Meet & Eat with Locals for a True Taste of Caribbean Culture

Gastronomy, Insider Info, Tours & Activities

Article written by Theresa Storm.

Experience the Caribbean’s culture with locals who live there and, of course, know it best. If you’re keen to leave your resort and the beach scene behind for a few hours, some islands and mainland Caribbean destinations offer visitor programs or locally-led experiences that allow you to learn about islanders’ lifestyles, traditions and customs, as well as tasting local foods and drinks.

On your next trip, these three islands invite you to spend a few hours living like a local:

Bahamas — People-To-People Experience

One of the most enjoyable mornings – ever. This P2P ambassador in Freeport welcomed us into her home and to the most amazing breakfast. She gave us a tour of her gardens explaining the usage of some of the herbs and vegetables – and we gifted her with Canadian maple syrup! The whole morning felt like a warm hug.

If you want to understand the place you are travelling in, get to know the people who live there. Offered at no cost, The Bahamas’ People-To-People Experience (P2P) is the best bargain a visitor will ever find.

The program, operated since 1975 by The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, connects inquisitive visitors with a volunteer Bahamian ambassador, who is like your local guide. The experience offers an authentic, immersive and informal glimpse into Bahamian hospitality and culture, akin to visiting a friend.

Visitors sign up (preferably in advance but last-minute requests are accommodated) and are matched with a host based on shared interests, hobbies, occupations, age and other personal details. Hosts, from all walks of life, are screened and certified by the Ministry of Tourism.

The experience is designed as a cultural exchange rather than a traditional tour. Depending on the host and interests, visitors can share a meal, visit a local home, explore the island together, learn about Bahamian culture or take part in an activity with their host. For example, for travellers looking to connect with local people, Stephen and Terry Bellot serve up a traditional Bahamian feast and invite their family, friends and neighbours.

On the program’s website, People-To-People Ambassador Beverly Wallace-Whitfield says, “You share an experience not just of a light sightseeing nature, but something more with the heart in it.”

And Ambassador Anthia Butler adds, “You’ll get to see another side of the island. Eat where we eat. Do what we do.”

Latia Duncombe, Director General of the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Investments & Aviation said, “Over 500 Bahamian citizens have wholeheartedly embraced the program; their willingness to open their homes and lives to visitors is invaluable, offering an authentic showcase of our culture, heritage and landscape to hundreds of guests each year.”

The program is available on ten Bahamian islands: Nassau & Paradise Island, Abaco, Andros, Bimini, Exuma, Eleuthera, Harbour Island, Cat Island, San Salvador, and Freeport, Grand Bahama.

Editor’s Note:  I have had the pleasure of having three People to People experiences on different islands in The Bahamas.  Truly, each experience was rewarding and a highlight of that particular trip.  Highly recommend!

Barbados – Dine with a Bajan

Guests share a meal and conversation through Barbados’ Dine with a Bajan experience. Photo courtesy of Visit Barbados.

Get a true taste of Barbados, eat like a local and feel like family when you Dine With a Bajan. This cultural dining experience platform connects visitors with locals for an authentic, home-cooked Bajan meal that is served in their home, offering an intimate look at traditional, time-honoured recipes and warm island hospitality.

It’s an immersive farm-to-table experience where Barbados’ rich cultural and culinary heritage take centre stage. From flavourful fish cakes to classic cou-cou with flying fish and lamb shepherd’s pie, each dishes’ bold flavours tell a tale of family traditions.

Whether you’re interested in brunch, lunch or dinner, Dine With A Bajan hosts can oblige.

Guests can also gain hands-on experience in a fun cooking tutorial, where they learn to create some of the island’s best-loved delicacies, such as conkies (a traditional sweet steamed cornmeal-based dumpling wrapped in banana leaves, popular during Barbados Independence Day celebrations in November).

Prices from $195 Barbadian dollars (approximately CA$140) per guest. To book your experience or learn more, visit the website.

Antigua and Barbuda – The BushBungalow Experience

Chef Jermaine Jonas prepares a meal at BushBungalow, where, as their t-shirts say, food is grown here, not flown here!  Photo courtesy of BushBungalow.

For a really local, hands-on immersive dining experience in Antigua, join Chef Jermaine Jonas at his home, BushBungalow, to prepare a nourishing and elevated plant-based meal. He has many years of experience working with health-focused cuisine all over the world and is proud to be Antigua and Barbuda’s first plant-based and planet-friendly space serving only local and regional produce.

His signature project, the BushBungalow Experience, takes place in Freeman’s Village, the central community that was the island’s first free village post-emancipation. Here guests engage with the history, culture and rhythms of rural Antigua through storytelling. You’ll learn about Papa Sammy — probably the village’s most famous person, explains Jonas — and the village’s legacy, forage in the neighbourhood for seasonal fruits and hear stories about Chef Jonas’s family. He’s the third generation living in the rural cottage built in the early 1900s that once was home to his grandparents and father. It was thoughtfully reimagined by Jonas and today it’s an intimate culinary retreat.

Alongside Chef Jonas, guests are invited to prepare a selection of his signature plant-based dishes. Along the way, he shares his philosophy about why food that is grown here, not flown here matters for health, environmental sustainability and the local economy.

Al fresco dining concludes the planet-friendly experience, with guests enjoying the meal they’ve prepared.

Jonas will offer the experience in 2027. The cost for two guests is US$100 per person and you can book on Airbnb Experiences or contact him via his website.

Article by Theresa Storm.

A four-month-long solo island-hopping adventure through the Caribbean 28 years ago ignited Theresa’s passion for the tropics, culture, nature and trying new adventures.

Back home in Calgary, her increasingly restless, itchy feet soon led to a career writing about travel worldwide.  She loves escaping winter for warmer climes, especially to the Caribbean, which has long felt like her real home.

As an award-winning travel writer and photographer, she’s penned scores of articles for magazines, newspapers and e-zines, and contributed to books including Caribbean Escapes and the first edition of DK Eyewitness Caribbean.

Her articles and photographs have been published in magazines including Bon Vivant, Extraordinary Experiences and Vacations (Ensemble Travel Group), Wanderlust (U.K.), Avenue Calgary, WestJet (WestJet Airline’s in-flight), Morning Calm (Korean Air’s in-flight), LUXE Magazine Canada, AAA publications, Cruise & Travel Lifestyles, Dreamscapes and Today’s Parent.

She is a two-time winner of the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s Canadian Travel Writer of the Year award and twice won CTO’s best photograph with a feature article and best online feature.  She also was honoured with the Travel Media Association of Canada’s excellence in Caribbean travel writing award.

Eat Your Way Around the Caribbean on a Food Tour!

Gastronomy, Insider Info, Tours & Activities

Article written by Lisa Kadane.

When we travel, our family loves to try cuisine from the country or island we’re visiting. Not only do new foods expand our taste buds, they expose us to cultural traditions that help us better understand the place we’re exploring. Over the years, we’ve had the most fun on food tours because we get to try lots of different dishes, and a guide is there to explain the history behind each one. Turns out, we’re onto something—food tours are surging in popularity, driven by a shift toward experiential travel and the desire to see where the dish is coming from and why it’s on the menu.

Food is such a cultural bridge that you’ll find cuisine tours throughout the Caribbean, from Antigua to Saint Martin. Here are a few drool-worthy adventures that will introduce you to the flavours of four unique islands.

‘Culture on a Plate’ in The Islands of The Bahamas 

Guide Bre Smith offers artisan chocolates at Graycliff Chocolatier. Photographer: Lisa Kadane

You can’t visit The Islands of The Bahamas without trying a conch fritter, and the pillowy, savoury, deep-fried balls at Bahamian Cookin’ restaurant are some of the best in Nassau. My daughter and I gobble up the delicious snacks, which are made with minced veggies and meat from the Queen Conch, a large marine sea snail.

“There are criteria to a good fritter,” explains Bre Smith, a guide with Tru Bahamian Food Tours. “It needs to be ‘conky.’ It can’t just be dough—there has to be pieces of conch in it.”

Next we try coleslaw over peas and rice, plus baked macaroni and steamed chicken. Other foodie stops on the Bites of Nassau walking tour serve up crispy caramelized plantains, hearty conch chowder, rum punch, and a non-alcoholic drink called ‘switchie,’ which is limeade made with tart key limes and sweetened with simple syrup.

“We like to take our culture and put it on a plate,” says Smith, explaining that many of the simple, tasty dishes are holdovers from the slavery era, which lasted until 1834 when it was abolished throughout the British Empire.

More than a cuisine crash course, the tour also educates us about the Bahamas’ history, from its pirate problem in the early 1700s up to independence from the United Kingdom in 1973. It’s an interesting and delicious way to get our bearings in a new place and kindle our appetite at the same time.

Food tours are surging in popularity, driven by a shift toward experiential travel. Here are a few more drool-worthy adventures that will introduce you to the flavours of unique Caribbean islands.

Spice Up Your Vacation in Grenada 

Garden Tour & Chef Cooking Demo at Mount Cinnamon Beach & Wellness Resort in Grenada; photo courtesy of Mount Cinnamon.

On the Caribbean’s Spice Island of Grenada, immerse in the intoxicating scents of cinnamon and nutmeg at the Grand Anse Craft & Spice Market, the first stop on a Sights and Bites Tour with Spice Foodie Tours. The morning tour kicks off with a local market breakfast of savoury salt fish served with fry bread, eggs and ‘fruitti moss’ (a fruit infused sea moss beverage), and ends with a local lunch in Grenville. In between, participants try everything from fresh coconut water from the husk, to roasted corn, a traditional street food.

The tour also takes in local sights and experiences, including a refreshing stop at thundering Annandale Falls, and a visit to Carlton Cocoa Station in St. Andrews. At this cocoa bean collection point, participants get a lesson in curing cocoa beans, and the chance to taste the country’s famous chocolate.

For more foodie fun, travellers can check into Mount Cinnamon Beach & Wellness Resort and sign up for the Garden Tour and Chef Cooking Demo. The boutique hotel grows everything from pumpkin and okra to basil and cilantro on site, and the culinary team uses this bounty to create dishes like creole barracuda and callaloo, a hearty, coconut-milk based soup.

“We are very lucky in Grenada that we have so much freshly grown produce as well as fresh seafood,” says executive chef Jason Joseph. “We want guests to see where the food comes from and show them how to get the best from the ingredients.”

Ride a Moke to Anguilla’s Favourite Foodie Stops

Savouring Anguilla on the Island Sights & Bites Food Tour with Quest Experiences; photo courtesy of Quest Experiences.

Regularly dubbed the “Culinary Capital of the Caribbean,” dreamy Anguilla boasts renowned international chefs, fresh seafood, and excellent seaside dining. To take in the island’s stunning white sand beaches while tasting some of its celebrated dishes and learning about its history and culture, join the Island Sights & Bites Food Tour with Quest Experiences (consider upgrading to a moke, which is an open-air buggy).

The three-course food crawl visits both popular and hidden gem spots where participants usually try the national dish of peas and rice with fish, and a tropical dessert like coconut cake. Goat—an animal that does well on drought-prone Anguilla—is often on the tasting menu, too, paired with a twist on a piña colada.

“Anguilla’s food scene is developed through the love for quality meals made from fresh ingredients,” says Quest Experiences manager Clemvio Hodge. “Our ‘fast-food’ is home cooked so you feel like family wherever you dine.”

Tour A Farm or Take a Cooking Class on Tortola

Aprons on, drinks in hand — savouring the flavours of a BVI food tour; photo courtesy of The Brick Oven.

There are a couple different ways to experience the local flavours of the British Virgin Islands (BVI).

On Tortola, visit Good Moon Farm and enjoy bush tea, cassava bread and seasonal fruit before joining founder Aragorn Dick-Read for insight into the history of agriculture in the British Virgin Islands. He guides guests through the regenerative organic farm and explains the “Good Moon” planting philosophy, which includes composting, no-dig farming techniques, the importance of earthworms, and other sustainable practices that support healthy soil and crops.

For a more immersive experience, learn to prepare traditional dishes like Johnny cakes or conch fritters at The Brick Oven. Led by chef and owner Shyril Smith, classes include a demonstration of brick oven baking and stories about the island’s culinary heritage, before digging in and then taking home the recipe.

“The BVI’s culinary scene is built on traditions passed down through generations, with families and local cooks continuing to share the flavors, stories and techniques that make our food culture so special,” says Natasha Chalwell, Deputy Director of Tourism for the British Virgin Islands Tourist Board & Film Commission. “From tender stewed goat to freshly baked coconut bread, food tours offer guests an authentic taste of BVI cuisine.”

Food is such a cultural bridge that you’ll find cuisine tours on most Caribbean islands, from Antigua to Saint Martin. For more ideas, check out the Sugar City Express trolley food tour on St. Kitts and the Soma Garden tour on Dominica. Happy eating, drinking and island hopping!

Take a Cooking Class on Your Caribbean Vacation

Gastronomy, Insider Info, Tours & Activities

Article written by Wendy Helfenbaum.

Most travellers enjoy indulging in delicious food while on vacation, especially when it’s prepared with fresh, local ingredients that turn every meal into an unforgettable experience. And when you take a cooking class during your trip, that enjoyment turns into an immersive, hands-on cultural adventure.

In addition to connecting with people eager to share their love of food, visitors can gain new skills while discovering new flavours, learn about a region’s history and take authentic recipes home with them — the ultimate souvenir. As a bonus, many cooking classes include market tours, tastings or full meals, and sometimes samples of spices to take with you. Here are a few places where you can learn to make scrumptious Caribbean food while also supporting local chefs and food producers during your travels.

Dominica – Cooking with Daria

Enjoy the stunning views from Chef Daria’s home while learning about the flavours of Dominica.  Photo courtesy of Cooking with Daria.

Known for its hearty Creole cuisine influenced by the island’s volcanic oil and tropical weather, visitors to Dominica are in for many yummy treats including the national dish, Callaloo, a thick soup made from dasheen leaves, coconut milk and spices and Bouyon, a one-pot stew.

Those looking for a family-friendly food activity will love Cooking with Daria, a 3.5-hour class held in Chef Daria Eugene’s private mountain home tucked into Dominica’s lush hills, 500 meters above sea level. In an open-air kitchen, guests will hear the stories behind the region’s most renowned dishes — including coconut rice and peas, Creole fish, spice-battered plantains, and tropical salads — while preparing a mouth-watering lunch.

Participants will learn how to use aromatic herbs with colourful local organic produce and enjoy the meal with a frosty glass of island rum punch. Visitors will also taste native fruit and sample Caribbean-infused rums and finally, devour a classic Caribbean dessert like passion fruit mousses. Best of all, you’ll enjoy a buffet feast overlooking a UNESCO World Heritage Site-listed rainforest landscape. The class is for up to 10 participants and includes transportation to and from multiple hotels and is open to anyone aged 8 and up. Group buyouts are possible, too.

Antigua and Barbuda – Nicole’s Table

Nicole, explaining the use of herbs and spices in traditional Antiguan cooking. Photo courtesy of Nicole’s Kitchen.

Offering hands-on cooking classes from her hilltop home overlooking Dickenson Bay in Antigua and Barbuda, Nicole Atherton encourages guests to explore a variety of Caribbean flavours. Nicole’s Table, features small-group classes that prepare an appetizer, main course, dessert and rum punch. Menu items range from curries to jerk to rum-infused treats such as key-lime rum cake or barbecued steak with a rum blaze. Visitors also learn how to make their own vanilla extract: Simply steep vanilla beans in good-quality dark rum.

Foodies can choose from four different classes: All About Jerk, where you’ll make starters such as coconut crisps and green plantain chips with pineapple salsa while learning the authentic Jamaican way to prepare and cook meat, plus get to bake a coconut custard tart; Cooking with Rum, which explains the history and influence of rum since the 17th century — and make things like sweet potato soup with rum-and-brown-sugar-marinated chicken kebabs along with butter rum cake; Coordinating Curry, which traces the history of this iconic ingredient with menus including West Indian curry, dhal puri roti, roasted pumpkin and spinach cooked in coconut milk; or From the Sea, a fish-to-fork experience featuring dishes like grilled ginger lime mahi-mahi with pineapple salsa and garlic shrimp in a crispy wonton cup. And because Atherton’s home is just 15 minutes from the cruise port, this is a great activity to try during a port visit.

Editor’s Note:  I participated in one of Nicole’s classes – and it was fantastic.  When Nicole had us make some coconut tarts, she had a large bottle (looked like rum!) of vanilla sitting on the table.  Well, it was actually both.  Nicole mentioned that she adds vanilla bean to her rum and uses that when vanilla is required in a recipe.  When I returned home to Canada (with a bottle of rum!), I added vanilla bean and have been happily using this DELICIOUS rum/vanilla mixture in all my baking.  I hope you enjoy it too…we have Nicole to thank for this tip!!

Sint Maarten – Creole Culinary Classroom

A fun activity to do with family and friends – although everyone is family at the end of this cooking class!  Photo courtesy of SXM Creole Culinary Class

Guests headed to Sint Maarten will likely sample the island’s unique, locally sourced guava berry, which is used in everything from traditional jams and juices to its spiced rum liqueur. Here, guests devour dishes highlighting Creole and French culinary influences such as savory grilled meat and fresh seafood like crab backs.

Caribbean Sip’n’Cook Cooking Class is just one of 13 four-course options available from the chefs running the Creole Culinary Classroom, which is located in Paradise Mall in Cole Bay on the Dutch side of the island. The Creole Classics workshop includes a menu of fish fritters – salt fish accras with Creole sauce, Christophine with crabmeat mahi-mahi topped with mango salsa and a pina colada crème brulée.

There are vegan and gluten-free courses as well. The Indonesian Rice Table menu features pickled cucumbers, veggies in coconut gravy, tofu sate with peanut sauce, sambal – Indonesian hot sauce – and jackfruit. No Creole meal is complete without rum punch, of course, and guests get to take home their own chef’s hat.

Martinique – Culinary Workshop with Chef Lucie

Chef Lucie doesn’t like to have her picture taken, and lets her creations speak for themselves! Photo courtesy of the Martinique Tourism Authority.

This country’s vibrant cuisine blends African, French and Indian influences and is known for its aromatic, spicy, tropical flavours. Take a culinary workshop with Chef Lucie, which takes place in her Fort-de-France home in Martinique. Here, visitors will learn how to cook typical Martinican dishes according to which seasonal produce is available, including cod fritters, stuffed vegetarian peppers, cream of vegetable soup with prawns, fish court-bouillon, fish colombo and Creole rice, Christophine stuffed with prawns, chicken curry, coconut flan, and coconut or fruit sorbet.

Beverages include planteur, a Martinican alcoholic cocktail, Ti-punch, which is made with rum, or freshly made juice. Hotel pickup and drop-off is available. Children are also welcome to participate and class size is limited to 10 people for an intimate, relaxed experience. Guests are free to enjoy their lunch or dinner onsite or take their dishes with them — if you choose to join Lucie for your meal, you’ll also get great travel advice about your time in Martinique. The menu is customizable according to visitors’ preferences.

Editor’s Note:  A visit to Martinique is not complete without visiting one of the many markets, the largest of which is in downtown Fort-de-France.  The variety of spices was wonderful to see and made great gifts to friends and family.  The colombo spice mentioned above is now used often in our home!  And I will admit to having a new favourite cocktail – Ti-Punch, which seems to taste so much better when enjoying it in one of the lush gardens in Martinique!

Article by Wendy Helfenbaum.

Wendy Helfenbaum is a Montreal-based freelance journalist who writes about travel and lifestyle for dozens of publications.

Throughout her career as a journalist, freelance writer and television producer, she’s written and produced print or television features on a wide variety of topics, including news, business, health and fitness, parenting, celebrity profiles, art, home decor, entertainment, sports, consumer affairs, philanthropy and corporate incentive travel.

Wendy is President of Take Two Productions Inc., a freelance writing, television production and translation solutions company in Montreal, Quebec. She works with clients in Canada, the U.S. and Europe.

Food Wellness: Elevating Caribbean Farm-to-Table Experiences

Gastronomy, Insider Info, Tours & Activities

Article by Theresa Storm.

Like all trends, many hospitality businesses have jumped on the farm-to-fork marketing bandwagon, promoting they source organic locally-grown foods, some even growing and raising culinary ingredients themselves.

But a few are using the boon to elevate interest in food-focused wellness by creating experiential learning activities. Think guided market or farm tours, cooking classes or food workshops led by farmers, chefs or restauranteurs, before sinking your teeth into fresh, tasty, local goodness. It’s farm-to-table with a twist!

Ready to eat? Here are three Caribbean farm-to-table experiences that visitors can participate in, raising farm-to-fork:

ST. KITTS – Liamuiga Natural Farm

Perched high on St. Kitts’ Phillips Mountain, Liamuiga Natural Farm invites visitors to experience the island’s only coffee estate — where volcanic soil, sustainable farming, and Caribbean traditions blend into an unforgettable farm-to-cup journey. Photo courtesy of Liamuiga Natural Farms.

Liamuiga, the indigenous Kalinago’s name for St. Kitts, means fertile land. And fertile the volcanic soil of Liamuiga Natural Farm (LNF) certainly is. At the isle’s only coffee farm, perched at 1,542 feet on Phillips Mountain, your guided experience begins with farm-to-table hors d’oeuvres or breakfast. Then climb aboard an open-air ex-military truck to be transported into a tranquil world of sustainability.

With Junior behind the wheel and Tiem, the tour’s recorded voice, you’ll venture deep into the rainforest where Arabica coffee shrubs thrive in the clean mountain air, as well as coconut and citrus trees (oranges, limes and sour orange), breadfruit, plantains, bananas, figs, soursop, passionfruit, guava, sweet potatoes, turmeric and more.

You’ll get a look at how coffee is grown, cared for and harvested. You’ll walk through coffee fields, taste coffee cherries from the branch, see beans drying in the sun, and learn about the plants, the seasons and the steps before the beans reach your cup. You’ll also learn about traditional Caribbean farming and the use of herbs.

The tour is woven with Kittitian proverbs, Caribbean music and family stories. No wonder LNF was named to National Geographic’s Best of the World List 2024 as a cultural hotspot, places that immerse you in traditions, communities and history.

If farming activities are underway, the Kellys and the Mikes, the two families that own the farm, encourage guests to participate in hands-on harvesting of produce or coffee, while gaining insights into sustainable farming practices.

Tour guests have the option of a seasonal farm-to-table breakfast or three-course lunch, or both, including LNF’s signature coffee, of course. If a day isn’t enough, stay overnight in LNF’s private cabin high in the hills and wake up to birdsong and the scent of truly fresh coffee.

GUYANA:  The Backyard Café

Chef Delven Adams brings his passion for food and farming to life at the Backyard Café, serving refined organic Guyanese cuisine in a cozy garden setting.

Upon returning to Guyana after living in the United States, Chef Delven Adams’ love for food and farming inspired him to open a restaurant that serves fresh, organic and refined traditional Guyanese cuisine in the cozy garden of his childhood Georgetown home.

At the Backyard Café, his guiding belief is that local food can be as beautiful and delicious as any world cuisine. In the café’s intimate setting, you are welcomed to taste dishes like fried red snapper with metemgee (a hearty coconut-milk stew of dumplings and ground provisions — underground vegetables like yams, sweet potatoes, dasheen/taro and cassava, as well as other starchy staples like green bananas, plantains and breadfruit), cassava bread, cook-up rice (a one pot dish of peas, meat, rice, coconut milk and aromatics), fried channa (chickpeas), and other staples that highlight the country’s cultural diversity.

Wash it down with a rum punch and end it with a hot cassava pone, a Guyanese sweet treat made with grated coconut, grated cassava and warm spices. Other favorite desserts are pine (pineapple) tarts, coconut buns, Guyanese cheese rolls, fruitcake and salara (a coconut stuffed sweet bread).

To turn your dining experience into an unforgettable immersion, take a cooking class with Chef Delven and learn to prepare a traditional Guyanese meal like pepperpot (a rich meat stew). Or join the chef on his “home to home” tour of the bustling Bourda Market where he sources his fresh ingredients. On this fun, informational and passionate tour, you’ll meet all kinds of people in the food industry as you shop for fresh meat or seafood, farm-to-table vegetables, herbs and spices — whatever chef has planned for his menu. These curated experiences rekindle roots, create connections and make lasting memories.

By reservation only, book 48 hours in advance on WhatsApp: 592-654-5339.

NICARAGUA:  Finca Mystica

Nestled at the foot of Nicaragua’s Maderas Volcano, Finca Mystica offers a serene escape where farm-to-table dining, sustainable living, and holistic wellness unite amid the lush beauty of Ometepe Island.

On the volcanic island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua, the largest freshwater lake in Central America, Finca Mystica, nestled in the foothills of the Maderas Volcano, invites travellers to experience sustainable tourism through its farm-to-table concept.

In 2006, Coloradans Angela and Ryan Cassidy bought 10 hectares of raw jungle land in Nicaragua, a bit off the beaten path, and through hard labour made it what it is today. While some of the island has developed a lot since then, on their website Ryan says the Finca’s location is “still very traditional, rootsy and cultural, with the best neighbors around”.

Meals are prepared with “some of the freshest foods you have ever eaten,” grown on-site in its fruit, vegetable and herb gardens or sourced from local island farmers — ensuring freshness, flavour and a direct connection to the land. Visitors are encouraged to explore the property to discover scores of new fruits, trees and flowers, identified with signs. You can also get a taste of the isle’s bounty at the weekend farmer’s markets.

Even better, learn how to roast your own organic coffee or make chocolate from raw cacao beans in Interactive workshops offered on the finca’s land. In them, you’ll learn about organic cacao, artisanal coffee, harvesting crops and sustainable and responsible farming techniques.

In addition to mindful eating experiences, Finca Mystica is a holistic wellness retreat where body and soul find harmony. With its deep commitment to nature, sustainability and conscious living, Finca Mystica is where wellness, nourishment and connection to the environment come together. Guests are welcome to utilize the large onsite pavilion or garden rock circle for yoga, circuit training and meditation, and massages can be arranged. Or observe wildlife and soak up nature on the finca’s private 1.6-kilometre nature trail into a wildlife preserve.

Article and photography Theresa Storm.

A four-month-long solo island-hopping adventure through the Caribbean 28 years ago ignited Theresa’s passion for the tropics, culture, nature and trying new adventures.

Back home in Calgary, her increasingly restless, itchy feet soon led to a career writing about travel worldwide.  She loves escaping winter for warmer climes, especially to the Caribbean, which has long felt like her real home.

As an award-winning travel writer and photographer, she’s penned scores of articles for magazines, newspapers and e-zines, and contributed to books including Caribbean Escapes and the first edition of DK Eyewitness Caribbean.

Her articles and photographs have been published in magazines including Bon Vivant, Extraordinary Experiences and Vacations (Ensemble Travel Group), Wanderlust (U.K.), Avenue Calgary, WestJet (WestJet Airline’s in-flight), Morning Calm (Korean Air’s in-flight), LUXE Magazine Canada, AAA publications, Cruise & Travel Lifestyles, Dreamscapes and Today’s Parent.

She is a two-time winner of the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s Canadian Travel Writer of the Year award and twice won CTO’s best photograph with a feature article and best online feature.  She also was honoured with the Travel Media Association of Canada’s excellence in Caribbean travel writing award.