for Amber & Vinny before stepping on the mat.

Tams reach Phil and the mat (2.5km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Juan & Shane, win $5000 each
 2(+0) Ricky & Cesar
 3(+0) Rod & Leticia
 4(+1) Amber & Vinny
 5(-1) Angie & Danny, within seconds of #3
 6(+0) Yvonne & Melissa, shortly after #5
 7(+0) Sunny & Bizzy, shortly after #6
 8(+0) Derek & Shelisa, are eliminated

Derek & Shelisa did not even get to do the last Detour. Instead they got sent directly to the Pit Stop.
 "This is a great time, it was a great experience", Derek

[maf]

Racing report
Amazing Race Season 36, Episode 7, "Walk and chew gum baby"
Film date: probably 2022-11-07

This leg takes place in Montevideo, Uruguay. This episode starts with some product placement from the previous pit stop where the teams get to use the Expedia app to pretend to decide which hotel to stay in.
Teams depart from Fortaleza del Cerro in three groups.

Group #1 departs at 07:45:
 Juan & Shane
 Ricky & Cesar
 
Group #2 departs at 08:00:
 Rod & Leticia
 Amber & Vinny

Group #3 departs at 08:15:
 Angie & Danny
 Yvonne & Melissa
 Sunny & Bizzy

The first clue tells teams to drive themselves to Puerto Logístico Punta de Sayago. So this will be another self driving leg. There is a detailed map in the cars.

We learn that Juan got food poisoning after the mega leg and he is still recovering.
 "We're dominating the road blocks, we're dominating the detours", Bizzy thinks they can move up (but they do suck at directions)
 "We want to run our own race today", Danny

Teams reach the clue box in the port (3km) in the following order:
 1. Ricky & Cesar
 2. Juan & Shane
 3. Amber & Vinny
 4. Rod & Leticia
 5. Angie & Danny
 6. Yvonne & Melissa, as #4 are leaving the port
 7. Sunny & Bizzy, not long after the previous team

Road block: Who wants to make sparks fly?

In this road block contestants must weld two metal plates together into an angle. Their weld will then be tested by the foreman, a big imposing man, who will hit the plates twice with a big hammer.

 "What haven't you guys done?", Juan when he learns that Cesar has welded before
 "I see this humongous hammer, it seems like all my dreams are going to be crushed with that hammer", Cesar when he sees the foreman
 "I'm pumped because I weld all the time as a firefighter", Sunny

There are welds which survive the first blow and the players start to get ecstatic, only to have them fail the second blow.

Vinny feels some pressure here as Amber's dad is a welder. Fortunately for him he does an excellent job.

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):

1(+2)	Amber & Vinny*	(4-4)	On his 1st attempt
2(+2)	Rod* & Leticia	(5-3)	On his 1st attempt
3(-2)	Ricky & Cesar*	(3-5)	On his 3rd attempt
4(-2)	Juan & Shane*	(3-5)	On his 4th attempt
5(+0)	Angie & Danny*	(3-5)	On his 2nd attempt
6(+1)	Sunny* & Bizzy	(5-3)	On her 2nd attempt
7(-1)	Yvonne* & Melissa	(4-4)	On her 2nd attempt

Route info: Drive to Ciudad Vieja and search the plaza next to Mercada del puerto for your next clue?

The clue is located at Plaza de la Fuente, and this is not a very big plaza.

As they are mapping out their route Amber & Vinny start having different opinions about how to turn. This will happen throughout the leg. Vinny basically runs over Amber every time. But he does turn out to be right every time.

Sunny & Bizzy have a hard time finding this clue box. But while looking for it they visit what feels like every plaza in Ciudad Vieja.

Teams reach the next clue box (14km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Amber & Vinny
 2(+1) Ricky & Cesar
 3(+2) Angie & Danny
 4(+0) Juan & Shane, just after #3
 5(-3) Rod & Leticia, a minute or so after #4
 6(+1) Yvonne & Melissa
 7(-1) Sunny & Bizzy

Detour: Candobe or Murga

In Candobe must become drummers and join a local band. They must each beat a different rhythm on their drums (simultaneously) while walking along with the band. In reality they first had to pass a test where they had to show that they could do the rhythms and once they passed that they got to amble along with the band.

In Murga teams must sing a song in Spanish together with a group of carnival singers. There is a board with the lyrics which they can use as support. They are mostly judged on managing to get the right words in the right order and doing so with flair.

Both detours take place very close to each other at a couple of streets about 4km away. Both options also require players to put on a costume.

 "Stop that, you're working against me. I'm the only one who know how to do this", Vinny when they are mapping their route to the detour (and he does know how to do it)
 "I studied musical theater and voice", Ricky
 "I was in band, this kid is a pianist", Angie
 "Finally, I've been waiting for a full costume", Cesar

 "It was extremely difficult to just get in synchrony with each other", Vinny on the drumming
 "Which was kind of symbolic of our day, I didn't feel like we were in sync so it was tough", Amber

Ricky & Cesar do not get approved on their first attempt at the singing. They are told they need to do more dancing. And they are happy to oblige.

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
 1(+1) Ricky & Cesar, singing on their 3rd attempt
 2(+1) Angie & Danny, drums on their 1st attempt
 3(-2) Amber & Vinny, drums on their 2nd attempt
 4(+0) Juan & Shane, drums on their 1st attempt
 5(+0) Rod & Leticia, drums on their 1st attempt
 6(+0) Yvonne & Melissa, singing on their 8th attempt
 7(+0) Sunny & Bizzy, drums on their 1st shown attempt

As Angie & Danny get approved Ricky & Cesar run past in the background. They have changed back into their normal cloths and seem to be running to their car.

The next clue tells teams to drive to La Rambla Playa Malvín
 "We're racing for first place right now, this is so exciting", Danny
 "We never don't know where we are we always just choose a dumber route", Shane

After the detour Amber & Vinny have different ideas about where they parked their car. Vinny relents and goes where Amber want to. This turns out to be wrong so after a while they switch and go to where Vinny wanted, and that is where they find their car.

As expected he editing makes it look like a really tight race between the first two teams. But we never see them both in the same frame until they meet at the mat.

Teams reach Phil an the mat (8km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Ricky & Cesar, win Expedia points for a trip to Paris
 2(+0) Angie & Danny
 3(+2) Rod & Leticia
 4(-1) Amber & Vinny
 5(+1) Yvonne & Melissa
 6(-2) Juan & Shane, lost a footrace against #6
 7(+0) Sunny & Bizzy, are eliminated

 "I'm just excited like I get to go back a new new person, I feel rejuvenated. This race was everything I needed", Bizzy

[maf]

Racing report
Amazing Race Season 36, Episode 8, "That's what being strong will do"
Film date: probably 2022-11-10

This leg takes place in Barbados. Teams are released from Chamberlain bridge in Bridgetown (which interestingly enough only has two bridges) in the following order:
Group #1 departs at 07:40:
  Ricky & Cesar
  Angie & Danny

Group #2 departs at 07:55:
  Rod & Leticia
  Amber & Vinny

Group #2 departs at 08:10:
  Juan & Shane
  Yvonne & Melissa

The first clue tells teams to travel to the neighborhood of Fairfield / Black rock. More specifically thy need to drive to the corner of Parkinson and Fairfield rd.

Each team get a small open jeep for this leg. In this they both get to sit in the front seat and the crew will travel in a van behind them. This will get very significant later in the episode. Teams will also find a map in the car.

We are shown Ricky & Cesar helping Danny & Angie by showing them where the first location is on the map. Then Angie & Danny start following the boys.
 "They have a good idea of where they are going", Danny on why they are following
 "I'm a little lost", Cesar
Shortly after the firs two teams leave it starts raining, first a little but then it really starts pouring down. Teams have to stop and put the covers on their cars. Apparently it rained so hard that production paused the race for a bit. Everybody got to drive to the next route marker but when they got there they had to wait. The first team had to wait until the rain stopped and then the others were probably released in the same intervals they got there. During this pause production also gave everybody a new map, which probably was a good idea as the previous ones were soaked and falling apart. Teams are released form the pause at the same intervals that they reached the location.

We learn that Yvonne & Melissa are using the race to check if they are ready to take the next step and move in together.

Teams reach the next clue box (5km) in the following order:
 1. Ricky & Cesar
 2. Angie & Danny
 3. Yvonne & Melissa
 4. Rod & Leticia
 5. Juan & Shane
 6. Amber & Vinny

Road block: Who wants to get into the swing of things?

In this road block players must play road tennis against a local. They must score 11 points to get their next clue. There is no match or anything, they just play until the racer has won 11 points.

Angie has both played and coached tennis, so she feels confident.

 "Who's the worst?", Yvonne checks the opponents
 "I picked him because he had glasses", Yvonne
 "Who's the best one?", Juan thinks he is selecting an instructor

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):

1(+0)	Ricky* & Cesar	(4-5)	Before team #2 even got to the task
2(+0)	Angie* & Danny	(4-5)	Before team #3 even got to the task
3(+0)	Yvonne* & Melissa	(5-4)
4(+0)	Rod & Leticia*	(5-4)
5(+0)	Juan* & Shane	(4-5)
6(+0)	Amber & Vinny*	(4-5)

The next clue is a route info which tells teams to drive to the childhood home of Rihanna.
 "Who is Rihanna?", Angie
When Angie then asks Danny to sing her a Rihanna song he is stumped and can't think of any.

Most teams passed by Rihanna way on the way to the road tennis so they already know where to go.
 
Teams reach the Rihanna monument in the following order:
 1(+0) Ricky & Cesar
 2(+0) Angie & Danny
 3(+0) Yvonne & Melissa
 4(+0) Rod & Leticia, just after #3
 5(+1) Amber & Vinny
 6(-1) Juan & Shane, as #5 are leaving

The clue here is a route info which sends teams to Long Bay Beach in Christ church parish.

On the way to the next route marker we get to see Ricky & Cesar get a little bit frustrated.
 "You're making me a little anxious", Ricky
 "But I don't know how to help you", Cesar
But all of this is very mild compared to other teams. And they are still the first team to reach the next location.

On the way to Long Beach we have the big controversy of this season. Angie & Danny lose their crew in a roundabout. They did drive erratically through the roundabout (in Barbados you drive on the left side of the road which did not help), and they did multiple laps before finally exiting. It also seems to take a while until Danny try to call the crew on their walkie takie, which by then seem to be out of range. On the other hand it should not have taken the crew 1.5 hours to get to the next location. We will probably never know exactly what happened and why. Danny cites a safety  briefing they got that said that if they lost their crew, or felt unsafe, they should proceed to the next route marker to get reunited there.

When Angie & Danny arrive at Long Bay Beach they are told to wait in their car until their crew arrives. They say they waited for 45 minutes and then the producers gave them another crew so they could continue racing. As they walk down to the beach they meet the first team leaving.

Teams reach the clue box at Long Bay beach (20km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Ricky & Cesar
 ----- Angie & Danny, without their crew
 2(+1) Yvonne & Melissa
 3(+2) Amber & Vinny
 4(+0) Rod & Leticia
 5(-3) Angie & Danny
 6(+0) Juan & Shane

Detour: Seaweed clearing or Fish pot building

In Fish pot building teams must assemble a Fish pot, a local fish trap. This needs to be built using sticks, wire mesh and wire. Once the local fisherman approves of their pot they will get their next clue. This option seem to be fairly time consuming.

In Seaweed clearing teams must collect seaweed from the beach. They must fill one barrel and to help they have one rake and a wheelbarrow. The scary thing about this task is that the wheelbarrows and the collection area is a long way away from the barrels which need to be filled. Juan & Shane are the only ones doing this and they learn that they only need to make three trips to fill the barrel.

Ricky & Cesar want to do the seaweed challenge but got discouraged when they saw the distance so they decide to build the Fish pot instead as they think it will be too hard to run that long in the sand. Yvonne & Melissa do the same.

Ricky & Cesar are smart and choose the work station closest to the example.

The only team having any issues with this detour is Rod & Leticia who miss the corner supports of the fish pot. After two attempts to get approved they realize what they are missing.
 "Ow, we're missing the sticks", Rod has a revelation

Teams complete this detour in the following order:
 1(+0) Ricky & Cesar, fish pot
 2(+4) Juan & Shane, seaweed
 3(+0) Amber & Vinny, fish pot
 4(-2) Yvonne & Melissa, fish pot
 5(-1) Rod & Leticia, fish pot
 6(-1) Angie & Danny, fish pot

The next clue is just a photograph of a pavilion and a sign saying "Welcome to Hastings Rocks"

On their way to the Pit Stop Rod & Leticia end up on a dead end and when they try to turn around the car ends up on the grass besides the road. And this turns out to be very slippery (probably because of all the rain earlier) so when they try to drive back up onto the road the wheels just spin. But Rod gets out and shows what he is made of when he pushes the car up on the road again.
 "That's what being strong will do sometimes", Rod gets the title

Phil is waiting at the Hastings Rocks (12km) and teams reach him in the following order:
 1(+0) Ricky & Cesar, win $7,500 each
 2(+0) Juan & Shane
 3(+0) Amber & Vinny
 4(+0) Yvonne & Melissa, seconds after #3
 5(+0) Rod & Leticia
 6(+0) Angie & Danny, are eliminated

 "This has been everything I ever dreamt of", Danny

[maf]

Racing report
Amazing Race Season 36, Episode 9, "My Precious Cacao"
Film date: probably 2022-11-13

This leg of the race takes place in the Dominican Republic. Teams depart from Puente Peatonal de Charcos de Damajagua in two groups.

Group #1 departs 08:45:
  Ricky & Cesar
  Juan & Shane

Group #2 departs 09:00:
  Rod & Leticia
  Yvonne & Melissa
  Amber & Vinny
.
The first clue tells them to follow the path into the jungle and search for their next clue. They also get 1,500 Dominican Pesos (~$25) for this leg of the race.

Nobody has any issues finding the next clue box and they get there in the following order:
 1. Juan & Shane
 2. Ricky & Cesar
 3. Amber & Vinny
 4. Yvonne & Melissa
 5. Rod & Leticia

Road block: Who can see the writing on the wall?

In this road block one team member must go canyoning. At the last part of the canyon there are Taíno petroglyph symbols placed along the walls. Once they get to the end they must lay ten stones bearing the correct glyphs on a log. The difficulty is that each stone has symbols on both sides. They are very similar and only differ in some minute detail. It is not clear if the order matters or not.

The start of the canyon is 2-3km away and they must make their way there on foot. A lot of it is uphill so it is quite the workout.
 "Going up that hill was exhausting", Cesar
 "Wow, he's actually surprisingly close", Juan had assumed he would get a large lead on Cesar

We learn that Melissa has done these waterfalls before back when she visited the area while protecting then vice president Biden. So she knows how far the hike to the start is.

Just like Juan, Rod expects to leave his competitors in the dust and he is amazed when Melissa keeps up
 "I should have done more steps", Amber

The actual canyon looks marvelous. There are lots of waterfalls and natural slides. The petroglyphs are all hidden in the last part of the canyon just before the judging area. There are stairs available here so teams can go back up and redo this part without having to go back to the start.

 "Happy face, one eye", Cesar makes up mnemonics for the petroglyphs he spots
 "Mad calamari", some of them are inventive

On their first pass Juan and Cesar only spot five of the ten petroglyphs.

When the second group arrive to the judging area Cesar ask Melissa if she wants to work with him, she does. Juan asks Rod to work with him.
 "Oh, you can flip these", Juan realize that the stones have symbols on both sides.

This road block is difficult so teams spend quite a while there. Eventually Melissa is the only one left and she starts to just try different permutations.

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):

1(+1)	Ricky & Cesar*	(4-6)	On his 3rd attempt
2(-1)	Juan* & Shane	(5-5)	On his 5th attempt
3(+2)	Rod* & Leticia	(6-4)	On his 2nd attempt
4(-1)	Amber* & Vinny	(5-5)	On her 3rd attempt
5(-1)	Yvonne & Melissa*	(5-5)	On her 8th attempt

Once Cesar gets approved he runs over to Melissa and tells her some things (like that all the eyes are on the left). That is he helps her a bit but does not give her the answer. She is fine with this and as a superfan she does not like it when teams share answers so she does not want more help.

The next clue tells teams to catch a ride with a local farmer who will drive them to Don Manuel's Finca de Cacao where they can find their next clue.

Teams must first trek out of the jungle to a parking spot where they will find a bunch of waiting cars. As Cesar get into their car he turns to the others and tell them to go slow. The cars are pickups with rather small back seats, and that is probably why we Rod sits in the front seat which differs from the other teams where the camera persons sits in the front.

Teams find the clues at the cacao plantation in the following order:
 1(+0) Ricky & Cesar
 2(+0) Juan & Shane
 3(+1) Amber & Vinny
 4(-1) Rod & Leticia, just after #3
 5(+0) Yvonne & Melissa

Here teams are given a long handed scythe to help them cut down ripe cacao pods from the trees. They must then remove the seeds from the pods and spread the seeds on a tarp to dry. They must fill the tarp with seeds.

Rod is tall so he can in many cases just reach or jump up and grab the pods. And Vinny has a hard time handling the tool so he starts climbing up into the trees.

 "Being tall helps sometimes", Rod
 "No no no, precious cacao", Cesar gets the title when they drop a pod

This task is not difficult but it is time consuming. This means that the last team arrive here before they first team is done.

Teams complete the task in the following order:
 1(+0) Ricky & Cesar
 2(+2) Rod & Leticia
 3(-1) Juan & Shane
 4(-1) Amber & Vinny
 5(+0) Yvonne & Melissa
 
The next clue tells teams to make their way to Estadio Bartolo Colón. Teams will travel with the farmers who drove them here.

In the car Cesar talks about tasting the cacao, but that their hands are dirty and they did not want to get sick.

Teams reach the stadium in the following order:
 1(+0) Ricky & Cesar
 2(+0) Rod & Leticia
 3(+0) Juan & Shane
 4(+0) Amber & Vinny
 5(+0) Yvonne & Melissa

Road block: Who wants to play ball?

Here players must take part in three different baseball exercise. They must field a ground ball and throw it to the first base. They must catch a high ball and finally they must hit a thrown bottle cap with a broomstick and make it fly at least 25 feet.

These tasks are not very difficult and most players just breeze through. Except Rod who has a hard time throwing the ball to the first base. His balls are to high for the receiving player to catch them. It took him four tries to pass the ball, and then he has to make 14 tries to hit the bottle cap.
 "Why can't I throw right? What is happening?", Rod

Yvonne also has to do about 14 attempts to hit the bottle cap.

Each player get a jersey with their name printed on the back.

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the roadblock):

1(+0)	Ricky* & Cesar	(5-6)
2(+0)	Rod* & Leticia	(7-4)
3(+0)	Juan & Shane*	(5-6)	About 30s after #2
4(+0)	Amber & Vinny*	(5-6)
5(+0)	Yvonne* & Melissa	(6-5)

Route info: Take a taxi to Paseo de Doña Blanca to find your next clue.

Production has arranged for a bunch of taxis to wait outside the stadium. But it soon turns out that not all of the drivers know where the destination is. And for some reason they refuse to use their phones. So we can assume that this is something production did set up.

Ricky & Cesar ask a bunch of them and find one drive who say he probably know where it is.  Some drivers also seem to refuse to stop and ask for directions, and as he drive is rather long it makes for a very tense 40 minutes for the teams. In the end it seems that nobody had any major difficulties getting there.

Teams arrive to the next clue box in the following order:
 1(+0) Ricky & Cesar
 2(+0) Rod & Leticia
 3(+0) Juan & Shane, just after #2
 4(+0) Amber & Vinny
 5(+0) Yvonne & Melissa

The clue here tells teams to make their way on foot to the pit stop at Anfiteatro de Puerto Plata.

Teams reach Phil on the mat (750m) in the following order:
 1(+0) Ricky & Cesar, win Expedia points for a trip to Seoul, Korea
 2(+0) Rod & Leticia
 3(+0) Juan & Shane, just after #3
 4(+0) Amber & Vinny
 5(+0) Yvonne & Melissa, are eliminated

In the end Yvonne & Melissa was about 2 minutes behind the next to last team.

 "This race actually brought us closer together", Melissa