Rockhounding Brazil Guided Tour

Price: $3350 Per Person 
Dates: May 15th to May 23rd
Price DOES NOT include airfare. Fly into Bela Horizonte by 10 am on the 15th of May. 
A minimum of 10 people are needed to take this trip, if fewer than 10 people sign up for this trip we will cancel the trip and refund your money. We can take a maximum of 12 people with us. 
Age Restrictions: 12+ ONLY. Anyone under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a legal guardian 21 or older. 

THE TRIP IS NON-REFUNDABLE FOR ANY REASON BESIDES CANCELATION AT THE DISCRETION OF CRYSTAL BARISTA. SEE THE CANCELATION REASONS BELOW. 

Price Includes: 

• Accommodations in double or triple occupancy rooms for May 15th - May 23rd. For single-occupancy room accommodations please contact us the price will change. 
• Breakfast and Dinner
• Entrance into mine sites to collect. We will be collecting the following materials weather permitting: Imperial Topaz, Aquamarine, Tourmaline, Quartz, and more. 
  
• Entrance into a historic Gold Mine. 
• Entrance into Brazil's Cave System (weather & time permitting). 
• Museum entrance into the Ouro Preto Museum of Mines. 
• Transportation 
• Personalized Travel Packet 
• Translator & Guide
• Ability to buy wholesale and meet wholesale dealers (products purchased will be at your own expense). 
• Pre-departure meeting with what to expect.  
• We will supply the use of all rockhounding tools needed. 
• Emergency evacuation travel insurance. 
• Filing with the local embassy & appropriate agencies.  
• Ron will be filming so you will have some footage of the trip to showcase, and photographs for your own use. 

Price Does Not Include: 

• Any items you purchase. 
  
• Any gratuities you choose to leave. 
• Lunches, snacks, and bottled water. 
• Immunizations or medications needed for the trip. 
• Travel insurance on the price of your trip, your airfare, or your personal belongings. 
• Suveniors  
• Extra rockhounding tools you may want (such as UV lights). 
• Personalized video editing (if you want personalized videos edited for this trip you would need to arrange this with Ron beforehand). 
• Shipping of items home past weight restrictions. 

Day-by-Day Itinerary: 

1. Land in Belo Horizonte - Transfer to Ouro Preto 
2. Morning visit the Topaz Mine for half a day, then return to Ouro Preto for lunch and a visit to the mining museum. 
3. Transfer to Valadares (6 hour trip) and visit street vendors. 
4. Visit the world-famous Golconda Mine (you will get to go underground at the world's largest tourmaline mine). Transfer to Teofilo after. 
5. Breakfast and shopping in Teofilo Otoni, after lunch transfer to Aracuai. 
6. Full day in Aracuai rockhounding & shopping. 
7. Visit 3 mines each for several hours and then see the wholesalers in town while enjoying dinner. 
8. Say at Coronel Murta in the morning for photos, and street vendors. Transfer to Diamandtina for a great dinner and to see the museum (possibly visit the rivers for panning). 
9. Visit the limestone cave system called Gruta De Maquine and then head to Belo Horizonte. 

See the map in photos to see our route. In between these activities, we will be stopping in at wholesalers, street vendors, and other places to experience the culture and get to see the state. 

Accommodations: 

Please note this is Brazilian Accommodations, not American Accommodations. The beds are harder and the water in the showers does not always stay consistently warm. Do not expect the hotels and inns to provide soaps, some do and some do not. We recommend packing your favorite soaps. After rockhounding, YOU WILL BE DIRTY! This is especially true with the Topaz and Aquamarine mines. We highly recommend bringing a luffa even if you do not normally use one. Bring the one you can LEAVE IN BRAZIL WHEN YOU LEAVE. Because it will be very glittery, and red from the dirt there. The accommodation often has thin walls, and you can hear the nightlife outside. If you are temperamental about noise while you sleep bring earplugs. 

Needed Immunizations: 

Most travelers are required to have a Yellow fever vaccine. As well as being up to date for routine childhood vaccines such as tetanus, measles, and hepatitis B, the following vaccines are also often recommended – Hepatitis A, typhoid, rabies, and influenza. If you do not have a Yellow Fever Vaccine, as well as Hepatitis B your insurance may not cover your treatment of these diseases (as per the Utah Health Department and my own personal insurers' requirement). Please talk to your doctor or the Utah Travel Clinic if you have questions: (801) 992-4460 

Some medical professionals recommend malaria medication and others do not. THis is up to your doctor or the Utah Travel Clinic to recommend. I used it while traveling last year. 

BEING UNDERGROUND:

On this trip, you WILL BE underground. If you are claustrophobic or opposed to going underground for any reason please let us know beforehand so we can arrange for someone to stay above ground for you at the mine sites. Not all mine sites are underground. The Imperial Topaz mine is a surface mine.  

Brazilian Food & Meals: 

If you have any dietary restrictions please talk to us right away! Our experience with Brazilian culture being willing to accommodate is that they are extremely happy to help IF THEY UNDERSTAND THE RESTRICTION. Most meals are buffet style so you can pick and choose, although it is very easy eating! You will have a large variety of bread, fruits, and meats to choose from. Desserts tend to be part of most meals, sweet caramel sauce, and cheese is a typical dessert. During most breakfasts, you can expect plain yogurt, coffee, pastries, toast, fruit, eggs, and cheese. Dinners are largely Brazilian Steakhouse style where servers walk around with or stand with cuts of meat and you get what you'd like, they also have either bowls of vegetables and grains they bring to the table or a buffet of them to choose from. We also have Ox Steaks, fried cheese, cheese buns, Brazilian pizza, and burgers. Dried or candied fruit is everywhere and we will visit a few marketplaces where you can try unusual cheeses, nuts, and spices. 

Process of Traveling to a Foreign Country: 

Please know that things are NOT Americanized. Hospitality, air travel, driving, hotels, and restaurants are not going to be to the same level of hospitality and customer service oriented as you would expect here in the United States. Please know you will see broken bottles on top of fences, barbed wire, restricted areas, military guarding streets or certain areas, lines may not work the way you expect, and the general culture may shock some who are not used to foreign travel. Please come with a happy attitude and be willing to work with the culture we are going to be in and do not expect them to work with your expectations. Be respectful of the local culture. 

Wildlife: 

There is a very good chance you will run into wildlife. Toucans, Sloths, Lizards, Birds, Mine Cats, and more. Please do not touch wildlife as wild animals are unpredictable.  If you do touch wildlife be sure to disinfect your hands (IE BRING LYSOL WIPES). 

Download Google Translate: 

You will have a translator with our group, however, it is extremely beneficial to download Google Translate if you would like to have side conversations or talk to the locals directly. I was able to buy a sweater and enjoy the sites on my own without our translator, I enjoyed walking into the shopping area for breakfast and coffee on my own and watching the sun come up before our translator was available for the day. All by using google translate and simply and patiently showing someone what I wanted. Most locals found it amusing I even made a friend who downloaded it and we still text back and forth. 

Last notes: 
We will be booking our airfare as soon as we have 8 people rsvp'd. We will let everyone book with us if you'd like to travel with us! Two weeks beforehand we will have a meeting (beginning of May) for everyone going, this is a mandatory meeting. There are trip rules we need everyone to know and agree to. They are simple and are not much different than our standard rockhounding rules and are designed to keep you safe in mines, and the miners safe. Please reach out with any questions: Adrienne 801-989-6926