Good morning Pandas!

Max and Ella are finally coming back to Panfu after weeks of travelling around the world! They’re still on their way home, but they should be back soon. What do you think of surprising the two? I was thinking of a surprise welcome home party!

But we have to be organized. We’ll need a welcome banner, party hats, and of course, a giant cake. But I’ll take care of that.  I haven’t baked in years – ever since my son was a little boy. But he got caught up in this pirate business and suddenly he tells me he’s too old and mature to have a multi-layered cake with frosting and sprinkles! I’ll show him!

I think the cake will be done in no time at all. It can’t be too difficult, and besides, how different can it be from one of the potions I make on a regular basis? I am an expert in the collection of frog legs and snails. And I don’t mean for French cuisine.

Lili already informed me that she would help with the party hats and Penny is going to work on the banner. I will ask them if they need any help and get back to you on Wednesday.

Okay, now it’s time to get to work on this cake. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, here is a sneak peek of the item of the week in the super surprise machine in the cave:

It would make great decoration for your next tree house party!

Peace out,

Kamaria

Hello Pandas,

Are you dying to know about the rest of our adventure in the Pyramid of Horror? Where was I? Oh yeah: Max jumped in front of the mummy and yelled out “don’t you hurt Ella!”. I have to say, I was very impressed. The mummy started running around frantically in circles and then ran into a wall and fell over. What a relief.

Yeah, and then Ella said: “Max, you saved my life!”. I always dreamed someone would say that to me…

Suddenly, the mummy stood up and started to make odd noises. But then I made out the sentence, “Ouch! My head.” Max bravely stepped forward and started taking the toilet paper bandage off of the mummy. It wasn’t really a mummy at all! With one strong tug, it was all revealed. There, before us, stood a very normal-looking boy! We were confused, to say the least. He spoke: “Ummmmm…hi. Yeah, the only reason I dressed up as a mummy is so that no one would come in and find out where we live. But you pesky Pandas couldn’t be stopped. I guess I might as well show you around.”

He led us through a long, narrow hallway until we reached a small door. It was so little that we had to duck to get through it. The image that presented itself to us on the other side of that door was unthinkable. I rubbed my eyes a couple of times to make sure that this was real. It was a child’s room! But instead of stuffed animals, there were real monkeys swinging in the air chasing colorful birds. In the middle of the room there was a girl on a computer. She looked at us confusedly: “Max? Ella? What are you doing here?”. Where on earth did she know us from?! We got closer and saw that she was playing with her Panda on Panfu!

We didn’t really know what to say. Max took the letter out of his pocket and said: “Are you the daughter of the mysterious man from Scotland Yard? If so, I have a letter for you.” He handed the envelope to the girl. “Yeah, my name is Emma. A letter from my father? What could he want?” She opened the letter and read it aloud:

“Dearest Emma, I hope your friends managed to find you. I thought it would be a nice surprise. Love, Daddy”

Emma jumped to her feet and yelled, “Yes! Ella and Max are here!”. Suddenly, everything was clear. The mysterious man at Scotland Yard sent us here on purpose as a little surprise for his daughter. I guess it’s kinda funny when you think about it. We got to meet a true Panfu fan! She called all her friends and we had a fun little party. Towards the end, Ella and I decided to climb to the top of the pyramid to watch the sun go down. It was very romantic. Ella took my hand and told me that I was her hero. And then you know what, Pandas? She kissed me!

It’s true, I did. But you saw it coming, right Pandas?

We stayed a couple more days at Emma’s place and are about to come home to Panfu. We never did figure out why she and that odd boy were living alone in a haunted pyramid. Look around for the last postcard. We already sent you a surprise since it was too big to pack in our suitcases!

See you soon Pandas,

Ella and Max

Hey Pandas,

Last time we wrote you, we were interrupted by a call from Kamaria. She told us about a Panfu pajama party complete with pillow fights and asked us if we could finally come back home. I have to be honest – I’m really homesick. We’ll stay for a couple more days in Mexico before heading back to Panfu. We’re really excited to see all of you again!

Back to the pyramid of terror. I, under no circumstance, wanted to go in. Even the entrance looked creepy: a skull had been chiseled above the doorway and everything was covered in spiderwebs and a green, slimy algae goo. Disgusting! My knees felt weak, so Max took my hand to calm me down and we went in. It was almost completely dark. Streaks of light came in through small openings and cracks in the walls. Max luckily remembered that he had a flashlight with him in his pocket and he led the way down a very long passageway. Creepy noises came from the other end, in the darkness. It sounded like clinking chains and crackling paper.

Yeah, the crackling paper noise was really odd. Shortly after, I saw something white on the ground. I pointed my flashlight towards the object and it was…toilet paper! ‘Something’s funny here’, I thought to myself. We went further down the hall and turned a corner. I was in front and Ella behind me, both of us feeling against the wall to make our way. As we rounded the corner, I saw something big and white, like a statue the size of a person. We went to take a closer look, making as little noise as possible. The closer we came, the more we could make out of the sculpture. It was wrapped in toilet paper! “Max! It’s a mummy!” screamed Ella. Then the mummy turned in our direction. It was now or never!

Max turned to the mummy and yelled, “Don’t you hurt Ella!!”. He was my hero…but the mummy started running in circles and screaming: “UAAAA! I am not what you think I am!”. I couldn’t help but think that the mummy was scared too. Something was wrong…but we’ll tell you about it tomorrow!

Be good Pandas,

Ella and Max

Hey Pandas!

Wow, we had quite the day yesterday. I don’t think I have ever sweat or or shook that much!

I was totally relaxed and cool. As always.

Ha, you wish! I saw for myself the little beads of sweat pooling up all over your face.

Maybe just a little…

I’ll go back a bit and tell you Pandas what we’re talking about. So yesterday we decided to make the journey to this much-feared address. The bus went straight into the heart of a dark and loud jungle. The monkeys were screaming, as if they wanted to warn us about something. The sun was burning hot and kept the jungle humid and warm. We made our ways bravely through the jungle thicket until we saw a clearing in the distance. Then, we saw one of the most amazing things: giant pyramids! They were so big that we could hardly see their tops. We knew that one of the pyramids was surely the Pyramid of Horror and it didn’t take too long to figure out which: the one with the skull chiseled into the stone. This is the one we had to enter.

Ella wanted to make a retreat, but I convinced her that we had to do what we had to do. That is, give this letter to the mysterious man’s daughter. But why would she live in such a creepy place? What do you Pandas think?

Max, my phone’s ringing. It’s Kamaria.

Oh, I have to talk to her! We’ll tell you the rest of the story on Friday!

Be good Pandas,

Max and Ella

Hola Pandas,

As soon as we landed in Mexico, Max just had to find the nearest cantina and ordered a gigantic platter of enchiladas. You can probably imagine what happened afterwards…

Owwwww…my poor stomach…

Max has a really bad stomach ache and can hardly move. The receptionist at the hotel we’re staying at said it was most likely Montezuma’s Revenge.

But I didn’t do anything to this Montezuma guy!

No, Max, it’s a legend. Don’t you know it? A few hundred years ago, Montezuma was the greatest and most important leader of all of Mexico. One day, intruders came to Mexico and robbed the people of their land and possessions. They wanted it all for themselves. According to the legend, before his death Montezuma put a curse on the land, and all people coming to the land would get sick.

I’m not an intruder. Just a tourist. Remember Pandas, don’t drink the water! And watch out for ice cubes!

But now for something completely different. Do you Pandas remember our days in England when a mysterious man approached us in Scotland Yard and handed us a letter, asking us to deliver it to his daughter in Mexico? I dug it out of our suitcases and have the address, but we don’t have much of a clue where to bring it. We went to the tourist office and when the lady read the address, she started to chuckle a bit to herself. She looked at us and said: “This address is in a very dangerous location: The Pyramid of Fear. That’s in the city of Palenque, where the Mayan people lived hundreds of years ago. But no one goes there – that’s the haunting ground of ghosts and the undead.”

Ummmm…do we really want to go there, Max?

Of course! I’m sure it’s just another legend. Just like the dragon one in Poland. Totally harmless. Hopefully I’ll feel better tomorrow for our trip to Palenque. It’s our duty to deliver this letter.

Fine, I’ll go too, but I’ve got a bad feeling about this. Cross your fingers for us, Pandas!

Be good Pandas,

Ella and Max

Hey Pandas!

We told you yesterday how the kangaroo snatched Max’s chocolate bar right out of his hands. You should have seen Max: he turned bright red and I swear I could see steam coming out of his ears. I thought to myself, “Oh no, now things are going to get ugly.” Max can get rather moody when he’s hungry. And when someone steals food from him – watch out! If there’s one thing I know in life, it’s that no one should play around with a hungry Max. The kangaroo realized this and started hopping for its life, Max following close behind. It wasn’t too fair to Max that kangaroo feet are ten times the size of his. Max was no match for the kangaroo.

Then I had an idea. I stopped, got on the ground and layed down without moving. Kangaroos are somewhat curious, so I was hoping he would stop, turn around, and look to see what happened to me. Not a bad plan, I thought. I yelled, fell to the ground, and closed my eyes. And then I heard something: the kangaroo was hopping closer and closer. I waited until he was right beside me. I could already smell the chocolate bar. I could feel the coolness of the kangaroo’s shadow hovering over me and then…WHAT?? I opened my eyes and could hardly believe it. There, before me, was a  little baby kangaroo looking at me from the safety of his mother’s pouch. And he was sucking on my chocolate bar! It was kind of cute. I couldn’t bring myself to steal from a kangaroo baby.

As my great-great-great-grandfather would say: ‘You have your heart in the right spot, Max.’

Yeah, you too, Ella. She gave me half of her sandwich. That evening we went to a nice restaurant and had a gigantic pizza. It was so big, and we ate so much, that we practically had to roll into bed that night.

I’m still full!

I’m still excited about the enchiladas we’ll be eating in Mexico. That’s where we’ll be flying off to next. Our last stop until we had back home!

Be good Pandas,

Max and Ella

P.S. – Kamaria sent us a message telling about all the cool things to come at Panfu. Have you discovered the expanded tree houses yet? There’s supposed to be a pajama party next week! Cool! Have fun!

Dear Pandas,

I really never would have thought that Max was so into himself.

That’s not it! I am just worried about my health!

Okay, maybe you’re right. Max was so worried about his white fur that he ended up pouring the entire bottle of sunscreen on it. His fur was so oily and slippery that his pants kept slipping down. He didn’t have a belt and had to hold them up the whole time with his paws!

He wanted to make a call on his mobile and the phone popped out of his hand like a banana. And holding hands to prevent falling into the ozone hole isn’t working out either. He simply can’t hold on to anything!

Well at least I won’t get a sun burn!

Yesterday we went to the national park because I have been dying to get a glimpse of a kangaroo. Kamaria has told me so much about animals. She told me that kangaroos have little pouches in their bellies to carry around little baby kangaroos.

But at first we couldn’t find one single kangaroo in the park.

Yeah, we walked around and didn’t see a thing. We took a break to rest a bit and I saw a sign with a hoping kangaroo painted on it. I thought that maybe we would see a kangaroo or two and I unpacked our lunches.

Goodness was I hungry! My stomach was grumbling so loud that I could hardly hear anything Ella had to say. I took out my chocolate bar first and savored the melting chocolate. Mmmmm…soooo good. I put the bar down and  closed my eyes so I could appreciate every nuance of the taste.  I went to reach for it again and…it was gone! “Who did that?” I yelled. I turned around and saw a kangaroo munching on my chocolate bar!

Max went crazy and started chasing the kangaroo around to get his chocolate bar back. But pandas are rather slow and kangaroos hop rather quickly. But Max was hungry and let’s just say he can get rather difficult in such situations. You think he caught him? We’ll tell you tomorrow!

Be good Pandas,

Max and Ella

P.S. – We sent another postcard. Let’s just say it’s in a rather “beastly” location!