The drive back from Monteverde was bone jarring. God, that road was awful. All I can say is that I was so unbelievable grateful when I finally hit
paved road. I had started grating and grinding my teeth about twenty
minutes before out of sheer frustration.
[At the airport a day or two later, some kid pulled me aside to do a survey of visitors to Costa Rica. he asked me what I thought of the quality of Costa Rica’s roads. I laughed and reminded him I’d been to Monteverde. He circled "poor" as my answer.]
It was a long day. I left the Ranario at 10am, and I wasn’t back at my hotel after returning the car until 4pm.