(Let’s Try a Blog Again. My trips last year were not the best for story telling. Injured in Tunisia, cold in Eastern Europe, and HOT in Guatemala.)

Saturday, Feb 15. Rental car to LAX became a fully tricked-out f-150 extended cab. I was offered free gas to ferry it to LAX, but the bill included a fuel bill. Got to contact them. Driving to LAX in a truck had me riding three feet higher than usual. Several times the view confused me (“Am I still on the 405?).

A very smooth travel day. The layover didn’t require me to change planes. Nice airline (Avianca), but it seems they don’t give drinks or snacks for free at all. Fine by me.

At the San Jose Airport, everyone yelling “Taxi” gave me free advice, saying Uber can’t service the airport. No great surprise that they’d say that. But the app said differently. I finally got help finding the pickup point by saying my daughter worked for Uber and would be unhappy if I didn’t use it.

Arrived at the hotel at 11:30. Asked for food and was directed to the casino just next door. A real casino, though small. Little snack bar. Required my passport to use my credit card. Quite a process. Spaghetti and a coke cost about $7.50.

I’ve been spending a lot of time reintroducing myself to my camera. We’ll see if it pays off.