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Leg 21.10 – “Don’t let me fly to heaven like this!”
Almost there! Teams set off on the 10th Leg of the Race by learning they will be flying to Guatemala City, Guatemala! Teams will be on one of two flights: Delta & JetBlue via New York JFK arriving at 9:43pm or United via Newark, New Jersey arriving at 10:08pm.
Upon arrival in Guatemala City, teams must make their way to Centro Cultural Miguel Angel Asturias (or Teatro Nacional) where HOURS OF OPERATION! Teams must wait until 8am tomorrow morning.
Once the theater opens, teams must get a lesson at the National Marimba Institute. After they can get the basic notes of a marimba down, they will be given a set of wooden bars to keep until further notice.
Teams must now make their way to the General Cemetery of the Municipality of Santiago Sacatepequez.
Here, teams will make a large traditional Day of the Dead kite and fly it in order to receive their next clue.
Teams must now make their way to Finca Filadelfia, one of the coffee centers of the world where they will find a Road Block: Who can grind it out?
For this Road Block, teams must choose a sack of coffee beans and then hand-grind enough beans to fill a small container. Once filled, teams will receive the next clue.
That clue points teams to Antigua Guatemala, a UNESCO world heritage site. Here, teams will find the next clue at Arco de Santa Catalina where they will encounter the Detour: Alfombras or Marimba.
In Alfombras, teams must properly make a section of the traditional Holy Week flower carpet known as alfombras. When approved, they will receive the next clue
In Marimba, teams must use the wooden bars they received earlier and assemble a marimba. They must then perform the piece they learned earlier to receive the next clue.
Teams must search the area for the U-Turn board and cluebox where they will learn that the All U-Turn has been activated!
After teams complete both Detours, they must join a Holy Week procession to Antigua Guatemala Cathedral.
They must then search Plaza Mayor Parque Central for their next clue which directs teams to walk to the Pit Stop:
La Recolleccion Architectural Complex.
The first team to check-in here will win P200,000 courtesy of Shell V-Power Nitro+.
The last team to check-in here WILL be eliminated.
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“Director’s” Commentary
A nice leap across the Atlantic for a first (for TARPH) visit to Guatemala. It will be the second Guatemala visit for the TAR franchise as a whole as I believe one of the Latin America TARs probably visited it.
But the main reason I have Guatemala here is I needed a few endgame destinations. And Central and South America were the options. Guatemala has been on my shortlist mainly for those interesting kites. It’s a great cultural task to have. Especially with teams immersing themselves in an important local tradition. One that Filipino teams and Filipino audience will probably relate very much to.
The first task of the Leg though is the marimba task. Another good cultural highlight. The task helps to fill out the Leg, but also will try to add a bit of drama to the Detour choice. Will teams be confident in their marimba skills to initially choose it? But then, shock when they find out an All U-Turn has been activated.
Because this Leg isn’t as full as it should be, I thought an All U-Turn could spice things up. Especially since this is the last Leg for a U-Turn or Yield as well.
The Road Block is a typical task. Nothing too crazy about it other than grinding it out. Literally!
Again with the Detour, the initial choice between the tedious flower carpet and the more technical marimba side of the Detour should be a good drama-inducer for the end of this Leg.
Then to have teams running around at the end before the Mat, this will be a great pseudo-Penultimate Leg-type day!