Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio is a small national park in Costa Rica. There is one unique bar and restaurant in Manuel Antonio, called El Avion Bar. It is interesting not just from a design point of view; the integration of the 1954 Fairchild C-123 cargo aircraft is the amusing part. Inside this aeroplane, a bar called 'Contra Bar' has been constructed. This combination, along with a stylish interior, panoramic ocean view, and pleasant weather in Costa Rica, enhances the experience.
Gail Harland visits an old cargo plane in Costa Rica, converted into a restaurant, and discovers a Cold War relic involving a tale of political scandal, the CIA, arms trading, and the Iran-Contra Affair. When the C-123 was shot down over Nicaragua in 1986 by the Sandinista guerrillas, it left behind an American-owned sister plane. This Fairchild C-123 was a part of one of the biggest political scandals in the 1980s. The Reagan Administration set up a network of arms sales to Iran designed to win the release of US hostages held in Lebanon and raise money to fund the Nicaraguan counter-revolutionary guerrilla fighters, commonly referred to as the ‘Contras’. By artificially inflating arms prices, National Security Council official Oliver North was able to reap profits that could be diverted to fund the counter-revolutionaries against the Cuban-allied Sandinista government.
First Image credit: Steve Nelson
Image credit: POGS
Image credit: Lettyandowen
The sole survivor of the C-123, CIA man Eugene Hasenfus, parachuted to safety but was captured by the Sandinista Army, and it was his testimony that helped to shed light on what would only later be known as the Iran-Contra Affair. Led out of the jungle at gunpoint, Hasenfus’s existence set in motion an incredible chain of cover-ups and lies that would mushroom into one of the biggest scandals in American political history known as the Iran-Contra Affair.
Image credit Karen
The Reagan Administration had set up an arms sales deal with Iran to win the release of some U.S. hostages being held in Lebanon and to raise money to fund the counter-revolutionary Nicaraguan guerrilla fighters. Of the $16 million raised, only $3.8 million actually funded the Contras. With the CIA’s help, they purchased several items, including the two C-123 cargo planes, two C-7 planes, a Maule aircraft, spare parts, and munitions. They also built a secret airstrip on an American-owned, 30,000-acre ranch in northwest Costa Rica.
Image credit: sureMOE!
This surviving C-123 was the second of two purchased by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the 1980s and was, after the successful Sandinista strike, abandoned at the International Airport in San Jose.
Purchased in 2000 by the proprietors of the El Avion Restaurant and Bar for $3,000, the plane was disassembled and shipped in pieces to where it currently stands. Because the fuselage was too wide for the Chiquita Banana railroad bridges that are placed around Costa Rica, it had to be sent on an ocean ferry. After hauling seven sections up the Manuel Antonio hill, the C-123 finally found its current cliff-side resting place. Now the retired sister plane has been converted into a restaurant, bar, and coffee shop, and an enduring Cold War relic. It’s a popular place to visit with friendly staff. We are travelling on a very tight budget, so we didn’t stop to eat. We just took a look at the interior and sent these pictures back for you to contemplate how redundant aircraft could be repurposed in the peak oil future! [source]
Image credit: Philippe Ramirez
Image credit Philippe Ramirez
Image credit: José Luis Celada Euba
Image credit: Angela Rutherford
Image credit: kitsVA
An old plane is used as an attraction at a well-known restaurant in Manuel Antonio; it is one of the best places to see the Sunset. Image credit: MaineIslandGirl
References & Sources
Official Website & History
El Avión Official Site:
Restaurante El Avión - Manuel Antonio Historical Background:
El Avión History Page
Travel & Cultural Features
The Tico Times:
El Avión: A restaurant in a plane site Mental Floss:
How an Abandoned Iran-Contra Plane Ended up a Bar in Costa Rica Drink Tea Travel:
El Avión: The Aeroplane Restaurant In Manuel Antonio
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