Yesterday - Saturday - we decided to drive to Puntarenas for a seafood lunch. We left around 1030.
Here are the routes we took going to the coast and returning. We drove route 1 going (dark blue) and route 27 (grey) returning. Route 1 is the northern section of the Pan-American Highway, also known as the Inter-American Highway in Central America.
Route 1 is prone to slow movement and backups due to semi trucks coming from Nicaragua going to the region of the San José capital, plus there are lots of hills and twists and turns. I prefer route 27.
The drive to the Pacific takes you from the cooler mountain areas to the considerably warmer and more humid coast and you can feel the temperature changing as you drop further down from the mountains.
Our restaurant of choice was the Isla Coco’s Bar and Grill at the tip of Puntarenas and just across from the ferry that goes to Paquera or Naranjo on the Nicoya Peninsula. This was our first time at this restaurant and it did not disappoint. I had a craving for clams.
And we got them! Grilled clams - lots and lots of them. This was advertised as an appetizer but it took two of us to finish them up. They were delicious. The bread was so good and perfect for sopping up the very tasteful garlic broth they were swimming in.
Every customer is served a small bowl of seafood soup gratis. Mine had a shrimp and a crab claw in it. Lance’s was a shrimp and a mussel which he graciously gave to me ‘cause I love ‘em.
For refreshments, Lance ordered cold beer (Imperial) and I had the limonada hierbabuena, which is lemonade with fresh herbs. This is one of my favourites.
Our eyes were bigger then our stomachs because we could not make much of a dent in our main dishes and we ended up taking most of it home (para llevar = take out/take away).
My choice - the garlic prawns with roasted vegetables and mashed potato:
Lance’s order - grilled salmon, roasted potatoes and vegetables and grilled pineapple:
I highly recommend this restaurant. Service was fast and efficient. As for Covid, masks, hand washing stations, and distance seating was prescribed and we were seated outside.
Some photos of the restaurant:
The ferry to the Nicoya Peninsula as seen from the restaurant:
It was so nice to get away even for a few hours - especially to this place. The Covid restrictions can make one feel isolated. It’s not a long drive at all from our house. As I said to Lance - “So, you told me it was 1 degree Celsius (33.8F) this morning in Vancouver and raining”. Not anywhere near so in Costa Rica!
2 comments:
What a fabulous outing! Envie you the seafood!!
It really was so great! and not a big deal to plan. I had been craving clams for so long!!!
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