The restaurants
We spent one full day at Lola’s shooting food set-ups and beach shots with a cast of 15 locals, including the owners—the Dutch-born Van Akkeren family—and the photographer’s teenage kids. This beach club-cum-restaurant at Playa Avellanas embodies the laidback, barefoot vibes that drew us to Costa Rica in the first place: the space is vast, with large wooden tables and chairs below a sprawling canopy of palm and almond trees. Menu highlights that day were a spicy tuna salad, shrimp tacos, and plates of fresh ceviche, served alongside made-to-order smoothies, daiquiris, and a Pura Vida cocktail featuring Costa Rican liquor Cacique and a splash of pineapple. The special guest? The resident pig who swims in the shallows and hoovers up leftovers.
We also stopped by Corazón, a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it roadside restaurant, en route through Los Pargos. The bolthole started life as a coffee bean roaster and deli, with fresh pastries and open sandwiches, but upgraded to a barbecue joint during the pandemic to great success. The menu is ever-changing, but the party atmosphere is constant; we enjoyed platters of smoked chicken thighs and barbecued ribs in the jungle-facing backyard, all while listening to a soundtrack of ’90s hip hop. There’s also a shop selling T-shirts, camper mugs, prints by local photographers such as Rachael Kershaw, and bags of roasted coffee beans.
The drinking dens
For our evening shoots we headed to Kontiki, the hostel and bar run by Peruvian-born local surfer Jeronimo de Almenara Martinez, where we had our model dressed in Schiaparelli and dancing on the bar. Set within the jungle by Playa Pargos, its rustic structure of corrugated iron and surfboard signposts surround a giant clay oven that serves up the best pizzas in the area. But the spot really comes alive after dark, with live DJ sets, dancing, and generous pitchers of spicy margaritas.
