Larry the Letter Carrier popped into Patagonia the other day and I began telling him about the pantomime pandemonium and he was like, whoa mate – put it in a letter so I can share with my online friends.
Hello! My name is Myron, and I am a Patagonian mara. I live in Ushuaia, Argentina and I am a mime. You may be wondering if Larry the Letter Carrier popped into Patagonia how did he meet me. Patagonia is a large region in the southern end of South America. It covers over 1 million square kilometers which includes half of Chilie and half of Argentina. Now, you might be wondering what is a Patagonian mara. I am part of the rodent family. I think I look a little bit like a capybara in the face but have a smaller body with longer legs. I am fast, and I have quite a few moves – which led me to be a mime. Let me tell you about a day of mime that turned into mayhem.
Me and some other Patagonian mara mimes were down by the bay participating in a day of theatrics. We were lined up, each doing our own entertaining thing. One mime was pretending to roll out a small exercise trampoline, you could see his struggle in his face that he was having trouble popping open the trampoline – he would pull it apart, stretching, stretching, stretching but oh, it would close back up! He would try again. Finally, he was able to set up the trampoline. He jumped on top and then up and down he jumped. Pronk, Pronk he jumped up on all fours. Pronking is a unique move Patagonian maras do where we can bounce on all four feet at one time. Another mime mara was playacting as if they were climbing into a box. His front paws grabbed the top edge of the imaginary box. He pulled himself up, peeked inside, then glanced side to side – was anyone looking? Up went a back leg, he was trying to get in the box. He was stuck, hanging on the side. His eyes grew big, he huffed, puffed, and pulled himself up until he fell over the edge into the box. The make-believe lid fell shut. The Patagonian mara made an ow face of pain and rubbed the top of his head. He was now trapped inside the invisible box. Thump, thump, he tried to kick the sides open. A classic mime move.
I decided to do my speed racing mime routine. First, I put on my invisible skates. Lacing them up tightly, I pulled the long laces, then looped the ends, then in, down, over, under to tie them up. Next, I pretended to place a helmet on my head and tighten the strap under my chin – oops, a tad too tight. I stuck out my tongue and made a silly face due to the imaginary tightness! Next came the gloves, oh no – they are inside out. They are tight fitting gloves, so it is not an easy task to pull them right side out. I tug, I pull with my teeth. The glove stretches. The end pops back like a rubber band. Ouch. Balancing I pull the blade cover off. Uh-oh I tilted to the side, stumbling, slipping, sliding trying not to fall over. I regained my balance. I take off in speed racer stance. Arms behind my back, one foot, then the next swoosh, swoosh here I go. But little did I know that at the other end of the bay were pantomime Magellanic penguins also participating in a day of theatrics.
The Magellanic penguins had a full orchestra playing music while other Magellanic penguins pantomimed an evening at dinner. There was another orchestra of pantomime penguins all pretending to play instruments. Other penguins were play-acting like they were sitting at tables, being served by penguins acting as if they were carrying trays of food. They wobbled from table to table acting like they were sitting plates down. Other penguins moved as if picking up silverware to begin eating. You could see some cutting up food, others were twirling spaghetti on a fork then slurping it. There was a dinner show. Some Magellanic Penguins came out in make believe ice skates, dressed in sequined outfits. They were pretending to be figure skating. Spinning, figure eights, leg lifts. Lots of fancy moves. And then…my speed skating collided with one of their skaters doing a Lutz Jump. The take off was pretty good, but since they were in backward motion, they did not see me coming! To enhance my mime routine, I was pretending my helmet had fallen over my eyes so I couldn’t see anything – I was weaving this way and that. I even went down to the ground on my head and began spinning round and round, trying to pull the helmet off. My legs were swinging wide and then yikes! When the pantomime penguin came down from his spin, he landed on me, and we became entangled. Pantomime pandemonium began! We started spinning out of control. Rolling like a bowling ball. Strike! Down came all the other skaters like bowling pins. Oh no, like tops we spun into the pantomime orchestra – the penguins all fell over, and their make-believe music instruments flew up in the air. Rolling, sliding, tumbling, me and the penguin took out all the penguin servers and their trays. All the pretend food was now on the penguins’ heads. They were all acting like they were trying to clean up the mess. But it wasn’t over. Me and the penguin kept spinning, twirling, slipping, and sliding, tumbling over each other until we fell into the actual orchestra! Oh my, the noise was real. Clank, boom, slam-bang, screech, crash, ding, beep, honk, toot. One by one the instruments blasted to the ground in a heap. And so did all the Patagonian mara mimes and pantomime Megellanic penguins!
Remember, writing is right on! So, write a comment below.
Your friend,
Myron Patagonian Mara
Do you remember? What animal family does the Patagonian mara belong to? How many square kilometers is Patagonia? What mime routine was Myron the Patagonian mara doing?
Additional tidbits – Patagonian maras are the fastest of the rodent family. They can run over 20 miles per hour! They can walk, hop like rabbits, gallop and pronk! When pronking, Patagonian maras can jump almost 6 feet off the ground! They are born with full fur and their eyes open. Patagonian maras are the most advanced animal at birth. The world’s largest mountain range, Andes Mountains, are in Patagonia. They cover 7,000 kilometers. There are just as many penguins as there are people in Patagonia. Ushuaia is the southernmost city in the world. Mime and pantomime are interchangeable words, but at one time they were considered different art forms. Mimes used gestures and movements to act out something. Pantomimes performed in much the same way, but they did so as a play and music would accompany the pantomimes who sometimes wore masks. Some famous mimes are Charlie Chaplin and Marcel Marceau.
Challenge: Can you mime? Try acting like you are caught in a windstorm. Remember, mimes don’t talk. Use facial expressions, gestures, and movement. Try not to be blown away!!
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