Question

7. Past simple or present perfect?
Read the abstract from the blog (online diary) of someone who has taken six months’ leave from work to travel around Central and South America. Fill in the gaps using the past simple or present perfect from the verb given in brackets and any other given words.

It is Saturday and finally I 1) ………… (arrive) in Arequipa in the south-west corner of Peru after setting off from Quito ten days ago. I 2) ………… (not / write) anything on my blog since last week and I 3) ………… (already / fill up) the memory stick on my new digital camera. I 4) ……….. (do) so much this week, it 5) ………… (be) truly incredible.
I 6) ………… (cross) the border with Ecuador at Tumbes and 7) ………… (look around) for a bit before taking a plane straight to lima. When I 8) …………. (get to) Lima, I 9) ………… (take) a bus to the centre and then a taxi to the hotel that I had booked. I 10) ………… (only / stop off) in Lima for a day and then 11) ……… (jump) on a bus straight down to Pisco and then Nazca. I 12) ………… (always / have) a lifelong ambition to see the Nazca lines in the desert. I can honestly say that I 13) ………… (never / see) anything so amazing in my life.
In the middle of the desert, there are huge designs and drawings of shapes and animals that can only be seen from the air. I 14) ………… (join) a group of five people from my hotel. We 15) ………… (take off) in a small plane and 16) ………… (circle) the Nazca lines. The pilot 17) ………… (tilt) the plane to the side so we could look straight down at the designs below. I 18) ………… (even / manage) to take some photos so click the link to have a look at my photo album! I must finish uploading all my photos soon because I 19) ………… (not / do) them all yet and I need the space on my camera. There 20) ………… (be) too many distractions this week! With all this going on, I mustn’t forget that I am going to Cuzco early tomorrow morning by train.

Answer 1

It is Saturday and finally I 1) ………… (have arrived) in Arequipa in the south-west corner of Peru after setting off from Quito ten days ago. I 2) ………… (have not / written) anything on my blog since last week and I 3) ………… (have already / filled up) the memory stick on my new digital camera. I 4) ……….. (have done) so much this week, it 5) ………… (was) truly incredible.
I 6) ………… (crossed) the border with Ecuador at Tumbes and 7) ………… (looked around) for a bit before taking a plane straight to lima. When I 8) …………. (got to) Lima, I 9) ………… (took) a bus to the centre and then a taxi to the hotel that I had booked. I 10) ………… (only / stopped off) in Lima for a day and then 11) ……… (jumped) on a bus straight down to Pisco and then Nazca. I 12) ………… (have always / had) a lifelong ambition to see the Nazca lines in the desert. I can honestly say that I 13) ………… (have never / seen) anything so amazing in my life.
In the middle of the desert, there are huge designs and drawings of shapes and animals that can only be seen from the air. I 14) ………… (joined) a group of five people from my hotel. We 15) ………… (took off) in a small plane and 16) ………… (circled) the Nazca lines. The pilot 17) ………… (tilted) the plane to the side so we could look straight down at the designs below. I 18) ………… (even / managed) to take some photos so click the link to have a look at my photo album! I must finish uploading all my photos soon because I 19) ………… (have not / done) them all yet and I need the space on my camera. There 20) ………… (have been) too many distractions this week!