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 with the local language school. The only downside to this arrangement however was it's proximity to the airport runway, or in between flights also known as front garden/local football pitch/running track/sewer/public spectacle (complete with very own bleacher stands and bemused crowd). Still, nothing like the sound of screeching metal to wake up to nice and early in the mornings.

We had the weekend to explore before I started classes on Monday, and so first off we headed out to the local butterfly farm. The butterflies were cool, but what made the trip had to be the owner's pet deer (yes, as in Bambi), which grabbed hold of my arm through the cage with its tongue and licked my sweaty fingers, until it started to feel just a little bit wrong. Then the guy took us to his pond, where he suddenly starting making weird squeaking noises, and just as we started to back away slowly, eight tiny scaly faces poked up out of the water and all it all became clear. They were his alligator babies. Riiiight.

So the next day we discovered that 'ooooh heaven is a place on earth', and it wasn't Butlins, like they tell us (unless I'm thinking of the wrong song that is, hhmmm). No, we went to our first Caribean beach, and I'm sorry to have to tell you all back home, but it was absolutely flipping amazing!!! The sea was so clear you could see yourself pee. Ok, probably wrong example, but you get the idea.

And so the week was spent with my learning, Jack not, rain and sun and coconut flavoured rice and general brilliantness. We cruised round the island on an off road scooter (i.e. normal scooter plus mud), went kayaking out into the sea (a bit, until it got hard) and traveled to several different beaches with names such as Red Frog and Wizard (neither of which were actually there).

On our last day in Bocas we took a day trip out on a boat to the islands where the American tv show 'Survivor' is filmed. On the way we saw dolphins and flying fish, and when we arrived it just took our breath away. It's imposible even to describe now how spectacular these islands were, hence all the photos. It really was the most perfect place I've ever seen. Just a shame HBO thought the same thing.