Brazil, Argentina, & Peru
100 Years of Okinawan
Immigration
August 18 - September 6,
2008
$6,800 per person
(based
on double occupancy)
Tour price is based on current
tariffs as of November 2007 and are
subject to change without notice.
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Tour Includes:
• Tour Escort from Hawaii
• Hotel Accommodations as indicated
• Airfare from Honolulu to Brazil/Lima to Honolulu
• Airfare for domestic travel in South America as
indicated in itinerary
• Ground Transportation as needed
• Daily Breakfast and dinner and three lunches in South America
• Admission to all sights, attractions, and tours as indicated by
itinerary
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August 18 (Mon)
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Day One
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Honolulu/Dallas
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| Our
flight leaves from Honolulu in the late afternoon for Dallas. |
| August
19 (Tue) |
Day Two
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Dallas/Sao
Paulo
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| Once
we arrive in Dallas, we will head to a hotel for a half day to rest
before
catching our flight to Brazil in the evening. |
| August 20 (Wed) |
Day Three
|
Sao Paulo |
| We
arrive in the morning in Sao Paulo, where we will pass through customs
and
immigrations. From there we will take a
driving tour of the city before checking into our hotel.
In the evening we will go to watch
the
parade for the Brazil Convention. For
those interested, it may be possible to march in the parade. |
August 21 (Thu)
|
Day Four
|
Sao Paulo |
| Today
is the first day of the 100th centennial of Okinawan
immigration to
Brazil. Unfortunately the schedule of
events has yet to be confirmed so all activites during our stay are
subject to
change. On the first day, expect to be
attending events tied to the celebration. |
| August 22 (Fri) |
Day Five
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Sao Paulo |
We
will explore the Centro
portion of the city. This is the heart
of the city and is filled with cultural exhibits. We
will see examples of the architecture, such as the Edificio
Martinelli, the city’s first skyscraper built in 1929, the Mosteiros de Sao
Bento, a Byzantine church built from 1910 – 22 and houses a 6000
pipe organ,
and the Edificio Banespa, home
to the Banespa company and is modelled after the
Empire State Building. The Edificio
Banespa is also the second tallest building in Sao Paulo and offers
panoramic
views of the city.
We
will also visit a couple
of art musuems, the Museum of Sacred
Art, which has a collection of 4,000
wooden and terra cotta masks, and the State
Art Gallery, which has over 5,000
works of art including works by Rodin and Brazilian artists.
As noted
earlier, the schedule is subject to
change. |
August 23 (Sat)
|
Day Six
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Sao Paulo |
In the morning we
plan to
explore the area near the hotel, known as Liberdade. This area is
noted for the Asian influence in it. This is reflected by the
presence of the
variety of asian restaurants and stores in the area. We will
visit the Museum of Japanese
Immigration, which tells the
tale of Japanese immigration to Brazil in 1908. Since it is the
weekend, we hope to see the Praca Liberdade,
which is noted for its weekend festivities that highlights not only
Japanese
culture, but its melding with the local culture.
We
will also return to
Centro to visit the Mercado Municipal,
which is a huge market with over 300
stands selling anything edible everything from meat, fruits,
vegetables, and
more. Opened in 1928, this is the
city’s first grocery market and was recently renovated in 2004. From here we will visit the Teatro
Municipal, which was based on the Paris Opera House. It remains an active performing house and we
will be able to tour
its halls.
As noted earlier,
the
schedule is subject to change. |
August 24 (Sun)
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Day Seven
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Sao Paulo |
We
will head to Parque
Ibirapuera, Sao Paulo’s version of New York’s Central Park. Constructed in 1954 to commemorate the
city’s 400th anniversary. It
is filled not only with open spaces, designed by Roberto Marx, but with
buildings designed by Oscar Niemeyer, the architect of the United
Nations
building in New York. One of the
buildings that we will go to see is the Japanese Pavilion with its replica
of
the Imperial Palace in Katsura. It was
designed and built in Japan before being disassembled and transported
to Sao
Paulo. We will also visit the Oca, a
space age looking structure, that holds various art and cultural
exhibits.
The
other sight that we will
see is the Museo de Arte de Sao Paulo,
the premier fine art collection in the
city. It has a collection numbering
over 7000 pieces including works by masters from across the globe,
including Van
Gogh, Renoir, Cezanne, Picasso, and more.
As noted
earlier, the schedule is subject to
change.
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August 25 (Mon)
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Day Eight
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Sao Paulo |
| This
is the last day of the festival and we will attend the final events. If time allows we may do additional shopping
or sight seeing. |
August 26 (Tue)
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Day Nine
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Sao Paulo/Iguazu Falls
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| On
our last day we leave Sao Paulo and head down to Iguazu Falls. This
stunning natural wonder is South
America’s Niagra Falls and is the world's second largest waterfalls and
twice the size of those at Niagra. It
spans the
borders of Brazil and Argentina and contains over 275 falls. We will visit Foz do Iguazu, a city that
grew when construction began Itaipu Dam, the world’s largest
hydro-electric
power in the world. We will cross
over to Argentina to stay over
night. |
August 27 (Wed)
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Day Ten
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Iguazu/Buenos Aires
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In the morning, we
will tour the falls from the Argentina side. In the afternoon we
leave Iguazu for Buenos Aires for the remainder of our stay in
Argentina. Our hotel for our stay in Buenos Aires is the NH
Florida or similar.
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August 28 (Thu)
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Day
Eleven
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Buenos Aires |
Our touring
itinerary, like in Brazil, will be subject to change depending on
events of the centennial celebration that Argentina is holding.
Unlike Brazil, Argentina was a colony of Spain and its population is
not as ethnically diverse. As we tour the capital city of Buenos
Aires, we will see this reflected in the city’s architecture and its
people. Nearly a quarter of the country’s population can be found
in the city.
During our brief time here, we will visit the Plaza de Mayo, the center of the
city’s political life. We will find here the Casa Rosada, the Piramide de Mayo, the Cabildo, and the Metropolitan Cathedral. The
Casa Rosada is the office of the Argentine President and is most known
to Americans as the balcony that Eva Peron addressed Argentine workers
and was immortalized in the film Evita starring Madonna. The
Piramide de Mayo is the oldest monument in the city that commemorates
the May Revolution of 1810. The Cabildo is a prime example of
colonial architecture and has served in its nearly three hundred year
existance as a jail and government building. Today it serves as a
museum on the May Revolution. The last stop will be the
Metropolitan Cathedral, a structure that was built in the 17th century
on a site that has served as a Catholic church since the 1580’s.
Argentina’s tomb of the unknown soldier is located here as is the tomb
of the “Father of the Nation”, General Jose de San Martin.
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August 29 (Fri)
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Day
Twelve
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Buenos Aires |
Today we will visit
the Teatro Colon. Built
during Buenos Aires’ golden age, and is also celebrating its 100th
birthday in 2008. Operatic giants from across the twentieth
century from Caruso to Pavarotti have taken its stage and it stands
proudly of a bygone era. From there we will explore the Plaza San Martin, named after
General San Martin, and walk down the Calle
Florida, the city’s main thoroughfare. Here we will find
all kinds of local Argentinian goods to take home with us. Our
last stop will be the Museo Evita,
built just in 2002 and run by her grand niece, this museum examines the
life and impact of one of Argentina’s most controversial figures.
This evening, we
will enjoy dinner and a Tango show.
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August 30 (Sat)
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Day
Thirteen
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Buenos Aires |
We will drive to
Recoleta to visit the Recoleta
Cemetary, a four city block sized cemetary, with over 6,000
mausoleums where many famous Argentines can be found, including that of
Eva Peron. We will then head to San Telmo, once the home of the
city elite, it is the oldest neighborhood in the city. We can see
some of the older buildings as well as do a little more shopping along
the Calle Defensa.
Our day will end
with a parade, part of the Okinawan celebration being held.
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August 31 (Sun)
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Day
Fourteen
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Buenos Aires/Lima |
On Sundays in the
district of San Telmo, an antiques market is held in the Plaza Dorrego. We will have a
chance to explore this market which also has a variety of street
performers ready to dazzle you with their skills. In addition to
antiques, one can find Argentine handcrafts and other products, like
leather and silver, available. In the afternoon we will visit the
National
History Musuem, where we can see artifacts from Argentine
history from the 16th to the 19th century., before heading for our
flight to Peru. We will spend the night in Lima before catching
our flight to Cuzco.
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September 1 (Mon)
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Day
Fifteen
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Lima/Cuzco/Urubamba
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We check out of our
hotel and head back to the airport for our flight to Cuzco. We
will spend our day here touring ruins outside the city. We will
visit the fortress of Sacsayhuaman,
the amphitheatre of Qenko, the
fort of Puka Pukara, and the
cavern lodge Tambomachay.
We will also try to visit the Qorikancha,
an Incan temple to the Sun, which once housed 4,000 priests and
attendants and was used as the foundation of a Spanish church. A
1953 earthquake destroyed parts of the temple, but revealed a surviving
structure below.
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September 2 (Tue)
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Day
Sixteen
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Urubamba/Cuzco
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Today, we will spend
exploring the lost city of Machu
Picchu. Rediscovered by Hiram Bingham in 1911, this Incan
wonder remains an incredible testament to the ingenuity of the Incan
people. Despite being returned to the public eye nearly a hundred
years ago, much is still unknown about the site. But the mystery
bids its visitors to imagine what might have taken place so high in the
mountains. Bingham believed that it was a fortress, while others
believe it to be the estate of a powerful Incan. Regardless of
what academics may believe you can decide for yourself as you take in
the wonders of Machu Picchu.
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September 3 (Wed)
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Day
Seventeen
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Cuzco/Lima
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A morning flight
takes us from Cuzco back to the capital of Lima, where we will spend
our last day. Upon arrival, we will have lunch and then head out
for a tour of the city. Among the places we will visit are the National Museum of Archaeology,
Anthropology, and History of Peru, the largest museum in the
city and the Huaca Pucllana, a
pre Incan temple in the middle of the city.
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September 4 (Thu)
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Day
Eighteen
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Lima/Los Angeles
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Our last day in Lima
will be spent relaxing as our flight leaves for Los Angeles near
Midnight. So rest and relax. We can stretch our legs and
walk around the neighborhood which is filled with many places to
visit. Perhaps we can take in the Church of St. Francis, which is a
wonderful example of Lima Baroque Architecture with incredible pieces
of art and creepy catacombs.
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September 5 (Fri)
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Day
Nineteen
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Los Angeles
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We arrive in the
morning into Los Angeles. Upon arrival, we must pass through
customs and immigration. Rather than push a long day even longer,
we will go to a hotel to rest before returning home.
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September 6 (Sat)
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Day
Twenty
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Los Angeles/Honolulu
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A morning flight
will return us back to Honolulu concluding our tour.
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