Woody and Tink: Colon explorers...

November, and we find ourselves on a new island, in a new town, in a new country. Welcome to Bocas Del Toro, Panama. After a border crossing which involved two buses, a boat and a rather ropey walk over a disused old railway bridge, we arrived on the island to the sounds of a brass band and the sights of the Panamain Halloween preamble. Bocas Del Toro is made up of a group of islands: there's Bastimentos, Carenero, Zapatillas.... personally I take great delight in the fact that our island is called 'Isla Colon'... We really are fully fledged Colon explorers!

On our first day in town, we went out for a wee walksy around and a wee explore. Bocas Del Toro is an interesting mix. The buildings are very American - simple wooden affairs, something you might see in a Jack Daniels advert. Combine this with a laid back Carribbean feel, everyone boating around and relaxing and Bocas becomes a place that is very easy to like.

It was on this walksy around that we met Joe. Joe is on a road trip from Texas and he is hunting the Chupacabra. For those unfamiliar with the name, El Chupacabra is like the Bigfoot of Latin America - a possibly mythical beast (although not if you ask Joe) about the size of a small bear, that feeds on the blood of goats. To fund his trip, he and his friends make promotional films for restaurants and hotels as they go along... Cue myself and Woody being roped into a short cameo in one of his films! So we spent the afternoon sitting in an empty bar being filmed 'having fun'. To be honest it wasn't a difficult role to get into, considering they had a cool box full of beers and the free food was in no short supply. Our fellow cast members were mostly backpackers as well, so it was great to meet more travellers and exchange stories.

After the film was wrapped (yeah, that's filmy talk) we went in search of Joe's Chupacabra Mobile - he'd forgotten where he left it! A minute down the road we stumbled 'pon his vehicle - a 15 foot camper van, hand painted with tribal images. ¨Oh, there she is¨, Joe turned round, bemused and pleased in equal measure...

On the boat back to the other island we made plans to go to a Halloween party at El Toro Loco (the crazy bull). With limited budget, Woody constructed herself a cheeky little number out of a Scotland flag and a $2 tiara, while I made a face mask from my Lion Rampant and shaved myself a nice handlebar moustache. (much to Rachel's delight the handlebars will be with us for the whole of Mo'vember.)

A Panamain Halloween is very similar to a Scottish one - basically a lot of booze, fake blood and scantily clad policewomen... with the exception that you go to the club in a boat, and people do backflips off the roof of the club into the sea. That's the only real difference. Suitably fuzzy headed yesterday, we avoided the raging thunderstorm outside - although this evening there seems to be another approaching...