A Wild Weekend

The Rojas family lives in Santiago, in Chile. This summer they visited their cousins in Calgary, and on the last weekend they drove to Banff National Park. "Two days in the mountains," said their father, Pablo. "No phones, no television, just nature." Their son Tomas, who is fourteen, was not happy.

On Saturday morning they walked to Lake Louise. The water was a beautiful blue-green color, and there was snow on the mountains around it. "It's more beautiful than the photos," said their mother, Carolina. Even Tomas took out his phone and took twenty pictures.

In the afternoon they went on a longer walk through the forest. It was hotter than they expected, and there were a lot of mosquitoes. Millions of them. "These are bigger than the mosquitoes in Chile!" said their daughter, Isabel. Everybody laughed, but everybody was scratching.

Suddenly Pablo stopped. "Look," he said quietly. On the other side of the valley, about three hundred meters away, there was a large brown animal. It was a bear! It was eating berries and it didn't see them. The family stood very still and watched it for five minutes. Then it walked slowly into the trees.

That night they stayed in a small wooden cabin by a river. There was no internet, so they played cards and told stories. The sky was clearer than in the city, and they could see thousands of stars. Isabel saw a shooting star and made a wish.

On Sunday they drove back to Calgary. Tomas was quiet for a long time. Then he said, "That was the best weekend of the whole summer." His father smiled. "Better than television?" "Much better," said Tomas. "But next time, we're bringing more mosquito spray."