AR12 - Leg 3 - Fly where?

9 Teams remain... who will be eliminated next?

Amsterdam. We begin by finding out that Ronald developed a hernia on the last leg of the race and was treated during the pit stop. This does not bode well for Team Tacoma.

Fly to Ouagadouguawhatkhcasmasomewhere... er... somewhere in Burkina Faso. Though first the teams have to figure out that's where it is. Once again though, we have an incredibly long flight to start off the leg. This should once again equalize the teams into a couple big groups. Even closer, it's going to be 1 team on a 7:20am Flight, 8 teams all together on an 8:00 am flight. Of course, as expected, the 8am flight suffers "mechanical problems" that may cause all 8 teams to miss their connection in Paris. Of course that wouldn't happen, would it? Of course not. Now all 9 teams are equalized onto a single flight to Ouagadougou. I wouldn't want to have to pay by the letter.

Now take the last train to nowhere. I-24... BINGO! Bingo, Burkina Faso is uh, in the middle of nowhere. The train stops on the tracks and you jump off. Classic. It's quickly becoming reminiscent of the driving through Southern Africa on AR7. And what do you do in Bingo? That's right, a roadblock... milk a camel... and then drink it. Bleah.

Lead 4 camels across the savannah all the way to a group of waiting nomads... destined to become the most famous Burkina Faso nomads in the entire world. And how easy it is to get lost when there are no roads and everything looks the same.

And Ronald is singing again... great. And DC2 is having a breakdown. Oh the drama. If there's one thing the Amazing Race has taught us all, is that screaming will solve any problem. :)

Detour: Teach it or Learn it. Teach 10 English words to children who know no English whatsoever. Or, the opposite, learn 10 Mori words. Kids learn better than older people, so I'd teach it instead of trying to learn it.

Yes, teaching kids the words "skyscraper", "camera" and "cowboy" when these kids have certainly never seen one of any of them in their entire lives, makes a lot of sense. :) Classic moment of the night goes once again to Ronald for describing skyscraper in terms of King Kong on the Empire State Building. Word association only works if they can associate it to something else they know. :) The siblings, however, take the learn it approach and pull into 1st place.

To the pitstop they go... and the wind and rains begin. Phil stands on the magic carpet with an umbrella... as the sibling are team number 1. I think the mat will need some dry cleaning after this leg of the race. I hope they have spares.

DC2 is still trying to milk their camels. They are so far behind, I see little chance remaining for them not to be the next victim of the Amazing Race. Teams 2,3,4,5 and 6 all arrive on the magic carpet within a minute of each other. The blondes arrive shortly later as team #7. The remaining 2 teams (DC2 and the Sisters) are significantly behind and it will be a race to the finish as both are trying to Learn It. DC2 survives to make it 8th. The sisters are the last team to arrive.

I must say this leg of the race was pretty straight forward, though interesting at least due to the unique locations and challenges. I kinda hope that they continue on their adventures through Africa, because on some level all cities start to look the same after a while. Once you're in the middle of Africa, everything is new and different... until the nothingness starts to look too familiar, but that's when it's time to leave. We'll see what happens next week.