Of the original 13 teams, seven teams remain in contention this week in Expedition Impossible. They are the Gypsies, the Fab 3, the Football Players, the Cops, No Limits, the Country Boys and the California Girls.

The teams are gathered together and given instructions to retrieve a map with symbols on it. Using the map, they will search for a prominent landmark in the valley below using binoculars that corresponds to one of the symbols and then drive a SUV to that location. As last week’s winners, the Gypsies begin with a 3-minute head start. The other teams follow in two staggered groups.

It’s a large city down there and one competitor likens it to finding a needle in a haystack. The Gypsies are the first to find the symbol on the wall of a broken down building. The other teams, though, caught on to which direction the Gypsies were looking and suddenly they all find it, one after the other. So much for any team getting a substantial lead. The California Girls are in second, chasing the leaders.

The teams drive into the crowded urban part of the city, where wares for sale are spread out all over the place on the ground. At the checkpoint, the teams get directions to the airport. One of the No Limits guys (Ike) trips on the curb going down as he gets into the SUV and (at least) sprains his ankle. Hopefully, it won’t slow him down for the rest of the day. An injury to a single member of a team can spell their doom, so teams must take care even in situations that don’t seem hazardous. Ike says he’s ok and everything’s fine, but as they’re driving along, Jeff “senses that it’s not so fine”.

The Gypsies are the first to reach the airport, where each team will have to choose one member to do a skydive. The skydiver has to keep an eye out for a symbol on the ground (swimming symbol, on the roof of a building) that gives them the location of the next checkpoint. Teams members can only fly in small groups, so they jostle for position to grab a ticket for the earlier flights.

As some teams start skydiving, Ike’s ankle is getting worse, swelling up. He “heard it pop” and the medics are looking at it. They say it needs an X-ray as it could be broken. Uh oh, this could put them out of the race. And it wasn’t even rough terrain that caused it… it was a street curb! This goes to show that urban hazards can be as dangerous as the hazards on the wilderness trail. The No Limits team keeps going with the hope that Ike won’t need to hike too much and can keep up with them.

Meanwhile, the rest of the teams make the jump, landing on parafoil chutes. This makes it easier for them to spot the symbol as they glide right past it with their chute guides. From the airport, they drive their SUV’s to the next location at a stream. Teams must wade across the river and hike one mile to the next checkpoint. The Gypsies are first, followed by the hobbled No Limits team.

After the hike, the location of the finish line is encoded based on symbols on the activity sign using the first letter that describes each activity to spell the code word “Kasbah”. From there it’s 3.7 miles on the trail and then climbing rugged, rocky terrain up to the finish line at the Kasbah. The Gypsies quickly figure it out before other teams arrive and move on toward the finish. Behind them are No Limits (who have lost their map!), followed by the Fab 3 and California Girls, both of whom take the river down to the symbol board checkpoint.

The Fab 3 can’t figure out the symbol board puzzle and decide to hike the mile to the Clue location that is provided. The clue spells out ‘Archery’ for the archery symbol, so now teams realize that the symbols are for words. Now the Fab 3 are running in last as they return to the symbol board and they realize they made a bad decision to go up to the Clue location.

The Gypsies are so far ahead that they take a short rest to take stock of their position and bearing and then do the rope climb up off of the trail. The California Girls join up with No Limits, in awe of how of how Ike can keep going and how Eric so easily climbs up the rope climb though he is blind.

Somehow, though, the leading Gypsies get sidetracked and take a rest stop and toast to some tea at a tea shop in a village on the way. Hey guys, aren’t you in a race? The rest of the teams continue behind them except for the Fab 3, who still can’t solve the puzzle and are standing around at the symbol board with the other teams now long gone. Finally, they solve it, but they’ve lost a lot of precious time, 20 minutes behind the Country Boys.

The Gypsies (again!) are the first to arrive at the finish line! No Limits comes soon in 2nd with the California Girls right with them in 3rd. Woot, woot! Way to go, ladies! The Football players later come in 4th, followed by the Cops in 5th.

Now, can the Fab 3 catch up with the Country Boys for next to last place? The Fab 3 spot them ahead of them and it becomes an exhausting foot race in rugged ground. “Run! Run!” They split off on different routes up and now it’s a question of which team is taking the shorter route. The climb is so exhausting, though, that it’s not a question of running, but slogging the way up. The Fab 3 somehow managed to circuit around the Country Boys. Kari of the Fab 3 looked totally exhausted and she says it was really tough. The Country Boys are the next team to fly out on a waiting chopper.

Next week, almost every team suffers some kind of mishap and we may see another injury happen along the way. Will another team step up and put an end to the Gypsies domination of this Expedition?