Skills 2 - Unit 7 (Narrative Tenses)

Many years ago , I ____________________ ____________________ ( travel ) along Central America with a friend . We ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ( travel ) across Honduras for a couple of days when we ____________________ ( arrive ) at the border with Nicaragua . When we ____________________ ( show ) our passports to the border officers , they ____________________ ( tell ) us that in order to cross the border we had to pay some money ; it wasn ? t much , maybe a couple of dollars .

" What ? " I said . I couldn't believe it . We didn ? t have any money , because we ____________________ ____________________ ( see ) any banks in the few villages we ____________________ ____________________ ( visit ) along the way . We had a credit card , but it was Sunday and the banks were closed , so we couldn ? t take out any money in the nearby villages . We ____________________ ( beg ) the officers to let us cross , but they just wanted to get their four dollars and they didn't care if we had to stay there the whole weekend .

We were ____________________ ( stand ) there , next to the officers , when an old man dressed in very old and dirty clothes ____________________ ( say ) , ? I ? ll pay the taxes for these two young men . ? We were amazed . That man looked very poor , the kind of person for whom 4 dollars could be a big deal . ? We don ? t know how to thank you , ? I said . And he replied , ? A la mano que da , nunca le falta de nada ? , which means something like 'A giving hand never goes empty' .