2018/02 Costa Rica - Playa Espadilla |
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Saturday February 24th
There were about a dozen breakfasts to choose from. I chose “English” just to see what they did. They did very well and the only thing missing was the grease swimming around on the plate. We went down to take the “free shuttle” to the main beach, but there didn’t seem to be a bus waiting. “Una momento” said the concierge and a taxi came up, collected us and whisked us down to the Playa Espadilla for free. We don’t know if the shuttle bus really existed or if it was always a taxi ride.
The beach was busy on a Saturday morning with hundreds of umbrellas and lounge chairs already out. The dry sand was already too hot to walk on and we stayed on the edge of the sea. The water was as warm as we expected. There were food and chair vendors everywhere and plenty of opportunities to go parasailing or riding on a seadoo. This was Brighton Beach but with sand, sunshine, and warm water.
We walked to the south end of the beach and its interesting rocks and cliffs. I thought we might be able to get into the national park that way but the river that separated it from the beach looked to be waist deep and there was a sign saying “Crocodilos”, which may have been true or just a deterrent against free admission.
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Playa Espadilla (0.59) |
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We walked slowly to the other end of the beach, taking in the view. We never saw any nudity on the beaches but Costa Rican beachwear is minimalist. We could see our hotel perched on the headland, high above us.
There were surprisingly few birds to be seen but we found this tropical kingbird nesting on one of the big rocks.
On our drive down the hill we’d spotted the El Avion restaurant with the front of an airplane sticking out. We thought it might be aninteresting spot for lunch. Unfortunately it was further back up the hill than we remembered, past other restaurants, villas, and zip lines, all in 90+ degrees. It turned out to be at the absolute top on the hill and we were glad that they found us a breezy spot to cool down slowly and eat on the 
verandah overlooking the beach. 
Sandie’s red snapper didn’t look happy but she enjoyed the meal as did I with Something Fajitas. The meals and a few Costa Rican beers cost us about 30000 Colóns or about $60, reasonable but beyond the budget of most Costa Ricans.
The El Avion restaurant is built around a Fairchild cargo plane, sister to the one that was shot down over Nicaragua precipitating the Iran-Contra Affair, an embarrassing time for Ronald Reagan and Olly North. The surviving plane was bought cheaply in San José, disassembled and brought by freighter along the coast. There’s a bar in the fuselage but few were in there on a hot afternoon.