Naomi from Lucian Explora's Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Saint Lucia

Ready to unlock the secrets of the alluring Saint Lucia? Buckle up as we journey together to this paradise, guided by the one and only Naomi from Lucian Explora. Her wealth of knowledge takes the steering wheel as we navigate through everything from planning our trip to immersing ourselves in the island's unique culture, food, and festivities. Learn how to experience the island from a local's perspective, and discover the magic of Saint Lucia like never before!

With Naomi as our guide, we venture into the must-do activities and excursions on the island, we discuss the treasures of the Souffier tour, hikes at Gros Piton and Petit Piton, and other activities like chocolate-making,  snorkeling, and jet skiing. Nio also shares the importance of shopping locally and using smaller bills, along with tips to save money on your trip. Ever wondered about the flavors of Saint Lucia? Get set for a culinary journey as we make our own chocolate and savor traditional island dishes like fig and breadfruit salads, with a side of the island's unique cocoa tea!

Naomi walks us through the calendar of festivities on the island and also leaves us with some essential travel tips to make the best of our visit to her island paradise, Saint Lucia. This episode is an absolute must-listen for everyone who ever thought of visiting this beautiful island. So, get ready to be charmed by the magic of Saint Lucia, and embark on this journey of exploration with Nio and me.

Awaken your BEST LIFE  and join me, your host and island friend, Riselle at my island home St. Maarten for 5 amazing days of luxury, fun, wellness and  personal growth.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:59

Welcome to Paradise Perspectives, a podcast about Caribbean travel from the locals perspective. Get ready for some authentic Caribbean travel tips, recommendations and more from the people who live where you vacation, straight from Paradise. I'm your host and island friend, rizal, the Traveling Island Girl. Hey there, my fellow Paradise Seeker. I'm back with another episode of Paradise Perspectives, a podcast where we share our stories. We discuss what to do, what to see, what to eat and, of course, where to stay on the different islands in the Caribbean, but with a twist. Yes, this podcast shines the light on the locals, for a change. We don't do tourists for sure here, no, no, no, we don't do that. Only authentic experiences, travel tips and recommendations from the ones who actually live where you vacation. Now we want to give you an insight on how to experience the islands like an islander, you know.

Speaker 1: 2:59

Now this episode is another one filled with so much information on local expertise, and my guest today is Naomi, or Naio as her friends call her, as she is from Lushan Explorer, a private island tour company, and I think the name might have already given away where we're heading today. But before I divulge the name of the paradise we're visiting together today, I want to thank you for tuning in. I really, really want to do that, you know. Thank you for taking me along with you, whether you are home doing tours, or you are driving to or from work, or maybe you're listening while you're preparing a meal. I don't know. Whatever it is that you are doing right now, as you're listening, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I cannot wait to take you to explore this particular Caribbean jam with me today.

Speaker 1: 3:50

Now. Our plane is waiting for us on the tarmac. Can you smell that jet fuel? Oh yes, I'm getting butterflies in my belly. I'm so excited about our trip.

Speaker 1: 4:00

But before we get on board, I want to ask you a big favor. I really need to ask you this If you like paradise perspectives and you find all the information that I share here with my guests and you find it all valuable, please leave us a review, subscribe or follow or any of your favorite podcast platform or wherever it is that you get your podcast fixed from and share it also with your Caribbean loving friends. It really helps us get up there in the rankings and reach more people with all of the local recommendations and travel tips for the different Caribbean destinations. So I thank you, thank you. Thank you for that and, as always, fc Martin is on your list of islands to visit in the region. My new e-guide is coming out soon. I'm so excited about that because I've worked so hard on this y'all I really have. So if you want to be one of the first ones to get your hands on it, you can send me an email to booking at the traveling island girlcom. I'm going to link it in the show notes, as always, and I will add you to the list to be the first to get a notification as soon as it is available for purchase.

Speaker 1: 5:12

Okay, now, if you want to reach out and you want to have a chat with me, you can also do so by booking a call with me. I'm always ready to help you plan your ideal island getaway. That's what I do. It's what I do, all right. So, last but not least, I am also planning a retreat to see Martin and Anguilla, and this retreat is going to be so much fun. I have so many great, great things planned. We're going to explore the culture, the cuisine and the beaches, of course, of these two islands, but we're also going to spend some time focusing on ourselves.

Speaker 1: 5:49

I have done some major changes in my life in the last year and I want to start sharing this with everybody. But in a Caribbean setup, you know, I think it's only fair that you get a vacation out of it, while you're doing some self-love and also some mindfulness practices. I think that's so, so, so important. Now you can sign up for my newsletter to be the first one to get the details neatly delivered in your inbox about this retreat and also get your Caribbean updates, because I tend to send these out every month, so that you can stay abreast of everything that is going on in the Caribbean, so that you know for your upcoming Caribbean trip. Okay, so on with it, we go. She has been called the Helen of the West Indies after the Greek mythological character Helen of Troy, because the island has switched often between British and French control, and she is also known for her twin mountains, drive-in volcanoes, treat parties and so much more.

Speaker 1: 6:55

Of course, I am talking about the ever-gorgeous Saint Lucia. Now let's get this convo with Naya ready, and I must apologize from now, because I am about to make such a big blunder. I'm so ashamed of myself right now. I really am. I mean, I cannot believe what I did, but you're going to hear it in a second. Now, anyway, please fasten your seat belts and secure all baggage underneath your seat or in the overhead compartment. We are about to take off to Saint Lucia. Thank you for choosing Baraday's perspectives.

Speaker 1: 7:34

Naomi, I am so excited to have you on the show today, because you and I have been talking about this for a while and we just couldn't get our schedules to link up, and so it's been a little difficult getting you here, but I'm so excited that we are finally here. So we are about to take a tour of Saint Lucia with you. Now. You're a professional tour operator. You have your own tour operating company, girl. I went on your website and I'm like what the hell this girl is like legit? The website looks amazing. I see that it's still on the construction, but I mean it gives all the information that you need. So when I first started talking to you, I was under the impression that you are like a tour guy, like what I do. You know, just in your off day you take people around. But no, this is so much better. You made a whole business out of it, and all of it about authentic Saint Lucia. Now I have to be completely honest with my audience and you here.

Speaker 1: 8:31

This is I've never been to Saint Lucia before. I know it's been like a dream of mine and it's on my visual board and I'm trying to manifest the hell out of it to finally get there. But I've been hearing so much. But I remember the first thing I ever saw of Saint Lucia was, of course, the Pytons, and it was a picture that was taken from the Ladera Resort. I think it's like a very five star resort is what I got it right and it was taken from, like, this little pool, but it was taken from one of the rooms that have, like that, missing one wall, so there's like it's an open room kind of thing. Fell in love with Saint Lucia right there and then, and then did some more research. I didn't want to do too much research today. I just want you to surprise me as much as whoever's listening today. So let's start with the basics. So you're, by the way, everybody calls you Nio. I saw right. Yeah, that is so cute. I love that.

Speaker 2: 9:31

Well, like whoever, whoever doesn't know me, especially when they're like new clients, they just call me Lucian and I don't even know them. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 9:39

I bet it's like I'm, I'm on. Look, if everybody stops me, nobody knows where I'm, I'm, I don't know. Nobody remembers my actual name. When I'm on the streets of St Martin and somebody stops me because they recognize me from my YouTube channel, I was like, oh the traveling.

Speaker 1: 9:53

Island girls like the full you know? Or Island girl, are you the Island girls Like, well, I'm a Island girl, but yeah, sure you know, so I get it. So everybody calls you Lucian. You don't, you don't say anything about it, but everybody, your friends, call you Nio. Okay, nio it is because I feel like you and I are friends, let's go for it, okay. So what can you tell me for somebody who has never been to St Lucia? What are the few things that I need to know before I get there? So like language, currency, driving. What do I need to know?

Speaker 2: 10:29

Well, before you even book, what you need to figure out is what? What kind of experience do you want to have? So, if you're coming to the Island and you want something authentic, you want to mix of the locals, you want to do the food, you want to do like everything, like an Island girl or an Island man, you definitely would not want to do an all inclusive at a resort. So, first things first, before you even think of currency or like moving around and whatnot, you have to ask yourself what do you want out of the Island? And then you go ahead and you book specifically, like for me, I always gravitate to villas and like apartments, because it's more reasonable, it's cheaper, you save a lot and then you have more money to spend on food. I'm a foodie, so anything with food.

Speaker 1: 11:13

I noticed, I noticed. Aren't we all?

Speaker 2: 11:15

girls, aren't we all?

Speaker 1: 11:18

If you want to kidnap me.

Speaker 2: 11:22

If you want to kidnap me, just tell me. You'll give me food.

Speaker 1: 13:05

And you'll go willingly. Yes, I'll go willingly.

Speaker 2: 13:12

So where food is concerned, when you do, when you do like a villa on apartment or probably you could do one of the smaller resorts and do just like the breakfast included, then you get to experience lunch and dinners outside. Now if you're staying in the north of the Island, you don't really have to say you need to cater to have cash on like that, because a lot of the places take card Now with currency wise people like the US but they do not want to take like $50 notes and $100 notes due to counterfeit. So you always have to bear in mind that when you're coming down you need to have like 20s, 10, 5s, 1s at least if you're going to tip people and that kind of thing. But you could use your credit card for the most parts in places like we're very advanced, we do pay. There's PayPal, there's credit card, we have options. So that's not a worry In terms of driving around. A lot of people. They like to do the rentals. But like it was just yesterday, yesterday I had a tour.

Speaker 1: 14:10

I was starting to laugh because I can already. I know already where this is heading.

Speaker 2: 14:19

We were going on the West Coast to Sugar Beach because my clients wanted some time there and we were driving up the road and there is a vehicle which its whole butt is in the drain and I'm trying to figure out.

Speaker 1: 14:31

how did they get there?

Speaker 2: 14:35

And then when I look, it was a rental and there are two tourists on the side just looking more puzzled, like how did we get into this shit More tourists?

Speaker 1: 14:45

that's terrible. That is not how you want your vacation to go. You definitely do not want your vacation to go like that. So we need to talk a little bit more about the driving, because I want people to be prepared. I want to be prepared for when I get there.

Speaker 2: 15:00

The roads are very windy, it has a lot of holes, and if you're not somebody who's like a season driver or you're accustomed to going to little islands and drive, I would highly recommend you get in a tour guide, some private vehicle to get you around. Or, like if you're staying at a resort or apartment, there's always shuttles you could call. There's always like short trip taxis, so like if you have your one day or two days that you do your full day excursions and then you just want to move around, it's easy for you to get a $20 taxis, $30 taxis.

Speaker 2: 15:31

But it's trying to drive yourself and then it's not that safe because we even have drivers on the road. Here we don't have rules. There's a sign saying 40 miles per hour. We go 100 miles per hour, we use indicators, we use hazards when we want.

Speaker 1: 15:47

So it's like this sounds like eerily very familiar, by the way. I've heard people say in Seymart and it's like crazy people driving and yeah, so I know it's Caribbean driving, it's what I call it. It's island driving, yeah.

Speaker 2: 16:06

It's island driving. So I would say, if you could manage it, you get your rental, but if you don't think that you would be comfortable enough, just stick with people to take you around. It's safe for that way. Okay, in terms of like yeah, you were saying.

Speaker 1: 16:22

Oh, yes, I was saying well, I just wanted sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to get in there for a little bit. It's like we were talking about driving, but I know that St Lucia is British Island, so what's the situation there? Are you driving on the right or the left, on the right side of?

Speaker 2: 16:38

You're driving on the right, like in the states. No, no, no, you're on the right, but you're driving on the left.

Speaker 1: 16:44

Oh Jesus, lord of mercy. So, on top of it being with holes in the, in the roads and windy roads, and narrow roads, you're on the opposite side. On top of it too, I'm a seasoned pro, but even I am getting a little cluster not crossable with our words.

Speaker 2: 17:02

I'm getting a little anxious here.

Speaker 1: 17:07

Okay, so when?

Speaker 2: 17:09

you're driving. Just follow the traffic, yes, but you might be following the wrong person, though, because if you follow in me when I'm driving by myself, it's a shit show.

Speaker 1: 17:20

Oh, jesus, okay. So it's like you know, we need to, like, make a little mental note there. We're driving, we are not driving behind, nail Okay, there's no way to drive in behind. We're just not doing that today or ever. So Salah's a little bit about currency and all of the other things that we need to know about before we get to San Lucia.

Speaker 2: 17:43

Okay. So in a nutshell, the easiest thing to do if you come into San Lucia, you probably might want to get a travel agent to take away all the different how you say it the searches and the fines that you have to do. If you get somebody, they handle all of that, because coming to San Lucia is very, very easy. It's not difficult, like a lot of people always stress about it, Like they're worried that when they get there, what should they do, where should they go and whatnot. It's very easy. If you get like, say, for instance, somebody like me, I just tell you, go with the flow, we come down here, especially if you're going to do it the island way, you fit into everything. Because like say, for instance, we have the Friday night street party, you go there and you just like, buy the house that's a legendary, by the way. It's just fun.

Speaker 1: 18:27

I read so much on it Back in the day when I was oh my gosh, when I was when I was, you know, really planning a trip to San Lucia what never happened, actually, but I was planning a trip that was one of the things that I noticed is, like that you guys have some street parties out of this world.

Speaker 2: 18:43

Girl, let me tell you, especially when you see it hits like 10, 11 o'clock and everybody's like almost drunk and they start dancing, that's the funniest thing ever. Fun, yes, but yeah. So for us it's like the days that you would typically find there's stuff to do is like from the Thursday, friday, saturday. Sundays are more quiet, so if you're like somebody who wants to go out and do stuff, that's when you do it. You have to go on island time to nobody comes out like nine o'clock in the night to 10 o'clock.

Speaker 1: 19:14

That's hard, that's hard, really. That's for senior citizens. Not to say that senior citizens do not party, by the way, but it's like at least I know that I'm usually in bed by nine, so maybe I'm calling myself a senior citizen here, but but yeah, so the party doesn't get kicking until you can't Aha, so I need to. The party doesn't start until like 10, 11.

Speaker 2: 19:38

Yes. You definitely need to know that if you're going out, if it's a girl, I'm going to need to take a nap in afternoon or something.

Speaker 1: 19:45

get myself ready for that, but okay.

Speaker 2: 19:50

You wouldn't have a choice if you're hanging with me, but like, say, if you're eating out and stuff. I would always advise to like call ahead and make a reservations. Don't just try to walk in, because you never know what you're up against, especially in Rodney Bay. Sometimes it's busy, Sometimes it's not, so you always want to make your reservations as well In terms of like making sure where you're staying is safe. I would always advise people like when you're booking online, you book directly. So this is like verbal bookingcom and these places they always have a markup sometimes.

Speaker 2: 20:26

Or you know, there's something that you don't know about, because I've had a lot of clients. Sometimes they book and then they're like well, they didn't tell us that with breakfast is closing at 10. Or they didn't tell us that. You know you only get lunch at X restaurants and it's closed on this day and that day.

Speaker 2: 20:41

So when you go do your booking, you make sure that you contact the resort directly if you're doing it by yourself, just to make sure that there's no hidden things that you're not aware of, Because it sucks if you don't know particular things. And then when you get here, then you're like oh, nobody told me that. Like, last week I had some clients who stayed at Starfish and they booked on Expedia and when they got here they didn't know that they had a six dollar per day I think it was a VAT or something some extra fee. And then there was still some additional fees that Expedia did not explain to them. So you always want to make sure that you dot your I's and you cross your T's in regards to that so you don't have any surprise expenses when you get here.

Speaker 1: 21:18

Yeah, the fact is what you call the VAT tax right, the VAT tax.

Speaker 2: 21:25

Yes, so get into island. It's easy to have your transfers. I mean, as long as you find the right person, they do the whole line yards for you. So you turn your transfer from the airport to the resort. When you get to the resort, you have at least your one or two days of excursions and then you enjoy the rest of it, like if you're staying in the north of the island. You want to go, move around. You want to probably go hiking. You want to go to the different beaches. You probably want to go into the, the market, see everywhere around town. You go to the malls. I mean, the malls are a little pricey, yes, but you know your on vacation time.

Speaker 1: 22:01

Yeah, but do you still suggest people go to malls though, it's like since malls well, especially if you're coming from the mainland, you already have that at home. Is there something that makes the malls since in which a more special?

Speaker 2: 22:13

To be quite honest and I think people might hate me they see this and see me saying it I would say it's not worth it. But I have to be honest. You and me are kind of like on the same line with that.

Speaker 1: 22:26

Yeah, we're on the same line with that. When it comes to, you know, shopping, yes, go to go to places. I always say go to more authentic places that you can shop at things and you will not get at home, because what's the point in going and getting yourself all involved in a mall, you know, and spend your day.

Speaker 2: 22:44

Some people, some people still just want to go. Just so you know I can be kind of stuff. But if you have to purchase stuff, especially if you travel a lot, like are you come from the US, you know the prices of stuff. It's it's like you, but we buy the stuff from the US to come and sell down here. So there's always a markup, so it doesn't really make sense. But if you're looking for like paintings and you're looking for like wooden stuff, stuff that's like made on Island, you would go to there's this place called see Island cotton shop in the Rodney Bay mall. Or if you go into the market, you just have to ask around, like you ask people where to go. But for the most part the other souvenirs, like the, the magnets and stuff, you just go to the Chinese shop. I'm being real here. I can't, I can't lie. No, no, please.

Speaker 1: 23:29

That's exactly what the whole thing is called paradise perspectives, because we want your perspective, not the one from the brochures and what you know the internet is telling us. We want to know from your authentic experience as somebody from Sinclucia what all you would recommend people to do. So this is exactly what we're looking for here, anyway, so this is great.

Speaker 2: 23:49

Yeah, because even at the resorts you don't really want to go to the gift shops at the resorts because they buy the stuff from the locals and they come sell it at a markup. So it's easier to just go straight to the source and you deal with it like that. I mean, you save money at the end of the day and you put it in the pockets of, like, a local itself.

Speaker 1: 24:07

Direct. Exactly, girl. The resorts are not gonna be happy with us today, but we don't care. And also, at the end of the day, I think you are. You are there for an authentic experience, and so you want exactly have more of the locals involved in that experience, because that's how you get that authentic experience.

Speaker 2: 24:29

So yes, absolutely buy from the locals directly.

Speaker 1: 24:32

You're helping them, you're helping yourself and you're getting a great, very unique souvenir out of it at the end of the day too.

Speaker 2: 24:38

So and the thing is you make friends, you make memories too. At the end of the day, if you, if you meet somebody really authentic on island and you're blessed, you know you have a friend to come back to.

Speaker 1: 24:50

So, it helps so Sinclucia has a couple of things that are super, super unique. But before we go into that, sorry, we haven't talked about currency. What is the currency? You say you accept you.

Speaker 2: 25:02

Oh, it's an instant Caribbean dollars.

Speaker 1: 25:04

Okay, so you're an easy dollar as well.

Speaker 2: 25:07

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1: 25:07

Yeah, okay, fantastic. So that's pretty much standard for a lot of out of British islands. And but you guys, funny, I've done, of course, some kind of research all the way in the beginning, when, of course, again when I was planning a trip to Sinclucia and I saw that English is spoken, but you also speak French Creole, because the island has been switching between the French and back and forth.

Speaker 2: 25:32

Seven times French, seven times British.

Speaker 1: 25:35

Lot of mercy. She's some Christ, these people don't. They can't just make up the mind. But I want, I know, and the locals get all tousled up in between. I was like, okay, make up your damn mind, all right. So English is widely spoken, but there is also some French, creole the Creole.

Speaker 2: 25:54

But now you don't find it so much so because, like you know, as the younger generation, we don't. We don't learn it like I could basically only curse in Creole, like if somebody.

Speaker 1: 26:06

Because that's how your mom taught us to like whatever you know. Whatever my mom had something bad to say to me. It was always an hour native language, so I can imagine that your mom was probably costing you and oh, okay, so that was total English I.

Speaker 1: 26:29

Yeah, that's where we go to school for, okay, so let's now talk a little bit about because you spoke about the northern side, and then of course you have a South side and east side and all that. Sin lucha is much bigger than or it's bigger than, see, martin, like I can give an island tour here on the islands and we'll be done in a couple of hours, if I don't stretch it with some stops here and there, will be done in two. You know it's really so. Yeah, it's tiny, was 37 square miles, french and Dutch combined. So, in your case, how? You're already talking about a few excursions. You're talking about one excursion for the north, one is for another side of the island. What would you recommend to somebody like me who's never been there before? What would be like the must-do excursions? Because, of course, in lucha is known for a couple of really beautiful things, like, of course, the Python, the Souffier Girl, oh my god, you're telling me about the planting.

Speaker 1: 27:49

I tell everybody you cannot say planting Plantain because it's not mountain or fountain. And here I go, making a classic mistake and call it pythons. Oh my god, I'm gonna look for a hole to bury my head in because I Shame myself. I should have done my homework on this. It's it's peat on Pete Tom.

Speaker 2: 28:17

Oh my god okay, excuse me, I'm gonna go in line and shame.

Speaker 1: 28:22

I'm gonna be like lying and shame today. I'm so embarrassed. The Pete on. Thank you so much for the correction, darling, thank you, thank you, thank you. I know a lot of people are making that same darn mistake and we want to avoid that at all costs. So the Pete on the Souffier I'm not saying that right, souffier, souffier. Yeah, so fair, okay. Okay, at least we got that one right. And, of course, you can drive into the volcano. It's one of the only places in the world where you can actually drive into the volcano, which is kind of neat.

Speaker 2: 28:58

So yeah, because the entire Supra is actually on a volcano.

Speaker 1: 29:03

Yes, exactly that's. That's what I saw, indeed. Okay, so tell me, what do I need to see as a newcomer to St Lucia?

Speaker 2: 29:11

definitely like, if you have a short time, definitely the West Coast. So you want to do a Souffier tour. That's the. That's the most important tour that anybody needs to do because when, especially if you're in the north of the Island and you're driving down, you're seeing every single stop. So it's like you pass through the, the castries market, you would pass through. We have two fishing villages before you get to Souffier. So you'd pass through Ansleray and you pass through canneries. So you kind of get that authentic feel and see how it is. And when you're passing through these villages they try their best to keep the, the old-fashioned houses and stuff. So you could get an authentic feel of how it used to be back in the days and it's very colorful. You could go down to the, the beach area where the fishermen are, and sometimes when you go there they're cleaning fish. They were doing the whole nine yards. So you get to see it. For sure you want to go to see the, the chocolate factory, it, if you want to like do the chocolate itself.

Speaker 2: 30:05

You have to like pre-book that it's. It's about an hour for you to do that, but otherwise you could go get some truffles or some chocolate bars or, you know, body skincare and stuff that's made from the chocolate and everything made from our local cocoa down here. So you could do that. When you get into Souffier you have the options of like you could do waterfalls, you could do the mud bath, you could do the volcano tour. There's the Moncubaril estate tour, which is a plantation tour. When they take you in there you could you taste the coconut. They show you how they take the, the pods they make you taste the pod that they use to dry and ferment and then get the chocolate out of it. They give you a history on the area, what they used to happen before. There's a place where the people used to say they have like a mock of where the people used to stay their kitchen, their bars and everything. So it's like a whole vibe of an experience of what it used to be like back in the day.

Speaker 2: 31:00

You have People who are very, very adventurous. They could do either the gopito or the ptp to hike. Now if you're doing the gopito Hike it's about like five hours round trip. You have a guide that goes with you. You pay a $50 fee at the entrance. If you're doing the ptp to hike, it's the rope climbing the entire way and if you die nobody cares.

Speaker 1: 31:23

You went at your own risk. I'm a very visual person, I'm already vision eyes in the whole thing and it's not a laughing matter. I mean, if you die, you die, right. It's just terrible. It's our, it's our worst fear come true. But I was always under the impression that the petit piton Would be like the easiest one to hike because it's a small one, right.

Speaker 2: 31:45

Wow, it's more steep, it's straight. So, gopito, you know, you kind of have like a trail, but ptp toys just like straight up.

Speaker 1: 31:53

So he's rope climbing Okay all right, and then so the which one is the five and a half hour, because that one seems like, really like, for me too. So the big one is the five and a half hours, and that's an easy hike.

Speaker 1: 32:08

Yep, the other one is total rope climbing, Uh-huh okay, like hiking for me when you tell me it's like super intense would be two hours. So now this chicken's telling me five and a half hours. We're skipping that or I am skipping that. But for all of you adventurous types out there, this is definitely the one you would want to do, and then be a little bit more careful with with a petit piton, because we don't want you to die.

Speaker 2: 32:33

Okay, I mean, I don't want to scare anybody. You do get a tour guide to go with you, so you don't go by yourself. That knows what they're doing but you have to find somebody local. Okay, you don't did this, not like they have people there.

Speaker 1: 32:45

Yeah, of course now has it happened. I don't want to make this show into something really dark, but I guess it has happened.

Speaker 2: 32:55

There was only once, like there was only once like years ago. There was this guy, I think he went by himself because they had to get a helicopter from Martin Nick to get him. He was missing for like probably more than a week or something, and then they finally realized they weren't searching for him, yeah so, and he wasn't in any kind of good shape. So, yeah, that happened, but it's been pretty safe after that.

Speaker 2: 33:19

And we actually have tours surrounding that, specifically to make it into a whole vibe. I actually have a friend who does it and, like he's, he's taking people up there to camp. So it is a vibe, as long as you're adventurous.

Speaker 1: 33:31

Let's talk a little bit about your business, because you've been doing tours for a while. But why did you start, and when did you actually start your tour being a tour guide and now expanding into, you know, having this business with other drivers as well?

Speaker 2: 33:48

Well, it was at least about five years ago. I used to do it for a previous company and I started getting really irritated when they would tell me, like you need to time limit everybody, like they could only have like 15 minutes there and whatnot. And I realized that, like clients, sometimes you like a place and you probably want to spend like 30 minutes to an hour there, and I was unable to do that and every time I would come back really, really late, I would get in trouble because I had to like, if I pick up the clients at nine, I had to be back at two to probably do an airport transfer or something. So they were trying to like put two jobs in one day. So it was. It was like you charge a client and at that time it was $150 per person, so you charge it, the client, that, and then they don't get their full day.

Speaker 2: 34:32

But when I saw how things was done and you know I got into the groove of it and I really liked dealing with people and meeting people or whatever. It was really, really cool I decided, you know what, I could do this for myself and I could put a twist on it. So that's when I created the whole like private thing and I sold my face on it. That's why, like everybody, asked for Naomi now and it's a problem because I can't do it all. So it's like typically, yeah, cannot be in two three places at the same time.

Speaker 2: 35:00

Yes, so it's like when I try to take people around, I always go the extra mile with people. So I try to bring you in. Sometimes, especially if we're on my side of the island, I will take you to my hometown, I'll bring you home, make you meet my parents. My dad has a furniture factory which people always love to see how the furniture is made. They usually freak out, they're like wait, we thought you guys just import stuff. We didn't know that it was made from scratch. So that's something that gives it's a little difference. And you know the whole fact that you meet some island people, you feel more special than just everybody else. So it gives it a little twist that I have on my end that somebody else doesn't have. So exactly I try to make it as authentic as possible. It all depends on the season. Like you know, different fruit trees. My parents has like over 15 fruit trees in the backyard, so I remember having clients that I brought them we were climbing up trees and eating stuff and tasting stuff.

Speaker 1: 35:57

It was like it was fun, that's amazing and I think, like I think, a lot of people appreciate that too, because that is what they want, you know, when they book with you. Also, it's because they want more of that authentic feel. I have the same thing here as in Marathon, when I take people out on tours and I don't that's not my main business, so I don't have a lot of time that I can allocate to it but I totally get you. It's like you cannot just you can tell them it's going to be like about this many hours, but you can. If you're having fun, and they're having fun and they're not ready to be dropped back off at a recommendation, keep going and keep giving them that experience, that?

Speaker 1: 36:32

they're actually looking for. You know, and I love how you're doing kind of like the same thing, and I bet it's the same thing for you too. At the end of the day. You have now added a couple of new friends to your list. You know like people come in as strangers into your cars and they leave as best friends by the time you're done, so I love that part of it.

Speaker 2: 36:53

That's the best part about it, though. The connections, hell yeah. But I would say also on the East Coast now a lot of different things are happening, like you know, more places are opening different excursions and stuff. So, like people who want to do like ATV tours, I always have people requesting that. We have options. You could do one on the West Coast, you could do it on the East Coast or you could do it on the North. Each different section has its own environment and its own thing that you see. So it's totally different. It's all. It's all based on what you're expecting.

Speaker 2: 37:28

Then you book its accordion but, like in the North of the island, there's less to do than when you go to the West Coast. So if you're like going around the North, it's more sightseeing. You have Pijian Island where you would do the hike and you could do some beach time. You could do some snorkeling. There's also snubber, like if you want to walk under the water and stuff. You could do that as well.

Speaker 2: 37:48

But all these additional places it's, like you know, from 70 US to 90 US for whatever services is that they offer. So that's something people have to bear in mind If you want to add on all any of these extra things it costs money. So that is where I always say you book a villa and you save, so you have more money to spend on excursions, because there's so many additional things you could do, like if you go to the rainforest rides, you do the zip lining, or if you do like there's this electric bike tour you could do around the North, there's the segue tours, there's also the buggy rides. So all these different things it's expensive. So to try to fit, it all in.

Speaker 2: 38:29

Yes, to try to fit it all in. The easiest way to go at it is staying at a villa, and then you execute it by just like planning your whole days, like schedule out every single day. You're on the road, you're doing something, because we have so many nice beaches in the North as well, because there's the Pigeon Island beach which is super clear and it's you don't really have to deal with rocks and stuff.

Speaker 2: 38:50

There's the Reedry Beach where you go. You could do the jet ski. There's this whole boat thing that they bring you around I forget what it's called and the big floaty thing. There's a splash park there as well.

Speaker 2: 39:00

Yeah so we also have the horseback riding, different options, different companies as well, which all of them are great. It's just a matter of where you want to see. So yeah, in a nutshell, you probably need to. If you're interested in doing the entire island like total, total experience, local, you need like four days. Four days to just be out and about At least, yes, at least four days to be out and about. But if you're more on a chill vibe and you just want to see the basics, you just probably need two days. So you do like this Souffret tour and then, if you're staying in the North of the island, you could just catch a shuttle and probably go to Pigeon Island or go to Reedry Beach.

Speaker 2: 39:43

I always sell people. It doesn't make sense to book an off tour, because an off tour with me is like 110 bucks per person and I'm like I'm not going to charge you that to just like take you around for an hour. It feels like a ripoff. So I would rather just tell you where to go, hop on a bus or do something and you get it done at the end of the day saves you something. But if somebody's really spending, it's definitely on a West Coast tour.

Speaker 2: 40:06

And also if they want to do snorkeling, like the entire day, you have the option of taking a snorkeling cruise, which is every Thursday, I think. Or if you want to do a sunset cruise it's, I think, the Sundays and the Tuesdays out like if you reach out to me I would have to book it and whatnot. But there's that option as well the sunset cruise, the snorkeling cruise. Snorkel cruise usually goes all the way down from the West Coast. You get all the views. They stop at three different locations, you have lunch and everything included and you get the experience at Sugar Beach and Chasney Beach for sure.

Speaker 1: 40:39

So that's also another option and another day, but for the most part you just need two days and you enjoy everything else in the area Two days of the whole exploring thing, but ideally you would say like five days on the island would be enough to have a little bit of the rest, relaxation part, plus, you know, excursions and whatnot.

Speaker 2: 41:05

If you're somebody who really likes food, I would say you probably need to book yourself on lunch and dinner every single day out, because we in Rodney Bay alone we have over 10 different restaurants that you could go to. And then there's still all these hidden places in, like Grozile, where the street jam there's be. There's all these little places that people do like the seafood people. I know for sure people always look for conk lobby we call it that seafood or they look for lobsters, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's like if you're all into food, you definitely need to do some research and know the different places, reserve it ahead of time. So you know, okay, I'm going here for lunch, I'm going here for dinner, and you plan it accordingly.

Speaker 1: 41:46

Okay, fantastic. And then, of course, you also, and then you brought it up. You brought it up with food, and I wanted to actually already dive into that because, of course, that's our favorite f word ever. So we need to talk a little bit about food and drinks here. I know that St Lucia is very popular for rums as well, so we need to tackle that. And but before we go into food, I want to talk a little bit about this chocolate making experience that I saw that you can actually book, and you mentioned it briefly and as it being part of the tour that you offer you know, that you stop there briefly for to buy a chocolate and anything, but you can actually make your own right.

Speaker 2: 42:29

So when you go there they let you mix up everything, like the one that I have been to. You have all this chocolate that's laid out on the table. It smells amazing and you do the mixing you put. You put all your different. There's plenty, plenty garnishes to put on top. I've seen them put like peaches, apricots, nuts, cashews, all kinds of things. You could really dress it up. It all depends on what you want pistachios, whatever the case is and then they freeze up your bar for you and they let you go with it. That experience is like 45 us per person at Cacosetley Sea, because there's two places there's Hotel Chocolate and there's Cacosetley Sea Hotel Chocolate. You have a garden attached, so I think it's like 110 or 120 us. It's way more. But just because you pass through the garden and you see like the mint leaves and the different herbs that they use and the trees and stuff, you have a longer experience. But if you just concerned about the chocolate making, it's definitely Cacosetley Sea.

Speaker 1: 43:31

Okay, they just go straight into the part that everybody wants to experience. And then. But it's kind of neat to actually see the garden attached to it as well. So, yeah, so it depends on how much time I guess you have, how much money you want to spend and what experience exactly you want to have.

Speaker 1: 43:48

Now let's talk a little bit about food the favorites you know we need to talk about food, our favorite thing in the world. Like you just said, you can be kidnapped to just offer a food alone. I think you and I are like very similar when it comes to that. I like me belly, like I say here. All right, so what is? First of all, some of the traditional dishes in Singlusha.

Speaker 2: 44:14

For us we have the. We call it a fig salad, banana salad, so it's green banana that they would take. Boil it until it comes soft and then we season it up with like mixed veg and different seasonings and we put mayo in there with salt fish and we mix it up. We eat it like that, or you could just boil it. Oh my God, that sounds amazing Trust me it was my favorite.

Speaker 1: 44:38

That sounds so good. What is it called?

Speaker 2: 44:42

Fig salad.

Speaker 1: 44:44

Wow, okay, I'm putting that on the list.

Speaker 2: 44:48

Oh, we do like right now bread fruits is in season, we do a bread fruit salad. The same method. You mix it up with mixed veg and salt fish and season it up. Then you could probably do it in another way, where you have just the bread fruit by itself boiled, sliced up, and you do it with, like a stew, salt fish. We put a lot of oil in the salt fish and onions and stuff and season it up. It tastes really, really good and we have this pepper, the baron's pepper. That is the bomb If you like spicy food?

Speaker 2: 45:16

you definitely need well, you'll love it. So you use baron's pepper. It's the yellow one. We haven't read any yellow one, but you definitely want to go with the yellow one because it gives that vinegretty taste. It's amazing. Or you could mix it. We use the the same green banana. You boil it up. Same method with the salt fish. We use a lot of salt fish with the mix because even for like a, but I noticed it's baked and baked and salt, fish and cocoa tea and everybody loves the cocoa tea. Trust me.

Speaker 1: 45:47

If you get somebody to make a good cocoa tea, because it depends on which islands you are. But I've noticed that everybody a lot of the islands, especially the British islands or the former British islands have this cocoa tea or cocoa, but it's not like the hot cocoa that you're thinking about. A cocoa tea is not that right. What is a cocoa tea?

Speaker 2: 46:11

No. So the cocoa, they would take the like from the pods, the cocoa pod. When they dry it they make the chocolate, the dark chocolate, take it, pound it into a powder, put it into like a stick form, harden it. But in that stick form there's many other different spices they put in there so that when you use it now you grate it for you to get to powder. When you grate it, you put it to boil and then you would add, like cinnamon, you would add cloves bay leaf. What else do I put in this ginger? You add different, different things in there just to like flavor it up and then, when it comes to a boiling point that the water turns like dark brown, then you would add milk. And well, for me, for me to sugar mine up, I put condensed milk and I also put what you call this.

Speaker 1: 47:02

You're going hardcore with a condensed milk. I put custard in it just thicken it. Wow.

Speaker 2: 47:07

Okay, so this is not your, this is not your average cocoa.

Speaker 1: 47:12

This is not your average hot cocoa.

Speaker 2: 47:14

This is wow okay. This is from scratch to top.

Speaker 1: 47:21

Wow, sounds amazing Okay so I guess you could do it with almond milk. Right For the ones who do not like lactose intolerance or do not drink cow milk.

Speaker 2: 47:33

You know, when you put almond milk in it it gives it like a distinct, like a special taste. Because when I do it sometimes I mix the milk. I put regular milk, the whole milk, I put a little almond milk and I put coconut milk that just like blows up.

Speaker 1: 47:47

Oh my gosh. Okay, we are going to your house. You're making me a cocoa tea. That's another thing that we must add to the list. Okay, I'm going to. My list is getting quite big here. Cocoa tea. Cocoa tea must have All right.

Speaker 1: 48:01

So if you're going to a girl, I have a feeling that you and I are going to have a blast. I'm going to need a vacation from the application. That's what I think is going to happen. So tell me so. If I'm going out to a locally owned restaurant and it's a really local spot and I want to eat what is the best things like other than what you just, yeah, I want to eat, like the local dish, and you already explained about the thick salad and not the one with breadfruit, but is there another one that I must? Must order when I'm at a local spot?

Speaker 2: 48:41

I wouldn't say that there's anything specific other, because we just usually mix up with the ground provision. So you would find a lot like sweet potato dashing the ripe plantains. You would find a lot of that, and then you just have it with probably like a stew turkey or a stew chicken or a stew fish, and then they would give you your steamed veggies or like, say, for instance, if avocado is in season, you get avocado, or if it's a case where breadfruit isn't seen, they would make breadfruit balls or they would make sweet potato balls. But everywhere you always get mac and cheese. Now, everybody is accustomed to mac and cheese.

Speaker 1: 49:20

So I know I've noticed that here it's a local thing too. But is it a local thing from the, from the box, or is it from scratch, like?

Speaker 2: 49:30

my mom always make it from scratch.

Speaker 1: 49:32

Okay.

Speaker 2: 49:33

Made from scratch? We don't. I think the kids are the ones who like box mac and cheese.

Speaker 1: 49:38

We're not doing, felvita, no, we're doing. We're doing the real shit. Okay, good, fantastic, okay. Now we've talked about the food. Now let's talk about my other favorite thing rum girl. Teach me the thing or do a rum, because I know, I know I've done that is. One thing that really stuck with me is that St Lucia is known for its rums too, so let's go.

Speaker 2: 50:05

Um, for a rum, we have the two on Island Bounty Rum and the Chairman's. So for the most part, a lot of women, they like the coconut flavor and the lime flavor of the bounty. So we would mix that with all at a drinks, like probably some juice or a sprite or something. Or you would use the bounty spice more higher and would go to the Chairman's. So they have the Chairman's regular. There's the Chairman's white Chairman's spice and the forgotten cast Chairman's. So it all depends on you know like, especially the older folks, the older men, they like, they like the forgotten cast, or they like to get the Admiral Rodney. So we have three athletes.

Speaker 1: 50:46

but oh yeah, admiral Rodney is famous. I've had my share of that. It's fantastic.

Speaker 2: 50:53

I remember some older guys making me do shots on it when I had my bar. I didn't like it one bit. They were just buying me shots.

Speaker 1: 51:03

You wanted something that you need to set. Oh my gosh, you must have not liked it. At the end of the day, you must have forgotten your own name, but you know. But listen, like okay. So if I want to go to a distillery, which one of these are actually, they're all made on.

Speaker 2: 51:21

St Lucia. Yes, so there's the distillery that we have. We have the distillery around the Marigold Bay area. That's something that you could actually add into an excursion. I think it's like 12 us per person, if I remember correctly, and they take you through the distillery and then you could do the rum tasting and they have the gift shop that you could purchase from there as well. It's a really, really nice experience because you get to see like everything. Which one is that for the bounty, the chairman's, admiral Rodney, that's like the main distillery on Island. Okay, gotcha, so you could. You could go to the distillery for that for a tour. It takes, I think it takes about an hour for the tour. Oh, that sounds fun. Trust me, if you love rum, it is.

Speaker 1: 52:03

Is there a rum that is actually something that you can get outside of the distillery.

Speaker 2: 52:08

That is something like I don't know, like moonshine or something that somebody is making in the back of the yard. Or is it like?

Speaker 1: 52:14

I don't know, I'm just coming up with moonshines. I know moonshine was like a done in secret, but is there like, is there someone who does it at home too, or not? Like you know, here in San Martin we have something called a guava berry. We just take a basic rum from Martinica Guadalupe and then we infuse it or we put guava berry fruit in it and we let it sit in it for a while, Like if you want to really do it the local way, and it's to sit in it for at least like nine months to two, two a year, you know, to get that flavor.

Speaker 2: 52:52

There's this place called Horizon Cocktails, and they do it. It's actually a stop on the excursion that I normally have people do at the end of the day because I don't want to get you drunk in the beginning and then you know you can't even phone function.

Speaker 2: 53:06

So on our way back, there's this place that we stop at. It has over 15 different flavors of infused rums. I actually have a video where I did like each one touching the bottle, saying the name. But if I could remember a few off my head, there's like this banana, this guava, this passion fruit, sea moss, ginger.

Speaker 1: 53:29

My girl, you already had me at the first one and, look, that sounds amazing. That sounds like really, really good. We're adding that to my really growing list here Must do a rum tasting at the distillery and then the flavored rums at this special place that you're talking about. So we're doing that too. Oh my gosh, now I am more excited than ever to visit Now. If you all that are just listening to the podcast and you're not watching this on YouTube, naomi here has the greenest hair I've ever seen on a person. What's the occasion, by the way? What's with the green hair? I need to know.

Speaker 2: 54:12

Well, funny story.

Speaker 1: 54:16

Green hair normally starts with a funny story.

Speaker 2: 54:22

This year has been like a total game changer for me in terms of relationship and mindset and everything, and I think I burst out of my bubble. That's what it was before. I was always scared of what people would say, what people would think, and then I finally reached a point. I'm like you know what this is me? I'm crazy, as usual. So let's match the crazy with something.

Speaker 1: 54:48

So my favorite color is. We're going for it.

Speaker 2: 54:51

I just said fuck it. My favorite color is black, but then I kind of like green. I've always liked olive green, but I decided you know what, let's go crazy. Nobody down here has green hair. Everybody is red or blonde or something, and I want it to be unique. So now, everywhere I go, everybody is like the green hair girl, I love that.

Speaker 1: 55:14

So you're not delusion girl anymore. Now you're the green hair girl. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 55:18

And it stands out. I took a picture directly in front of the pitas when I was on a cruise and I actually posted it in many, many different travel groups and everybody was freaking out like, oh, she's the mountain in Moana.

Speaker 1: 55:37

It's amazing, it's amazing. I think it looks great and it suits you too. It's just one of those things I had to ask, because I'm like, is it carnival? What's going?

Speaker 2: 55:48

on. No, it was a personality that popped out.

Speaker 1: 55:53

I know the feeling. I think a lot of us has been going through some tremendous changes in 2023. 2023 was like the gateway of change opened up for a lot, a lot of people, yours truly included. I went through my end of shitty situations and turned it around into something super positive, like this freaking podcast.

Speaker 2: 56:16

So definitely.

Speaker 1: 56:17

I hear you on it. You go on to it with the green hair and you're excelling in your business, so congratulations on that. I am not hoping, but I promise you that I will be in St Lucia very, very soon. Now I want to know from the audience if you found all of these authentic recommendations from Naio, if you found them helpful for you in any way and you want to book a tour with her or you want to just pick her brain and get to know a little bit more about her and what she offers and definitely visit her on wwwLucianExploracom.

Speaker 2: 56:55

Explora with an A. Explora with an A or I'm on Facebook, so Naio Rose on Facebook.

Speaker 1: 57:03

Okay, and of course we're going to link all of those in the show notes. Thank you so much, naio, for today. One last question If I want to go for one of those special festivities from St Lucia, which one would you recommend? I must attend Carnival. We just spoke briefly. We mentioned carnival. I knew she was going to sing more carnival.

Speaker 2: 57:25

Let me tell you Carnival the whole of July is loaded with activities. I had clients who came down and they probably went to like seven different fets. I mean, I love to party, so I'm sorry, carnival would be my favorite Because I like to go out. But if you're a food person, I could say October you could come for the Creole Festival, like if you want to get into the culture and whatnot. We have different activities, especially towards the end of the month. Or some people they like to come down for jazz as well. Jazz is a really really nice, great experience as well. So everything could be found on the St Lucia website. So if you want to know the different events throughout the year, it's always up there way ahead of time. So if somebody wants to plan it and that is the website for the tourist office, yes, so just St Lucia. If you type in stluxatourismorg or something like that, it shows you whatever. If I have it wrong, it shows you what it is. But one thing I forgot to mention, though.

Speaker 2: 58:22

I'll find it and I'll link it in the show notes as well. One thing I forgot to mention, though, when I was talking about the villas and stuff, is I would always advise people to do the best of both worlds. So you spend the most part of your stay in the north of the island and then you probably spend two days down in the west coast if you just want to wind down, because if you're in the west coast you don't have access to many restaurants and you don't have the access to as much outing or bar hopping or stuff like what you get in the north. So if you want to just get a full experience of everything, you would split your stay If you do like, probably three or four days in the north and then you do two days in the west coast, and then you're even closer to the airport at that point. And then, if people sometimes when people arrive.

Speaker 2: 59:07

Yeah, because when people arrive they normally always ask what's the best way to get to the north. You could do the land, or you could do sea or helicopter. So typically land is the cheapest. You pay like $120 total for a taxi. If you have to do sea, it's 150 per person. Helicopter is 190 per person. So it gets a little more pricey, but you do have options on your way of getting around. It's just a matter of okay. Do you always want to do land or you want to do sea? So I forgot to mention that very important point.

Speaker 1: 59:37

Yeah, that is actually super important. Thank you so much for that. And just out of curiosity, how long is the drive from the airport to the north?

Speaker 2: 59:47

Oh, it's about an hour and a half to two hours.

Speaker 1: 59:52

Okay, which is?

Speaker 2: 59:53

why a?

Speaker 1: 59:53

helicopter can't take away.

Speaker 2: 59:56

Helicopter is like 10 to 15 minutes if you have the money for it.

Speaker 1: 1:00:01

Yes, exactly, I would love to do it. But anyways, one more thing about this you know north thing and what happens when you and if you have to pick up I don't know which part of the island do you live?

Speaker 2: 1:00:14

I live all over. I always have somewhere to go, Okay, okay that's fantastic.

Speaker 1: 1:00:19

I was just wondering what happens. Okay, so what happens if you have to pick up somebody from the opposite side of the island, from wherever you are at the moment?

Speaker 2: 1:00:30

It doesn't matter I go pick up anybody anywhere, because at the end of the day, you are a treasure.

Speaker 1: 1:00:35

You are a treasure.

Speaker 2: 1:00:43

When I deal with clients, especially if I get them before they even come to San Lucia to do anything and I do the whole nine yards I'm with you for the entire stay. I had two ladies with me for the past week pick them up from the airport, drop them off at the airport. So it's like for me my schedule is open for a particular time. If you book me, then you lock me in. After that you get my workers. So if you want to experience it with me personally, you have to book me in advance, because I'm never available. But whenever I have people.

Speaker 2: 1:01:12

I always try to stay with them the entire time. So if you do the trips you do, I'm there with you. If you're going to dinner, if you're going out, whatever you're doing, you want me there. I'm there, I'm always down.

Speaker 1: 1:01:23

Damn girl. I know you're super busy because just planning this for you to sit down for an hour for us to have a chat on this podcast was difficult, so I can imagine. But you're getting a little bit of a rest time coming up, because September usually is, like for you guys, it's the low season as well, right?

Speaker 2: 1:01:43

No, not for me. My schedule is already up it was the same way. Like August, I'm like, okay, I'll have a break, and then literally every single day is like now for now, okay, there's somebody for tomorrow, somebody for the day after. I'm like shit, I don't have time to breathe, wow, but congratulations again. This is what happens.

Speaker 1: 1:02:02

You know this is what happens with the door of change that opened for 2023. Look at you blowing out. You know this is fantastic.

Speaker 2: 1:02:10

I'm just that. People a lot of word of mouth to. People come to the island, they stay with me the entire time and then they go back and they tell their friends or even at the resource I've had people. They go to the resort and they're talking about it and from just them being at the resort I get two, three trips already. So I never say no to work. I don't care what day it is. Sunday to Sunday, I'm working, I don't. I don't say no, you can't be mad at me, You're looking awesome.

Speaker 1: 1:02:33

Green green, green green haired, symbol of what should I call you symbol. You're like a freaking symbol of change is good, that's what you are. This is amazing. Thank you so much again, Naio. One last thing. I know I keep saying one last thing, because we can drag on this conversation forever. There's so much that we can talk about. There's always something that I ask at the end of any podcast is what is one of the domes of St Lucia? What is like one or two things that you say? Any visitor should definitely avoid doing this. Hmm.

Speaker 2: 1:03:13

I would say what they should avoid is trying trying not to get into everything. So you see the whole. Oh I'm not going to go to this street because probably it's dangerous. So I'm not going to do this because I read online. It's this and it's that. Don't believe everything you see online and even for people like, say, for instance, reviews about resorts and different, different things, you don't believe everything you see online because, like, it's all about your perception of the thing, how you feel, what you expect. It's not going to be the same as somebody else's. So say, for instance, you read that this result is shitty and the people didn't treat you nice and whatever it might be your experience. But somebody else comes there and they have an amazing time. So it's more or less. It's difficult to judge it based on what you see other people say, and especially if you see you're reading something and you probably see like 70 of the reviews are good and then there's like 10 that's not good.

Speaker 1: 1:04:11

Yeah, there's always that one person that just wants to only talk about the negative, even if the majority of their experience was great. Yes, they focus on the negative and set it up positive.

Speaker 2: 1:04:22

Yes. So you, you just don't want to spoil the vacation ahead of time by thinking negatively. My boyfriend would always say you think positive. If you put the positive out there, that's what's going to happen. So you come to the island with that mentality that I'm going to have a blast, I'm going to have a great time and you have a great time, exactly I love that.

Speaker 1: 1:04:42

Thank you again. Thank you. Thank you so much for making time to be on the podcast today. Thank you for being with us, so happy that you could make the time, and you and I are going to remain in contact because, girl, I am coming to St Lucia and I'm going to see the pitons, not the pythons. I was. I was still going to bury my head in shame on that one. I can't believe I did that. Thank you, thank you so much.

Speaker 2: 1:05:11

You're welcome, take care.

Speaker 1: 1:05:14

Isn't Naio just a doll? I am so, so happy that she agreed and she had the time, because this woman is so, so busy. I am so happy that she got the time to actually be a guest on Paradise Perspectives and she's also so knowledgeable about her native St Lucia. Don't you think I don't know about you? But after this conversation with her, I am definitely booking her services when I finally get to St Lucia, and I am personally so excited to see the pitons in real life. Oh my God, I still cannot believe my blunder. But let my embarrassing moment be your lesson. It's not Python, it's Piton. Okay, I'm also definitely going to book the chocolate experience to learn how to make chocolate. I'm checking out that, admiral Rodney Rom, that's for sure. And I am definitely going to drive through that volcano and take a sulfur bath and party, eat and drink with the locals Like, oh my gosh, it's like she has made St Lucia sound like an absolute must visit Right Now.

Speaker 1: 1:06:25

Thank you, naio, again for an excellent, fun and super educational episode. I really, really enjoyed it and I hope you listen to it as well. I hope you, my friend, got what you needed out of this episode. Now remember that you too, can book a tour of St Lucia with Naio and her company, lucia and Explorer. And, of course, as always, I am leaving her website or link to our website in the show notes to make it just a little easier for you. There really is not much more I can add, other than another thank you for listening, of course, and I'll be back in one or two weeks.

Speaker 1: 1:07:03

I'm not too sure, because I'm not sure, if you know, but I'm a one woman show. I mean seriously, all of these episodes. I record them myself, I edit them myself, I pre-research myself and then have to put it on online myself. So it's a lot of work that goes into. Any of these episodes are truly, truly, really, really, really, just to emphasis, really appreciated if you could leave your honest what do you say? That review on this podcast, but also, you know, recommend it to friends who are thinking about visiting the Caribbean soon.

Speaker 1: 1:07:42

And I also want to tell you, I mean, these episodes will not be possible if it wasn't for you, the listener, and those of you who are planning trips to Caribbean, because you have questions and I, my whole focus is to give you an authentic experience when you get here to the region and you know, with the help of all my local friends. But I need to know which islands you want to hear about next and I want to know you know what questions you have about that particular island, because then I'll make it my mission to make sure that we answer all of those questions that you might have in the next episode. So please, please, please, do yourself a favor send me an email, let me know what you want to hear next, and I will make sure to do just that. So, without much further delay, I'm Prissel, the traveling island girl. Ciao for now, and, as always, I leave you with the sweet sounds of waves crashing on a Caribbean beach. Bye, and I'll see you in the next episode.