No fear, no bravery

Hurricane Otto had moved on, and the risk of keeping the ports closed were lessened. Therefore, we could leave Ometepe on schedule and head for this journey's penultimate border crossing, that into Costa Rica.
Quite immediately, the roads got better and the prices got higher. As Costa Rica is one of the countries of the area that didn't have civil wars in the 80-90's, it's a bit more western than its neighbours, and with that, more expensive.
Monteverde is one of the adventure towns of Costa Rica. Otto, in combination with the frequent rain, had somewhat dampened (figuratively and literally) the spirit, and upon arrival we were told that pretty much all of the optional activities were closed, by presidential decree. Bad news, for sure, so we set our minds to spending the next day and a half playing board games, drinking, playing drinking games and singing karaoke, while the rain poured down outside.
However, one should never lose hope; we got up at reasonable o'clock next morning to check the weather, to see if anything had changed during the night, and if not, just to put our rain gear on and take a walk in the nearby cloud forest. But lo, and indeed behold: the rain had stopped and many of the activities were back on track!
Easy choice: Monteverde hosts the world's.... America's.... Costa Rica's.... a really really long superman zip line, so claro we decided to gear up, get our harness done and do a half day of canopy zip lining, including two supermen and a Tarzan swing. Oh how we laughed!
Monteverde is not even a one horse town. One pony town, maybe. Or donkey foal. A short walk away, though, is the two horses town of Santa Elena. The walk may be short, but it's very steep up and down, and the strenuous hike up the volcano had taken its toll on the legs. Stiff as two boards, every downhill and every flight of stairs was agony on the legs. In Santa Elena, I got to try the local dish (chifrijo, a type of ceviche with rice and beans, chopped tomatoes and pork) as well as the local drink (chiliguaro, sort of like a spicier and stronger Bloody Mary in shot form). They also had some micro brews, so that was a nice addition to the experience.
As the two-and-a-half-horse towns are located in the cloud forest, there is a chance to see some wildlife. Some of that wildlife comes out at dusk, and for the reasonable price of 25 bucks you could get on a night walk in the jungle, to spot the elusive animals, such as monkeys, jaguars, coaties and sloths.
But alas, everybody had apparently forgot rules number one and two when it comes to spotting wildlife, and that went twice for the guide:
Rule number one about wildlife spotting: You do not talk during wildlife spotting.
Rule number two about wildlife spotting: You do NOT talk during wildlife spotting.
As there were quite a lot of people out, not just our little band, and all chatting on like it was quiz night at the pub, the animals could hear us a mile away and had taken to the hills long before our arrival. Even the not-fast-as-lightning sloths had all but vanished. We did see some green snakes and a glow-in-the-dark scorpion, though, so it wasn't a complete waste of time and money.
Next morning we managed to squeeze in a very nice walk in the canopy of the cloud forest on the conveniently placed suspension bridges. Unfortunately, they were of aluminium and steel, with railings and steel wires, rather than the rickety, wooden, planks-amissing, Indiana Jonesey number I was hoping against hope for. Nevertheless, without a guide and with not many other people around, we could take our time and make the most of it, so it was a great experience.
Leaving one adventure town, we set forth for another: La Fortuna.
One could easily spend a fortune in La Fortuna. You can partake in white water rafting, mountain biking, horse back riding, ziplining, bungee jumping and every other kind of adrenaline-y activity. Or you could visit the natural hotsprings or the monkey sanctuary or any of the nature reserves. The list goes on and on, and so do the prices.
A few of us opted for the canyoning/horseback riding combo. I have been waiting for a chance to try it ever since I was in Ecuador and were ill when everyone else went canyoning, so the choice was an easy one.
We even convinced our fearless leader to join us for the combo, and set out, feet clad in newly bought water shoes. Canyoning was great, but I still don't know why they call it rappelling in the Americas and abseiling in the rest of the world.
The horseback riding included a visit to the La Fortuna waterfall. I was told that, since the horses couldn't reach all the way, we would have to walk 500 metres to get there and then back. Little did I realise that it was 500 metres straight down and 500 metres straight back up. Well, maybe I got the angle a little off, but still. It was more of a waterfall hike with hints of sitting on a horse than horseback riding. The horses were great, though. In good health, well-fed and strong, calm but not slow (mine was very keen to trot, and even a slight canter before I reined her in).
The Guatemala to Costa Rica leg of the tour was drawing to an end, and we left La Fortuna for the sprawling city of San José, the final destination for some of us. After the farewell dinner, our tour leader took a few moments to give a little speech to each one of the passengers, thanking us for however each one had contributed to the general experience of the trip. It was an excellent idea, and she got everyone's mini speech just right. Nailed it!
A few post dinner drinks and a lot of hugs and goodbyes (some of which were more tearful than others), and book three of this four book trilogy was over.