But before we discuss Bingo's problems in this leg, let's just say that after the relatively tame Episode 1, this leg harkens back to the old school Amazing Race. Remember those, when teams travelled long distances between tasks instead of getting everything done within the same city? Ahh, the good old days.
So the first team, the Exes, leave the pitstop with their Express Passes and are told to make their way to Museo Corbeta Esmeralda, a replica of a famous 19th Century Chilean warship and find the officer of the day and he'll give them the next clue. Sounds relatively easy, but as the Exes quickly discover, it doesn't open till 7:15. And all the teams will arrive in time for that. Which does happen and though Marie tries to boss around all the teams, telling them that there's a line, blah, blah, blah. Most teams dismiss her efforts. And once 7:15 rolls around, it's like opening the doors at a Festival seating concert, everyone pushing their way to get to the front.
They search for the officer of the day but it seems that he'll only give the clue if you repeat a famous war cry from Chilean war hero Captain Arturo Prat. And you gotta do it in the original Spanish. So the teams scattered rushing around like "rats on the deck of a ship" notes one of the Bingos. (Think it was Rowan). The Beardos and the Ice Girls are the first to discover the phrase, "Let's Board, boys" from some old dude hanging around the dock. Which is a hint to all you future racers out there, always talk to the old dudes hanging around.
And then the Beardos and the Ice Girls are off, literally to the salt mines to find their next clue. One by one the other teams figure out the phrase and either the salt mines are really close or maybe it was the editing, but the Beardos arrive at the saltmines just as other teams are shouting out the war cry.
At the salt mines, it's a Detour: Brine or Mine. In Brine, teams must fill a tub of water with enough salt so they can both float while reading a newspaper. In Mine, they have to break apart a giant boulder to find their clue within. At first, Brine seems easier than trying to crack rocks open, but the Beardos choose that side. That is, after they have to ride a bike a good distance to the actual mine site.
The Ice Girls also start with Mine but quickly realize that they don't really have to strength and switch to Brine. Which I'm guessing probably made the producers quite happy because then these young ladies would have to strip down to their bikinis. In fact, all the teams with young, good looking women chose Brine. But since they have to carry 50 pound bags of salt over to the tub, dump, rinse and repeat, it's pretty difficult. Especially when you're wearing a bikini. The only team not to get there around the same time, relatively speaking, are the Bingos. They got caught with the dreaded Amazing Race misfortune: the Bad Cab. So they're behind everyone else. So far, not their fault. But that will change.
Breaking rocks is perfect stuff for the big, tough NFLers and they start smashing boulders all over the place, impressing all the other teams. But the Beardos get done first and snag their clue. They have to get back to Iquique and grab a bus to Santiago, the capital of Chile. And it's not short ride either. 1,000 miles in 24 hours. Almost as bad as travelling by Edmonton transit, although the seats are probably more comfortable in Chile. And there's a no smelly dude falling asleep on your shoulder.
Anyway, the Beardos head out, and are followed quickly by the NFLers and the Afghanimals, three teams who started on the Mining side. As the Afghanimals are riding their bikes back from the mine, they see Bingo coming in. "Those guys are done," says one of the Afghanimals (or something like that). And sad to say, it's a bit true. The Bingos are late to show, and by the time they start cracking rocks, almost all the other teams are done, even those on the Brine side.
The Baseball wives have a bit of a tough time but push through. And with some nice bikini clad hugs for each other, and the worker on the site, the producers are pleased with their selection of this team. The worker looked very happy as well and will have stories to tell his friends at the bar that night. "I'm telling you, muchachos, there were a whole bunch of women in bikinis at work today. Seriously, I'm not kidding. A couple of them were even hugging each other and then they starting hugging me. One thing led to another and man, I never thought it would happen to me but..." Obviously, if bikini clad women are going to hug you, you're going to enhance the story a bit.
All the teams that pick Mine, including the Small Town Boys (Who claim that they've done this kind of stuff before in one of their jobs), get done faster than the Brine side. So go figure. I thought Brine would be easier but it's not.
Back in Iquique, the Beardos arrive at the bus depot and grab tickets to the next bus outta town, the 1:30. They're joined by four other teams NFL, Afghanimals, ER Docs and the Daters. The next five teams, Exes, Ice Girls, Baseball Wives and the Small Town Boys. (forgive if I've gotten this wrong, at this point, I'm still trying to figure out teams). The Bingos manage to get their salt mining done and arrive before the 2 pm bus leave. But they discover that this bus is a bit of a milk run. And it will arrive around 6 pm, more than 24 hours after it leaves. They are told, or so they believe, that a later bus, more of an express, will arrive at 4 pm the next day, giving them a 2 hour lead on the last four teams. So they dismiss the 2 pm, thinking they are making a great play to move ahead.
Unfortunately, they realize that the ticket guy said the bus will leave at 4 pm, not arrive at that time. Instead, it will arrive at 10 pm, four hours later. Big mistake. Fortunately, they get on a 3 pm bus that arrives only an hour later. And with 24 hours of highway traffic to play with, that could change. It's happened before.
So Bus #1 arrives pretty much on schedule. Teams have to find the clue box at Plaza de Armas. It's a Roadblock in which teams have to find a marked shoeshine stand, shine a customer's shoes, put together the stand and then roll it several blocks to Shoeshine HQ. Doing the shine is relatively easy but most of the first teams willy-nilly toss together the stand and start moving. So even though Leo gets there first, his stand isn't proper and he's turned away. Whichever Beardo who did the task, drops all his stuff and has to gather it all up. Ex-NFLer Chester does it right and gets the clue: head to Cascada de las Anima Nature Preserve and find the pitstop.