Amazing Part 3
Annie ripped open the first envelope her blood pumping in her ears.
"First stop, Sao Paolo," she reported.
"Seriously?" Auggie grinned knowing Annie's Portuguese was world class.
"Yep," she smiled as they shouldered their packs and listened to the excited jabbering of the other racers.
Annie directed Auggie to the passenger side as she stowed their gear and climbed behind the wheel. Annie had noted the route from the airport to the amphitheatre figuring they would fly out from the same origin city, so she was good for directions. She fired up the little Prius and they were off.
"The clue listed three flights, United 456, 324 and American 28. I'll leave you at American to get the details and I'll run to United," Annie laid out their first game plan.
"Sounds good. What do you make of our fellow racers?" Auggie asked as Annie passed another team.
"Most of them seem nice, the girls are concerning, not sure they will make it through, but maybe they are tougher than they look, they have manicures," she sighed.
"What about Brett and Cathy?"
"He's pretty domineering and she looks like a stepford wife, we won't have too much in common with them. You looking for allies?" she grinned.
"Maybe," he shrugged working his own strategy, "we could exchange language skills for an extra set of eyes."
"You are going to rock this Auggie, you are going to blow Gwen's socks off, she will be dying to work for us when she sees how amazing you are," she took one hand off the wheel and laid it against his cheek and felt the resulting smile there.
***555***
Divide and conquer worked and Annie figured the United flights were longer, even though one of them left earlier, so she and Auggie got tickets on the American flight which got them in 25 minutes before the flight that took off first.
Brett and Cathy, Brian and Gary and Ed and Molly were also on their flight.
Annie and Auggie were seated with Brian and Gary in a 4-wide middle section of the giant airplane. Auggie and Gary had the aisles and Annie and Brian were in the middle.
Ed and Molly and Cathy and Brett had the same set up 3 rows back. Annie could hear Brett complaining about how Cathy should have gotten them a better row.
"He's a little much," Brian raised his eyebrows and looked at Annie.
"Maybe he's just nervous," Annie gave Brett the benefit of the doubt.
"Or he's more competitive then you are," Auggie stage-whispered.
"That's not possible," Annie grinned and kissed him softly.
"You guys must be excited for your first international trip," Auggie mentioned as the flight attendants prepared the cabin for take-off.
"That is one word for it," Gary smiled nervously.
"Terrified might be the other," Brian chimed in.
"You'll be fine, you have each other, you're both well-educated and if you need a little help, I speak Portuguese," Annie offered.
"Smart and pretty," Brain offered his thanks.
"Best advice I can give you guys, is try to sleep whenever you can," Auggie suggested as he raised the arm rest between him and Annie and slipped an arm around her.
Annie made herself as comfortable as possible and sighed contentedly.
"See you in Brazil, Guys!"
***555***
The clue Annie opened in Denver instructed them to go directly to the rooftop terrace at the Hotel Unique in Sao Paolo. Good to her word, she gave Brian and Gary's cab driver the instructions in Portuguese and he understood fine, she caught the sound of Molly trying to speak Spanish to her cab driver and having some trouble.
One skill both Annie and Auggie possessed that they hadn't mentioned in any of the interviews is the ability to wake up quickly and be alert with little adjustment time. Annie was already running through her knowledge of Sao Paolo, she had spent some time in Rio, but only a few days here or there in Sao Paolo.
She asked the cab driver if there were any parts of town to avoid for construction or traffic and he warned her of a main road being repaved that just started earlier in the week, not everyone was aware of the detour.
Once at the hotel they took the elevator to the roof.
"Wow, it is gorgeous," Annie mentioned as she took in the panoramic view on her way to the clue box.
The clue directed them to Viaduto Santa Ifigênia a bridge in Sao Paolo. Their cab driver had waited and he brought them quickly to the site, the other teams close behind.
It was time for the first challenge, this one was a choice: Motorhead or Rotorhead. Motorhead required assembling a motrcycle from parts and getting it running and Rotorhead was a helicopter ride which sounded easy until you realised you had to read an aeronautical map in Portuguese.
"I can put a bike together, even blind, but it will still take longer than you reading that map," Auggie said quietly as other teams read the clue.
"Let's find ourselves a helo," Annie grinned and took his arm.
The aeronautical maps were trickier than Annie had figured and the challenge was set so that you had to find one of 3 buildings at different distances, so you had to cross-reference. She got the hang of it and got one of the slots for the closest building. A good looking Brazilian man approached them.
"You two ready for a ride?" he smiled and spoke beautiful English.
"We are," Annie returned the smile and handed over the ticket.
"I'm Victor," he introduced.
"Annie and Auggie," Auggie returned.
"You two ever been in helicopter?" he asked as he led them to the bird and handed them some headsets.
"Once or twice," Annie shrugged and Auggie squeezed her elbow.
***555***
Once the chopper landed on the building Annie and Auggie were out and down the stairs to a hotel suite where they had to search for a clue, which meant Annie searched for a clue and Auggie leaned against a wall looking incredibly fresh for someone who was wearing the same clothes for going on 30 hours.
Annie found the envelope which sent them to a warehouse district. They hopped back in the copter and returned to the airport.
As they bid farewell to Victor they heard Brett yelling at Cathy again and Rick and Emily debating which of the buildings were closer. Annie could sympaqthize with Emily, there was no way she could do this kind of trip with her own dad. Annie smiled and waved, told them the ride was awesome and they were out and in a cab.
"What are we walking in to?" Auggie asked after Annie discussed the address with the driver.
"A Candomble service, ever been to one?" Annie asked.
"No."
"They can be quite something, usually great music and dancing, a snake or two. We have to light a candle," Annie explained as the cab wove its way through the narrow streets of Sao Paolo.
Annie was spot on as the pair was greeted by a man with a huge snake draped around his shoulders and the music was poundingly-loud making Auggie a little hesitant as another of his senses left him.
Annie spoke reverently to the leader who was thrilled she was familiar with the ceremony. She handed Annie a candle and Annie led Auggie to the main candle where together they lit their candle and placed it in the circular holder on the table.
They were given their clue and slipped out. They were done for the day, they only had to make it to the Pit Stop for that night and Annie was fairly certain they were in first place, certain no one else had slipped by her.
"Estádio do Pacaembu,por favor" Annie instructed the driver.
"The soccer stadium?" Auggie asked.
"Yep, guess we will be hanging out on the field. Hope we have locker room privileges, I could use a shower.
The driver left them at the gate indicated on the clue and Annie and Auggie strode into the stadium to find Gwen and a local soccer player kicking a ball around.
"Well hello there," Gwen waved.
"Hey," Annie smiled.
"You guys are the first to arrive," Gwen crossed her arms and looked impressed.
"Awesome," Annie said and Auggie could feel her vibrate a little.
"In fact, my team says the next team is at least 20 minutes behind you, so you have your run of the place, feel free to use the locker rooms and pick your own spot on the field. We can't stake the tents of course, so be sure to put your packs in there to weigh them down," Gwen instructed.
"A shower sounds great," Annie nodded.
"Want to set up the tent first, then we can crawl in it post-shower," Auggie suggested.
"Good plan," Gwen agreed.
"He's logistics," Annie laughed, "come on Eagle Scout show me what you got," Annie grabbed a tent from the pile and pushed it into Auggie's hands.
TBC…