Cowabunga Living

The four idiots are officially checked into the new "Cowabunga Pad" for the next few months. Spirits are high and our new place is totally righteous. Amenities include four surfboards, prime beach location, waterfall pool, wireless Internet, sick balcony with pong table, vault, ample bed space and hot jams. We have made it out to surf twice. Tonto dominated the gnarly waves while Adam, Scott and Spanish got dominated.

We live in a surf town in the jungle. Our flight into the town was amazing, but reminded us of something out of the movie Blow. Nosara is small but everyone has been really nice to us and now that the rainy season is almost over, the town is about to become overwhelmed with tourists. This is good because everyday we have gotten completely drenched by the rain. There are no paved roads, which is common in Costa Rica. For the first few days, we had to choose between three or four places to eat. Luckily, all the food has been really good. There are several dogs who like to follow us around town. One has hung around so much that he has earned the name Mr Balls.

Today we trekked a few miles to the supermarket which is anything but super. The trip back was tough due to the typical afternoon downpour and an inch or two of mud on the road. Needless to say, the dry season cannot come soon enough. Our boy Juan Surfo is hooking us up with some bikes and possibly a place to live for the second half of the trip. Three of us have jobs already and the fourth will have one soon.

There are tons of girls around who totally dig Spanish's latino style and his general "I just don't give a f**k" attitude." We are psyched because a bunch of new places are starting to open up this week. Look for a tour of our crib and more updates coming soon . . .

-The Box

Howler Monkeys

Imagine the worst kind of skull-pounding alarm clock blaring at you early in the AM. You can't control the timing or the volume, leaving you no choice but to wait it out. It might take ten minutes, it might take thirty. Maybe it will stop for a minute, leaving you just enough time to drift into sleep before your dreams are dashed by another shrill cry. Last night, our alarm went off for close to an hour.
In Costa Rica, that alarm clock exists in the form of a howler monkey. According to wikipedia, howler monkeys "have an enlarged basihyal or hyoid bone which helps them make their loud sound. They are considered the loudest land animal." In addition, howler monkeys are hoodlums and scallywags. They are the telemarketers of the animal kingdom. Please stop calling me howler monkey. No, I am not interested. And while you're at it, learn how to pronounce my last name.

Click PIPES to hear our Costa Rican alarm clock.

Our Own Movie Trailer!

Memoirs of San Jose

As we left Laguardia airport there was joy and fear in every one's eyes, not knowing what lay ahead everyone was in good spirits and looking forward to the upcoming months. Several hours later we finally laid foot in San Jose, and began our lives as a illegal migrant workers. After a friendly cab ride we arrived at our hostel and explored San Jose for 2 days. When i first asked Storm (rugged Americano who owns the hostel) what's there to do in San Jose he replied with "nothing", "this city has nothing to offer, and its a f**king dump", after the initial pessimistic vibe we decided to wonder the city on our own. After 2 days of exploring we have already come up with some interesting observations. 1) All the roads are filled with booby traps be it large holes on the sidewalk, large groups of fire ants, or your casual turd. 2) We reference all Costa Rican money as gold mainly because most of the coins look like gold, as a matter of fact Tonto carries with him a sack of gold wherever he goes. 3) There are lots of sketchy areas where you don't want to be at night, especially the park that's filled with transvestites. Not that sweet. On a side note we did find a cool looking gecko in our shower today, which was pretty neat. Overall team moral is high as we prepare for our move to Nosara, everyone seems to be ALL SET WITH SAN JOSE, and looking forward to the beach and the jungle. As we get farther away from civilization we will unleash our inner Tico and become one with nature.

Devin vs. A Surfboard

Battle Royale:

In the right corner donning a mustard suit and hailing from Salisbury Maryland; the Fuhrer of Furious, the Shah of Scro, and the Sultan of Shmeeb: Devin "when I say I'm going to Costa Rica I mean I'm going to New York" Otway.

In the left corner, a surfboard.

Surfboard: Excellent swimmer. __________Devin: Requires floaties.
Surfboard: Is a whopping 72 inches in height. Devin: Is smaller than a bread box.
Surfboard: Is a surfboard. __________Devin: Is a shmeeb.
Surfboard: Is ridden almost daily. __Devin: Hasn't been ridden in months.
Surfboard: Rides waves like it's it's job. _____Devin: Doesn't have a job.
Surfboard: Is sporting a new coat of wax. ___Devin: Is sporting a mustard suit.
Surfboard: Is related to millions of other surfboards. _Devin: Has a hot sister.
Surfboard: Is "finding" itself on the coast. ___Devin: Didn't come to Costa Rica.
Surfboard: Is a surfboard. ______________Devin: Is a condiment.
Surfboard: Is a surfboard.________Devin: Didn't come to Costa Rica.

And the winner is:........................(the dots are meant to be a drum roll)............................................................by a landslide, through sheer force of gnarliness, we are stoked to bestow victory to.................Devin Otway, for gutsy execution of the condiment costume.

Destination Nosara

Here is a picture of Nosara. At the moment, all we know is that it looks like this, that Uncle Juice Box may or may not run a real estate development company there, and that we are moving there for an undetermined period of time.
We are staying in a hostel in San Jose for a few days before flying to Nosara on a puddle-jumper Friday morning. We have checked out a few apartments online, (most are on the beach, in the jungle, and surrounded by monkeys) and will hopefully move into our new place at some point early next week.

Baller Status

This picture is Tonto on one side of the limo on the ride from CT to LaGuardia at 4 in the morning.
Before starting our jobs as migrant workers in the jungles of Costa Rica, we figured that we would ride to the airport in style.

First of many

What started as a crazy idea one drunken night at Bucknell University has become a reality. The four idiots finally made it to Costa Rica, after months of planning and several phone calls and e-mails the four of us and Tonto's surf board made it in one piece to San Jose. While most of our friends are slaving away at unwanted jobs we decided it would be a good idea to try life in Costa Rica, and enjoy some pura vida!!!. We all decided to get one-way tickets and embark on this unknown journey into the abyss of Central America. As far as our plans go we don't have many, initially we plan on living in this town called Nosara and find jobs, but if that doesn't work out who knows where we could end up Brazil?, Argentina?, Panama, Peru?, Jail?. We are mainly looking forward to getting nasty at surfing as master tonto will gear us up into prime shape, and help us dominate the ocean. In return we will try and teach tonto some Spanish considering he knows nothing (less than Sidelsky Spanish). Adam, will try and keep his hospital visits to a minimum keeping in mind his proven track record as a sick child. Overall were going into this knowing nothing about nothing, but were fairly certain that when it's all said and done we will learn more about ourselves and other cultures, than we thought possible.