Beachside Banter w/Bee

Trinidad Roots, Spiritual Journeys: Troy Hadeed on Yoga and the Divine

• Bee • Season 1 • Episode 14

Share episode

Want to know more? Let's Chat!

Discover the fascinating and diverse culture of Trinidad and Tobago with our special guest, Troy Hadeed, as he shares his lifelong experiences on the island. From the lush jungles and tranquil North Coast to the industrial powerhouse driven by oil and gas resources, Troy paints a vivid picture of Trinidad's unique landscape. You'll learn about the island's multicultural harmony, shaped by African, Indian, European, Middle Eastern, and Asian influences, and the warm, welcoming nature of its people.

Unveil the rich history behind Trinidad's Carnival, a celebration more profound than just a street party. We explore its origins as a commemoration of slave uprisings and delve into efforts to reclaim its true cultural significance. Celebrate the island's multitude of public holidays that honor various religious and historical events, reflecting its vibrant multicultural fabric. Plus, get introduced to the rising influence of yoga in Trinidad, which is not just a practice but a path to spiritual growth and mindfulness.

Savor the flavors of Trinidad's eclectic cuisine, from the iconic doubles to the delicious shark and bake. Troy and I compare these culinary delights with St. Louis' food culture, including specialties like toasted ravioli and gooey butter cake. Enjoy our lighthearted chat about visiting Trinidad, practicing yoga, and sharing meals, and don't forget to subscribe, leave reviews, and connect with us on social media at Life, Love, and Travel. This episode promises to inspire you with the harmonious yet complex life on the island and the joys of cultural exploration.

About My Guest:


You can find Troy here:
Facebook | IG | Tik Tok | YouTube | Website

Support the show

FOLLOW & SUBSCRIBE

Speaker 1:

Hey, hey, hey, everyone. Another episode of Beachside Bands here with me. I'm here today with Troy Hadid and we are going to talk all about Trinidad and Tobago, and I am super excited because this is one of those islands that I've definitely wanted to learn about for a long time, but I really don't know anything about it. So yeah, troy, go ahead, introduce yourself, tell us who you are and what you've been for.

Speaker 2:

My name is Troy and, yeah, I'm coming to you from Trinidad in our studio, my little office. So I've lived here my whole life. I was born here and I did quite a bit of traveling when I was in school in Florida, in Tampa, university of Tampa, and I've been teaching yoga for the last 15 years and change. I just released my first book last year and then many more.

Speaker 1:

That's so cool.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think. In a nutshell, my whole life I've been trying to excavate human experience, from a really young age, and I just hope that my life in some way can help us all remind us what it means to love including myself, yes and help connect people to a deeper relationship to the divine in some way. That's what I would like to believe. Anything I do, I would like to believe that there's a little bit of that in some way. That's what I would like to believe. Anything I do, I would like to believe that there's a little bit of that in some way.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely Anytime you could make a difference in anybody's life, I feel like that's a huge accomplishment. So I love what you stand for and definitely love what you're trying to accomplish with that. If everybody just took a little bit more time, a little bit more patience with the people that are around them and and just you know, put themselves in their shoes and was like a little bit more empathetic, I think that the world would be a whole lot better of a place. But we'll see if we ever get to that point.

Speaker 2:

I think we will. I am absolutely.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'm almost there I have a little some. There are some things that happen and I'm like that's so much, but hopefully we'll make it to that point of divine, you know. Anyway, so you were born and raised in Trinidad. How did that sort of influence your journey and make you give you this perspective on life?

Speaker 2:

You know, trinidad is a really beautiful place, like I can't even begin to explain. Every time I travel and I go away and I'm like, oh, this place is amazing, maybe I can live here and come I come back home, I'm like, oh, my gosh, like I forgot, like it really makes you appreciate home so much. And um, yes, you know, trinidad is because of our history. Of course, you have African slave trade and indigenous cultures and all European influence in Trinidad as well. Trinidad is a place where you will find everything from Chinese, asian, arabic, lebanese, indian, african the majority of all population is African and Indian Then there's so many other influences European influences, arabic, middle Eastern influences, asian influences. So it's a really big place where it kind of all comes together, you know.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so it sounds like a cultural melting pot. I love that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly that. And of course you still have, no matter what you have, these tensions in between cultures and at the bottom of it all there is this cohesiveness that happens. But at the same time we are a third world mission, don't let anyone fool you. That comes with, like anywhere, corruption and a lack of leadership, but we have a lack of leadership in the place as well. So what's the trade off, you know? But unlike most Caribbean nations, we never rely too much on tourism because we add oil and gas. So we're very much, I think I could say, if you say probably the most industrial island in the Caribbean. So we have a little bit of big city life, industry, but still we have tourism and jungles and waterfalls. We got from South America and then having beaches in the Caribbean, and Tobago is more where you would go for that kind of beach Caribbean life. Oh, okay, but yeah, it has a little bit of everything.

Speaker 1:

That sounds amazing. So I actually have a few followers who are from Trinidad and they have posted pictures of, you know, the beaches and those sorts of areas and they look absolutely amazing. So I definitely have like there's some day. And to hear that it's a cultural melting pot, I think would be awesome, just because I really like to kind of immerse myself into different cultures and learn as much as I could. So I feel like I could get a lot from one country which I feel like is, or one island, I should say, which is awesome. So what are your favorite things about it?

Speaker 2:

I am lucky enough to live on the North Coast of Trinidad, so this is the major North Coast ridge. I live in a place called Parvin, which is not where I grew up but it is where I've been living for about 10 years, and I think I don't like to speak too esoterically but some places just have a resonance and a vibration, and I think in North Goose of Trinidad, our jungles, we Coast of Trinidad, our jungles we have in Trinidad and we were, I'm assuming, one spot of South America. I'm pretty sure that's true. So we do have a lot of that flora and fauna and jungle vibes, and that is one of my favorite things about Trinidad. My other favorite thing about the people of Trinidad is that sure they like to bicker a lot, but extremely loving and welcoming people.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I'd love to hear that.

Speaker 2:

People of Trinidad are very, very special.

Speaker 1:

Real quick. You were talking about jungles. This is probably a dumb question, but I'm going to ask it anyways. Are there anacondas there? Because that kind of freaks me out a little bit. I'm not even going to lie to you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, there are, but not like South America, oh okay, not as bad, not like Amazon anacondas. I mean, I've seen people find maybe 12-foot, 15-foot, but you're not going to find that anywhere. You're going in Trinidad, I'm pretty sure.

Speaker 1:

Gotcha, so I don't have to worry about it. Anaconda eating me on the street or anything? I don't think so, no.

Speaker 2:

Trinidad is very much like. You know, if you came to Trinidad, it's very much city life unless you venture out of the city, city life unless you venture out of the city. But um gotcha, you could come to trinidad and do coffee shops, shopping, nightlife in bars, perhaps, um, and yeah, I would say fortunately and unfortunately, depending on on your perspective a massive part of our culture is drinking.

Speaker 1:

Okay, it's pretty fortunate for me, but I can see how it might be unfortunate for some.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's very much you know, because we have Carnival, which I'm sure you've heard of. Yes, I've definitely heard about that, yeah and it's sure Carnival is two days of the year, but Carnival culture kind of expands way beyond that.

Speaker 1:

So every weekend there's always something happening in Chennai, you know Social always that's awesome, yeah, so tell me a little bit about Carnival, because I know a lot of people haven't necessarily heard of it, and how does it compare to other, you know, caribbean islands who kind of hold these sorts of festivals?

Speaker 2:

Now I have a disclaimer for you, that is, that I'm not a huge con person. Nope, that's alright.

Speaker 1:

No judgments here.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm going to tell you what I know of it because you know, for my whole life growing up in Trinidad and Tobago, I have never really drank, I've never really poured. My friends drink and stuff and partied and I do party, but I party soon, right? So carnival for me was never a big thing growing up. I always had somewhat of a resistance to it and what I'm going to shed some light on that for you a little bit what carnival is, is that two days a year, usually in February, it's, I believe, 40 days before. So you have Ash Wednesday, right, yes, and carnival is on Monday and Tuesday. Before Ash Wednesday, oh, okay, and at least in Trinidad I know in different places it could be a different time of year and there are two days where the country shuts down and thousands and thousands of people join these cannibal bands and put on costumes, half naked, and going in streets and pretty much party, right, you have music tracks that play soca music, which also did my favorite kind of music. So, um, you go and party in the streets and follow these tracks and thousands of people and um, it is a really um, it's quite a phenomenal experience. It is. I have done sliver before and, um, I have enjoyed it. It's an energy people, you know. Um, so the country shuts down for those two days, but what, what? And of course there are a series of parties that lead up to those two days. So if you're coming to Carnival and you have the time, you would come two weeks before, because you have all these parties leading up to Carnival, monday and Tuesday. Right, you even have parties following Carnival Monday and Tuesday. It's pretty awesome.

Speaker 2:

But what I would love to share with you that not much people recognize that I was in New England, maybe about five, ten years ago, and that is where the powers of carnival were engaged. And again, I don't know in detail, but I'm going to tell you what I do know. And how carnival began was the rebel revolt of slaves. That's the root of carnival, right, it was from what I understand.

Speaker 2:

And how Carnival began was the rebel revolt of slaves. Oh, okay, that's the root of Carnival, right, it was, from what I understand, the slave owners and the people who owned the slave estates. They always had this ball that they would have, I think, maybe on Ash Wednesday I could be wrong and the slaves, of course, decided they were invited and they decided, you know know, we're gonna have our own celebration and we can revolt, and for these day or two days, while these slave owners and our state owners were doing their thing, that the slaves decided we're gonna do our thing. And um, this, this turned into very much a revolution, a revolt against what was happening. So, at the very basis of carnival, this spirit of revolt against oppression.

Speaker 1:

Yes. So it does have a deep meaning to it, very deep.

Speaker 2:

Very deep, very deep, I can't say I know it inside out to speak of that cultural revolution. Even within our culture of carnival there's a lot of the origins and representations of that revolt and the icons that have been lost, because now a lot of people think that carnival is just a party in the street. Let's dress up nice, half naked and have a good time. But there's actually so much more to carnival. Is just a party in the street. Let's dress up nice, half naked and have a good time. There's actually so much more to carnival. There are a lot of people now trying to bring that back and I think for anyone who's interested in carnival, I would invite them to go and do some digging. You know, there's a beautiful festival or beautiful event that happens 4 in the morning on Carnival Friday, where people go into the streets and they reenact the uprising of the slaves.

Speaker 2:

Oh, okay, and it's really beautiful to see. Really really beautiful to see. It sounds like it. If anyone takes anything from this at all, I would invite them to take that Carnival is so much more than just a party and a good time.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, no, I'm so glad you honestly shared it. I had no idea myself. I mean I've you know, I'm a dumb American. We don't really know what's going on in the rest of the world, so being able to like wrap my brain around the, the origins of that is is honestly that, that's amazing. Thank you so much for sharing. Uh, it's eye-opening for sure.

Speaker 2:

yes, so many people in trinidad don't even know that. Yeah, that's crazy.

Speaker 1:

I could see that I know there's a few other holidays that we celebrate that don't necessarily have the best origins and but learning that is is key to being able to prevent that from happening again and all that sort of thing too. So that's definitely a yeah, wow, I had no idea, yeah, okay. So moving on, I don't even know where to go from that. That's so cool. Like it's, it's not cool. I shouldn't say that the origin story of it is not. It's terrible that it happened the way that it did, but I'm glad that it was able to kind of birth this. You know this celebration and this festival and that it's not really holding us back anymore and you know y'all are moving forward and that sort of thing. So it's kind of turning tragedy into like beauty in a way, so to speak. It's history.

Speaker 2:

you know, we can't deny history.

Speaker 1:

Right, you can't run from it, it's there.

Speaker 2:

And I also don't think you should pretend it never happened. I believe that there are immense lessons in it that I think you have to note and celebrate, to struggle and celebrate, to gain, and celebrate all the mistakes.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely no. I totally agree with that. Okay, so are there any unique traditions and customs that may have a better origin story, or maybe something that you could share with us? I don't know. End it on a happy note a little bit.

Speaker 2:

Well, what I mean by beautiful things about Trinidad is because we have so many cultures. I'm pretty sure I've always heard this said. I don't know if it's true. I've heard it said that we have more public holidays than any other nation would.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that's interesting.

Speaker 2:

Okay, that's because and this is what I'm about to share with you it's like we celebrate Eid, an Islamic holiday, we celebrate Diwali, a Hindu holiday Nationally like now, it's national holidays we celebrate Christmas, you know, and then we have the arrival day. We have Emancipation Day. We have this tomorrow. We have Indian arrival day. We have emancipation day. We have this tomorrow. We have independence day. One of the beautiful things about Trinidad is you have all these cultures that are represented and celebrated. Yes, that is pretty amazing. As much as I have to be honest as a business owner, these public holidays are paining me ass, because it means yeah, it means that there's no consistency in our culture. Right, because it's always a holiday and it's always a celebration and it's always a break of routine and it's like holy shit. You know what I mean. But at the same time, it's so beautiful that, collectively, we can celebrate all of these beautiful people and cultures.

Speaker 1:

That's so cool. I'm trying to think of if there's any there really isn't any other countries that are really that you're so like unnecessarily tiny, but maybe in comparison to, like, the United States or something like that for you to all live so cohesively, I feel is huge.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I love that Now don't get me wrong. There is an element of undertone biases and cultural biases and racial biases, especially in a political form.

Speaker 1:

Well, you're going to get that, no matter where you go. Yeah, right.

Speaker 2:

But I think beyond that, like there's this really a quotient sinness. Sometimes our identity is scared of it.

Speaker 1:

I can see that too. So tell us a little bit about yoga and how you've sort of brought that into your life. And I know yoga is not necessarily like exercise and that sort of thing, but it's also a mindset. So tell us a little bit about that.

Speaker 2:

Well, yoga found me. It's so interesting. It's an interesting story. Yoga found me at 14 years old, but I didn't start. And at 21 years old I came back from university and I said I knew I was going to be a yoga teacher, but I hadn't practiced university. And I said I knew I was going to be a yoga teacher but I hadn't practiced yoga. I just knew I was going to be a yoga teacher and I actually didn't start practicing until I was about 24, 25. And then I became a teacher at about 26. And now I'm about 15 years and change. I'm still teaching yoga internationally as well. That's so cool doing years and change and still teaching yoga internationally as well.

Speaker 2:

And I am on a platform called Gaiacom that some people might be familiar with.

Speaker 2:

You know for me what yoga is.

Speaker 2:

I was telling, seeing in a class today sure, people think of yoga as posture, as an exercise, and then some people would say, all right, there's so much more to yoga, these texts and these guidelines on how we live our life, and it's very much a spiritual practice and it is, you know, in the Western world, even with regards to what we call asana or postures and what someone might call the exercise filter of yoga.

Speaker 2:

Even within that, when yoga is practiced with intention, what it really is, it's a mind practice and it's a practice of cultivating. How I would see it is cultivating this relationship with our mind and our breath that creates a space in which we can allow spirit to come through, whatever anyone's understanding of God or spirit is. You know, I don't believe yoga is a religious practice. I believe it's a spiritual practice, which means that anyone can make it their practice according to their relationship to God. Right, and I think that one cultivates this relationship in mind is when it allows us to really deepen our relationship to our understanding of God and it begins to impact how we live our lives, because the mind is very ego-driven, the mind is very individual-driven, and when we create a relationship in mind, it allows us to see something we take on ourselves in our daily lives. You know.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely. So I actually interviewed another yoga teacher. She was in St Kitts and yeah, she had kind of the same mindset. You know that it, like it, spiritually grounds you. You know the practice itself will bring you down to earth, kind of teach you you know what's important, what's not important, that sort of thing. And I just I've always wanted to get into that mindset and to kind of be able to live my life that way, because it seems like it's, you know, you're not really holding on to as much stress, You're letting go of a lot of things more easily, I should say, than some others. So I really want to kind of deepen in that. So if I were to you said you were, on what channel was it?

Speaker 2:

I'm on Gaiacom G-A-I-Acom Gaiacom. Okay, it's like Netflix of yoga, meditation and alternative beliefs.

Speaker 1:

Okay. But we also have so I can actually follow you there.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you can visit. You look up, I'll link to my Instagram bio, which in seven means I have a link in my Instagram bio. Big Jim 7 means free. That's awesome, but you can also go to beyondyogatvcom like beyond Okay, and that is our online platform for yoga studio in Trinidad. So if you get 30 days free there as well, and that way you could actually join our live classes from Trinidad and you could access our content live with it as well.

Speaker 1:

That's so cool. So if I were to ever travel to Trinidad, do you have like live classes that, like anybody can join?

Speaker 2:

Or is it only for people that live there? No, you can come in our studio and walk in our studio and do whatever you like that's awesome.

Speaker 1:

I love to hear that. Yeah, that's so exciting. Yoga is definitely like. At one point in time I tried like oh, I can't even remember tony horton, he did like p90x or something like that. I tried his yoga. Yes, yes, yes, and it was so hard and I'm like I just don't even know if this is right for me. Uh, but I have seen like the actual yoga and not like the try to like kill yourself type yoga. Um, so I definitely want to start getting into to more of that just being able to like meditate and that sort of thing. What would be your best advice for somebody who has never meditated before, who wants to start to bring that peace into their lives?

Speaker 2:

oh sure, I have a little chapter in my book on that. What I would, yeah, what I would recommend, is just sit. You know, it's really simple. We think meditation is this big hard thing and there are many techniques to meditation, but what I would recommend for someone on diabetes is for them just to sit, put your phone away. Set your timer First thing first Okay. Set your timer for First thing first Okay. Set your timer for, say, five minutes or ten minutes. Put your phone on silent or turn it on airplane mode. Put it aside and all you do is sit and get comfortable, right?

Speaker 2:

I would always say sit on a chair first. Sit on a chair, sit up tall, close your eyes and just look. Just look and look at the mind. Maybe follow your breath. You're going to lose your breath probably a million times in five minutes. Just keep coming back to your breath and, as the mind runs away, just acknowledge where your mind is, at what the mind is doing, and just come back to your breath. Don't feel like you're supposed to empty your mind. You can't. Your mind's natural state is to create. Okay, your mind can create.

Speaker 1:

That's the part I struggle with. I'm like there's no way my brain is going 100 miles an hour, every single minute. So how is it possible to empty all those thoughts?

Speaker 2:

Good. So here's an analogy I love to use Think of your mind as your lover. This is your partner in life for eternity. There's no separation or divorce, very true, but even so, it's not two partners, it's three partners, because it's you, your mind and your breath.

Speaker 1:

Oh, so we're doing like a menage a trois, yeah yeah, yeah, right.

Speaker 2:

No separation or divorce. Okay, true, if you want your house or your relationship to be loving and understanding and compassionate and full of peace, one thing that is essential in any relationship is intimacy. I'm not talking about physical intimacy. I'm talking about spending time together, Just spending time together. But we don't do that. For most people, sitting with their mind is the scariest place to be. All I'm telling you put your phone away, turn Netflix off, close the book, just sit with your mind and your breath five to ten minutes a day and think of it like this. Imagine that you had a partner who never listened to anything he said and never spent any time together. You would have to scream and shout to get their attention. That's what our mind has been doing. For most of us. It's overactive, it's reactive, it's loud, it's boyish, it's in your face, it's manipulating us at any or every opportunity. The more you start to sit with your mind, the more you just sit with your mind is, unless it has to scream and shout because you begin.

Speaker 1:

That's a really good way to look at things.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's like yeah it's like a child who's neglected. If you neglect a child or partner, they they do anything to get your attention. Right, they'll beat you, they'll fuck you, they'll scream at you, they'll throw you down right. But if you just give your partner some attention, some of your time, then they no longer need to act out to get your attention. And it's the same thing with the hand and the breath. All we need to do is spend time, just spend time.

Speaker 1:

That's what I say. Yeah, love yourself a little bit more.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, you can't love others unless you create this relationship with yourself, you know.

Speaker 1:

And I just tap it out constantly, knowing that I need to give more to myself and my mind and that sort of thing. So I hit 40 and I decided, you know, hey, it's probably time for me to start, you know, taking that seriously, giving myself a little bit more love, self-care, that sort of thing. So that's kind of where I'm at, you know, and it's easier too, because both of my kids are now adults. So now that they're out of the house I'm not mom's, not focused on, you know, their wants, their needs and fulfilling all of that I can actually like oh wait, I could do this for myself now. This is kind of weird, but I love that. Yeah, that's a great mindset to take away from. So you told me at the beginning that you do love to travel. So where do you kind of find yourself traveling to, since you live on the beach? Do you try to look for mountainous areas or how?

Speaker 2:

does that work? I actually live in a mountain.

Speaker 1:

Oh, you live in the mountains, it's a mountain on a coast. Oh, okay, so you've got the best of both worlds.

Speaker 2:

We're on both worlds yeah, yes, I love to travel. I'm used to travel. I've done a lot of traveling in my life, especially when I'm in my 20s. Now, recently, when I travel, it's more like I travel with people. I'll travel to teach somewhere, to share somewhere, to speak somewhere.

Speaker 2:

Sightseeing and stuff doesn't really appeal to me at any moment unless I'm doing it with someone and sharing that experience with them. What I love is I love meeting people. Like for me, I could travel to a new place and go to four coffee shops and just sit and talk to people. I'm right, a little bit. And new people people for me is where it's at. You know bit I love that. And new people people for me is weird, you know, but it's so funny because I love wearing it so much and wearing it is so special to me. You know, a lot of time when I'm traveling I would look on Airbnb for places to stay and so on, and you always want to look for somewhere that's kind of nicer for wearing than being there, and it's really hard for me to find. Oh, I love that, that's a great. Always want to look for somewhere that's kind of nicer than where you live.

Speaker 1:

And it's really hard for me to find.

Speaker 2:

Oh, I love that. That's a great story. Yeah, especially on my budget. I get that too. It's hard for me to find, and it points to me how lucky and blessed I am to live where I live yeah, I love that.

Speaker 1:

So one thing I don't think I asked and this is kind of crazy, because this is usually my very first question what's the food like? There for a moment, am I going to fall in love with the food more than the island or is the island gonna be like? Overwhelming. So basically, I'm moving down. There is what you're telling me yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So so think of it, you have all these cultures coming together, all with their own, yeah, culinary input and infusion. Um, so they all have their one food. You have Indian food, you have Chinese food, you have Arabic food, you have Lebanese food. You have all of it, right. But then you also have all of it finding meshes, where they mesh into one another to create something new, right? So, like, we don't just have Indian food, we have Western, which is like a blend, I guess a blend of Trinidad and Indian and Collins and all of that. And you get all of this where you have very unique food in Trinidad that you probably won't find anywhere else unless it's coming through a Western. You know Trinidad influence.

Speaker 1:

Wow, that sounds awesome. I love food so I know a lot of islands will have a national dish or some sort of thing like that. Is it something you guys have or no, because it's so culturally different? If I thought of a, national food.

Speaker 2:

Two things come to mind really quick. I think if I thought of a national food, two things come to mind really quick. There's something called doubles Okay, which is a small Western yam. Imagine you have two very thin deep-fried pieces of bread and in the middle of them it's like this curry, chana masala mixed up with mango and chutney, and it's very messy. So we have bread chana, chana bread wrap eat oh my.

Speaker 2:

God, it sounds so good, though, but then, yeah, it's amazing. And then our other main dish would be shark and bake, which again is two fried pieces of dough with fried shark or fish in it, and then you have one.

Speaker 1:

Really. So you guys eat shark. Okay, how is shark different from like? How does it taste compared to like fish or chicken? Is it more chickeny?

Speaker 2:

I haven't eaten chicken since I was 17. Oh, so I can't eat it. Okay, but I would say it's a little tougher than fish.

Speaker 1:

Okay, gotcha so it. But I would say it's a little tougher than fish. Okay, gotcha, so it's a little more meaty, kind of like a tuna, like a tuna steak, yeah, but not as meaty. Okay.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Got it. I've always wanted to try that. I don't know if you know this, but I am deathly afraid of sharks, so even the thought of eating them kind of freaks me out. But I hear that it's like. I know it's dead already, but I'm still scared of it.

Speaker 2:

And of course it is. I do personally need a presentation of sharks, so I know. In my opinion, it's not the greatest thing for us to be eating sharks. Sometimes it will be called shark and beef, but we might actually get fish instead of shark. Oh, okay. Either way, this sandwich is phenomenal, okay. The best part is that you get to dress it with all these local dressings and shadow bending and pepper and garlic sauce. Oh, gosh.

Speaker 1:

Garlic is like one of my absolute favorites. My husband and I eat it on basically everything, and I'm talking like spoonfuls of garlic Probably way too much, but it is definitely one of my favorite flavors, so that's awesome.

Speaker 2:

You could go to YouTube and see what you get.

Speaker 1:

You're convincing me. I already had it on my list, I'm not kidding you, but now I'm like maybe I need to move this a little bit closer to, just so that I could eat there yeah it's.

Speaker 1:

The food sounds amazing where you at me, where you at I am located out of, uh, st louis, missouri, so I'm like in the dead center of the united states, um, and I mean, we do have some pretty great food here. We've got toasted ravioli I don't know if you've ever heard of that, but it's basically like a normal ravioli stuffed with meat, but we actually fry it and throw a little bit of like sauce on it marinara sauce. It's so good. And then gooey butter cake is another one that we're pretty famous for, and it's basically just like goo. I don't even know how to explain it, but it's just this buttery, gooey cake. That is just. It's like melts in your mouth and it's so good.

Speaker 1:

It's covered with powdered sugar, so bad for you, but if you've never tried it, I definitely would say it's worth it. A lot of people say that they actually come to St Louis just for the food, which I find interesting because I've grown up with it. So it's not really that exciting for me, but I get it. Though. What I was going to say as well is I'm pretty sure you guys must have a Caribbean restaurant there somewhere I don't even know.

Speaker 2:

Go look it up. Go look it up. Yeah, I'll have to Go look it up Go look it up.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'll have to. So my husband and I are actually talking about moving to Georgia here soon and actually one of the houses that we were looking at has like a little Caribbean restaurant right down the street from it and I was like this is the one, this one right here is the one I love. Like every Caribbean island that I've been down there to has all has its own unique flavors and it's just, it's amazing how different they all are and the food is just, I mean, like the best banana I had in my life was in Puerto Rico and you know, just because we don't get like the super fresh stuff up here, there's not a lot. I mean there's farms and that sort of thing, but it's not. It's more processed foods and and that I mean we're in America, so that's, that's just how it works. But yeah, so like eating like the fresh fruits directly off trees and that sort of thing, we kind of take advantage or, you know, we we take for granted because we don't really have that opportunity here.

Speaker 1:

So, yeah, best banana in my life, best pineapple I think I've ever had, was from Tahiti, just throwing that out there. But I guarantee you that the way you've described Trinidad anyways. It sounds like there's some pretty amazing thing. I bet the fruit is super fresh. Is there a lot of farming and that sort of thing? Organic living? Unfortunately not.

Speaker 2:

There is farming, but you see, we used to have a lot more agriculture. Oh, okay, gotcha, because we have oil and gas and as the new generation came out, people are less interested in farming.

Speaker 1:

That makes sense.

Speaker 2:

So there is still farming, but in my opinion I'm not hunting that little bit.

Speaker 1:

Gotcha, yeah, I kind of agree with that. Here too, there's a couple restaurants and a couple of grocery stores around here where you can get organic food, but for the most part, if you're not growing it yourself, you're probably not going to get the freshest. So that's kind of a bummer. But that's one of the reasons why I want to move to Georgia, so that we can have a little bitty farm and I can maybe not necessarily farm, but definitely a garden, so I can grow some, some tomatoes and and all that good stuff. You get a nice fresh salad every now and then It'd be great. Oh, so do you have any like funny or interesting stories from your travels that you want to share with everybody? Is there any uh story that is like kind of jumps out to you that you think is hilarious?

Speaker 2:

the only story that comes to mind. Definitely not funny, oh okay, but it is. Um. It is a moving story for me and I'll tell you a story in my book. It's um, it's a story of my first trip to india and I went to Calcutta. I'm trying to make it quick.

Speaker 2:

I was on a group trip, right, so we were staying in a comfortable hotel in the middle of Calcutta slums and we would go on our in-tours and outings and so on. And we remember one afternoon coming back to the hotel and we were walking through the street and I saw this little kid and a lot of kids in India, a lot of street kids and a lot of poverty, especially in Calcutta and he came up and he was like can you buy me a KitKat? Buy me a KitKat, buy me a KitKat. I was like a KitKat. He's like yeah, yeah, a KitKat. And he pointed to this vendor, crouchy Woo, that had all these Kit Kats in front of his store. And so I looked at the Kit Kat and I looked back to him and I realized that he only had one eye, so he clearly hadn't received the care he needed and he hadn't healed properly, but by no means was it fresh and I was like alright cool, so I'm buying my Kit Kat. And I no means was it fresh. And I was like all right cool, so I'm buying my kitkat and I thought that would be it.

Speaker 2:

But he proceeds to want to walk me and my friends back to our hotel. And so I'm like cool and I figured, well, maybe he wanted something else along the way. And as he walked us back to our hotel, he opened, opened his KitKat and before he took a piece of it he offered all of us about six of us, offered us all a piece of his KitKat before he even took one himself. And he escorted us back to our hotel, dodged it, pointed out pot holes and water and told us where to go and help pass.

Speaker 2:

And he wanted nothing else from us. All he wanted was our company. And you know, and when he parted he bowed and looked at us and he said thank you. And just that little exchange from that little kid who probably didn't know where his next meal was coming from, probably didn't know where he would sleep that night, but still took his time to offer everyone else a piece of his chocolate before he had one and took his time ultimately to escort us to a hotel. That was a really beautiful movie, which I would mind that. What kind of compassion.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely so. There's still good people in the world. Even when they're struggling, they're still able to give to others. I love that. That's a great story. Thank you for sharing that. Absolutely so. You've mentioned your book a couple of times. Tell us a little bit about your book. What's the name of it, and I'm assuming it's about your life?

Speaker 2:

It's called. My Name is Love.

Speaker 1:

It looks like this yes, love it is love.

Speaker 2:

It looks like this love it okay, and I wouldn't say it's really about my life. It's, um, okay, it's kind of a blend of it's more about how we get our head out to our ass and remember what oh, loved one.

Speaker 1:

Perfect. There's so many people need to read that then um.

Speaker 2:

So it really I just connect some dots. So I do share stories from my life, I do share a lot of teachings and philosophies and perspectives about the human experience and I also invite you, rita, to. By putting my own life in a book and my own examples of failures and triumphs and shortcomings, I ask you to reflect on what I feel like in the world today. There's a lot of posting bits on social media, reading this book and talking about this and talking about that, but we're not really integrating these teachings and philosophies into our lives, absolutely. I feel like there needs to be a lot more of that and that's what I hope this book helps the reader do.

Speaker 1:

Love it. That's great. I love when people are trying to bring somebody or others together and I feel like that's kind of like your life mission and I really appreciate that. I think that's amazing. So thank you for being so awesome, troy. I appreciate you. Yeah, thank you for having me. Yeah, so real quick. Where can we find your book at? And your socials and all that sort of thing?

Speaker 2:

well, of course, my book's on Amazon and the audio book comes out next month. Help me interrupt. Oh, yay, I'm reading it myself, so if you like, on the accent, check it out that's awesome.

Speaker 1:

Yep, I'll wait for the audio book. I can't wait. You'll put me to sleep at night. Your voice is so soothing.

Speaker 2:

On Amazon and you can find me at TroyHavingcom. Okay, instagram is TroyHaving and I'm most active on Instagram. It's my social platform of choice Awesome. And on TroyHavingcom you also see a really cool clothing line. It's called reidentifyourlovecom oh beautiful, and you can also get my book there as well, if you want to support me.

Speaker 1:

That's so cool. Thank you so much, troy. Real quick. I always end on this question. What does paradise mean to you?

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh, what a beautiful question.

Speaker 1:

I know it's a hard question, but I love the answers that I get from it.

Speaker 2:

Yes, oh gosh, makes me want to cry to think of my answer, that this could actually happen one day. Paradise to me is every human being and all of creation living together in the realm of God, sitting in the lap of God and remembering who we are how connected? We are and that we are all part of this one beautiful divine creation and that these bodies that separate us are the just temporary states of being. And I would love to see a world where my paradise would be, where we can all coexist in that space.

Speaker 1:

Ah, yeah, that one gave me goosebumps for real. That's why I ended on that question, because it's a great one. I actually kind of teared up a little bit, too, thinking about that. I agree that would be the most perfect, I think, paradise that anybody any of us could ever experience. So definitely we'll manifest that as much as we can and make that happen Awesome. Thank you so much. I really appreciate talking to you. I had a great time. I learned a lot about Trinidad. Your way of life, your thoughts, your mindset is just amazing to me. I definitely envy that. So I have taken away a lot from this conversation. I appreciate it. So, yeah, we'll definitely keep in touch. Yeah, taken away a lot from this conversation, I appreciate it. So, yeah, we'll definitely keep in touch. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

And if I'm ever in the Trinidad area, which I hope is soon, I will definitely come hang out with you in your yoga studio for a little bit For you, but I will gladly take you for food.

Speaker 1:

Okay, it sounds good, right on.

Speaker 2:

You're better off that way, I promise.

Speaker 1:

You just can't make fun of me when I can't get into those poses Awesome. You just can't make fun of me when I can't get into those poses awesome. Talk to you soon. Have a great one. Thanks, hey there. Beach lovers, that's it for today's episode of beachside banter with me. I sure hope you had as much fun as I did. Hey, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. If you enjoyed the show, you can catch me on all social media platforms at life, love and travel. And if you enjoyed the show, you can catch me on all social media platforms at Life, love and Travel. And if you've got a question or you just want to stop by and say hi, feel free to slide into my DMs and I'll make sure to get those answered for you. Big thanks to everyone who joined me today and for all of you tuned in, and until next time, enjoy your week.