Santa Cristobal Island
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BARS AND RESTAURANTS
ROKAS AND KACTU'S RESTAURANT
Situated on Juan Jose Flores, Rokas and Kactu's restaurant is a great choice for good value meals. Open every day, this popular place serves $2 Almuerzos (lunches) that consist of a good hearty soup, followed by a meal with meat and rice and is served with a cold sweet juice. The place then closes for a siesta then re-opens late afternoon to serve $2 Meriendas (dinner) that normally consist of a main meal with meat and a juice. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, a barbeque of chicken, pork, beef or fish is on offer and costs $4 or $4.50 depending on what you order.
This earthy open restaurant has simple tables covered in green cloths and sit atop a gravel floor. Straw lamps hang down low from a corrugated roof that's held up by wooden tree trunks and a colourful hammock hangs enticingly between two posts. Odd bushy plants with browning leaves are scattered around the place in different plastic pots and large spiky cactuses loom in certain spots. There is a view of the sea in the distance but this is unfortunately obscured by construction. The usual picture of Kicker rocks and blue footed boobies flying across the ocean is painted on one of the walls and a T.V. behind the counter shows all your favourite (Latin American) soaps. The owner is friendly, the service fast and it's always clean. Definitely worth a visit.
THE MOCKINGBIRD CAFE
Situated on Av. Española, the Mockingbird Café is a cute hangout with natural coloured Hessian draped from the ceiling and colourful sarongs hanging around. There are bright us sainted pictures of waves and wildlife and strange straws loom overhead. Plants are dotted panted on the pastel wails around the place and glass candle holders sit on small wooden tables. Pan pipes hang from rope covered posts and South America music pumps from a radio entertaining its customers.
The menu offers set breakfasts of eggs, juice and bread, or fresh fruit and yoghurt and costs $2.50 - $3.00. There’s the usual range of hot and cold drink available, as well as cocktails, shots and beers, which are quite cheap by San Cristobal standards. There are various snacks ranging from bagels to burgers that cost $1.00 to $3.00. There are four computers available and internet cost $2.00 an hour. Sometimes it’s extremely slow and other times it works ok. The atmosphere here is very friendly and is popular with locals and tourists who enjoy good hangover breakfasts on weekends. Also offering ice creams and chocolate brownies, this place is definitely worth a drop in for coffee.
POLO'S CAFE AND BAR
Situated on Av. 12 de Febrero, and popular mitt both locals and tourists. Pool’s is an open bar with a somewhat ‘beachy’ feel about it. As you walk by the seductive low lighting catches your eye and cosiness that awaits you. As swarms of people greet each other with touching checks, a friendly vibe seeps through your pores and into your pockets as your moments melt into hours of beers and banter. People sit around the curved bar on high stools and hover round a central pool table for a free games, which is always guaranteed if you linger long enough. Be aware though that you’ll be met with eternal frustration when your winning shot is blocked by one of the trees that sit on the perimeter of the bar. Apart from that, there is nothing bad about this place and as you sit on one of the comfortable seats that are dotted around or swing in the hammock sipping your drink you find yourself relaxing in this chilled out joint.
To the side of the pool table is a TV showing great surfing footage and it’s nice to avert your gaze to the watery waves for a while as you fall further into mellowness. The night normally starts with some great chilled out tunes that you can sing along to but later changes to more upbeat dance with some salsa and some bad remixes thrown into the bag. It’s at this time you can take your dancing shoes and hit the small dancefloor outback. Drinks are reasonably priced with beers at $250 and the bar stocks most anything you want. A cool place to hang about in and definitely recommended.