One-Way ticket to Costa Rica? Better think again!

We enjoyed our time in the beautiful Virgin Islands, but the truth is that we knew we would end up in Costa Rica before we set foot in St. Thomas. That being said, we didn't put a great deal of effort into non-enjoyable things like finding jobs or a place to live. We made some friends, and got to know the island well enough to come to the conclusion we could call St. Thomas "home," but not before we spent some time with the Ticos (what are ticos?).

We decided to purchase one-way tickets to Costa Rica. One-way tickets were a good choice for us for a number of reasons. 1) We didn't know when and if we'd be leaving. 2) They cost less than round trip (although, not 50% less than). 3) It sounds cool to say "I've got a one-way ticket to ______" and who doesn't like to sound cool.

Melissa and I wake up at sunrise on the first of September. We load our luggage into the car, and drive it to the dighie. We load up the dinghie and cross the channel from Water Island to St. Thomas. We load our bags into another car and drive to the airport. Then, we say goodbye to our amazing host, Karsci, and board a plane to Costa Rica. Actually, we board a plane to Miami where we are delayed for 3 hours, and then we board a plane to Costa Rica. The flight from Miami to Costa Rica passed quickly for me thanks to the September issue of GQ... the one with MJ on the cover (read it).

We get off the plane and get in line for customs. When we get to the kiosk, the immigration officer asks us the normal questions:

-Passports?---> Check!

-Purpose of visit?----Vacation!

-Date of departure?---> Unknown?---->Problemo, amigo!

It turns out that Costa Rica doesn't allow foreigners into the country unless they know exactly when they are leaving. I explain to the gentleman (in my broken Spanish) that we don't know when we are leaving, but he's not interested. There's a room full of people who need to clear customs. He passes us off to Sr. Paulo Cesar Chaves, the head of airport security. Mr. Chaves looks too young to be in the position he's in, but he has a smile on his face and offers to help us carry our bags. We follow him hoping he can sort everything out. He leads us back to the terminal that we came from and explains to us our options. Option 1) get back on the plane to Miami (which is boarding as we are standing there). Option 2) buy a one-way ticket (doesn't sound so cool anymore) to anywhere that doesn't rhyme with Costa Rica. Like I said, the plane back to Miami is boarding. We have to make a decision right now! We ask the TACA ticket agent what is the cheapest ticket anywhere leaving in 2 weeks. She tells us that 2 tickets to Guatemala City will set us back about $1000 dollars. Crap! Paulo pulls Melissa and I off to the side and quietly tells us to ask for billetes reembolsables... refundable tickets. He says that once we leave the airport we can contact the airline and get our money back, no questions asked. Rad! Senorita, dos billetes reembolsables a Guatemala City, por favor. Done deal.

Paulo walks us back up to customs. The room is empty now. We answer the questions again and show the officer of freshly printed tickets to Guatemala in two weeks. He stamps our passports, we grab our luggage, and we are on our way.

By now, the sun is setting.

When we check into the hotel, I request a refund for my tickets online. In a week I have a full refund for both tickets minus a $50 processing fee. Stoked. Thanks Paulo!

It's not an adventure until something goes wrong.-Yvon Choinard/Patagonia

"Hot Fiery Fun"

CHILI COOK OFF!!!!
Lip burning chili, hot sunny beach, loads of mustaches, motorcycles, boats, coors light and rock and roll! Never thought I would find this in St. Thomas, but its an annual tradition!

This year was the 25th annual Chili Cook Off, hosted by the Texas Society of the Virgin Islands on beautiful John Brewers Bay. Some four thousand people were expected to attend the day-long event and I think everyone of them showed up too! With $20,000 of prizes at stake, many cooks came to play, over 60 chili pots competing actually! Here's how it works...

Booths are set up on the beach by restaurants, organizations and individual chefs (amateur chefs, locals chefs, chefs from the neighboring British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Texas) to compete in the cook off. There was even a Jr. competition for kids ages 10-17. Contestants pay $25 dollars to compete and all the money raised is donated to local charities. The contestants are required to make their chili on the beach using ingredients approved by the CASI. Chili that is made for the public to taste can be made ahead of time.
There are 3 rounds of judges (all lucky local volunteers) that sample the chili and choose the top 10 chilies, 3 vegetarian chilies and a couple junior winners. The top winners get to represent the VI at the national Cook Off in Terlingua, Texas. Everyone else buys tickets and samples all the chilies he or she desires or can stomach on this boiling hot day and drinks plenty of beer to keep themselves and their mouths cool.

I don't know who won the competition but I do know I ate a lot of chili! I also know that Nick and I showed up to this beach chili cook off party in v necks and shorts! NO BATHING SUITS. Who goes to a beach without a bathing suit! I mean this whole time we've been in St. Thomas we've been wearing bathing suits instead of undergarments! Aghh, so worried about blending in as locals that we wore the least local outfits we could find! Bummed that we couldn't play in the water and sweaty as hell we drink a couple beers and do a lot of people watching in the shade. What we saw is documented in the collage above (click image to view entire collage or click here!). I hope you enjoy the images as much as we did! "River rats" on this beautiful clear beach in the Caribbean, Classic! After all, the cook off was sponsored by Coors Light! What else would you expect? :P

From busy in California to Mellowing out in the Caribbean to Exploring Costa Rica

My mom will tell you that I never sit still. She refers to me as her little "jet setter." She's right. It was impossible for me to sit still living in California. There's always some thing to do and some place to go. Melissa lived in L.A.. I lived in San Diego. We both were working full time.

Busy.

But we wanted wanted to travel. Not a week-long vacation. Not 6 hours in a cruise ship port. We wanted to travel... really travel. So, we made a plan. We didn't renew our leases when they ended. I quit my job after 10 years. Melissa quit all three of her jobs, and put dance on hold. We packed up all of our things and put them in our parents' garages. We said goodbye to our friends and family, and we left to the Virgin Islands.

Melissa and I spent a good part of our time on Water Island. Comprised of just over 490 acres of volcanic rock, Water Island boasts no significant commercial establishments and a population of less than 200 people. On this island, one has no choice but to relax. We woke up with the sun everyday for a walk followed by some yoga. We made cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In between yoga and eating, we hung out at the beach, we hiked, I surfed, we sailed, and we watched Jeopardy. Most nights we were in bed by 9PM.

Mellow.

About a month before we left for the Caribbean, I met a man

named Issa with some connections in the Caribbean and Central

America. He was excited for our adventure, and offered to help

out in any way he could. He told me St. Thomas is a wonderful

place, but said we ought to come visit him in Costa Rica before

committing to anything long term. We decided to take him up

on his offer, bought one way tickets to experience the Pura Vida.

We've been in Costa Rica for almost 3 weeks now, and we are

loving it here. There is so much to catch up on, and I promise

there will be many posts in the very near future. I apologize for

the lack of a consistent thought.

Peace.

'Tis the season... to be worried!

I've come to the conclusion that the weatherman in San Diego has the easiest job in the world. Without even looking at any satellite images I will now give you the report: 79 degrees, sunny, nice breeze, a perfect beach-day. I never had to check the weather at home. Out here, it is different. There are two seasons: Hurricane season (June through November) and Tourist season. During tourist season the locals work, and during hurricane season they worry.

If you'd like a detailed analysis of exactly what a hurricane is, and how it starts, click here, and you'll have more information than you ever could need. Or, if you'd prefer, I can try to tell you what I've learned so far.

In June, storms start to form over the Cape Verde Islands, which are located about 360 miles of the coast of Senegal (Akon's place of birth), in Africa. From Cape Verde, these storms follow the trade winds and head east across the Atlantic ocean. Any storm in storm system in this area is investigated and given the name invest followed by a number. Right now we are watching Invest 92 and Invest 93. Invests will bring some rain and thunderstorms, but other than that, they are no big deal.

Most storm systems are loose and scattered. However, as they travel across the Atlantic over warm waters they can become more dense and organized. If this happens, the invest becomes a tropical depression, or TD. These weather systems can be gnarly, but they don't have the spiral shape yet. Their winds will be no more than 39 mph.

Wind, humidity, and water temperature are the main factors that can turn a TD into a tropical storm, hurricane, or nothing at all. If the winds get above 39 mph, a TD becomes a tropical storm and it gets a name. Our first Tropical storm's name was Anna. When we went to bed on Sunday, August 9th TD 2 was 1000 miles east of us withering away. We awoke monday morning to find that TD 2 had become Tropical Storm Anna... and she was headed right for us. That same night TD 3 became category 2 Hurricane Bill. Bill was projected to be a category 4 hurricane by the time it collided with the Lesser Antilles (that's where we are) in about 4 days.

By definition weather is unpredictable. If 2 major storms are predicted to head our way, odds are that conditions will change and it will miss us. But then again, it might not. You can prepare for a tropical storm, or you can choose to try your luck. With a hurricane of any category, you prepare no matter. We prepared by bringing the sail boat into a protected lagoon on Water Island and dropping three anchors. Karcsi decided to wait a night before taking further steps.

In the morning, we checked the weather and everything had changed again. Anna was now projected to go south of us, and Bill was projected to go way north. Good news! For the next few days, we watched the storms' every move. Tropical Storm Anna went less than 100 miles south of us. The rain and wind she brought were heavier than anything I had ever seen back home, but it was nothing. Bill stayed on course and went well north of us. At his closest, Bill sat 300 miles to the east of us. On Water Island, you would have never known that there was a category 3 hurricane in the same hemisphere. We experienced clear, warm weather, with no wind at all.

Bill went on to the north, claiming a lives in Florida and Maine, before making land fall in Canada. Now he is headed towards Great Britain. I am amazed that storm that originated off the coast of Africa can travel across the Atlantic and back. Rain from the same system was felt in Africa, the Caribbean, New England, and soon in Europe. Pretty neat stuff.

We got lucky this time. That's not always the case. In the U.S., the names Andrew and Katrina will always be synonymous with destructive hurricanes. Here in the V.I. locals will alway remember Hugo (1989) and Marilyn (1995). Below are some photos of a house on Water Island that was destroyed by both hurricanes and then abandoned.

Melissa and I set out on our adventure with the intention of experiencing St. Thomas as more than just tourists, more than temporary visitors. We are experiencing the worry right along with the locals. Our friends and families from Southern California would as us, "aren't you afraid of hurricanes?" I'd say something ill-informed like, "I've kinda always wanted to experience a hurricane." The truth is that Mother Nature has a big bag of tricks, and no matter where we are she has something to keep us on our toes. In California, it's earthquakes, Raider fans, and wild fires. In the Midwest, it's tornadoes. Some places have volcanoes, typhoons, monsoons, cyclones, and some have sand storms. We've all got plenty to worry about on this planet, but we always find a way to make it work. As long as we remember that we are small and she is so very large, we should be fine.

She's beautiful, isn't she?

Working in Paradise

The last couple of days we have had the honor of "working" with Karcsi. I put quotations around working because taking cruise ship passengers sailing and snorkeling doesn't feel like work at all.

We pick up the travelers around the cruise ship dock and head to Buck Island. Once we are in open water where we can catch the wind, the sails go up and silence surrounds us. The sound of the waves crashing against the boat is so soothing you could listen for hours. But all to soon we are at Buck Island, where the sea turtles pose for pictures and the coral reef is rich in color and activity. We swim around for an hour, Nick leads the guests and I stay behind continually recounting the bobbing heads, just in case. Back on the boat we go, but not before I pee in the water, yup that's right! I finally learned to relieve myself in the open water. ahh. :)

Once everyone is back on the boat, Karcsi serves cheese and crackers and rum punch! We have to advise the guests to quickly eat the cheese before the local bird, Spots, comes to claim the rest of the cheese...or before Nick snags it all. The sail back is just as relaxing. We drop off the guests and eat our PB&J's. Geshh, another hard day at the office.

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.

The Terminal

A couple bags, a couple beers, a couple in love what more do you need?

St. Thomas here we come...