Day 22- Jeep, Boat, Jeep

This morning began bright and early once again; the clouds and fog here move in later in the day and obscure the views of things like the waterfalls and the volcanoes, so naturally getting up at the crack of stupid is the only way to get to see them.  La Catarata Fortuna is a very beautiful place to see, even if it's not a very easy place to get to.  The path down to the river is very steep and somehow it was even worse going back up.  But the view made it all worthwhile.
Then it was back to the hotel to check out, which was a production.  Somehow, you can never make it easy to check 30 people out of a hotel simultaneously.  We said goodbye to the beautiful Baldi and went into the small town of Fortuna to grab some lunch before we left for Monteverde.  In town, there were many different little stores and restaurants.  I even met a very nice local whose name was Claudio.  Claudio was probably 90 and we had a great conversation before he went on his way down the street.
Our big coach bus had to take the long way around to get to Monteverde, which would have been about a seven hour ride.  The group went by van, then boat, then van across a more direct route.  The mountains of Monteverde are more to my liking.  We were on a small gravel road out in the middle of nowhere, which for some reason is something that I can relate to :).  It also appeared to be cattle country, although I shudder to think how exactly they fenced the mountainsides.  And yes, there were fences that were practically vertical.  This part of the country I could easily fall completely in love with.  The rain forests and beaches are nice, but the crisp, cool mountain air is addictive.  We didn't arrive in Monteverde until about 6, and the bus with our clothes on it didn't arrive until about 9 tonight.
A group of us walked into town, which was quite a jaunt, to get some food.  We found a great restaurant with a very funny waiter, and the food was delicious so it was mission accomplished.  The girl that I am sharing a room with split a container of tres leches and a carton of caramel-fudge swirl ice cream with me.  We are now both crashing from an extreme sugar high, so I believe that I am going to go to bed.  Which is actually a good thing, because I am going to be zipping through the cloud forest tomorrow morning at 7:30 am.  Good night everyone!