Lanie's trip report

[Lanie]

We arrived in Jamaica 17 June of 2009 and were escorted by Lydia Okan, the operator of Natural Mystic Tours of Jamaica. I cannot emphasize enough what a great time we had. It was like traveling with a friend. We communicated by email prior to our arrival in Jamaica and she got a feel for what kind of things we wanted to see and do. We were definitely NOT disappointed. Lydia is originally from Germany and has lived in a small fishing village on the Southwest coast of Jamaica for many years. She is fluent in German, English and Jamaican Patois. She knows the island like the back of her hand, and took us to places that you would be highly unlikely to find on your own. My travel partner has a reggae radio show in California and was mostly interested in the roots of reggae. I was more interested in nature and the spiritual/mystical aspects of the culture and Rastafarianism in particular. She was easily able to accommodate both of us. In 10 days, we toured a large part of the island, and met many of her personal friends. One of her friends even cooked us an Ital meal one evening in a home up on the mountaintop above her village, where we saw the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen. We stayed in a pirate castle, built in the 1600’s on the North coast. We saw the must-see tourist destinations; Tough Gong studios and the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston, and his final resting place at Nine Mile, as well as Peter Tosh’s Memorial in Belmont. We climbed Dunns River Falls, and took an amazing river walk (in the river, not along side of it). Our guide on the river walk was Sheldon (the best river guide, ever). We visited an underground cave with cool pools of mineral water and a talented spiritual healer, named, Dr. Scott. While in the Blue Mountains, I spotted a little coffee house perched on the edge of the mountainside. Lydia turned the car around and we stopped in for some coffee and 3 different kinds of cheesecake that we shared, because we couldn’t decide which one to get. This is what it’s like to tour the island with her. You see something you like, you stop. You wanna take a photo of something that you just passed, she turns around, and you get the photo. There’s a plan, but it can be altered. We stayed in guesthouses all along the way. The prices were extremely reasonable and the breakfasts were included and always delicious. If you want to experience the real Jamaica, this is the way to see it. Lydia also has a really nice little guesthouse on her property, but it won’t be available from October 7th to the 17th, because I’ll be in it. That’s the best recommendation I can give. I just got back a week ago, and I booked my flight back yesterday. What more can I say?
Natural Mystic Tours of Jamaica’s website address is http://www.geocities.com/naturalmysticja/home.html, but I’m told that the website address will be changing soon.
The phone number is 1-876-851-3962.

[Rose21]

Well done Lanie!

[ECO]

Wow, it looks like you had a fun trip and really explored the island! I took a look at Lydia's site and it looks like she provides a great tour of Jamaica!

[Lanie]

Lovely report Lanie!

Do you have any phot's to share?

I do, Tinks. I'm waiting to get a disk of the ones from my friend's camera and I'll go through and post some (after I figure out how to do it )