Guide for Spain and Brazil

We took a trip to Brazil with Elderhostel (Boston, MA; 877/426-8056, www.elderhostel.org), Sept. 30-Oct. 20, 2006. It was a great trip with fantastic sites, excellent and delicious food, good hotels and terrific local guides. The cost was $5,262, land only, and $6,199 including airfare from New York (JFK).

Best of all was our tour leader, Alex Paiva (xanikhouse@gmail.com). We have been on many tours, visiting about 80 countries, and he is the BEST tour leader we have ever had. He was kind, helpful and very knowledgeable.

Based in Barcelona, he leads tours in Spain, Portugal, France and Brazil. His costs run from $225 a day; for about three weeks, the price goes down to about $100 a day. We liked him so much that we’re planning to hire him for a private tour.

CAROLYNN & NORMAN EPSTEIN

Clarksboro, NJ