Do You Need a Holiday? (2)

Mountain and Countryside Holidays

The mountains and countryside are the places for people to escape from the stress of city life. In the winter, snow encourages people to buy a ski-pass for alpine skiing. Skiers go down slopes (pistas) graded from the easy green and blue ones to the more difficult red and black ones. In recent years, snowboarding has become a popular alternative to skiing. In the snow-covered countryside, cross-country skiing (esquí de fondo) and snow shoeing (ir con raquetas de nieve) are also good fun. On these holidays, après-ski is the highlight (lo más destacado) of the evening, when people enjoy the entertainment organized by the hotels in the resort, including dancing, magic shows and casino nights.

At other times of the year, people decide to go mountain climbing (escalada en la montaña) to enjoy panoramic views from the top and then abseil (descender en rappel) rapidly down. Those people who love animals can go to the stables to hire a horse and go horse riding across the countryside. These normally provide riders with a protective horse riding cap and saddle. (silla de montar)

       

Hiking (hacer senderismo) in the countryside is especially popular in national parks where walkers can enjoy the beautiful scenery, including waterfalls, (cascadas de agua) rivers, forests, flowers and fauna. Some people travel long distances especially to go bird watching or mushroom picking in the forest. At the campsite, (lugar de acampada) hikers use a stove (hornillo) to cook food on and a sleeping bag (saco de dormir) to sleep in inside their tent. For families with children, they tend to look for authorised campsites that allow them to pitch (montar una tienda de campaña) their family-size tents or caravans. These sites have laundry (lavandería) and shower facilities as well as shops and restaurants. Other accommodation in the countryside includes country cottages (casita de campo) in England and castles in Scotland.

      

Adventure Holidays

If the previous holidays are not exciting enough for you, the range of adventure holidays probably is. Animal lovers who like going on exciting wildlife expeditions (excursión para ver la fauna) do not have to look any further than a safari in Tanzania, where they can observe tigers, lions, elephants, rhinos and hippos, “the big five”, in their natural habitant habitat. On these trips, local guides in four-wheel drive jeeps escort tourists.

In the tropical rainforests or jungle, travellers often go on foot with a guide and a number of people who carry their luggage for days to see the way of life of Indian tribes deep in the Amazon or the rich fauna that is not found anywhere else.

       

Many adventures involve experiencing an “adrenalin rush”.(subidón de adrenalina) This often occurs in the sky when brave tourists jump out of a plane. At lower heights, (alturas) this activity is known as parachute jumping (paracaidismo) – the parachutist opens the parachute pack on his or her back just after jumping from the plane. However, for true daredevils, (temerarios) a similar activity performed at 3,000 metres is called skydiving, (paracaidismo de caída libre) which involves freefalling through the sky until opening the parachute just 500 metres above the ground.

On water, the excitement of an adrenalin rush is found on the rapids. This activity is called white-water (aguas rápidas) rafting, where about eight people wearing a crash helmet (casco anticaidas) and life jacket (chaleco salvavidas) quickly travel down the river in an inflatable dinghy. (lancha pneumática inflable)