What is the Antigua experience shore excursion like? — featuring MH Family Adventures (Cruise Travel) (Shore Excursions Group)

0:00 Good morning. I'm Recall from MH Family Ventures and today is day six on board MSC Virtuosa and as you see it is a rainy day and I am currently here in Antigga. I think I'm saying that right. Um and I am off to explore with SH excursions group on this rainy day. Um hopefully clears up. We'll see. So we

0:20 have quite a day. It's called the an antigen experience. Um so super excited. First time here. Super excited to be exploring the port with Shore Excursions Group. So, follow along. It looks like the sun is now coming out. So, hopefully hopefully it clears up. It's been raining since we pulled into port and it

0:37 looks like it's going to be cloudy, like kind of overcast all day and it's supposed to rain on and off. So, hopefully the rain will hold up for this tour. We'll see. But, you know, it happens in the Caribbean. So, sometimes you come to expect it. All right. So, and I've mentioned Shore

1:01 Excursions Group several times before. They are third party short excursion provider. Um, they're going to give you an authentic experience, usually cheaper than the cruise line. They have a return uh to ship guarantee or return to port guarantee. So, definitely check them out for your next tour. Um, I highly

1:16 recommend them. I use them all the time. But, yeah, they offer a great value for what you're going to get. usually a smaller tour size as well. And be sure to print off your confirmation. Your confirmation will have information as far as where to meet up for your tour because it's usually not where the ships

1:32 uh excursions pick up. So, you'll have to find that destination or that location to get there. But, Shore Excursions Group, I'll put the link in the description. [Music]

1:59 All right. So, for my tour, they said to come near Cheers Antigga, and this is where I'm picking up the tour. You have to say it like an Italian and hand gesture included. Loreno. Good. Good. Good. And it's not

2:26 raining. It's liquid sunshine. We're going to go. We're going to start the tour. We're going to start the tour now. Welcome to Antigga, guys. Give yourself some applause. [Applause] Yes. So, are we there yet? Not yet. Not yet. Not yet. We'll be there when we get the rum. Yes. So, Antigga is the land of

2:55 365 white pristine sandy beaches. Wow. Which are right now? Well, I mean, yeah, but it's not Today is not necessarily a beach day, but we have 365 Netherlands. Nonetheless, on the island, we have a population. You got to guess how many people. Guess, [Music] 180,000. 360. 360,000.

3:24 Wow, that's a lot. Nobody else? 200,000. 200,000. Okay. Sounds like the price is right. I'm going to tell you what it is. We have 100,000 people on the island. The reason for this is because we have more women than men on the island. That's nice. I know. It's a real paradise. The ratio of me of women to men is 10

3:51 women to one man. Yeah. So, people don't get married until they're in their 80s. I mean, we got to explore who cooks the best dinner, right? So, in other words, if it's yellow, but if it's stinking brown,

4:21 good morning. It's part of climate change. We were very Well, good morning everybody. McMillan. My husband Brian McMillan married from upstate New York. Born in Lockport, raised in Syracuse. Came to Antigga in 1960 when he was 17 in the Navy. A CB. My family, my dad's family came to

4:43 Antigga in the mid600s. English, Irish, French. Inside there's a bathroom if you need one. You'll have access to four rooms. Closed doors are private. upstairs is a rope across the kitchen and uh you look on the right you will see sea turtles from a different era. We also have on the dining room table a

5:05 register we'd love you to sign make comment of your tour and if you have cameras you can take photos and all by the way so let me get some music

5:31 Wow. [Music] Beautiful. Isn't this cool? Yes, it is. [Music]

5:56 All right, we're going to do a ceremony of tea. It's on its way. Okay, now guys, the tea is on its way. We're going to meet over here and we're going to drink some tea because it's not raining right now. So, we

6:21 all I will I'm going to get the tea. And then this is sour sap leaves. Pass it around. Now the tea bit I'm giving you is a mixture of sour sap leaves, citronanella, basil, and lavender. We we use a little bit of honey in the

6:47 tea. Sometimes we use brown sugar, mostly honey. You got some carro? Yes, please. No, no, no. There's dung on the dung on what? Dong on the bench. Like a bird. One tea bag, can do one liter of tea. And they are reusable up to twice. So

7:13 you can use it, put it in the refrigerator, refrigerator, let it dry out, and then you can use it one more time. And if you want more potency, you can put it with a fresh bag and repeat the process like that. Right. How many bag? Five bags inside. So one pack is $5. If you need any, you let me know. I

7:31 have them here. Don't worry. Now when the vaccines came, the government said, "Hey, take the vaccine or you're going to lose your job." A lot of the people that live in the countryside, they work on the plantation. What happened? Because of negligible food

7:59 packages, a lot of people went to the farms and raided the farms for food. Pineapples, mangoes, papayas, oranges, everything. Right? So the pineapple farm was not maintained for 2 years after co because there was nothing going on and a pineapple takes 12 to 18 months.

8:25 Some some of them take 2 years to grow. Yeah. can fit into Texas 27 100 times. On land we have something dangerous. We have tarantulas and centipedes. The tarantulas are nocturnal. Centipedes uh same similar

8:53 right. So I am an educator. I educate people on different you know topics. I used to work for Dr. Phil. All right. So here's what normally when you want a confabulator is what I think you

9:19 are. What are you talking what a confabulator? I make intelligent fabrications. Intellectual. Here's what we all know if we want to grow a pineapple, you got to grow it from the head, right? Right. Yeah. Okay. Guess what? When you grow it from the head, you only get one other one

9:44 other pineapple. Sometimes we want more, right? I teach you something today. Okay? We don't have seeds in our pineapple. or pineapple is like a a GMO crap. We're not sure where they got them from. They're not even indigenous to the island. We're not sure, but we have them. I believe there was a niche group

10:12 of indigenous people growing them and then they got wiped out and no one knows anything. Right? That's what I think. Here's what we don't always have to grow shoots from the shoot. We can grow it from the root. The root of the pineapple can produce multiple heads. We take the root, we cut it down, we put

10:34 it halfway in soil, and the root would produce if we can see this one. 1 2 3 4 5 six multiple heads. That is how you can maximize your yield. I'm going to get the pod. There's a pod that grows on this tree and the tree of life because you're smelling it. But even though you're smelling it, you can eat it.

10:57 Yeah. Yeah. And you want to get a larger part. This is not what you think it is. I see it. I see it. Okay. Good. Not meant for climbing. Where is it? Ah, I see. Oh no.

11:23 Not from here. I can, but you know, my old age sometimes get the best of me. All right. This is not a sex toy. Here's what a beautiful you see inside have seeds. I'm going to give it to the males because the seeds increase male

11:48 testosterone by 150%. I'm serious. No joke couple. Oh my lord. If women want to eat it, it's good for your collagen, your skin. But women that have hormone imbalances should not eat it. If you if you have whacked hormones, no bother with that. If you want

12:14 it, okay, good. It's going to taste very bitter and then it's going to interact with your saliva. Taste sweet and then back to bitter. If you We have to eat. We have to eat it together. Al, what is wrong with you? It's too hasty, Nancy. I tried. It's going to be all over. I tried to train him now. Before before we

12:39 eat this, I have to give him my story. I'm a storyteller. Yeah, you are. Two years ago, I ate it for the first time. I met um a Rasterian guy. I'm not a raster. I just have a hip, right? And um he said, "Lorenzo, you have to eat the seed. It's powerful." And he had big eyes, right?

13:02 In your story anyway. Well, yeah. But and you know, I I I ate the seed. I was engaged at the time. I'm not engaged anymore. That's When I ate the seed the next day, she said, "Lorenzo, I'm going to call off the wedding." So, I asked her why. She She said she's not going to get

13:27 married to a machine. Oh, so Oh, so sad. A Don't cry. The thing about it, you know, when I ate the seed, I had no children, but now I have triplets. We're going to eat. We're going to eat it. Are you ready? You ready, guys? Yeah. You got one already, Dennis? Yeah. Okay. He's going to be a menace. Three,

13:53 two, one. [Music] Oh, now we got this is called the sweet meat tree because you know sometimes you go to the doctor and you get a letter s a sick leave letter a paper that says you can't

14:20 work for 2 weeks or whatever. You might not be that sick, right? But you you're glad for the time to stay home from work, right? enslaved people. It's called sweet meat. Not meat like meat flesh. Meat as in meat and git, right? They would come to the tree, they would eat a small fruit that grows on the

14:39 tree, little green fruit. It looks like a lime. And they would do adult activities before eating the fruit. And then when they ate the food, they would get temporarily paralyzed. Right? So if I didn't want to work tomorrow, I don't want to work today, I would last night meet with my

14:58 girlfriend in secret and then we eat the fruit and the next day can't work. Our legs don't work. If my legs don't work, I can't do any work, right? So it was a form of rebellion by the slaves. Yeah, sweet me. The other tree is a silk cotton tree. If you know about silk cotton, the tree produces pods that have

15:21 a cotton like silk inside and when the wind catches it, it's very beautiful, very cascades throughout the valley. It's about 250 years old. The tree look on top of that hill. It's a mountain. It's a baby mountain. It's called Boggy Peak, but it was renamed to Mount Obama when Obama took presidency.

15:43 However, we had a celebration. Send money for Obama. He did not show up. Locals said, "Screw you then." And we we don't really call it Mount Obama. However, when Trump became president the first time before he was a a felon, right?

16:09 He called the prime minister. He said, "You guys are naming things after Obama. What about me?" Prime Minister said he's staying out of the American politics. Let's smile. And he said he's going to change it back to Boggy Peak. Now, the reason why it's called Boggy Peak is because the slaves would have run away.

16:28 When the slaves ran away, they would have dawned themselves as demons and devils to scare away pursuers. But here's what the Americans, you guys, you guys came in the 30s and 40s on naval ships, right? Heard about the law, slaves would run away and dress up as the boogeyman. So they called it Boogie

16:51 Peak. But we in the Caribbean, we speak different. So we said Boggy Peak, right? So that is the the name. Some atlases you look at, you see Boggy Peak, some you see. This tree is called the Suzu tree. Suzu in Antigga. In Barbados, they call it the monkey. No climb tree because you're not climbing this. These are

17:17 spikes. It was used as a form of punishment. They had to lean on the tree. They would tie them with ropes and vines. This is what the tree does. When the tree, if these small spikes break off, it produces a sap. And the sap is a skin irritant, right? If the sap goes in your eyes, you're

17:42 going to go permanently blind. This this particular tree got struck by lightning twice. So, we're not sure if it's cursed or what? We don't know. Come this way. The medicine. See the medicine? What you call it? See the pass it around. Pass it around. Pass

18:08 it around. Now, let me tell you about it. It does smell like it. So, here's what if you squeeze it by the stem especially, you should see an oil come out. A little oil. You see it? That oil? Yep. Yeah. The stem. That oil we we would gather a lot.

18:35 We would cold press it. If we mix that oil with Vaseline and we rub it on areas we feel pain, pain subsides. Okay, these are the shoots of the pineapple. They're not dying. When our shoots are maturing, they produce spiders. You see, I'm joking. They don't produce spiders. Spiders just come to to to put their

18:57 their web to catch, you know, insects. Anyway, the shoots very serrated, very sharp. You can only run your fingers up, right? When the pineapple grows, it goes from the center. And when they begin to grow, they're pink. The pineapple itself is pink and black. So, there's two reasons

19:18 why it's called the Antigga black pineapple. When it's growing, it's dark, very, very, very, very black and pink. And the soil as well is why. Now, some geologists came to the island after the hurricane and the volcano blew up in 95. They came in about 97 and they tested the soil and they realized that the soil

19:37 is similar to soil in Hawaii but a bit different you know and they believe that is why the pineapple genes are you know how they are because of the enzymes in the soil blah blah blah. All right everyone you take a toothpick and then you eat the pineapple. Quick disclaimer. If you have

19:59 diabetes, you're going to get diabetes type two. Okay. Thank you. No, the second one. Don't answer. Okay. Okay. That's very good. That's one means what's going on. You work with

20:24 Jamaicans? No. Does she work with Jamaicans? Guan. What? What? F is guan is short for going on. So think about it. Guan. G W A I. Guan. Going on. Going on. Go on. Is it good? High five.

20:51 [Music] Okay. [Music] Come on, man. [Music]

21:18 So, as you guys can see, this has turned out to be one gorgeous day. Um, overcast, but it's it's beautiful. So, this tour has been amazing. Um, it's really nice to be able to see more of how like the locals live. Um, now the pineapple farm, something that he did share with us was that there weren't

21:33 many pineapples available and that's happened since co. um it takes about two years to grow a pineapple and so um he started sharing with us that process and kind of normally you would see a whole bunch of pineapples out there but it's kind of um you know empty at this point because of co but that was fine. It was

21:50 a lot of good information that was shared and our tour guide Lorenzo um guys he's hilarious. He's he's an amazing storyteller. So um really really enjoyed this tour. Lunch was delicious. Um so now just here at the beach we're here for a couple of hours and I'm just going to relax. I didn't wear beach gear

22:06 because I knew it was going to rain today and I wasn't sure if we were even going to make it to the beach. But we are here and I'm just going to enjoy and lounge and relax. Um there's rum punch that was included. Um lunch and then additional rum punch. You can get two for five. Um I think he said you can get

22:21 three beers and a shot of rum for 10. So really nice price um to be out here on the beach enjoying it. Um yeah and get to see a little bit of Antigga. And guys, it is pronounced Antigga, not Antigua. Um, so and but yeah, so out here it's a beautiful day. Going to enjoy it. Very first time here. Having a

22:42 great time with Shore Excursions Group. And like I said, we're here another 2 hours. And by the time I get back to the port, we'll still have I don't know, probably about 3 or 4 hours available that I can explore more, explore the port area, which I probably will do. Um, but that's the thing about Shore

22:56 Excursions Group. They're going to make sure you get back to the ship with their return to ship guarantee. All [Music] right, here we go. I'm a I'm a [Music]

23:23 fool. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]

23:57 [Applause] [Music] All right, it was a great day in port. First time in Antigga. Definitely will come back again. And I'll have to make sure this is on a on another itinerary. Um, beautiful time. Turned out to be a gorgeous day. If you guys caught the beginning, it was pretty cloudy and

24:20 rainy. Um, but turned out to be a beautiful day. So, back to the ship. [Music]

24:48 [Applause] [Music]