On holiday from a holiday - Isla del Mel (Ally)

My time on the island was so restful and the people I met were wonderful. My special project that I set myself was to work on my tan and G heartily approves of it now that we have been re-united!!

I stayed in a girls dorm and there was a balcony outside were we would sit on everyday after breakfast and decide what to do for the rest of the day. Sometimes it was to just keep sitting on the chair. I think they are going to have my name ingraved on one of the chairs.

I got to know a number of special people sitting in my chair. Yefit was a super Isreali girl in my dorm who took my under her wing as she had been there a month already when I arrived Then there was Leonardo from Brazil who learnt more English in his week than I will ever learn of Portugese. Amazing how you could get to know someone despite a huge language barrier. Then there was Oliver from the US who had studied relgious studies. We had great discussions into the night. And there was Mary, Andy, Han and Michelon - we all cooked up a storm together and had great conversations ranging from love motels, our life aspirations and penis fish!

The highlights for me were:

• Swimming while watching the sunset
• Taking long walks and sitting on my rock
• Watching the parachutes circling with the vultures (there are no seagulls on the island)
• Chocolate cake for breakfast
• Dinner cooked for us by Italian chefs
• Discovering caprihina - the Brazilian national cocktail
• Watching the locals do ferro dancing
• Big group dinners
• Sunrise from the grotto

On Isla del Mel, there were vultures on the beach instead of sea gulls



Yefit who had been on the Island for over a month.