Saturday, September 13, 2008, 23:07 G2 from Ms Sher's Class

In the rainforest

Chapter 1 : Cub Camp

One Tuesday night in December, my cub scout group at Birchcliff School was talking about where we should have our next camp. We tried lots of places like Camp Samac and camp Wilmac but they were all too cold. Then someone said ‘How about the desert?' We said ‘‘Too hot!’’ Then I said ‘‘how about the rainforest?’’ my leader, Ken, said ‘‘That’s a great idea! We’ll go on Christmas Break.’’ I asked Ken ‘‘When are we going?’’ He said ‘‘The first day of the break.’’ We were all excited because the rainforest had lots of animals. I hoped we would see a Basilisk Lizard! What I was scared of was Jaguars. I hoped they stayed away!

Chapter 2 : Packing For Camp’

Once I got home I yelled ‘‘Mom! We’re having a camp in the Amazon rainforest! Can I go?’’ ‘‘Sure! Just start packing your bags now.’’ she said. So I ran up the stairs to my room. I knew that bugs lived in the rainforest so I packed a longed-sleeved shirt to keep me safe from bugs. I packed sunscreen to protect me from the sun’s ultra-violet waves. I soon found myself packing binoculars to look for animals, long pants to protect me from bugs that might bite me on the leg, a walkie talkie to keep in contact with my group, a sleeping bag to sleep in (We were camping in tents outside of a hotel), a change of clothes and a whole lot more.5 days later we were all at our cub meeting spot. The ride there was smooth, but going to the airport on the bus took 2 hours! When we finally got to the airport , we checked in our luggage and boarded the plane.

Chapter 3 : Six Hours on the Plane

During the 6 hours I took out my piece of paper and pen and started to draw the animals I hoped to see. Then, I practiced drawing the layers of the rainforest. Soon, after the 6 hours we finally saw the airport. We quickly put on our seatbelts. Thump! Thump! We had finally landed. We got out of the plane, checked out our luggage waited for the jeep that would take us to the hotel. After waiting for 15 minutes the jeep finally came. Once the jeep came, we got onto it. I sat in the front with my friend, Kurtis. The rest of my group sat in the back. Our luggage was in the trunk of the jeep. As the jeep got deeper and deeper into the rainforest I asked ‘‘Are we there yet?’’ The driver said ‘‘Almost!’’ Then a clearing came into sight.

Chapter 4: We’re there!

My leader shouted ‘‘We’re there!’’ We saw a hotel in the clearing land. Suddenly I noticed some dark clouds crawling across the sky. I thought there would be a thunder storm but the clouds passed over the sun. Then I tripped over a vine. But it really was an Anaconda! I ran to the area where my group was. I told them what had happened. My leader said ‘‘Be careful. There are animals everywhere in the rainforest.’’ Just then drops of water fell all around us! We quickly put on our raincoats and put up our tents. We saw a bolt of lightning come down from the sky. Once we put our tents we scurried into them. Inside our tents it was nice and warm, not like outside, which was cold and wet.

Chapter 5 : Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

Then we heard it. A loud growl. Grrrrrrrrr!! We got out of the tents and then we saw the Jaguar. It was crawling toward us. Grrr! It said. My heart was beating 100 miles per minute. We all ran into the hotel. I sighed a sigh of relief. Soon, we were walking through the rainforest when we heard it. Another Grrrrrrr! But this time it came from above us .I told my leader ‘‘It might pounce on someone. Let’s hide in the bushes.’’ He said “O.K.” We slowly crawled into a bush. Then it jumped out of a different bush. I wondered “How did it get there?” I had no time to find out. I didn’t dare to move a single millimeter. After waiting for 15 minutes it finally went away. Then we went to play some games. We played‘‘Capture the flag”. After playing Capture the flag 3 times, we actually saw a real life Basilisk Lizard run across the water! ‘‘Wow!” I said. The other cubs asked‘‘What scared it?” That actually frightened me. What would be big enough to scare it? I know what creatures scare it, but I couldn’t find them. So we all ran back to camp. That night when we went to sleep, we often heard the roars of Jaguars. The next day, we went out on an animal search. We each had a guide. I saw 3 Scarlet Macaws as they flew through the air, some cute Capybaras boxing each other and another Basilisk Lizard as it ran across the water! I quickly snapped a picture with my camera. It looked great!

Chapter 6 : We’re Home!

The next day, we boarded the plane and flew back to Toronto. At home , every now and then, I take out my memory of the Basilisk Lizard and think about that great camp.

THE END .