Arriving at the Panama border crossing (after a typical 6 hour bus journey) we got our exit stamps from Costa Rica and then proceeded to enter Panama. To do this you have to cross over a dodgy old railway bridge, with large gaps between the planks requiring a level of coordination that is hard to maintain after a long early morning bus journey.

The border guards demanded to see and onward or return ticket, this is the first time this has happened and luckly we brought our flight out of Panama before we went travelling so all was ok (phew! Being sensible paid off!)

We then jumped in a shuttle to the mainland dock for Bocas Del Toro islands. As the shuttle pulled up loads of random men jumped on the roof of the shuttle and grabbed all our bags. Dave and some of the others then demanded them back which they reluctantly did but then demanded a tip for helping us out! Dave being very tired could not be bothered with the hassle so gave his ´helper´ a dollar. However one of our fellow travellers refused which resulted in an aggresive argument ending with the man shouting ´God will punish you!!!´

So after a rather choppy boat ride we arrived at Bocas Del Toro, a bunch of islands on the Caribbean. One of which Columbus arrived at during his 4th and final voyage.

Bocas Del Toro translates as ´Mouth of the Bulls´ Not sure why but its a cool name anyway. The town is quite a lively place, lots of bars and restuarants but the biggest surprise came when we got the bus to the other side of the island. To a place called ´Bocas Del Drago (Yep you guess it ´Mouth of the Dragon!)

What a suprise this place was. It was a perfect example of any desert island film you have seen (Felt like we were in Lost or the Tom Hanks film Castaway!) Beautiful sandy beach fringed by palm trees, coconuts, blue skies, clear blue warm sea, starfish hanging about and no one else around.

After a few hours swimming in the sea, sitting on the beach and walking along we eventually came across two local men sitting with a cool box and playing reggae music. We asked them for a soft drink but all they had was beer. So of course we had to comply and sip a cold Panamian beer on the beach.......I think we found Paradise