Monday morning, Day 3: We ate breakfast and checked out before spending the entire day visiting beaches and heading toward Quepos and the adjoining Manuel Antonio area, one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations because it offers some of the most beautiful beach resorts in the world. We enjoyed lunch at the very popular El Avion Restaurant. At the entrance, there is a huge real-life C-123 Military Supply plane that was involved in the Nicaraguan Revolution. That evening, we experienced the most beautiful sunset high atop The La Mariposa Hotel; in fact, we went there specifically to have cocktails and watch this amazing sunset. We then went back to our hotel, The Banderas, in Quepos and enjoyed a mouth-watering fish dinner prepared by the hotel owner himself.
Tuesday morning, Day 4: After eating breakfast and checking out, we headed back north toward Jaco, stopping at Playa Bujuco Beach before venturing up to Horseshoe Bay, where we toured a beautiful yacht marina with high-end shops and sushi bars. We enjoyed lunch at The Hookup Restaurant, where I had the best chicken fajita ever. Most of the restaurants in Costa Rica are open-air, perhaps because of the year-round mild temperatures, and we had the most spectacular panoramic view of the marina while enjoying our lunch and watching an occasional bird fly in to perch on the outer ledge. Oh, by the way, the restaurant has the largest ceiling fan that I’ve ever seen hanging right over the bar area.
We arrived in Jaco, a small quaint beach town that we were told has the best fishing in all of Costa Rica. We checked into the South Beach Hotel, which is right along the ocean, and just chilled until dinner time. That evening, we enjoyed pizza and beer at a very popular restaurant nearby. While traveling throughout the southern Pacific area of Costa Rica, we took the time to visit some beautiful properties for sale, including new condos and single-family homes. Jaco reminds me of some of the beach towns in Southern California.
