Already discovered by a few other Aviation bloggers, the Hotel Costa Verde in Costa Rica offers two unique attractions for aviation buffs. The first attraction is the El Avion restaurant and bar which is housed in a Fairchild C-123 left over from CIA efforts to supply the Contras with weapons (In fact, the plane was one of two C-123 used to supply the Contras with the other plane having been shot down and its pilot captured by the Sandinistas – beginning the chain of events that lead to the Iran-Contra scandal). The aircraft was purchased for US$3,000 in 2000 and had to be disassembled and hauled in pieces to the hotel site on top of a mountain.
The hotel’s other attraction is the 727 Fuselage Home – a two bedroom suite housed in a vintage 1965 Boeing 727 airframe that previously flew for South Africa Air and Avianca Airlines (Colombia). Rates for the Fuselage Home are US$300.00 daily plus tax until November 17, 2009.
Combined with beautiful white sand beaches, sports fishing and unique ecotourism type activities – the Hotel Costa Verde is the perfect holiday retreat for aviation buffs.
