An encounter with Mother Nature

by Jocely de Deus Pinheiro

Instructions for the teacher: photocopy the page below and hand it out to students. First when they finish reading the story they can start doing the exercises.

Every day the sun rises and sets but I hardly ever see it (1) because I’m always busy working or doing something else during these precious moments. It’s a pity I cannot contemplate nature as much as I would like to. Maybe I would feel more in peace if I had more contact with Mother Nature... But, once a year, life gives me a chance to relax a bit and do the things I can’t do while I’m working: I’m talking about those amazing days called holidays!!!

I always enjoy travelling for my holidays and I can travel anywhere, as long as I travel. I believe travelling is the best way to learn about the world and about its (2) great variety of people... So, once I decide where I’m going to, I always go to a bookshop and search for a good travel guide to help me plan my trip. Travel guides are wonderful, especially the ones (3) published by FOLHA DE SÃO PAULO or PHILIPS because they bring historical, cultural and geographical information, which are really relevant for a tourist. They also offer suggestions of what to do, where to stay, what/where to eat, how to get around the cities, nice places to visit and good places to go shopping!!!

I always study the place I’m going to visit before travelling because this (4) makes my trip culturally richer. Last holiday, after deciding to travel to BONITO and PANTANAL (Mato Grosso do Sul/Brazil), I bought the PHILIPS’ guide at Siciliano’s and read it through in just one weekend. It was in the PHILIPS’ guide that I read about the PANTANAL ECOLOGICAL TREKKING EXPEDITION and, at once, I decided I wanted to do it (5). I felt that this expedition was the perfect place for a wonderful encounter with Mother Nature and it was!!!  

I got together with the other people who wanted to go to PANTANAL at BONITO’s Youth Hostel. (Bonito is a lovely city, famous for its ecological sports, such as trekking, canoeing, rappelling, diving and snorkelling.) We left BONITO very early in the morning with our backpacks and walked until the main avenue to get the bus to a place called ”BURACO DAS PIRANHAS”, where the expedition transport would be waiting for us. It took us 5 hours to get there but when we arrived, the expedition TOYOTA was already waiting for us. From the “BURACO DAS PIRANHAS” to the campsite it was a long way, but the landscape was beautiful and full of surprises. On the way to the camp we passed by big farms and we saw colourful birds such as macaws and toucans flying without fear. We also saw and photographed wild pigs, alligators, and even the famous ANACONDA snake, which is also called SUCURI by the locals.

The tourists’ routine at the PANTANAL campsite is completely different from the city routine although it is also very busy!!! Our alarm clock was the singing of the birds and also the cry of a wild monkey that lives around the camp. It started crying at around 4:30 am, so everybody had to get up but straight away because it was impossible to sleep with such noise... So, after jumping out or our hammocks, we all went for breakfast, which was really delicious with a great variety of typical food and fruits. After breakfast, everyone went trekking either on foot or on horse. Swimming with the alligators and fishing the dangerous “piranha fish” were incredible activities!!!  

After dinner, we all got around the campfire to play the guitar and to talk about our day’s adventures... It was full moon when I was there and the nights were really magical! There were people from all over the world in the camp so English was the language I spoke most, in second place came Spanish and Portuguese only in third.

 Camping in the wild PANTANAL was an experience I will never forget...

a) rich, important, beautiful               ___________________

b) fantastic, wonderful                       ___________________

c) a book about trips                         ___________________

d) a meeting                                     ___________________

e) the strong “voice” of an animal        ___________________  

a)  Jocely has a holiday twice a year.

a) it (1) (paragraph 1)            _____________________

b) its (2) (paragraph )          _____________________

c) ones (3) (paragraph 2)      _____________________

d) this (4) (paragraph 2)       _____________________

e) it (5)  (paragraph 2)           _____________________