© Czyczy - The Río Escondido, Bluefields

I thought I’d better put up this blog entry quick.

I was perusing my blog statistics and realized somebody had found their way here by googling ‘current bus managua to el rama’. No doubt she or he had been looking to make their way to Bluefields, as most people hardly spend time in El Rama itself; the town usually serves only as a connecting point to the capital of the South Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS) of Nicaragua.

First, just let me say that Bluefields is a must-do-trip while you’re in Nicaragua. Too many people give it a miss, choosing to stay only on the Pacific side of the country, understandable since the Caribbean side is purportedly more remote and both coasts are separated by a huge amount of inaccessible land. But Bluefields is worth going to for a peek at how completely different it is from the Pacific side of Nicaragua; and if nothing else… the journey itself is very enjoyable, possibly my best transportation experience in Central America thus far.

There are two options:
1) By bus and panga:

What I did was I took a night bus from Managua on the relatively new paved road to El Rama, then took a connecting panga down the Río Escondido to Bluefields at the crack of dawn the next day.

Take a bus from Managua to El Rama: Tickets can be bought from Mercado Ivan Montenegro’s bus terminal. As the counter will still be open, you can buy tickets the night of your departure itself. But to make absolutely sure you have a seat, it’s best to buy your ticket beforehand. I bought mine the afternoon I planned to leave.

The company that handles the sales of the tickets will handle both segments of your journey to Bluefields — the night bus, and then the morning panga (so make sure you check you have both tickets). All together the entire journey costs 320 Cordobas (about $USD 18). Bring identification with you when you buy your ticket.The buses leave at about 9 p.m. and you are advised to be at the terminal an hour earlier.

There are two varieties of buses — one, the chicken bus, and the other a more luxurious type of bus with windows you can’t open (it looked like it could possibly have air-conditioning) — but surprisingly, with no difference in price. The counter lady won’t ask you which one you want, she’ll just put you on whatever’s available, so if you really don’t want to travel on a chicken bus, you should mention it when you buy your ticket. As it happened, I was put on a chicken bus, and I must say it wasn’t uncomfortable. In fact, it was rather a pleasure. But I’ve always preferred chicken buses to tourist buses anyway. I like the open-ness, how you don’t feel coop up, how you can open the window and really see the place you’re traveling in.

I also got to know for a little bit a young Creole boy named John who occupied the seat next to mine. He was studying psychology in Managua but was headed back to Bluefields to see his parents and his sisters. He hadn’t been back in a year and he was so excited I could feel his anticipation bouncing off me. At any rate we spent the entire journey speaking in Spanish (although he obviously could speak English) and drooling over each other while we slept and watched what looked like a B-rated movie playing on the bus’ small, suspended television. Perfect way to get to know somebody.

The journey from Managua to El Rama takes about 6 to 7 hours, toilet/meal stops included. You will arrive at the nondescript bus terminal of El Rama between 3:00 - 4:00 a.m.

What happens when you get to Rama? When you arrive at the bus terminal in Rama, you have to go to the office stationed there to have your ticket stamped. Basically, the stamp tells you which panga you will be on. #1, 2, 3 or… 8, which leaves one after another. Funnily enough, my ticket had already been stamped back at Mercado Ivan Montenegro, and I’d been put on panga #1. So for convenience’s sake you could ask, way early on when you buy your ticket, to be put you on the first panga rather than risk being assigned to #8 when you arrive in El Rama.

Upon arrival in El Rama, you will have to wait between 1 to 2 hours for your panga ride. But don’t sweat, it’s not an interminable wait. Strike up a few conversations with the mix of Mestizos and Creoles around you and time will fly. I’d plopped myself onto the bench and within minutes of writing in my journal two young girls had struck up conversations with me and had pulled their families along into it. I’d had to alternate between speaking in Spanish to the Mestizo family to my left and speaking in English to the Creole family to my right. But the two hours just evaporated into thin air, and I was rather sad when we had to break it up as we had all been assigned to different pangas. I’d lost John at this point, too.

As for the panga ride? Well, it was great. They stuck 20-25 of us into a Titanic lifeboat-looking construction (except it’s smaller and has an engine) that is really only supposed to fit 12-16 people and they piled on the luggages and then we were revving off into the still-dark morning. And seeing the sunrise while you’re cruising down the Río Escondido is like nothing I’ve quite experienced. I swear the sky turned pink at one point. I’ve been warned by a lady I met in Nicaragua that the pangas are reportedly dangerous because there is a chance they might capsize since they are always overburdened, but actually that came as a godsend for me.

You see, you will be very cold on the panga. It moves with plenty of speed and the wind hits your face every time with the sting of a lash. The cold swims into your collar, your sleeve, anywhere you’ve left an opening… so be sure to dress warm. It’s going to take you 2 to 3 hours to get to Bluefields. And it is because I hadn’t anticipated this that I found myself being grateful for the fact that they squeezed so many of us onto one boat. Sandwiched tightly between plump Creole women and the children cradled in their laps I was kept fuzzy and warm. Because sure as hell my thin Northface windbreaker did nothing it was supposed to do.

In return, I provided comic relief. Every time the panga flew out of the water and landed on its surface, which was all the time, my head would drop suddenly to my knees, setting a kind of foolish rhythm. I would wake up intermittently to giggles and laughter as they pointed fingers at me, not even trying to hide their hilarity. But I was so tired I could only muster little rueful smiles at them before going back to sleep.

Oh, and before you start… don’t ask me what happens when it rains.

It had started raining before I boarded the panga but it silenced to a drizzle by the time my panga shed its moorings to leave. I’m glad I didn’t have to find out.

2) By plane:

If you have no qualms about heights or turbulence, and you’re constrained by time, then by all means, fly. You’ll be flying in a 12-seater if you opt for this. In a commercial airplane you always feel like you’re protected in a bubble. I promise you, there’ll be none of that in a small one.

A one-way ticket costs a little less than $USD 90, and you don’t have to make reservations in advance. Whenever you want to leave just go to the airport and purchase your ticket.

You will also have to pay an extra fee of 38 Cordobas airport tax.

The whole journey takes an hour, and here is the timetable:

Flights from Managua to Bluefields leave at
6:00 a.m., 6:30 a.m., 2:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.

From Bluefields to Managua
7:10 a.m., 8:40 a.m., 11:20 a.m., and 4:10 p.m.

I hope this information helps anybody who wants to get to Bluefields. Give me a holler if it helps you, and I’d love to hear any stories or see any photos you have of your visit, because while I was there I didn’t have a camera!