What's it like...

So, you may be wondering... what's it like?

Well, you see lots of churches and statues and you learn the the difference between an convent and a monastery... convents are in the city, monasteries are in the country - men and women in both.  
You eat lots of fish, but meat is also available.  
You struggle with the language which reads like Spanish but is pronounced like Russian, but lots of Portuguese have a good working knowledge of English.
So, it's like a field trip in high school, only longer.

The biggest surprise has been my fellow travelers. They have ALL turned out to be quite nice.  I have my favorites, but in the end, it does not matter who you sit with at lunch, you will have a good conversation.  No politics, no religion... lots of life experiences, future dreams, regrets, hopes.  It's an intelligent crowd - it's fun, lots of laughs, lots of wine, and there are football scores too.  There is Anet, an Eagles fan from Philly, Gigi who lives in the Pearl, Susan from Dana Point, Peter who is on his tenth RS tour, everybody has got great stories and trunkloads of experiences they are willing to share. I recommend it, especially if you are in the 50-70 year old crowd.