How far we've fallen

Within the span of 3 short hours, we've gone from the nicest hotel to the WORST, Hotel Dikran. We're now in Los Angeles because it is the only town to stay in if you want to see the volcano tomorrow. After what seemed like endless driving and terrible radio, we arrived to what we assumed was the set of Thriller. What we initially thought was fog turned out to be smoke that currently blankets the whole city. We're not sure where the smoke comes from, but it's horrendous and no one else seems to notice it. The city is so small that Lonely Planet didn't bother including a map, which made our hotel that much more difficult to find in the dark. It was only by the sheer grace of God that we stumbled upon it.

We were frightened to get out of our car, but the guy at the front desk secured our car in their parking garage. Their parking garage is an unfinished construction site guarded by a suspect chain length fence. We're praying that the car is there in the morning. The staff however is quite friendly, though the men standing across the street looked quite "rape-y" as I think Thomasin put it.