After the lush countryside of Boquete we travelled up to the Caribean coast for our first taste of island life - deliciously clear blue water, white deserted beaches and all the coconuts you could throw a monkey at (or somthing along those lines). Bocas del Toro consists of about five or six large islands, with numerous smaller ones sprouting up in between. We stayed on Isla Colon, where tourists both rich and poor congregate, and were lucky enough to get a room...

A series of amazing bus connections got us to Boquete, high in the central mountains, in record time. Boquete is the "6th best place in the world to retire" as was proved by the huge number of American ex-pats living in the area. We didn't plan to do too much while we were there and it was just as well because it rained almost everyday. In the periods when it was dry we visited a local garden which was the pride of the town. This garden was indeed very ...

We left the hubub of Panama City for a quieter spot on the Atlantic Coast, a small fishing village called Santa Catalina. The change couldn't have been more marked - there being only one road in Santa Catalina, with two restaurants and no electricity for an entire day (apparently revenge against the inhabitants who had just voted out the local government!) Everything was so quiet and calm, cars being unheard of, instead horses all tied up outside the local pub. T...

We arrived in Panama City in the evening and caught a taxi to the old part of town (the bit that got burned down by the pirate Captain Morgan years ago). It took us a while to find somewhere to stay and after a brief trip out to find some food we weren't exactly in love with the area. It didn't help that the local internet cafe ripped us off hardcore. They knew what they were doing, and so did we, and so they were too embarrassed to even look us in the eye as the...