Amazing part 5

Their next clue was 115 miles away in the town of Brotas and the teams had to travel by bus. Annie and Auggie had to wait an hour for the next bus so Brett & Cathy, Danielle & Kendall and Molly and Ed all caught up after finishing the rappel challenge.

The bus wasn't very crowded and Annie enjoyed the scenery as Auggie chatted with Ed & Molly.

"You guys sleep OK last night?" Ed asked casually.

"We did, you?" Auggie replied genially.

"Not bad for tenting," Molly laughed.

"I had to lay diagonally, but Annie's short so we made it work."

"I am not short," she whacked his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I meant to say you are 'perfectly-tent-sized', better?" he grinned.

"A little," she shrugged and soothingly rubbed the spot where she had whacked him.

Upon arrival in Brotas they found a row of old-school VW Beetles awaiting them with new clues.

"Aaaaahhh, just like my little car," she patted the hood of a red one

The door creaked as Auggie opened it and the old leather seats announced themselves to his nostrils.

"Not really," he grimaced.

"OK, but still good German engineering," she struggled to turn over the engine, but it finally grumbled to life.

Their clue gave them a choice of challenges: one was a glorified science experiment involving pressing sugar cane and make ethanol fuel from it and the other was more physical and required another harness.

"You look good in a harness," Annie encouraged.

"Well I went down in one today, why not use one to get up a waterfall," Auggie agreed.

They made it to the challenge site just ahead of Cathy and Brett who had decided to do the waterfall challenge as well. Each member of the team would use the same ropes so only one of them could go up at a time. Annie decided Auggie should go up first as she could see more from the ground if he needed assistance.

The instructor was going over the pulley system used for the climb, instead of relying on the wet rocks the climbers would have carabineer pulleys to get themselves to the top.

"See you at the top," Auggie smiled and Annie kissed him quickly.

Annie smiled her brightest widest smile as she thought of Joan's comment about this being a bonding experience. This is the most time she and Auggie had spent by themselves since they started dating.

Cathy decided to go first for their team so Cathy and Auggie started up the 80 foot waterfall, the water colder than Auggie anticipated, but not bad.

"You need to lock one before the other one will work!" Brett yelled to Cathy as she struggled to work the pulleys.

"I'm timing you Anderson, if I beat you I get your ice cream tonight," Annie teased.

"How would that be different than any other time we have ice cream," he replied but increased his speed at her challenge.

Cathy began to get the hang of it and started making slow progress.

"It's about time," Brett muttered and kicked at a loose rock.

"She's doing great," Annie tried to be encouraging.

"Well the blind guy is beating her," Brett snarled.

Annie was shocked, if Brett had slapped her she would have been less shocked.

"Um, this challenge is more about upper body strength and Auggie is a man. You cannot compare Cathy to Auggie, Auggie can bench press more than 2 of me," Annie laughed.

"Hey Walker, you coming?" Auggie called from the top of the waterfall, the ropes coming down for her.

Annie got the harness on as Cathy was about halfway up the falls.

"You ready?" the instructor asked.

"Yep," she nodded and stepped out on the wet rocks.

Annie had watched Auggie sort out the process for the pulleys so she was good to go and while not as strong as Auggie she was pretty strong herself. She didn't want to show up Cathy too much though so she proceeded at a moderate pace for the first half of the climb.

"Hey Annie," Cathy smiled, her wet hair plastered to her head under her helmet.

"Hey there, how you doing?" Annie used the break to wipe the water from her eyes.

"A little tired, but OK," she kept moving the whole time.

Annie let her get far enough ahead that she made it to the platform before Annie, but before the ropes could be sent back down for Brett Annie reached the top and the instructor pulled her on to the edge.

"Looks like I get to keep my ice cream tonight," Auggie teased.

"You are the king of the ropes today, that's for sure," Annie giggled as she got out of the harness and got the next clue, before she opened the envelope though she took a second to look out at the waterfall.

"It is gorgeous Auggie," she reached back and found his hand pulling him close.

He didn't hesitate to step forward, close as they were to an 80 foot drop, he really did trust her with his life and that trust and the view in front of her actually brought tears to her eyes.

"I'm so glad we're here," she turned and wrapped her arms around him, wet body to wet body she clung to him as she gave and received warmth from him.

Auggie just squeezed her tightly and kissed the top of her head.

"OK, let's go," she composed herself and read the directions as they headed back to the VW.

"Anything else for me to scale today?" Auggie asked.

"Ha, no we are done and our Pit Stop tonight is a coffee plantation," she informed.

"Ooooohhhh, coffee," he practically purred.

The break they took to enjoy the waterfall allowed Cathy and Brett to catch up so Annie threw the VW in reverse and squealed out of the lot.

"We don't have to win every leg Walker," Auggie grabbed the ancient dashboard in front of him.

"No, but we do have to beat Brett," she growled.

Annie and Auggie made it to the check in point about 3 minutes ahead of Brett and Cathy, Gwen congratulated them, offered them some water and indicated they should enjoy the grounds.

"How do you feel about hammocks?" Annie asked with a twinkle in her eye as she looked over the lush plantation.

"I enjoy them very much," Auggie smiled and allowed her to lead him to one.

The day was warm and their wet clothes had dried, but Annie stripped a layer off and joined Auggie in the hammock in only shorts and a tank top.

"Nice," Auggie murmured as his lips found her bare shoulder.

TBC…