Team Lopez out of the running

Coming from a strong second-place finish in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Team Lopez hit a couple of taxi-related snags in Jakarta, Indonesia, the site of the second leg of the race. At the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, they had a small row with one of the teams from Malaysia, Andrew and Syeon, because Jeena thought the cab they had called for in advance was free. Then at the Ragunan Zoo, where the Road Block required teams to retrieve the clue from a box inside a snake pit, Team Lopez made the crucial error of paying their taxi driver and thereby sending him off, while the rest of the teams had their cabs waiting.

Later, in the post-leg interview, Jeena would narrate that she had wondered why they weren't doing so well with taxis, and that Ernie had replied, "Because we don't take them!" But, of course, the head honcho of ABS-CBN Publishing and his family wouldn't really have to. This, I suppose, is where a privileged lifestyle can be a disadvantage for TAR-A contestants.

Instead of going through the Detour at the Taman Mini Indonesia Indah-West Sumatera Pavilion, Team Lopez decided to attempt to win the Fast Forward. Jeena was at first hesitant to take the Fast Forward so early in the race, but Ernie said something to the effect of, "Are you kidding? We take it when we can!" Unfortunately, Team Zoolander (what I've started to call Sahil and Prashant, the good-looking, oh-so-vain models from India) beat them to it. So back to the Ragunan Zoo it was for Team Lopez.

For the Detour, they opted to Push (a meatball soup or bakso cart 500 meters along a marked route, without spilling any soy sauce, and while singing a traditional song) instead of Sell (or eat fifteen bowls of bakso). They might have caught up at Jakarta's National Monument-traffic was terrible, and a lot of teams had a difficult time getting to the Pit Stop-but Team Lopez spilled their soy sauce and had to have a second go at the 500-meter route. I'm betting pushing wooden carts down bumpy cement roads is not part of the Lopez lifestyle as well. Hell, it's not even part of mine-but I've had my share of taking care not to spill the soy sauce during my kitchen experiments.

I actually felt sad for Team Lopez when they were eliminated because they were clearly primed for the long haul. Plus, Ernie was wearing a cap with the Philippine flag embroidered on it. Home pride is always good for some extra points in my book.

As for Team Kikay, Aubrey and Jacqueline, they placed a safe, non-eventful 6th. In terms of interest factor, I'm not quite sure how they can keep up with the Paris-Nicole show. But since they're the only team we have left to root for, I'll refrain from judging their airhead act-if it is indeed an act-and only wish for their "very, very sneaky" side to unveil itself sooner than I can say boring.

Congratulations, Manny!

But who can really be sad-or bored-when the whole country is still practically glowing from Manny Pacquiao's big win last Sunday? All eyes were on the television even hours after Manny's incredible knock-downs because of the delayed telecast. Having woken up at noon, I had to resort to the Internet for news on the boxing results, even as my television was still waiting for the fight to start on ABS-CBN. But even before I could find my way to the wires, the news of Manny's win already reached me through people in the street who had heard from people who had heard it on the radio or had heard it from people who had watched it live at the SM Cinemas were already serving as town criers.

Here's something I found interesting while reading up on Manny Pacquiao. A good number of online articles describe him as a national hero of sorts here in the Philippines, where he is famous as a commercial endorser, a movie actor, a recording artist and a possible politician. I don't have problems with the first, the second and third I can tolerate, but the last is something that I believe can turn his life into a circus. I'm sure that's quite tempting, but for his sake, I hope, as I also hope for his boxing career, that Manny quits while he's ahead.

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