The Amazing Race

Every year, IncaLink interns compete in an "Amazing Race" all around Ecuador for four days. In teams of three to four, we traveled from town to town, learned how to use the buses, and completed various challenges ("cultural experiences). Here are some things an intern may do during the Amazing Race:

1. Ride a bus to Mindo.
2. Get sick on the bus to Mindo... then miss all but the last day of the race.
3. Take a quiz about Ecuador.
4. Hike up the mountain to "Canopy Adventures" and proceed to ride 13 zip-lines over the jungle canopy and through the misty clouds.
5. Take a pick-up truck to Los Bancos. Make bologna sandwiches in the back of the truck and pass them through the window to those in the cabin, including the driver.
6. Take a bus to Santo Domingo, then El Carmen. Then ride in a truck to the Alliance Church in Bramadura.
7. Play soccer against nationals. An intern may sprain an ankle while playing.
8. Catch a chicken.
9. Ride a chiva (a bus with seats on top)... and some chickens.
10. Buy various items at a market.
11. Ride a moto to a house.
12. Make lunch with said items from market at said house with an Ecuadorian family.
13. "Machete" grass.
14. Take a five hour bus ride to Riobamba.
15. Make a fort on the bus with extra sweatshirts and change into warmer pants.
16. Eat at a Texas Grill.
17. Hike up a cobblestone road to a farming community.
18. Harvest potatoes.
19. Ride a burro.
20. Buy maracuyas at a market to make juice.
21. Take a bunch of buses to a bunch of different towns.
22. Watch guinea pigs be killed, skin them, cook them, then eat them for dinner and call it "cuy".
23. Watch a volcano erupt 12 miles away.
24. Wake up at 4 am to the boom of the volcano and be rather convinced there is lava flowing down the street (even though there isn't).
25. Take a truck to Bolivar and hop on a bus whose driver says it's going to Pelileo, but really goes to Huambalo and back to Bolivar before going to Pelileo.
26. Ride to Ambato then Quito.
27. Learn the song "Chulla Quiteño" on the bus from strangers.
28. Take the Trolley around Quito.
29. Walk right past the Alliance Church (the first Evangelical church in Ecuador), and go way farther to Catholic church with a similar name.
30. Eat lunch in a plaza. Share the extras with some kids.