The Amazing Race 32, Episode 11 Recap

The Amazing Race’s penultimate eleventh episode of Season 32 aired on Wednesday, December 9th and was set in the capital city of Manila, located on Luzon island in the PHILIPPINES. Filmed about a year or so before the coronavirus’ worldwide wrath, this episode featured a sprint and an exploration of the city through multiple clues but also lacked a Detour and Roadblock.

● Episode 11 info on CBS — In the first city sprint, the final four teams race through Manila, the capital of the Philippines.

● Once arriving in Manila, teams rode a colorful jeepney to Rizal Park and met Phil Keoghan there.

● Phil informed the four remaining teams that, instead of typical Amazing Race events such as Detours and Roadblocks, they will compete in a City Sprint. Outside a large mall near the Manila Bay in Bay City, Philippines, team members had to trot in high heels for 500 meters (0.31 miles)! At first, the guys understandably struggled to walk while wearing the unfamiliar footwear, but they eventually figured out how to do it with poise!

● After searching for and finding the Binondo Arch of Goodwill in Manila’s Chinatown, teams looked for a clue in the mouth of a colorfully costumed lion dancing in the pedestrian walkways. This clue told teams to arrive by foot to the Central Post Office for another clue.

● “Hay Day”: in a plaza outside the Central Post Office, teams found a kalesa (horse-drawn carriage) and searched the area for necessary ingredients to mix up a bucketful of horse food. Dried grass and the bucket’s mixture were fed to a team’s respective horse, and a clue to Mehan Garden was subsequently given to the team.

● For this episode’s last task, teams arrived at Mehan Garden where a band produced some melodies and rockin’ good tunes for the residents of Manila. The band continuously played four musical compositions featured in previous Amazing Race episodes. A bunch of cases for guitars and other instruments were strewn about, and each case displayed a country’s flag. Teams were tasked to find cases with four flags corresponding to the songs’ national origin; teams organized these cases in chronological order based on when the songs were played in Season 32.

While most of the flags represented countries the teams visited — including Colombia, France, Germany, India, Kazakhstan, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago — I also spotted an “extra” flag of a country that teams did not step foot in: Mozambique. If you noticed any other flags in this episode, please feel free to comment below! In any case (pun intended), these are the correct flags on the instrument cases in earlier to later order: Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, Paraguay, and France. Maddison and Riley completed this task first, so they quickly proceeded to the nearby Pit Stop.

● Pit Stop: Lapu Lapu Monument (Statue of the Sentinel of Freedom) — Rizal Park, Ermita District in Manila

● Season 32’s finale (episode 12) will take place in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. A glimpse of the millionaire-making Pit Stop reveals that teams will end their Amazing Race journeys at the New Orleans Saints’ home turf: Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

  Season 32, Episode 11 Pit Stop Results

  The 1st through 4th place results are the same as episode 10.

  1st — Maddison and Riley
       1st place prize — no prize given in this episode

  2nd — James and Will

  3rd — Chee and Hung

  4th — DeAngelo and Gary
       Eliminated from the competition? Yes

Independence Day Recently Celebrated in Mozambique

People all across MOZAMBIQUE celebrated their country's Independence Day on Thursday, June 25th. Mozambique achieved independence from Portugal in 1975. Happy belated Independence Day!

Mozambique is Known for...

●    Cahora Bassa Dam
●    José Craveirinha’s poetry
●    Makonde woodcarvings
●    Malangatana’s paintings
●    Marrabenta music
●    Prawns and crayfish
●    Serene islands and beaches along the Indian Ocean

Most items were listed in The Africa Book; the MLA citation is below. What are other "trademarks" of this African country? Feel free to share your thoughts with a comment!

Phillips et al. The Africa Book: A Journey through Every
          Country in the Continent. Lonely Planet, 2007.

— #AfricaWeek —

Mozambique Exports

According to MIT's Observatory of Economic Complexity (atlas.media.mit.edu), the following items are major exports of MOZAMBIQUE: aircraft, aluminum (raw), aluminum bars and wire, bananas, bedspreads, bran, Brazil nuts, cashews, coal briquettes, coconut and vegetable fibers, coconuts, coke fuel, copper, corn (maize), cotton yarn, dried legumes, electricity to neighboring countries, ferroalloys, fertilizer, flour, gemstones (garnets, rubies, tourmaline, etc.), gold, granite, groundnuts, hairpieces and wigs, leafy vegetables, liquor, molasses, niobium, oilseeds, pasta, pepper, petroleum, petroleum gas, rice, sand, seafood, sugar, surveying equipment, tantalum, tea, titanium, tobacco, trains, vanadium, wheat, wigs, wine, wood, and zirconium. According to the International Monetary Fund (data.imf.org), countries and territories buying and importing most of those exports (February 2017 statistics) include the Netherlands (top importer), South Africa, India, South Korea, China, Italy, Singapore, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Germany, Japan, Luxembourg, Mauritius, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Spain, the United States, Malawi, the United Kingdom, and Turkey.

Mozambique Endangered Species

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ for MOZAMBIQUE in Southeastern Africa lists 15 critically endangered species and 68 endangered species. Some critically endangered species include the Banhine Barb fish, Hook-lipped Rhinoceros, Kiriba Tilapia ("Mozzie") fish, Long-billed Apalis bird, Mount Inago Pygmy Chameleon, Mount Namuli Pygmy Chameleon, Munch's Cycad plant (possibly extinct in Mozambique), Tooth-coned Cycad, White-backed Vulture, and White-headed Vulture. Mozambique's endangered species include the African Spotted Catshark, Barau's Petrel bird, Black-footed Penguin, Cape Cormorant bird, Chirinda Toad, Cholo Mountain Alethe bird, Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross, Lebombo Cycad, Malagasy Pond Heron, Natal (Honeycomb) Izak catshark, Orange-fringed River Bream fish, Pepper Bark Tree, Sibayi Goby fish, Southern Crowned Crane, and Umbeluzi Cycad.

Species named after Mozambique include the Mozambique Batis bird, Mozambique Dwarf Burrowing Skink, Mozambique Ebony tree, Mozambique Fangblenny fish, Mozambique Dwarf Galago (Grant's Lesser Galago) bushbaby primate, Mozambique Rain Frog, Mozambique Ridged Frog, Mozambique (Jan's) Shovel-Snout snake, Mozambique Thicket Rat, Mozambique Tilapia fish, and Mozambique Wolf Snake.

Mozambique Point, Louisiana

Sharing part of its name with a country in southeast Africa, Mozambique Point is the tip at the end of a peninsula in southeastern Louisiana, UNITED STATES of AMERICA. Mozambique Point is located in Plaquemines Parish, and the peninsula is shared by both Plaquemines and Saint Bernard parishes. The point is northwest of Breton Sound in the Gulf of Mexico and about 45 miles southeast of New Orleans. Marsh land areas on the peninsula and near Mozambique are no stranger to hurricanes in the autumn season. Nevertheless, the general area is a refuge for various animals. Natural resources such as sulfur, petroleum, and aquatic food sources such as oysters and crabs are extracted and harvested nearby Mozambique Point.

Countries with Z in their Names

There are sixteen countries with Z in their names. Two countries start with the letter Z: Zambia and Zimbabwe. Other countries with the letter Z in their names are Azerbaijan, Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mozambique, New Zealand, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tanzania, Uzbekistan, and Venezuela. Zaire was a former Z country, but that became the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Bazaruto Archipelago

Off the eastern coast of MOZAMBIQUE in Southern Africa, the Bazaruto Archipelago is a group of several islands in the Indian Ocean. Bazaruto is a slender, vertically oriented island that is about 19 miles and 30.5 kilometers long. An image search of Bazaruto island gives you the idea that it is known for sand dunes and idyllic beach settings. Other islands include Benguerra, Magaruque, Pansy Shell, and Santa Carolina (Paradise Island). Pansy Shell island is named after the pansy shell sea urchins (sand dollars) that can be found on the island. Ihassoro and Vilankulo (Vilanculos) are the closest cities on Mozambique's mainland.

Malawi's Interesting Exclave Islands

There are several islands in Lake Malawi (also called Lake Nyasa) of East Africa that belong to MALAWI, even though they are much closer to MOZAMBIQUE, the country that is visible to the east of the islands in the embedded Google Map below. As the map shows, the two small regions are part of Malawi, while Mozambique possesses the surrounding water. Likoma is the largest island of Malawi's exclaves; the largest town on the island is Mbamba, which is also known as Chipyela. The island to the left of Likoma is Chizumulu, and the smaller island to the left of Chizumulu is Machili. Other small islands to the east of Likoma that are not shown on the Google map include Ilala, Mbamba, and the Mbuzi Islands.

Former Names of Capitals

Quite a few capitals previously had different names. The following is a list of many, definitely not all, of the capitals that had different names in the past — they are categorized by continent.

AFRICA
Bujumbura, BURUNDI's former capital (Gitega is the new capital since 2019), was called Usumbura until 1962.
N'Djamena, CHAD's capital, was called Fort Lamy until 1973.
Kinshasa, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO's capital, was called Léopoldville until 1966.
Banjul, the capital of GAMBIA, was named Bathurst until 1973.
Antananarivo, MADAGASCAR's capital, was named Tananarive until 1975.
Maputo, MOZAMBIQUE's capital, was named Lourenço Marques until Mozambique's independence in 1976.
Harare, ZIMBABWE's capital, was named Salisbury until 1982.

ASIA
Tbilisi, GEORGIA's capital, was known as Tpilisi (Georgian) or Tiflis (Russian) until 1936.
Jakarta, INDONESIA's highly-populated capital, was known as Sunda Kelapa, then Jayakata, then Batavia, then Djakarta from 1949 to 1972.
Tokyo, JAPAN's capital located on the island of Honshu, was previously named Edo until 1868.
Astana, KAZAKHSTAN's capital, was known as Tselinograd, then Aqmola.
Bishkek, KYRGYZSTAN's capital, was named Pishpek until 1926 and Frunze until 1991, the fall of the Soviet Union.
Ulaanbaatar, MONGOLIA's capital, was known as Ugra until 1924.
Dushanbe, TAJIKISTAN's capital, was called Dyushambe until 1929 and received the name Stalinagrad until 1961.
Ankara, TURKEY's capital, was called Angora until 1930.
Ashgabat, TURKMENISTAN's capital, was called Poltoratsk from 1919 until 1927.

EUROPE
Belgrade, SERBIA's capital, was known as Singidunum in ancient times.
Podgorica, MONTENEGRO's capital, was known as Birziminium before the 11th century, Ribnica during the Middle Ages, and Titograd from 1946 to 1992. The capital possessed the name Podgorica in 1326 until 1946, resuming in 1992.

SOUTH AMERICA
Sucre, one of two capitals of BOLIVIA and named in honor of Antonio José de Sucre, was called Chuquisaca until 1825.

Credit goes to the New Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd Edition, which conveniently listed former capital names.

Lago de Cahora Bassa

Quick GeoFact: The Lago de Cahora Bassa is situated in the panhandle of western MOZAMBIQUE, a Southern African country south of Tanzania, east of Zimbabwe, and northeast of South Africa.

Mozambique

Colonized by Portugal until June 25th, 1975, MOZAMBIQUE is a country in southeastern Africa located west of the Indian Ocean. There are 6 bordering countries: Malawi to the north, South Africa to the southwest, Swaziland to the south and southwest, Tanzania to the north, Zambia to the northwest, and Zimbabwe to the west. Mozambique's official language is Portuguese. The capital is Maputo, which is located in southern Mozambique. Other cities in the country include Beira, Chimoio, Inhambane, Nampula, and Xai-Xai. Mozambique's currency is the Mozambican Metical, and its ISO 4217 currency code is MZN.