The third leg of the Amazing Race began with the contestants departing in the middle of the night from Gruta de la Virgen, Chile and taking a six hour bus ride into Argentina to a saloon in El Boliche Viejo.  The buses did not depart until later that morning, so the lead teams – Jet and Cord, Carol and Brandy and Joe and Heidi – only maintained a 20 minute lead over the rest of the teams.  

The only team that benefited from the delay from start time until when the busses left was Brent and Caite who left the pit stop over three hours after their scheduled start time due to food poisoning.  Each went to a local hospital to receive an IV of fluids and started the leg in last place.  However, because the busses did not leave until the morning, they were able to catch up with the second bus and the rest of the teams. 

Upon arriving in El Boliche Viejo, teams has to defeat the Travelocity roaming gnome in a game of five card stud poker in order to get their next clue.  Carol and Brandy and Joe and Heidi were able to win on the very first hand, but the cowboys, Jet and Cord, fell behind after losing their first three hands.  Upon defeating the gnome, teams were instructed to head to Pena Guahca, right around the corner from the saloon, for their next clue. 

At Pena Guacha, teams encountered the roadblock for this leg of the race.  Joe and Heidi arrived first and elected to have Heidi attempt to master one of the guacho’s important techniques: steer roping.  From a distance of 18 feet, competitors had to throw a rope around a practice steer and drag the steer to them to get their next clue.  Though Joe and Heidi and Carol and Brandy arrived first, Heidi and Carol struggled with the challenge allowing Jet and Cord to catch up.  Despite roping steer consistently in their daily life, Jet missed the practice steer on his first throw, but hit on his second moving Jet and Cord into first place.

Heidi and Carol’s struggles at the roadblock allowed Jordan and Jeff, the first team to arrive at El Boliche Viejo out of the second bus, to catch up with the first group.  At the back of the pack, Dan and Jordan struggled with driving a standard car again while Brent and Caite got lost and each fell behind.  Meanwhile, Steve and Allie manage to catch up with Jeff and Jordan at the roadblock.

After completing the detour, teams are sent to Puente Nirihuau to search the cliffs near the river for their next clue.  Upon finding the clue, teams encounter a detour for this leg of the race.  Their options are Horse Sense or Horse Power.  For Horse Sense, teams must follow a set of directions based off of paces and compass directions from a defined point to find a bag of loot and obtain their next clue.  Horse Power has the teams partaking in polo by virtue of hitting a ball across the field on a practice horse.

Arriving first at the detour, Jet and Cord elect Horse Power and easily make their way across the field.  They are instructed to head to Estancia Fortin Chacubuco, the Pits Stop for this leg of the race, and arrive first once again.  The three subsequent teams who arrive at the detour – Carol and Brandy, Jordan and Jeff and Joe and Heidi – all elect for Horse Sense, struggle with the directions and fall behind.  This allows Steve and Allie, who arrived fifth at the detour but chose Horse Power, to pass all three teams and finish second.

Back at the roadblock, Shawne is struggling with the steer roping allowing Louie and Michael and Dan and Jordan to pass them.  Her struggles continue and even Brent and Caite catch up and ultimately pass Monique and Shawne. 

Carol and Brandy and Joe and Heidi give up on Horse Sense and switch to Horse Power to complete the detour and the leg of the race.  Jordan and Jeff remain persistent with Horse Sense and finish fifth.  Dan and Jordan and Brent and Caite take advantage of doing Horse Power first and finish in sixth and seventh, respectively, despite a difficult start to the leg.  

Louie and Michael try Horse Sense first, can’t find their loot and also switch to Horse Power, but not before losing time and allowing Monique and Shawne to catch up.  Fortunately for the policemen from Rhode Island, they’re able to complete the detour first, finish 8th and avoid elimination.  Monique and Shawne are unable to recover from their roadblock difficulties and are eliminated in 9th place.