Meet Karcsi

This is Karoly F. Lanczos. Known to his neighbors on Water Island as Karl, and known to his friends and family as Karcsi (car-chee). He is our host as we start our adventures in the Virgin Islands. He lives in paradise and has decided to share it with us. At 64, he is quick, strong, witty, intelligent, and kind. Born genetically Hungarian and geographically Czechoslovakian, Karcsi and the Caribbean are an unlikely match... yet somehow they mesh perfectly.

Karcsi is the uncle of our friend, Adam.
Adam took some friends and I to visit his uncle Karcsi in St. Thomas in 2002 after we graduated high school. We all fell in love with the islands then, and thought long and hard about staying. In the end, we left Karcsi and headed back to California. I always knew I would be back.

When Adam found out that Melissa and I would be staying with his uncle to start our adventure, he asked us to deliver a very special package. Its contents: Karsci's original passport, drivers license, birth certificate, and all of his immigration documents (needed to claim early retirement and medicare). Shortly after we arrived on Sunday he opened them up to find documents written in Hungarian, Slovak, and Ukranian. The passport pictured a young, handsome, bespectacled man who was well traveled at an early age. To say the least, it was a neat moment to be a part of.

His story is scattered, fascinating, and inspiring... and we've only just begun to hear it.