Miami-Bound Stowaways Take Round-Trip to Colombia

Reuters ^ | Fri, May 16, 2003

[presidio9]

Yelling "Hey, Colombian people!" five Colombian stowaways emerged jubilantly from a ship they thought had docked in Miami only to discover they were still in their homeland after five days at sea, police said on Friday.

The Dutch-flagged cargo ship carrying the unfortunate five, which sailed from Buenaventura on Sunday, had mechanical problems which meant that its five-day journey only took it as far as another Colombian port, Cartagena, by Thursday.

The stowaways' rudimentary English yells of joy were interrupted when they were arrested by Colombian police.

"They wanted the American dream, but they only made it to Cartagena," said Jorge Araujo, director of the local branch of the DAS detective force, adding that two of the men had previous records as stowaways.

Looking sheepish and giggling, the five were paraded in front of local reporters before being freed and put on a bus back to Buenaventura. Police said the stowaways performed an impromptu rap dramatizing their tragi-comic story.

[calvin sun]

This story reminds of "The Prisoner" episode (was it number 2) "The Chimes of Big Ben." In it, #6 seemingly escapes from The Village, and is back in a London office.

IIRC, though, he becomes suspicious because Big Ben chimes an hour earlier or later. Then he opens the windows, but instead of seeing sunlight, sees a loudspeaker that plays a recording of Big Ben. Then he opens the door, and finds that he is STILL in The Village.

[presidio9]

Sounds like "Take the Money and Run," where Vergil breaks out of prison on the wrong night and tries to break his way back in.

[calvin sun]

How about that old (original) "Twilight Zone" episode where the astronauts crash in a deserted area, try to survive, end up killing each other except for one. That one survivor walks and walks, then finds that he and the others never left the earth.

[presidio9]

Yeah, how does it end? He walks out of the desert and finds a highway sign, right?

[Duke Nukum]

That's the same episode that Hilary stole her book from. Number 6 and Number 2 were having a talk while waiting for Natasha to make a break for it and Number 2 was explaining the "master plan" of the Global Village.

"The whole world as the Village?" I remember Number 6 asking.

[calvin sun]

That "Twilight Zone" episode ends this way IIRC:
SPOILER ALERT:

The astronaut climbs over a small mound of rocks, then sees a highway with cars and also a service station. He starts laughing and crying to himself, saying "We never left the earth."

[calvin sun]

We're showing our ages LOL