El Avion

It’s a total tourist trap, but we were feeling goofy on our last night here so we went. It was fun in a cheeseball kind of way.

OK, maybe you’ll need to Google it. In the 1980’s a CIA operation was involved in selling arms to Iran in order to raise funds for the “Contras,” a group which some considered unsavory and others considered “freedom fighters.” Congress hadn’t signed off on this deal so it was quite the scandal.

This Fairchild C-123 is one of two airplanes abandoned at San Jose airport in Costa Rica when Iran-Contra was shut down by Congress. Enterprising entrepreneurs hauled it up a mountainside to become the bar for “El Avion” restaurant, between Quepos and Manuel Antonio Park. The food was ok but nothing special, but the plane was definitely cool. Worth doing IF you don’t mind being seen doing something very touristy, and you remember the 1980’s.

For more info, check out this link: http://www.costaverde.com/avion01.htm