I just started whitewater paddling this year, and come December, I missed the water and was looking for pool rolling sessions. A friend of said that she had good experiences with Liquid Adventures Kayaking School, so I went to their website to register for a class. Looking around, I saw this Mexico trip. It sounded like fun -- a group of like-minded folks hanging out with a knowledgeable (bilingual) guide in parts of Mexico that I would never get to otherwise (not Cancun). The site even advertised that there would be a bit of instruction involved. Sweet. Though, admittedly, it took about a month or so of thinking I was absolutely crazy before I gave in. I am really glad I did. (This map is not very accurate -- 'tis the joy of letting someone else do all the planning and driving)
We stayed at a hotel/resort called Aventurec for the first three nights. Private cabins with hot running water? What else could you ask for on an "adventure" trip?
Oh, and there was the food -- unbelievable. Fresh fruit and delicious... well... everything, served in the dining area (shown here). The people were great too -- the staff and the guests were really friendly and we spent a bit of time here together at night, stuffed full and too tired to walk back to the cabins.
Oh yeah, and we paddled too. The first day was a warmup / skill assessment. Since it was going to be an easy day, Tom invited another guest, Selema (whose name I'm sure I'm butchering -- apologies), to come paddle too. We did a bunch of oddly fun drills, and Tom critiqued along the way. I think my favorite was sliding up on rocks, then sliding back down backwards. (From left to right, Erin, Tom, Selema)
So after we were doing drills at the very bottom of a rapid for a while, I asked Tom what class rapid it was. He said class III. Then he said we were going to run it. I told him he was crazy. He said I'd be fine. Erin was excited. Hey, why not. And it turns out that I was fine, which was wonderful. My first class III rapid in a kayak... in Mexico. Sweet.
Since it was a short day of paddling, we had time to explore Tlapacoyan in the late afternoon. We went to a market that was absolutely full of food. Shown here are dried chilis and beans.
More of Tlapacoyan. One of the neat parts of the trip was that we drove through countless small towns (and a few larger cities), which turned out to be a nice way to get a feel for Mexico. I suppose I should mention here that Tom and I came back to Tlapacoyan the next morning to take a Zumba class. There are no pictures of that. I am grateful.
The next day we went back to the same spot and headed downstream. There was another very familiar conversation -- Tom suggested we tack on another two rapids at the end of day because they were fun and had four foot standing waves. I told him he was crazy. Erin said it sounded fun. I gave in. I'm glad I did -- it was a ton of fun, and Tom was right -- I was more than prepared for it. I sort of regret not having more whitewater pictures, but it's tricky to hold the paddle and camera at the same time. Alas, here's the farmer's ford at the takeout.
There's nothing at the end of a good day of boating like not having to deal with boats and shuttles. Here's Tom and our local driver / logistics expert Jose Luis taking care of it all. So wonderful to be the lazy tourist... Thank you, guys!
The next morning day was by far the prettiest river we paddled. Again, we were on the Filo Bobos, but a little further upstream. But getting to it was a bit of a challenge. One of the reasons I chose to go on this trip was because I wanted to see parts of Mexico that I'd never see otherwise. When we left Tlapacoyan, we turned off the main road onto a gravel road. Then off that road to a two lane dirt road (here). Note the lack of guard rail and the sheer drop to the right. We then turned off on a one lane dirt road, and stopped in the middle of a banana plantation. Got out. And carried our boats.
Signs of the river to come...
...ok, so when I said we carried our boats, I really meant that we stopped and hired some of the plantation workers to carry our boats. It was no problem for them -- I was amazed...
... and then even more amazed (and grateful) after we hiked down 800 (vertical) feet into the river gorge. The purple dot in the center of the picture is Erin (for scale).
...and then when we got to the bottom, they passed us, already heading back up. Straight up. No switchbacks. Now I was really amazed (here I am, looking amazed).
Not that I wouldn't have gladly made that hike otherwise, but seeing the put in (and where we were going to paddle all day) made it clear that it was entirely worth it. This picture is a little downstream from the put in.
There were two portions of the river that Erin and I carried (but it was fun to watch Tom run them effortlessly). Here's me seal launching at the bottom of the first carry.
There were two bouldery, technical rapids on the top of the river that we did run, and they were wonderful. A few slides and drops, and otherwise we picked our way around the boulders. Tom gave us fantastic lines to follow, and there were no problems. I think, though, that this picture is actually the second rapid that we carried.
A little bit downstream, the gorge narrowed into what Tom called the Cathedral section. It was breath taking. We heard stories that further upstream was even more impressive, but I was quite content.
After some quick Cervezas, we travelled to the ruins at Cualjiote. Jose Luis knew a lot about the ruins and it was humbling to walk around and realize that these structures were 1200 years old (or more, I can't remember). Between Tom and Jose Luis, I learned quite a bit more about recent and distant Mexican history and culture than I thought I would. I'm still on the fence as to whether or not I should read Don Quixote, though.
The next day we left Tlapacoyan and drove towards Actopan. On the way we stopped a really beautiful beach on the Gulf of Mexico.
While we were out paddling in the Gulf, Jose Luis got bored and drew a perfect Liquid Adventures logo in the sand. A renaissance man indeed.
...and there was water... and there were boats... and we put two and two together. I have now successfully surfed my first ocean wave in a kayak (yay!), and bailed out of my kayak in the ocean (well, that's for the second time). Tom and Erin paddled out past the breakers (I was too chicken -- noticing a theme?), and so I stuck around and took pictures of waves breaking over the rocks.
Three Amigos?
Three more amigos? (Jose Luis is on the right)
Ok, these captions are getting redundant
Where we paddled was surprisingly close to where Cortez landed on the mainland. There were more ruins here that we explored (Quiahuitzlan). Some of the stucco on these structures (out of frame) has lasted for over a thousand years.
Another night of "roughing it."
Now, the whole trip I hadn't complained about the weather, because 60 degrees and overcast was far superior to 30 degrees and snowing. But, I was really happy when the sun came out. So much so that I woke up an hour before everyone else and ran around taking pictures. In all fairness, cloudy and cool in Mexico is as uncommon as 4 feet of snow on DC -- I think it's an El Nino year. I was still happy about the sun.
We had breakfast at Nace El Rio ("where the river is born"). It is so named, because the river literally flows out of a limestone cliff into a perfect pool.
The whole area around Nace El Rio was gorgeous. There was a trail (slippery wet rocks with the water running between them, with a 3/8" rope for "safety" :) ) to the other side of the falls where there were more tables set up in this gorgeous area. This is one pool in that area (fed by, of course, water flowing out of a cliff).
So today was waterfall day. Tom had been threatening all week that we'd have the option to run a friendly 16 foot waterfall. Continuing the theme of the trip, Tom offered, I said he was crazy, and Erin said it sounded fun. Only this time, Erin had her camera out, so she could capture the color on my face. Yes, that's white with... determination.
... but continuing with the theme of the trip, I decided to go for it too, and I'm really glad I did. Incidentally, this picture is about a second before my first combat roll ever (yay!)
This was the rapid just down stream from the pool. Tom said he thought we could do the following day "if we felt confident in our rolls." I thought about it for a second, more than anything else to be amazed that I'd improved enough during the week to even consider it, but opted out. He ran it anyway, which was a pleasure to watch.
The Actopan River was wonderful -- nearly nonstop class II, with a bit of class III thrown in for good measure. A lot of the features were small enough that we could play in them -- we surfed (and side surfed) a few waves and generally had a good time. The river itself wound through Mango orchards. We stopped for lunch here in the middle of one of them.
We had a bit of time after we got off of the river, so we wandered around the town center of Actopan. Maybe it was the sun, and the children playing in the church yard, but everyone seemed to be happy. It was really pleasant.
The last morning we went back for breakfast at Nace El Rio, ran the waterfall again, and then continued downstream. This section of the Actopan was narrower than the section we had done yesterday, and was more class III than class II. It was a nice finish to the trip.
I think the highlight of the day for me was eddying out right below the waterfall in the last picture.
We got to the take out and I (for one) wasn't ready to go. The last little play spot was within sight of the restaurant, and I stayed there for a good long time, not really wanting to face the inevitable. But alas, it had to happen, and more tasty food is always a good incentive. This was our last lunch on the river (well, or part of it). For the life of me I can't remember the name of this vegetable, but it was grown all over the place (in between the mango groves).
The Last Supper
Fortunately, Erin reminded her that I we had promised to take a shot of tequila together. Without the risk of paddling hungover, now seemed like a great time. Dos tequila, y dos cervezas, por favor.
The restaurant was a mom and pop operation, and it wasn't too busy, so they had their son serve us. You of course understand why we took this picture.
Tom was a surprisingly good sport about it all, knowing that he was about to get into the car with the two of us, mildly loopy. It wasn't that bad... I hope...
So after spending the week in really nice, but fairly rustic places, we arrived in Puebla, and walked into our hotel (still smelling a bit like Tequila and river water). A gentleman in a very nice suit opened the door for us and welcomed us in. Shower anyone?
Our last breakfast (in the hotel) before we got on the bus to Mexico City. What a phenomenal trip.
