The Amazing Race Recap "You Know I'm Not as Smart as You"

Recap of The Amazing Race week 2, which aired on Feb. 26, 2012:

Since they were the first team to arrive at the last pit stop, Rachel and Dave were the first to leave for the second leg of The Amazing Race, followed by Rachel and Brenden.  The teams are instructed to head to Cafayate Town Square.


Danny and Joey are the last team to leave the pit stop.  In the end, it doesn't matter, though, because all teams end up having to wait at Cafayate Town Square for daylight in order to receive their next clue.

When they get their next clue, teams must decide which detour to complete - "Boil My Water," or, "Build My Fire."  In, "Boil My Water," teams have to build a solar oven, using the picture on the side of the box as their reference.  Once they have built the oven, they are to put a kettle of water on the stove and wait for it to boil to receive their next clue.  In, "Build My Fire," teams have to pack a donkey to receive their next clue.

I was surprised that all the teams except Art and JJ decided to build the solar oven.  While the donkey detour was more labor-intensive, it certainly seemed like the faster option to me.  Art and JJ get lost trying to find their detour.  Bopper and Mark are the first team who manages to boil water in their side of the detour.  Art and JJ finish shortly after with their side of the detour - it turns out that the donkey challenge was the faster of the two tasks, so they made a smart decision by choosing to do that side of the detour.  The rest of the teams begin to receive their next clue as their water boils.  The last team to leave the water boiling challenge are Nary and Jamie.

Teams are instructed to take a bus to Buenos Aires, an 18-hour trip.  Teams end up taking three different buses to Buenos Aires.  Art and JJ, Rachel and Dave, Rachel and Brenden, and Bopper and Matt end up on the first bus.  The rest of the teams, except for Nary and Jamie and Kerri and Stacy, end up on the second bus.

The second bus ends up having to stop because a window breaks.  They have tape it up before they can continue on their way.  Teams on the second bus are freaking out because they know they are losing valuable time and they all hope the rest of the teams aren't passing them while they're waiting on the side of the road.  The second bus ends up being delayed for two hours, and the third bus passes them while they are stranded.

Once teams get to Buenos Aires, they are faced with a roadblock, "Where's the Beef," where they have to count the number of cattle up for auction and divide the cattle's total weight by the number of cattle in that lot to figure out each cow's average weight.  Teams are not allowed to use calculators for the challenge.

Dave and Rachel are the first team to finish the math challenge and head to the next pit stop, El Gomero, a rubber tree that's two thousand years old!  They are the first to arrive at the pit stop for the second time and win a trip to Grenada.

Rachel (of Rachel and Brenden) is freaking out at the math challenge because she's not good at math.  In the end, Mark and Rachel end up working together to get through the task.  Matt and Bopper leave to head to the pit stop, but Rachel made a mistake with their cab, so they have no transportation.  She begins freaking out again and tells Brenden not to yell at her.  Poor guy.  He takes all the blame for the mistake and they manage to find another taxi to take them to the pit stop.  Brenden apologizes on the way to the pit stop to an unresponsive Rachel.

Art and JJ come in second, but they aren't pleased with this news.  Phil even remarks that they look as if they've just lost the race and not come in second!

Third to arrive are Matt and Bopper.  Brenden and Rachel are team number four.  Kerry and Stacy are fifth and Nary and Jamie are sixth to finish the second leg of the race.  Coming in seventh are Vanessa and Ralph with Joey and Danny following in eighth.

Team number nine are Andrew and Eliot.

This leaves the clowns, Cherie and Dave, to come in last.  Unfortunately, they are eliminated from the race.  Dave tells Phil and Cherie that they are still the luckiest couple, though, because they have one another.  It was really sweet.  I enjoyed watching those two, and will miss seeing them run more legs of the race.  As they walk away from Phil, Cherie does a cartwheel.