costa rica

i lived in south beach for 2 years while studying at miami ad school. i lived on alton road.

to the left of my apartment was the cornerstore where i bought my cigarettes, and the dojo where i practiced tae kwon do. straight ahead of me was my best friends apartment building, and starbucks where i worked, and nu concept video, where my friends worked & where i'd get free obscure movie rentals. on my direct right was my neighbors, and behind them, my school. so everything i needed was right on my same block. including the laundromat, which was straight in front of my building. in fact, looking out the window above my on-the-floor bed, the laundromat's 24 hour yellow glow stared right back at me.

one nite, late late late, a few days before my move to germany, i decided i needed to wash my clothes. my plane was a red-eye. 6 in the A.M. i knew it was an all-nighter kind of nite.

so i went in to wash them, occasionally going back across the street to fold & pack my clean clothes, enjoying frequent cigarette breaks as i do when it's late late late. and as i folded my clothes, i noticed that this cute latino was occupying more than half of the laundromat's dryers with white towels & sheets. he had a long nite ahead of him, too. when i was done folding my clothes, i went over behind him and said "need some help?" it was all over from that moment. he smiled and charmed me with his accent, and we folded his towels & sheets for over an hour. he worked at a hotel, cleaning the linens by nite, and by day he worked construction. making a lot of money. from costa rica. had lived in miami for 2 years now. missed home like crazy.

he offered me a malboro light 100. i remember cause it was the first time i'd ever seen 100's. i was so surprised because they were too long for me to smoke. i got used to it after awhile.

we finished loading his stuff in his construction truck, and he looked at me, and said, "well, are you hungry or what?" of course i was hungry. it was late late late. i'm always hungry. so i hopped in the passenger seat and he took me in to little havana, where there was a small cuban restaurant where you sit outside and order at a window. i shouldn't go to little havana. i'm white. but i was safe with him.

i moved to germany the next day. i knew i would never see him again. but he wrote his e-mail address in my notebook and i found it while in germany. i saw him online one day, before moving BACK to miami. he said, "mia i am moving back to my country." i asked when. he said "tomorrow." i whimpered a little, and he did what i later found out is just like him, he made me a deal. this deal said that if i found a flight a week earlier back from hamburg to miami, then he would delay HIS flight to costa rica so he could see me. on one condition. i'd go with him.

i did.

these are pictures i took, mainly out the window of his truck where he works in costa rica, delivering meat to all the meat shops in the bordering towns of san jose.