After Bluefields I take a panga/speed boat to Rama. This journey takes 2 hours and goes on a beautiful river with a few families living scattered out along it. If you plan to take this trip I recommend you to bring a big plastic bag for your luggage (or yourself) because the panga doesn’t have a roof or any other cover, and it rains quite a lot in this area even though I was lucky.

The panga trip feels quick and when arriving to Rama I check into one of the hostels I find while walking the city. As soon as I move into my new room I see a particularly strange part of the interior design that I don’t know what to think about. The room number is written on the toilet paper holder. Not only this, but the toilet paper holder is not placed in the bathroom but in the livingroom/bedroom.

I leave the hostel and go to an outdoor restaurant/BBQ instead, but they only have one table so I sit down with a family already sitting there. This has happened to me before in India, but that time I ordered what I was thinking was two big main dishes and get two small meat balls instead, while my table mates are eating a huge dinner. Back to Rama, I have both dogs and people looking at me while I eat. One guy comes to the table and asks me for a little bit of food, but I give him some money instead. The woman next to me comments, after the guy left, that he will only use it for booze.

After the restaurant I find a pub and sit down in the bar area. Only 5 seconds passes before a drunk guy invites me to his table. They are two friends sitting there, and the guy inviting me likes to impress his friend by showing that he can speak English with me. I want to practice my Spanish as well but every time I speak Spanish the guy tells me to speak English instead. The conversation is poor as the guys English is really limited, and I quickly realize he translates wrong every time to his friend. I tell them that after my beer I need to go, but the guys kind friend order everyone one more beer. We “speak” a little bit more and I realize the guy trying to speak English is “translating” to his friend that I will pay for all their beer during the night. I quickly drink up, tell them how nice it was to meet, pay my own beer and call it a night.

Panga coming in from Bluefields after an 2 hour ride on the river

Strange interior design in the hostel, with the toilet paper
holder outside the bathroom (in the bedroom)

Long canoes carrying passengers and goods along the river
“Rio Escondido”, meaning “hidden river”