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Alight Education Services : Alight Education Services Welcome to Read and Talk ESL. Today we will.
Read several short news articles.
Discuss the content of the news articles, and hopefully enjoy a lively conversation.
Please note: this is a fluency class, meaning I will be doing minimal correcting. Participants should try to do as much talking as possible to maximize their practice.
Let’s get started.
Alight Education Services : Alight Education Services Warm-Up
When you travel, do you prefer to act like a tourist, or blend in with the natives?
Do you prefer luxury, or adventure?
Are you a museumgoer, or a trailblazer?
Alight Education Services : Alight Education Services Volunteers to read the passage?
Peru plans to limit the thousands of visitors who hike its well-worn Inca Trail to the mountain ruins of Machu Picchu, in efforts to better preserve the ancient road it says is overrun by tourists.
As of mid-August, the number of people traveling on the trail's six routes to Machu Picchu, including tourists and the porters they sometimes hire to carry backpacks, tents and food, will be limited to 500 people, according to a law published this week. That's down from an average of 600-650 people a day on the trail during the peak season, the northern hemisphere's summer months, said a spokesman for Peru's National Institute for Natural Resources (Inrena), which oversees the trail's upkeep.
Alight Education Services : Alight Education Services Readers?
“This is a positive law, because, given all the wear, it's possible that in two, three years we wouldn't have an Inca Trail,” Manuel Bryce, whose tour operator Hirca organizes treks on the route, said Thursday. “It's saving something that under the prior conditions was beyond saving,” he said.
Bryce, also vice president of Peru's Tourism Chamber, reckons that the number of people on the trail can swell to over 1,000 per day in August.
All six routes through jungle-covered mountains were once used by the pre-Columbian Inca people to get from Cusco to Machu Picchu, a 14th-15th century citadel perched atop Peruvian mountains which is now one of South America's most important archeological ruins.
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The spectacular collection of huge stone slabs, sun dials and temples attracts thousands of tourists a year and those seeking the more adventurous route there take the Inca Trail. The six routes are a small part of the myriad of roads spread across South America left behind by the Inca empire. The most popular route to Machu Picchu, about 25 miles long, usually takes about four days to hike. Located in southern Peru, Machu Picchu is the country's biggest tourist attraction.
The Inrena spokesman estimated over 120,000 people and their accompanying donkeys and horses loaded with gear make their way along the trail every year, leaving behind trash and slowly wearing away the road and the smaller ruins which line it. “They look like an Arab caravan,” the spokesman said. Under the new regulations, tourists will have to hike the trail with either a government-approved tourism company or a guide assigned to groups of 10.
Alight Education Services : Last bit:
Some of the most popular routes will cost $50 instead of a current $17, “Which isn't enough to pick up the trash, to clean the bathrooms,” the spokesman said. Students will pay half-price.
"The problem isn't the number of people but their concentration,” he said, adding that the fewer numbers will also make hiking along the route a better experience.
Bryce said the government should also try to rebuild the original ecosystem around the trail, which has been encroached on by cattle and farmers, to improve the hike and also keep the trail safe.
“That hay, it's like gasoline,” he said. Alight Education Services
Alight Education Services : Just to talk:
Where in the world would you like to travel? Alight Education Services
Alight Education Services : Just to talk:
What are some interesting places you would like to see while you are there? Alight Education Services
Alight Education Services : Just to talk:
What are some of the drawbacks to travel? Alight Education Services
Alight Education Services : Just to talk:
What is the most interesting city to visit in your country? Why? Alight Education Services
Alight Education Services : Just to talk:
What's the most beautiful place you've ever been to? Alight Education Services
Alight Education Services : Just to talk:
Would you rather go to a place where there are a lot of people or to a place where there are few people? Alight Education Services
Alight Education Services : Just to talk:
Which is better, package tour or a tour you organize and book yourself? Alight Education Services
Alight Education Services : Alight Education Services If you enjoyed the class, please leave us a comment.
If you learned something please recommend us to others.
Next class…Wednesday.