The group flies Continental Airlines to Guadalajara via Houston leaving Chicago’s O’Hare on flight CO 447 at 11:05 AM and arriving into Houston at 1:49 PM.  We’ll connect to flight CO 2099 leaving Houston at 2:20 PM and arriving into Guadalajara at 4:42 PM
Guadalajara (state of Jalisco), founded in 1524, is known as the Pearl of the West and/or the City of Roses with beautiful gardens, great colonial architecture and an education and business center second only to Mexico City. The city is the home of the happy musicians, the “mariachis.”  Located on a mile-high plain, it is blessed with a spring-like climate.
We’ll be met at the airport by our English speaking guide for Private Transfer to the colonial styled Hotel Holiday Inn Centro, a charming hotel ideally located in the heart of Guadalajara’s historic district.   Free evening.  Be sure to bring your gym attire.

9:30 AM - The group will tour the neo-classical Cathedral built in the late 1500s and rebuilt in a mixture of styles due to earthquakes. The painting of The Assumption is attributed to Murillo.  A visit to the Palacio del Gobierno with frescoes by Clemente Orozco [1883-1949], Teatro Degollado [1866], the Instituto Cultural Cabañas [1810] – a former hospice and now an exquisite arts center and gallery, plus the Museo Regional – a former seminary – will give the group a real taste of Jalisco hospitality and traditions. Time for lunch.
We continue our city tour with a visit to the village of Tlaquepaque, famous for its artisan work including pottery, blown glass, textiles, metal, wood, paper-mache, leather goods and 34 places to eat!
Overnight at the Hotel Holiday Inn Centro                                                       (B)    

9:30 AM - Today we visit the small fishing villages on Lake Chapala, the largest lake in Mexico.  We’ll stop at the quaint and provincial town of Chapala with its Victorian architectural touches and lakeside promenade. Then it’s onto Ajijic, the most picturesque colonial village on the lake. It is known for its excellent dining and shopping and home to artists, retired professors and politicians.
Overnight at the Hotel Holiday Inn Centro                                                       (B)  

9:00 AM – Private Bus transfer to San Miguel Allende via a stopover in Guanajuato for a city tour. GUANAJUATO (founded 1557) is a national monument city. Climbing the sides of a narrow, mountainous ravine and built on the banks of a river, this charming city is a combination of tunnels, flower filled plazas and narrow twisting streets and stairways that provide life, music and color to this almost medieval feeling town.  Places to visit include Casa Diego Rivera [muralist, 1886-1957], Museo del Pueblo [17th century mansion], Jardin de la Union, a meeting place for the locals, and Callejon del Beso where some balconies over the street are only 2 feet apart from one another.  Lunch at a typical place is included. You’ll have time to continue wondering in this soft pastel painted city before leaving for San Miguel de Allende. 
Overnight in San Miguel Allende at beautiful Casa de Sierra Nevada (Grand Tourism Category).  This elegant, world class colonial inn is one of Mexico’s finest small properties and is a complex of colonial buildings (some dating to 1580) and courtyards close to El Jardin, the city’s lovely main plaza.                (B,L)

9:30 AM - City tour of San Miguel Allende, founded in 1542 and declared a national monument in 1926. This is a picturesque city of arched colonial mansions and winding, terraced cobblestone streets that are wonderful for the aimless wanderer.  This celebrated artists community has multiple cultural attractions: performing arts centers, fine art boutiques, ceramics, sculptures, artisan work, [cane containers, paper masks, serapes], the best small town dining in all of Mexico, plenty of photographic opportunities and the home of a large international population. Places to visit include La Parroquia Church with its soaring, sandcastle like spires and the Iglesia de San Francisco with its neo-classical, 18th century tower and beautifully decorated ceilings relieving the solemnity of the interior. The Escuela de Bellas Artes includes works of Siqueiros [1898-1974]. 
Overnight at Casa de Sierra Nevada.                                                                (B)

11:00 AM – Transfer to Patzcuaro in the mountainous state of Michoacan with lunch en route.  Patzcuaro is situated on the lake of the same name and is a town of whitewashed adobe houses with overhanging red-tiled roofs, colonial mansions and cobbled streets.  Huge ash trees fill the streets and many of the colonial mansions have been converted into restaurants and shops.
Celebrate the Paztcuaro festivities that honor the family ancestors in rituals that date back to pre-Columbian times. The families welcome their ancestors by providing them with their favorite food and drink! This is a fascinating festive occasion celebrated in each of the nearby cemeteries. You’ll note that in this festival, the skull is not a symbol of death but a very popular form of life ornament.  Sugar and chocolate versions fill up the festival’s market stalls.
Overnight at the Posada de Don Vasco (Category 1 Hotel/Best Available) a traditional Michoacan styled building on 19 gardened acres.                                                                                        (B, L, D)

It is in Patzcuaro that the locals commune with the dead in the pure Mexican tradition, visiting the cemeteries on the Island of Janitzio and in the surrounding villages on Lake Patzcuaro. At night, boats are decorated with candles and flowers, people are singing, and the bells are ringing every 30 seconds. The boats commute all night between the Patzcuaro docks and Janitzio. At the cemetery, each grave is covered with special foods, photographs or items to please the dead.
During the day, a visit to the towns around the Lake is an opportunity to admire the lacquerware of Quiroga, the black pottery of Santa Fe de Laguna, or the wooden masks of Tocuaro. These towns are in the 55 mile circumference around the lake. In the city of Patzcuaro there is time to visit the Basilica de Nuestra Señora de la Salud [a shrine for health seekers], the Museo de Artes Populares, the Casa de los Once Patios – an arcaded 18th century cloister – now a center for arts and crafts.
Overnight at the Posada de Don Vasco.                                                         (B, D)

11:00 AM – Transfer to Guadalajara with lunch en route. There will be free time to enjoy the city or to indulge in last minute shopping.  That evening we will celebrate a Farewell Dinner in a typical restaurant of the city.
Overnight at the Hotel Holiday Inn Centro                                                    (B, L, D)

$1,560 per person sharing, Single Room Supplement: $830, International Airfare: $1,110, Internal Airfare: $315, Taxes and surcharges are extra, as applicable.

Inclusions & Highlights
• Deluxe & First-Class accommodation with private facilities
• Breakfast & lunch or dinner (2 meals daily)
• Arrival & departure transfers
• All sightseeing as per the itinerary
• Local English-speaking guides
• Entrance fees to monuments and cultural events
• Baggage handling
• Khantoke dinner and tribal dance
• Elephant Ride
• Long-tailed motorboat ride to the Golden Triangle
• Visit with Long-Necked Karen Hill Tribe Women
• Grand Palace and Thonburi Klongs tours
• Thai dinner and dance performance

Day 1
Arriving LIMA International Airport.  You will be met at the airport for a private group transfer to the Miraflores Park Hotel (5*), a luxury Orient Express property that overlooks the ocean next to the popular Larcomar shopping and entertainment area. 

Day 2
10:30 AM – Transfer to Pachacamac to view a performance of the Peruvian Paso Horses followed by lunch.
1:30 PM – Visit the nearby Pre-Inca and Inca archaeological sites including the main ceremonial center for a moon worshipping civilization in pre-Hispanic Peru with adobe ruins of palaces, plazas and a temple for worshipping the creator god Pachacamac.
4:00 PM - An afternoon tea with a group of business women from LIMA will provide insights into this South American nation. Overnight at the Miraflores Park Hotel.               (BB,L)

Day 3
10:30 AM - Inspection of and Brunch at the J.W. Marriott Hotel followed by a guided Tour of Lima sites including the Old Colonial downtown, the Catacombs of the San Francisco Church, and the Inquisition Palace.    
Free afternoon for shopping or visit to the National Achaeological Museum.
Overnight at the Miraflores Park Hotel.                                          (BB,L)

Day 4,
8:00 AM – Guide will meet the group at the hotel for transfer to the airport to catch the 10:30 AM LAN Peru airlines flight to Cusco, the Capital of the Inca Empire arriving at 11:55 AM.   Our representative will meet you at the airport and transfer you to the Hotel Monasterio (5*) where you can sip coca tea and rest to help your body’s adjustment to the high altitude of 10,500 feet above sea level.
2:00 PM – Guided tour of the Main Plaza, the Cathedral, built in 1560, and the Koricancha, the most important temple dedicated to the worship of the Sun and whose walls were plated with sheets of gold.  The Koricancha tour will include the Convent of Santo Domingo, with its Renaissance and Baroque art features, which was built on the same site. Afternoon visit to the textile studio (with shop) of Dr. Gayle Sullivan for a demonstration showing the ancient techniques of dyeing and weaving textiles.
7:00 PM – Dinner at the MAP Café.
Overnight at the Hotel Monasterio (5*), an Orient Express property and national historical landmark that maintains much of the original architecture as a monastery built in 1592 on the site of an Inca Palace.    (BB,L)           

Day 5
Visit the market town of Chinchero.  This Tuesday morning outdoor market will feature the bartering of items among the Indian population as well as colorful textiles made in true pre-Columbian style. From here you will visit a local Shaman’s religious ceremony.
Lunch will be served at Huayoccari Hacienda, a typical Peruvian restaurant followed by a Later in the afternoon, you will tour Inca sites near the city of Cuzco including the Saccsayhuaman fortress where the Inti Raymi sun worshipping festival is held annually, the Kenko ritual site with underground galleries and a semi-circular amphitheater, Puca-Pucara (the red fortress) and Tambomachay (a site for Inca baths, aqueducts and a royal garden where the Cult of Water was held).    Overnight at the Hotel Libertador, (5*), situated across from the Koricancha.  The hotel incorporates an Inca stone wall and the Colonial home of Francisco Pizzaro’s brother.                                                                                          (BB,L)

Day 6,
8:00 AM - Hotel pickup for 9:00 AM journey to MACHU PICCHU, an extraordinary example of architecture and engineering.  Our Orient Express train climbs out of Cusco via a series of three switchbacks before descending into the scenic Sacred Valley of the Incas. The three and a half hour journey passes a beautiful panorama of Peruvian countryside.  Lunch will be served on the train. We arrive in Aguas Calientes where your private guide will travel with you on a bus for the 30 minute ride up to the entrance at the top of the Machu Picchu National Park.  Your guided tour begins at the ruins.  At the end of the afternoon, you will tour and have tea time at the famous Sanctuary Lodge (Orient Express property) just outside of the ruins before returning to Aguas Calientes. 
Dinner and overnight at the Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel (3*), an ecological paradise alongside the Urubamba River.                                                                                        (BB,D)

Day 7
Return visit to Machu Picchu with guide to further explore the site.  You can also make arrangements to trek part of the Inca Trail to the Sun Gate or to climb the Wayna Picchu hill (90 minutes each way).   Lunch will be served at the hotel. You’re afternoon train will take you to ancient Inca city of Ollanta where you can view Ollantaytambo, the most important fortress in the Sacred Valley before a visit to a local home and family.  On the return to Cusco, you will visit the Seminario Ceramica, a school (with shop) that teaches the traditional techniques of ceramics using all natural materials.
Overnight at the Hotel Libertador.                                    (BB,L)

Day 8
Private transfer to airport for your mid-morning flight to LIMA on LAN Peru Airlines. You will be met at the airport and transferred to your San Isidro area hotel for check-in.  That afternoon you will visit the Larco Herrera Museum.
6:30 PM – Evening transfer to Casa Moreyra for a Farewell Dinner.     
Overnight at the Country Club Hotel (5*), built in 1927 in an elegant Colonial style as the country club for an exclusive golf course. It was refurbished as a hotel and is listed as a Cultural Monument. Rooms are decorated with original pieces of museum art.                                         (BB,D)

Day 9
Private transfer to airport for flight to U.S.                        (B)

TOUR FEATURES
Breakfast daily at the hotel
One welcome dinner at Zibibbo Trattoria or similar in Florence
One hands-on cooking lesson at Fattoria Castello Volpaia in Tuscany followed by dinner
One farewell dinner at Il Cibreo restaurant or similar in Florence
Above meals include, bottle water, bottle house wine and one coffee or tea per person
One special welcome cocktail
One wine tasting at a local vineyard in Tuscany
Guided tour of the vineyards and cellars at Fattoria Castello Volpa
Half-day escorted 16thcentury artisan walking tour in Florence, including visits to a paper,wood and leather craft shops
Half-day guided walking tour of the Uffizi Galleries,including entrance fee to the Uffizi Gallery
After hours guided tour of the Vasari Corridor at the Uffizi Gallery (subject to final confirmation)
Half-day escorted excursion to the outlet shopping center, The Mall
Hal-day escorted excursion to the famous Florence boutiques
Half-day escorted gourmet walk of Florence, including stops and tastings at a bakery, deli, and pastry shop
Guided tour of the Salvatore Ferragamo Shoe Museum,including entrance fee
Professional English-speaking tour escort throughout
Transportation by private deluxe motor coach throughout
Porterage of one piece of luggage per person at the airport and hotel
Hotel taxes and service charges
All pertinent motor coach permits
5 nights Florence Hotel Pierre or similar

Have you experienced Mardi Gras in New Orleans?  Multiply that experience a 1,000 times and you have Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival.   Festival time in ancient Greece and Rome was expressed in exotic music, brilliant parties, and glittering sexy costumes.  Well Dionysius and  Bacchus would feel at home today in Carnival in Brazil while enjoying the constant beat of drums, continuous dances and parades lasting for 12 hours or more.

First begun in 1948, Rio constructed a Sambódromo in 1984 to hold 43,000 spectators who can now comfortably and safely watch the various Samba schools in action, each school represented by 2000 plus  dancers and musicians who parade all night.

This pre-Lenten festivity is only held during the five days preceding Ash Wednesday. Carnival 2007 dates are 16 - 23 FEB 2007.  So come to Rio and participate in the most explosive party of the world. MILA has the following 5-night and 4-night programs. Be an active participant of the magical energetic rhythm of Carnival in RIO

Arrival in Rio de Janeiro.
Transfer to the famous Hotel Copacabana Palace (5*), a luxurious Orient Express property located across from the Copacabana Beach.
Afternoon and evening at leisure
Overnight at Hotel Copacabana Palace 

Breakfast.  Half day guided tour to Corcovado Mountain. The cog wheel train takes you to the base of the Christ Redeemer Statue for a gorgeous view of the city.  Afternoon at leisure.  Pick up in the evening for dinner and Samba show.
Overnight at Hotel Copacabana Palace                                                             (B,D)

Breakfast.  Half day guided tour to Sugar Loaf Mountain. Accessed by 2 cable cars, the summit offers a great view of the harbor and beaches.  Lunch at a traditional Brazilian bar-b-que restaurant.  Afternoon visit to the historical downtown Rio and return to the hotel. 
Overnight at Hotel Copacabana Palace                                                             (B, L)

Visit to the Samdromo 
Overnight at Hotel Copacabana Palace                                                             (B)

Fat Tuesday - Visit to the Samdromo 
Overnight at Hotel Copacabana Palace                                                             (B)

Ash Wendesday - Breakfast.  Pick up and transfer to the airport for flight to experience the majestic Iguassu Falls.  You’ll be met at the airport and transferred to the Iguassu National Park (Brazilian side) for a walking tour along the falls with an exceptional catwalk to the base of Devil’s Throat, the heart of the falls.  In all, over 275 falls cascade over a horseshoe precipice almost 2 miles wide and down cliffs towering over 350 feet in height. The roaring sounds, the floating mists, the ever present rainbows and the beauty of the rainforest make this national park of Brazil and Argentina a true natural wonder.  Check into the elegant, colonial Hotel Das Cataratas (4*) next to the falls.  Overnight Hotel Das Cataratas                                                      (BB)

Thu., 22 Feb.

Breakfast.  Pick up and transfer to the Argentina side for a walking tour of the falls including going right up to the edge of the falls by boat on the Great Adventure Boat Ride.  Lunch included. 
Overnight Hotel Das Cataratas                                                                        (BB,L)

Breakfast 
Transfer to airport for flight to Sao Paolo and return to U.S.                            (BB)

$4,050 per person sharing, Single Room Supplement: $1,490, International Airfare: $1,060, Taxes & Fuel Surcharges: $359 (Subject to change), Optional Insurance: $294

Inclusions & Highlights
• Accommodation on sharing basis
• American Breakfast daily
• Lunch or Dinner daily (where indicated)
• Bottled water during meals
• Welcome Dinner
• Dinner with Royal Family of Mewar
• Visit with local artisans
• High Tea at Jaipur City Palace
• Visit to Women’s Village Cooperative Society
• Henna Evening
• Traditional Indian Dance lessons & lecture
• Lamp ceremony on the Ganges
• Visit with an Astrologer
• Visit Special School for Autistic Children
• Farewell Dinner with Indian Women Professionals
• Accompanying Lady tour escort
• Escorted transfers
• All tours and excursions listed in the program
• Entrances fees
• English speaking local guide during sightseeing tours
• Transportation by deluxe Air-conditioned Coach
• Domestic air-fare in Coach Class for the sector Bombay/Udaipur/Jaipur – Khajuraho/ Varanasi / Delhi
• All transport tolls & hotel taxes
• All Tips & Gratuities except the Tour Director

Exclusions
• Meals not mentioned
• Visa fees and processing
• Insurance
• Necessary inoculations
• Items of personal nature such as telephone, laundry, beverages
• Any items not listed above