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We start the third leg of the Amazing Race still in Brazil, but we also find that the show has briefly merged with an episode of The Hills.

Christy accuses Starr of pushing her sports bra off a ledge, for reasons undetermined. Mmm, tasty, tasty paranoia. Although Starr denies it (cause really, why admit it even if you had done something as insane and futile as this), Christy is not dissuaded and puts on her best "oh, it's already been broughten" face. I feel dumber for having typed all this.

Ken and Tina, Bride of Skeletor, head off first and journey to La Paz, Bolivia, which at 12,000 feet above sea level, laughs at Denver's puny altitude. Once they get there, they have to find the statue of Simon Bolivar and get that morning's newspaper to find their next clue.

Ken and Bill are second out of the gate, and emphasize their strength, that of being able to "step back and analyze the situation, instead of just rushing in." Remember this quote.

Terence and Sarah are third away, with Sarah just now grasping that this is in fact a competition and not a popularity contest. Hey, welcome to leg three! It's killing me that these motards are actually doing well.

Aja and Ty and Toni and Dallas are bo-ring and the pretty teams haven't done anything annoying yet. Let's move on.

Andrew and Dan puts on a brave face about being physically competitive, but let's face it – they're schlubs. There's nothing wrong with that, per se, but they're also dumb. That's not a good combo for Team Flounder.

They're one up on Marisa and Brooke, who are too dumb to even know that being dumb would be a problem. Coming in second to last twice in a row is really not a good sign.

The flight to La Paz is wholly unremarkable and all the teams have to wait at the Bolivar statue overnight. We're treated to the sight of all the women grooming themselves the next morning, and Nick making a peace overture to Kelly and Christy, which roughly translates as "I know you're both crazy, but can we not directly fight each other?" Unfortunately for Nick, the divorcees vote to remain crazy.

There's a feeding frenzy when the newspapers arrive, as the teams scour the classified ads until they find one for a hat shop. Andrew and Dan find it first, but fail their entrance exam for spy school by yelling out the destination to their cab driver. The Ken and Tina/Nick and Starr alliance becomes rather formal as Ken pulls the other team along as soon as they find the clue. The other teams follow along shortly after (with Kelly and Christy reciting their clue in unison, apparently having learned their lesson), though Marissa and Brooke gesticulate wildly at the strange symbols on the paper, attempting to puzzle out their meaning.

After receiving their hat, the teams then receive the clue for the Detour, which has them choose between rounding up members of a band, and traveling across town on a bicycle that the Flintstones would reject as primitive. Notably, the teams are not allowed to take a taxi to their Detour location, something that Terence and Sarah and Mark and Bill (way to step back and reconsider!) do not heed. Team Co-Dependent notices this and turns around, but the Brainiacs travel on blissfully unaware.

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