A Great Holiday

Maybe the best holiday I ever had was a trip my wife and I took in 2001. We visited Southern Peru and Bolivia (near La Paz) for about 3 weeks.

We took a fight from Santiago to Arica and spent the night in a little hostel. The next day we took a mini-bus to Tagna and caught a coach to Arequipa. We spent a couple of days in Arequipa and then went to stay in Colca Canyon which is one of the deepest canyons in the world. You have to travel 5 or 6 hours to get there but it is well worth it. After another day in Arequipa, we took a short flight to Cuzco. The flight took 30 minutes and cost 55 US dollars. The coach would have been much cheaper (about 2 or 3 dollars) but it takes 17 hours. However, it was the rainy season and some of the roads were blocked so, the plane was the best form of transport. Cuzco was amazing. Machu Picchu was the highlight and we visited it twice. Once as part of a tour and the following day on our own.
Next we travelled to Copaquebana were we visited the Island of the Sun & The Island of the moon. We walked across the first island (which took about 4 hours). It was really beautiful. Then we went to La Paz, which is a weird city. Actually, we didn't say very long because travelled down "the road of death" in order to visit Coroico.
This was an amazing journey, very scary but a great experience.
The village of Coroico is at the start of the Bolivian jungle and it's has spectacular scenery and beautiful walks.

This was a wonderful holiday!

Tell me about one of your holidays.

Say:
Where and when you went,
What you did there,
Why you remember this holiday.

Write at least 250 and leave comments on 3 of your classmates' blogs.

Free Post

Okay Thursday bloggers!

250 words (minimum) on the topic of your choice.

Once you've posted your post, don't forget to comment on 6 of your classmates'blogs.

A country you would like to visit

I've always wanted to visit China. I read a lot of stories that were set in China when I was younger and I imagined China to be a mysterious country and interesting country. One of my first teachers at primary school taught in China and she used to tell us lots of stories about how different it was to Europe. People thought differently, ate different food and wore different clothes. Later, I read about my favourite author Mervyn Peake who grew up in China because his parents were missionaries. He was amazed at how big China was. While some of the capitol cities may have facilities and institutions that are similar to those in Western cultures, the way they operate may be very different.
If I visited China I would like to see the Great Wall of China and sail down the Yantzee River. There are also some interesting ghost towns in the Northern desert areas that would be fascinating to visit.

What country would you like to visit?
Write at least 200 words.
Say:
Why you would like to visit this country,
What you would like to do there,
What places you would visit,
Why you think it would be an interesting place to visit,
What things would be different to Chile.

Later, leave comments on at least 3 of your classmates' blogs.

A photograph

This photo of me was taken in 1980 outside the Tate Gallery in London. I had hitch-hiked from Chester to London with an old school friend, Anne Parkins (the postwoman!) to see a Salvador Dali exhibition. Anne took the photo. I really like it because it reminds me of what I was like as a teenager. The exhibition was amazing and we had a really great time. People often find the photograph funny because they have never seen me with long hair. The fact that my hair is a different colour also suprises them too.

Write at least 200 words about a photograph you like.

Say:

Why you like it
Who took it
What it shows
When it was taken

Include any other information you think is important.

Don't forget to write comments on at least 3 of your classmates' blogs!

Review and Revise

Dear blogheads,
Today you have to review the blog of the classmate below you on my blog list (right hand side of this page).

Write at least 150 words about there blog.
Mention:
How many posts they have written,
photographs, videos, etc.
Blog design (colour,gadgets, etc)
Your first impression of the blog.

Then you have to revise one of the post on this blog and correct their English using a marking key. Post (copy/paste) the original post and your corrections on your blog.

Write messages on at least 3 of your classmates' blogs.

An Activity You Enjoy Doing in Your Free Time.

Hi all you groovy blogsters. Today I'd like you to write about ONE free time activity you like to do. For example, I have lots of hobbies, I love to read, watch movies, take photos, play games like cards and chess, play football, watch football and a million things more. However, today I'd like to talk about making music.

I started playing guitar when I was about 14 years old. I taught myself and picked things up from friends and schoolmates. My first guitar was secondhand but it wasn't very good. Later, after about 6 months, I bought a new EKO acoustic guitar. It wasn't expensive but it was very good value. A few years later, I bought an electric guitar off my cousin. It was very good but very heavy. When I started playing more seriously I invested in a Fender Telecastor and a good amplifier. After learning to play guitar, I became interested in other instruments. I liked saxophone but it was too complicated to learn. One year I lived in a house with a piano and I started to teach myself the basics. I then spent some money on a synthesizer and started making electronic music.
The main reason I like making music is that it allows me to be creative. I wrote my first song when I could play two chords and nowadays, I still enjoy writing and playing my own songs.

I’ve make lots of friends through this hobby and it’s one of the few things that the majority of people have an interest in.
Frankly, I couldn’t live without music!!

So, write about an activity you enjoy doing in your free time.
Say;
What the activity is,
How often you do it,
How long you've been doing it and why you started,
Why you enjoy doing this activity.

Write at least 200 words. Leave a comment on your teachers blog and on 3 classmates' blogs.

Favourite Movie

Although it's not easy to pick one favourite film, one of the first films that springs to mind when people mention this subject is Brazil by British director Terry Giliam. The film came out in 1985 and I remember going to see it in the Rio Arts Cinema in North London with a friend, Martin, who was the drummer in a band we had together. We were both amazed by the film. It may look at little dated now but at the time the special effects were innovative and the creativity and black humour was something special. The cast was also very impressive with many cameo roles by well known actors or minor celebrities. I especially like the parts with Robert De Niro and Bob Hoskins.

The story was originally meant to be called 1984 and a half, as a play on the book by George Orwell but it had to be changed for legal reasons. The title Brazil comes from the song Aquarela do Brazil which is used repeatedly throughout the film. Many of the actors also worked in other Terry Giliam movies like Time Bandits and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

If you haven't seen this film I really recommend it however, be warned, it's not a typical kind of film. I really love the ending. This is a very dark film in more ways than one!

Write about one of your favourite movie
Say:

Who it's by,

When you saw it for the first time,

Why you like it,

What makes it better than other movies.

Write at least 200 words. Leave comments on the blogs of at least 3 of your classmates and a comment on your teachers blog too.