Hamster Dancin' Around the World

Penny! It's so good to see you out and about again! Were you ill?

Colorful indeed. Did you get to learn how to make those tortillas so you can teach Sozlet when you get home?

Fresh tortillas, lucky Penny!

Penny wanted to borrow my camera. I'm uploading her video of going to the airport in Guate, and going home from the airport in San Jose. It's not much to look at, but shows a bit about what the places she went looks like.

But while I'm uploading the video, I'll tell you the story about what happened between the two drives. All the adventure happened in the middle, but wasn't caught on camera. There was a surprise waiting for us when we tried to enter Costa Rica. I got my passport stamped "denied entry" and we were threatened with deportation. Penny almost lost her life, because they seemed to think she was a mule or something. She talked her way out of it by telling the airport security of her travels around the world but to avoid being sent back to Guatemala we had to go buy plane tickets and withdraw cash from the ATMs.

The rule is that you need a return ticket (out of Costa Rica) to enter on the 90 day tourist visa. Normally they don't care and I always get a round trip out, instead of a round trip in and they have never bothered to ask me for the return trip ticket but Penny must have spooked them. They looked at her with a jaundiced eye and she defiantly returned their stares. They decided that if she's going to play tough they were going to play this one by the book and I had to buy a ticket back to Guatemala and bring cash (you need to have cash to get in on these on-entry visas to Costa Rica). We were escorted around the airport by a guard while the arrangements were made. The guard was friendly, so Penny used some of her spending money to buy him a Pepsi while we waited. At the same time, the president of Chile was landing and he took us to watch the circus around the landing plane and I got a picture of Penny posing in front of the plane we flew in on.



Security was shutting down all the exits to the airport so we had to rush back to immigration and try to get through before the airport closed. Penny got a rushed shot of the big mural welcoming visitors to Costa Rica but it didn't come out well and we didn't have time to do a retry.



We got one of the last taxis allowed into the terminal and Penny started begging for the camera again so I gave it to her as I dozed off on the way home.

Once we got home, Penny gave Harry some "bacon" (what he calls his treats) and immediately started bragging about her exploits. Harry poo pooed it all, saying that he had seen no fewer than 6 cows in the mean time who were scared off by his mean bard. He coolly insisted that it was really she who had missed out on it all "unfortunate, really" he said dismissively. That's when Penny started flashing the wad. She still had some of her spending money from Guatemala City.



Both Harry and Fiona became green with envy. "I want, I want!" they said in unison, but Penny said "I'm taking it with me" and that was that.

Here's Penny's first video. She never did video editing like this before so it's a bit rough. It's nothing exciting, just the riding through Guatemala City first, and then San Jose Costa Rica next.

Good lord. And here I was thinking she needed a hampster protective detail in Guatamala City. That just goes to show you, well, something or other.

Wow, youtube made that look very grainy, now you can barely see anything.

It was really time that Penny starts her career as a film star!

Good Lord!!!

Penny freaked me re customs when I sent her out of the country (because of stuff in her travel diary) but a MULE!!!

Oh my.

Thank heavens you both made it back safely.

Hehheh...that was fun.

You enjoyed the different edits, and I liked Penny's comments.

Are taxis that fast?

Dare I ask what she had been writing in her diary?

It weren't the writing.....

Loved that, have to watch it again to catch all of Penny's comments. Perfect music for the rides.

Our poor Penny, calling her a mule! The insults a lady has to put up with!

Back on the rides, fun to see them, and enjoyed your editing. Makes me want to try it.. Loved seeing the trees, particularly around "are we there yet?"

Very Cool!

Loved the video.

WOW!!!

Sozlet's still at school -- she's going to love this.

The commentary is great, and it's nice to see Penny in action.

Sorry about the mule part. Penny gets a little... spirited... sometimes.

Wow, nice scenery. Reminds me a lot of some of the areas around the delta region of the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

I know Penny's visit to Costa rica was some time ago but she seems to have put a little weight on since i saw her last.

I liked the video. It helps to dispell the impression I have that South American cities are some kind of third world backwater. Modern cars and architecture were all visible. The Vid aside from all the walls could have been shot in Melbourne's leafy outer suburbs.

Where in the world is Carmen, I mean Penny?

She seems to have gone underground. Has she found herself a boyfriend and decided to stay with him?

Um...the last time I checked, she was with Robert Gentel.

You know what a workaholic he can be. Ooh...you don't think he put her to work with the other hamsters on our new A2K, do you?!

FREE PENNY!!!

I suspect the mail system may be the culprit.....Robert may not wish to risk losing Penny, and may be caring for her until he goes to a country with more relaible mail.

She may come back knowing how to teach Spanish.

Did we ever establish where Penny was going AFTER Robert? As in, who he'd send her to?

We had a few more-or-less regional clumps, then Robert. I can't remember if anyone is supposed to be next. (If YOU are, or if you'd like to be next, let us know!)