Howler Monkeys, Playa Espadilla and a Fairchild C-123 CIA/Iran Contra Cargo Plane

On September 15, we loaded Kermit and our suitcases into the car and headed off to Playa Espadilla, Quepos, on the Pacific Coast.

On the drive to the coast, we stopped for lunch at El Avíón restaurant. This is a fun place to have a meal and the view is spectacular. I ordered ceviche and Lance had pasta with clams and prawns, which he said was excellent, as was my ceviche.

You must go to the restaurant’s web page (see link above) to get views of the Pacific Ocean and to learn the history behind how and why this airplane ended up where it did in Costa Rica - it’s really interesting.

Some restaurant photos:

The bar area in the fuselage:

The restaurant was not too far away from our accomodations, Buena Vista Beach Villas, a small boutique hotel with eight units - steps away from the ocean. Many Costa Rican hotels/resorts offer excellent discounts during the green, or rainy, season. Our room was 30% off. It was a unit away from the restaurant so it was private and quiet. The rooms are comfortable with air conditioning and a large outdoor covered patio.

The staff are excellent, friendly and helpful. Loungers are available on the beach and drinks and food can be ordered and delivered right to you.

We stayed two nights. The ocean is so close that we could hear it at night - there’s nothing better then falling asleep to the sound of crashing waves.

We ate all our meals outdoors:

View from our covered patio:

View of hotel from the beach. Our room was on the lower right.

Kermit enjoying leisure time on our patio, he gets over excited.

 

Some of our delicious meals:

Beach video:

Sunset photos:

There were two doggies at the hotel - one was the resident dog (an old fellow):

And the other one was this sweet little girl. She would gang up with the old fellow to chase horses on the beach.

She lives not far from Buena Vista and when her owner goes to work, she spends her day at the hotel. Here she is keeping Lance company. She would visit us in our room and also sleep beside my beach lounger.

The local monkeys are early risers - both the howlers and the capuchins. They can be difficult to spot but I made a video of them from our patio climbing through the palms. The haunting sounds of the howlers are not something one forgets.

We are also putting together a car cam video of the trip.