#41 Puerto Rico - wakacyjna podróż

Podróż do Puerto Rico. Przenieście się nad czyste morze gdzie jest pyszne jedzenie, rum i niespotykane gatunki zwierząt. Posłuchajcie o Puerto Rico – o wyspie na morzu karaibskim, gdzie można poczuć się jak w raju, jej historii i codzienności. Pobierz kartę pracy ze słownictwem ze strony www.monikapodbielska.com i podróżuj ze mną w piękny rejon!Puerto Rico is an island located between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. It is east of the Dominican Republic and slightly west of the Virgin Islands. Roughly speaking it is between the North and South Americas. The capital city is San Juan. In Puerto Rico there live about 3.3 million people, so as many as in Warsaw only. It is a territory of the United States and Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens and are subject to federal laws. The currency is the U.S. Dollar. Also, U.S. phone cards work normally in the territory of Puerto Rico. As you may imagine, the majority of inhabitants speak English fluently due to close relations with the United States and so the two official languages are Spanish and English. To travel to Puerto Rico you need an American visa, the same as the one to go the United States mainland.Christopher Columbus discovered the Island during his second trip on November 19, 1493. The place was inhabited with about 50.000 Taino Indians. The Indians showed Columbus plenty of gold in rivers which he was free to take.Columbus named the island San Juan Bautista after John the Baptist. The first settlement was named Puerto Rico, which means a rich port due to its buoyant natural resources, gold and the location of the island itself.Later, thanks to one of Columbus’ lieutenants named Juan de León, the settlement became the most important military outpost for the Spanish. So, the names were switched, and San Juan became the name of the port and military outpost and the island became known as Puerto Rico. The port was often attacked by the Dutch, French and English in attempts to conquer the rich island. Forts and castles were built to protect the island, but the really impressive citadels were never defeated and nowadays we can enjoy a walk there.European arrival in the Carribean would devastate the thriving Taíno community. In less than 100 years, smallpox had killed the vast majority of the indigenous population. Those who survived were ultimately enslaved by Spanish immigrants.Puerto Rico’s Caribbean location ensures that there is nice and warm temperature all year long.Puerto Rico is south of the Tropic of Cancer and it has a tropical marine climate. There is no distinct wet or dry season. In summer the average temperature varies at about 33 degrees Celsius and in winter at about 31.With this nice hot temperature sometimes during the day you get nice showers of light rainfall which is very refreshing!The island is covered mostly with rainforests on mountainous slopes. The most famous rainforest is called El Younque National Forest and is located in northeastern Puerto Rico.This rainforest as well as the whole island are home to plenty of animal species, some of them living only in Puerto Rico. Sometimes sitting in the garden in the evening I could admire sounds which made me sure to hear a beautifully singing bird. How much I was wrong! In fact it was a fascinating frog called coqui. Coqui begins its songs as the sun sets and ends in early dawn. So all nights you may enjoy this absolutely amazing sound of a singing frog. There have been many attempts to take this species out of the Puerto Rico island, but it was always dying not long after leaving the island. So to hear it sing you need to visit Puerto Rico.Also, there is a Puerto Rican parrot. It is a bird up to 30 cm long, green with a red forehead and white rings around the eyes.Especially at weekends we...