Custom Group Tours with Adventures Abroad World Wide Travel

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 (to download a PDF version of this itinerary click here)

 

TOUR CODE

FIP1                                                    

BRAZIL FOR GEM & MINERAL LOVERS

Special FIPP 2009 August Departure

  

This tour is designed around the FIPP show in Teofilo Otoni taking place in 2008 on August 27th. We do not yet have the dates for the show in 2009 but it will be approximately the same. The date for next year’s show should be available by the end of August 2008.

Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world and the largest in South America, comprising nearly half of that continent's area. Perhaps it should not be surprising that Brazil has yielded considerable mineralogical wealth. What never fails to amaze, however, are the beauty and significance of many of the wonderful minerals and gems that it continues to produce.   To view that production, in all its detail and glory, you could not find a better time than during the industry's annual exhibition - Feira Internacional de Pedras Preciosas, known internationally as the FIPP, featured in our tour.

The state name Minas Gerais means "General Mines" in Portuguese, and with good reason. By the mid-18th century, the area around Diamantina was the largest producer of diamonds in the world and that around Ouro Preto was Brazil's largest producer of gold. The wonderful baroque architecture of both of these cities dates to this period.

Though the first pegmatite gem discoveries date even earlier, the majority of these deposits were first exploited for strategic minerals such as muscovite, quartz and beryl during WWI and especially WWII. Gemstones and gem mineral specimens remained largely by-products of this mining for many years.  In recent years, the search for gems has reached into the extensive metamorphic terrain of Minas Gerais, netting rich deposits of emerald, alexandrite and more. Today, Minas Gerais stands out as one of the world's foremost producers of fine gems and minerals.

 

Throughout the gem centers of Belo Horizonte, Ouro Preto, Governador Valadares, Teofilo Otoni and Aracuai, and in the backcountry, one senses a continuing excitement as the search for gem treasures goes on.  The northeastern portion of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, contains the world's greatest concentration of complex granitic pegmatites, which are especially noted for the production of gem beryl, chrysoberyl, topaz, tourmaline, garnet, kunzite and brazilianite . Because of the geologic environment of these deposits, this region of Brazil is the greatest laboratory workshop in the world for the study of pegmatite geology, crystallography and gemology.


 

 

Day 1 Arrival in Brazil - Belo Horizonte

Today we arrive in Sao Paulo and connect to a flight to Belo Horizonte. Transfer to our hotel in Belo Horizonte.

Overnight in Belo Horizonte. Dinner if required.

Day 2 Belo Horizonte - Teofilo Otoni

This morning we leave Belo Horizonte and travel by road to Teofilo Otoni. We stop in Governador Valadares for lunch (your own account) and continue on to Teofilo, arriving in the late afternoon.

From August 26 to 30, 2009 will be held the 18th International Gem Fair in Teofilo Otoni (Minas Gerais, Brazil) known internationally as FIPP (Feira Internacional de Pedras Preciosas). The open fair (mainly of rough minerals for collections, carvings, and beads, but also cut gems and some rough minerals for cutting) will take place near the central plaza of the town, which is famous for the many sloths that live in the trees and that come to the ground from time to time. The gem fair, which will take place in the outskirts of town, is organized as a closed environment with tight security and focuses on cut gems, unusual mineral specimens, good quality rough for cutting, and jewelry. Usually a Gemological Lab is available for free identification of cut gems to all that require the service.

Overnight in Teofilo Otoni. Breakfast and dinner.

Day 3 Teofilo Otoni: Gem and Mineral Show

A full day to explore the town. We will visit some of the local dealers and spend a lot of time at the show. Past travellers have found well-priced blue apatite crystals, crystaline rhodonite, emeralds, aquamarine, alexandrite and several others. There are also some very interesting quartz crystals if you can afford the weight. Some have also found good deals on tourmalines, emeralds, and even alexandrite and chrysobery.   Unbelievable artisans, such as Diane Dille, who knits silver chain, weaving in gems like aquamarine, carnelian and amethyst, or making rings that hug bold gemstones like turtleneck sweaters, will be visited.

Tonight a special treat. Dinner will be with Ghuillermo Bamberger, past president of Brazils Gems Exporters Association (GEA) who will give a short talk after dinner.

Overnight in Teofilo Otoni. Breakfast and dinner.

 

Day 4 Teofilo Otoni - Governador Valadares

After checking out of our hotel we head off for a mine visit, the Faisca Chrysoberyl Mine (just outside town) and then it's off on the road to Governador Valadares

 

This town of some 230,000 souls, on the banks of the Doce River, is quickly taking over from Teofilo Otoni as the nationwide centre for the trading and cutting of colored gemstones.  On the way into town we will stop at the famous Golconda mine which is well used to geologist visitors.

 

Overnight in Governador Valadares. Breakfast and dinner.

Day 5 Governador Valadares

After breakfast we will visit several gem and mineral dealers and then an appointment at the local University for a short talk. The afternoon sees us head off to the fabulous Navigator Mine where we will be met by the owner Rogerio Zigoloto. For many years, the facility was known as a producer of mica and feldspar. But in 2000, a large pocket was discovered containing a variety of minerals, including large crystals of quartz, albite, aquamarine, garnet, tourmaline and apatitite. Today the mine has become additionally famous for its blue-green tourmaline.

 

"Here, the mines are located in what only can be described as huge caves. Some of them have been blasted open so that trucks can drive in and out, carrying literally tons and tons of rough quartzes, smoky and crystal, amethyst and citrine, and huge slabs of rose quartz. We were here to see the blue green tourmaline, but we felt like children in a toy shop, amazed by the wide variety of rough pockets, protruding from the cave's walls. It was amazing."  Avi Meirom, Past President, ICA.

 

Overnight in Governador Valadares. Breakfast and dinner.

Day 6 Valadares - Ouro Preto

After breakfast we leave for Ouro Preto, a relatively small town that was once the Portugese base during a war between the Portugese and the Paulista bandeirantes. Later the town became the capital of the gold-producing area of Minas, and today it is rich with 18th centrury churches.

 

Ouro Preto's name means "Black Gold," a reference to the black colouring of the gold mined in the area caused by the iron oxide in the soil. Today we will explore the town with its charming old buildings and cobblestone streets. Ouro Preto is known for precious topaz. In fact, most of the precious topaz mined in Brazil comes from an area one hundred kilometers around Ouro Preto.

 

Overnight in Ouro Preto. Breakfast and dinner

Day 7 Ouro Preto

A full day to enjoy Ouro Preto and its surroundings. There is so much iron surrounding Ouro Preto that in the early morning one can smell it in the air! This morning we visit the Mineral Museum and some of the colonial treasures of the town, like the opera house, the oldest in South America.

 

This afternoon, a visit to "Mineracao Topazio Imperial"--the Imperial Topaz Mine

 

Overnight in Ouro Preto. Breakfast and dinner

Day 8 Ouro Preto - Belo Horizonte - Rio de Janeiro

Off on the road this morning back to Belo Horizonte to complete our circle tour of Minas Gerais.  Afternoon flight to Rio de Janeiro, the Ciudade Marvailhosa (marvelous city). We will be met at the airport and transferred to our hotel on Ipanema beach.

 

Seven million Cariocas, as the inhabitants are called, are jammed into one of the world's most beautiful city settings - between ocean and escarpment. This makes Rio one of the most densely populated places on earth. Cariocas pursue pleasures like no other people: beaches and the body beautiful, samba and football; cerveja (beer); and cachaca (sugar­cane rum). In Rio everything ends with samba--football games, weddings, work, political demonstrations and, of course, a day at the beach. There's a lust for life, and a love of romance, music, dance and a talk that distinguishes the Cariocas from everyone else

 

After check-in we depart the hotel for a short ride past Rio’s famous beaches, to the Tijuca Forest and the station where we will board a modern cogwheel train for the twenty-minute ascend up Corcovado Mountain. Here 220 steps take us to the base of the famous forty-ton statue of Christ the Redeemer. From this vantage point we will have an outstanding view of Rio, its beaches, Guanabara Bay, and, out on the horizon, Sugar Loaf.

 

This evening we enjoy a Brazilian barbeque dinner with our special guest Julius Sauer, of Sauer Amsterdam, for an exclusive tour of his private collection.

 

Overnight in Rio. Breakfast and dinner

Day 9 Rio de Janeiro: Petropolis

After breakfast we drive to the town of Petropolis, about 60 km from Rio and 800m above sea level, where we will visit the summer palace of the Emperor Dom Pedro II, now a museum. The most visited room in the museum is the one that houses Pedro's crown--a remarkable work of craftsmanship that sparkles with 629 diamonds and 77 pearls.

 

Ironically, for a country that supplies ninety per cent of the coloured gemstones in the world, the crown does not have a single colored gemstone on it. The interior of the palace has been faithfully preserved as its last occupants left it.

 

We will also visit the Crystal Palace, erected by the royal family for musical concerts and exhibitions. The entire glass and metal structure was imported from France in pieces and assembled in Brazil.

 

We return to Rio. This afternoon free time to explore and shop in fashionable Ipanema. Later it is on to Plataforma Uno for a show, a two–hour extravaganza of carnival costumes, Samba music, and dancing.

 

Overnight in Rio. Breakfast and dinner.

Day 10 Depart

Departure from Rio.

 

Breakfast and transfer to airport for trip home or onwards to Part II, for those heading off to the Amethyst Fields

 

 

TOUR CODE

FIP2                                                    

 – Extension to the Amethyst Fields


 Day 10 Rio - Porto Alegre - Bento Goncalves
 

After breakfast we fly to Porto Alegre (via Sao Paulo).

 

The capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state of Brazil, Porto Alegre is a city of one and a half million people and a region of contrasts. In the south where Rio Grande do Sul borders Argentina and Uruguay it is flat pampas grassland. Here there are vast cattle ranches; sources for the succulent beef that has made the gaucho barbecue-­the churrasco--a synonym for mouth-watering steaks and sausages throughout Brazil. In the north where Germans and Italian immigrants settled, there are beautiful gardens and Bavarian architecture dotting the countryside. This is where the best Brazilian wine is produced.

 

We will be met at the airport on arrival in Porto Alegre and driven to the town of Bento Goncalves. On the way we stop at a winery to taste some of the local wines..

 

Overnight in Bento Goncalves. Breakfast and dinner.

 

Day 11 Bento Goncalves – Soledade
 

After breakfast a short drive takes us to Soledade, located in the heart of Brazil's amethyst and agate country. The city is nicknamed the Cidade das Pedras Preciosas meaning the City of Precious Stones or Rare Gems.  More than 180 million years ago, this region, with adjoining areas of Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina, experienced extensive volcanic activities that produced the largest known discharge of lava on the surface of the earth, covering an area of approximately 1.2 million square kilometers. These lava flows, now hardened into black, fine-grained basalt (in some places as thick as a thousand meters) are the source of the seemingly unlimited supply of geodes that we will admire and buy during the next few days.

 

Not too far from Soledade are the towns of Irai and Ametista do Sul where some of the largest deposits of amethyst are located.   Brazilian amethyst are typically found in vugs, or small cavities in rocks lined with crystals. Among the rock containing amethyst crystal in Brazil are large pockets formed by volcanic material. Some  vugs were formed from lava and magmatic flow over trees or gas bubbles created by heat convection. The crystals that are produced in these areas vary in color saturation from pale to medium lilac but never quite reach a deep true dark purple of high saturation. The color in the crystals of these vugs is highly concentrated in the tips of the visible termination of each crystal.. Soledade is the center for production and distribution of amethyst and agate articles.

 

Overnight in Soledade. Breakfast and dinner.

 

Day 12 Soledade

 

Today is dedicated to visiting wholesalers and touring the huge warehouses where geodes of all shapes and sizes await. Rare minerals are always a pleasant surprise!

 

Overnight in Soledade. Breakfast and dinner.

 

Day 13 Soledade - Porto Alegre - Sao Paulo – Depart

After breakfast depart for Porto Alegre's airport and a flight to Sao Paulo and the connecting flight homeward. Breakfast. VIAGEM BOA!!

 

 

 

 

 

Please Note: All pricing information shown here was for a departure in 2008. Pricing for 2009 is not yet available to us and won’t be until
at least August of 2008. A deposit of $200 per person will hold your space on the tour and, once the price is confirmed, you will
have 7 days in which to cancel your booking. Naturally you would obtain a full refund. Book today! As of June 24, 2008 there
are only 8 spaces left. There will be a maximum of 21 persons on this tour.

 

code

FIP1 & 2

destination

BRAZIL FOR GEM & MINERAL LOVERS

duration

10 Days

 

Prices in Canadian Dollars                                                                               effective Nov 17, 2007

 


 

Land Portion

Land

From

From

Start

End

Only

Vancouver

Toronto

25Aug09

3Sep09

$2,190

$3,725

$3,329

25Aug09

6Sep09

$2,950

$4,485

$4,089

 

Optional single supplement  FIP1 - $375

                                                 FIP2 - $500

 

What’s included on your  tour?

• Shared accommodation in three/four star hotels

• Breakfast and dinner daily (per itinerary)

• Transportation while on tour

• “Special Features” outlined on the itinerary

• Sightseeing and entrance fees as specifi ed in the itinerary

• Gratuities (except those for your Adventures Abroad Tour

Leader)

• Services of a professional Adventures Abroad Tour Leader

• Porter service where available (note: not all hotels have porter

service)

What else is included for Land & Air clients?

• Access to our contracted airfares

• Arrival transfer (if you arrive on the scheduled tour date)

• Departure transfer (if you depart on the scheduled departure

date)

 

What’s not included on our tours?

• Airport departure taxes and/or user fees

• Domestic air taxes and fees

• Visa and permit fees

• Transfers if Land Only or arriving/departing on different days than our published dates

• Trip cancellation/interruption insurance

• Excess medical insurance

• Single supplement charges (if single room requested)

• Expedited delivery charges

• Tour Leader gratuities

• Lunches

• Additional exclusions described as “optional” in our itinerary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 


 

LAND ONLY PARTICIPANTS

Tour Begins

Tour Ends

Sao Paulo

Rio De Janeiro (FIP1)

Sao Paulo

Sao Paulo (FIP2)

Arrival and Departure transfers are not included in the Land Only cost.

 

 

payment information

 

 

Final payment is due 60 days prior to departure.  Final payment can be made by cheque, Visa, Mastercard or American Express

 

Discount:  If we receive your cheque payment 70 days prior to departure, you are entitled to a 1.75% deduction of the final balance.

 

flight information

 

 

Flights depart the day before tour arrival day and arrive home the day after departing Brazil.  Most likely Air Canada non stop flights, via Toronto, but actual flight details cannot be confirmed until 60 days prior to dearture.

 

contact us

 

 

Toll Free:  1-800-665-3998 ext 6239

Telephone:  604-303-1099 ext 6239

Fax:  604-303-1076

 

 

Email:  wekins@adventures-abroad.com

www.adventuresabroad.travel

 

 

 

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

 

Please refer to our complete Terms & Conditions outlined in our catalogue or view it on line at

http://adventures-abroad.com/terms.php.

 

 

LAND ONLY DATES

Our itineraries are based on Land Only dates and do not include flying time. Please contact our office for arrival/departure information.

EARLY BOOKINGS

We restrict our group size to 30 participants (some tours are restricted to fewer participants.) Many of our tours fill early. A deposit will confirm and guarantee your space on a tour.

DEPOSIT

Always check availability before you book. A non-refundable $500 deposit is required to hold your place on a tour. Optional trip cancellation and interruption insurance must be purchased at the time of booking and is non-refundable.

FINAL PAYMENT

Final payment is due 60 days prior to departure. Payment may be made by cheque or credit card. Credit card payments will be automatically charged 60 days prior to departure unless you inform us you will be making alternate payment arrangements. Discount: If we receive your cheque payment 70 days prior to departure, you are entitled to a 1.75% deduction off the final balance.

TRANSFERS

All travellers who purchase airfare through us are entitled to arrival and departure transfers providing they arrive and/or depart on the scheduled arrival/departure date. Land Only clients are not entitled to arrival and departure transfers.

GRATUITIES

All gratuities are included except those for your Adventures Abroad Tour Leader. Our tour prices include all tips for services that are received as part of the group, including services of hotel and restaurant staff, porters, drivers and local guides. Tipping your Adventures Abroad Tour Leader is at your own discretion.

FLIGHT ARRANGEMENTS

We offer flights from all gateways. Please contact us for prices and details. Some tours may require additional stopovers en route which may result in additional costs.

FLIGHT PRICES

We maintain contracts with several different air carriers. We do not hold blocked seats on our flights. Our published airfares are based upon availability and are subject to change without notice.  Certain seasons are more likely to have limited space and may result in surcharges. We recommend that you book early for these departures.

EXTENSIONS

Many of our tours may be combined with scheduled departures of our other tours in your area of travel. Contact our Sales Department for more information. In most cases we are able to book extra nights at the tour hotel before or after the tour at a special group rate.