Feature

Survival of the Fittest

The Alibi's Scavenger Hunt

If peeled carefully to remove the spines, the fruit and stem of a prickly pear cactus are both edible.

Throwing a contest is a lot like throwing a party. There's always some risk no one will show up, and you'll find yourself alone on your couch at 2 o'clock in the morning, filled with bitterness at your fellow man, nursing a fifth of tequila while watching infomercials for improbable exercise machines. We were a little anxious here at the Alibi about how our first scavenger hunt would turn out. We filled up the punch bowl, strung up the piñata, slipped some Sinatra onto the turntable and hoped for the best.

The colors on the dim, second bow of a double rainbow are inverted, with blue on the outside and red on the inside.

Thankfully, despite the substantial demands placed on participants, lots of people came ready to party. From 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 5, through 5 p.m. Monday, Aug. 7, teams scoured the city in search of people, places and items from the master list (see “Alibi Scavenger Hunt List”). We had a great time digging through all of your photos. In the end, though, the father and son team of Robert and Chase Fox won with a score totaling almost 4,500 points (with plenty of help from Robert's wife, Michelle).

“Center of the Universe” is often used as a derogatory nickname for Toronto, Canada.

During their hunt, they repeatedly ran into other teams all over the city. How did they pull ahead of the competition? Some ingenuity: “We got online and found websites for Caleb Crump and Rusta Rhymes,” says Robert. “Then we sent them e-mails asking if we could meet up and take their pictures.” Some perseverence: “It was a lotta pictures,” says Chase. Plenty of good ol' fashioned hardwork: “I'd like to apologize to both my wife and my son for being such a slave-driver,” says Robert. “We were getting tired, getting hungry, and I was a little mean a couple times.”

Local straight-edge partier and TV celebrity Caleb Crump has a Master's degree in business administration.

It all paid off in the end. They'll win two 12-week Navy SEAL-style fitness courses taught by former Navy SEAL Daniel Sampson. (He teaches kids, too, so this might be a good opportunity to whip little Chase into shape.) For details about Sampson’s program, call 712-7325. The team will also win a style makeover (includes hair analysis, shampoo, cut and color with Bumble and bumble products) from the brand-new Urban Academy, located within spitting distance from the UNM campus at 2122 Central SE, 842-1900. They’ll also get six free passes to the fabulous Explora Science Center and Children’s Museum (1701 Mountain NW, 224-8300).

Mature garlic bulbs, after the leaves have died, can also be made into ristras.

Congrats, folks. We're proud of you.

Safety orange, the color used on all U.S. construction devises including orange barrels, is made of 13 parts yellow, 3 parts warm red, 1/4 part black.

Maria Pacheco and Robert Graff

Chickens can turn into feathered cannibals during a fight or after pecking curiously at an existing wound.

Victoria Archibeque

Paleta actually means "little shovel" or "trowel" in Spanish.

Amy Hayward

Ripping your opponent's mask off completely can get you disqualified in a Lucha Libre match.

Federica Solano

Texas and the Southeast dominate the art car movement, also known as "cartistry."

Frank Pezzano

Although they are often referred to as such, cicadas are not even related to locusts, which are actually a kind of grasshopper.

Marnie LaNoue and Mara Uribarri

"The Mexican people, after more than two centuries of experiments, have faith only in the Virgin of Guadalupe and the national lottery." —Octavio Paz, 1976

Stephen Julander

Some folks have a sexual fetish for gas masks. Experts hypothesize this is because of the masks' dehumanizing effect, or that it is part of a larger rubber fetish.