Mexico A Kayakers Guide by Jake Holland

Posted on Wednesday 5th December, 2012

MexicoA place famed for its white sunny beaches, ancient Mayan ruins and steep creeks! This guide, aimed as a helpful information pack, which I hope, might make planning your trip a little easier.image When to GoWe arrived on the 10th of October and left on the 13th of November, before this is the rainy season and following this is a drier period. It seems like October/November is a popular time of year, as there were plenty of other kayakers.Over the time we were there, we saw fairly low water levels, it only really rained twice, but there was still plenty to paddle.image

How to Get ThereAfter much research on flights, it was decided we would fly with Virgin Airlines, as they take kayaks for free. The negative side of this plan was that they only fly into Cancun, which is a 3-day drive up to Tlapacoyan, where the bulk of kayaking is.It must be said that Virgin were great to fly with and very helpful with the kayaks.It cost us roughly £700 for direct flights from the UK. If you fly into Mexico City, it is only a 5-hour drive to Tlapacoyan.CurrencyThe Mexican Peso. In 2012 it was 20 Peso’s to £1. This definitely made the British Pound feel like a strong currency.image         
LanguageEveryone speaks Spanish, and only a few speak English. However, speaking fluent Spanish is not essential, as we proved! It always seems to work out somehow or another.Living expensesWe travelled around allot, and found that living expenses varied quite a bit. In general, if you are in a city it will be more expensive than in a smaller town. On average, I probably spent about £7 a day on food and £4 on accommodation.AccommodationIn big cities such as Cancun you can expect to pay about £20 - £30 for a three-person room, however when you get into smaller towns prices drop to more like £10 - £15 for a three-person room.In Tlapacoyan we stayed with Aventurec, who are a family run raft company with accommodation set amongst their beautiful sight. They have three different options: camping, a bunk style hostel and several different size Cabanas. We hired one of their larger Cabanas, which slept nine of us (£3 per night per person, amazing value!). They can provide awesome breakfasts and dinners for a reasonable price. They are able to provide transport from and too the river, as well a hiring out a modern fleet of boats - this makes it possible to fly into Mexico city without boats or having to hire a car and Aventurec can provide the rest - http://www.aventurec.com/FoodTacos, Tacos and more Tacos! Possibly, not as you imagine. The Mexican taco’s back home in the UK are a bit of a lie! In reality when you order Tacos you usually, get five small taco wraps, usually fried often with a kebab type meat on top, finished with some chopped vegetables and chilli sauce. These definitely became our stable, some of us loved them, others, myself included were not so fussed. One of my favourites was the BBQ chicken experience - you see a few of these about and it is all about finding the right one! When by the sea, make sure you try some fresh fish; you will often see the Fishermen bringing in a healthy haul each morning.imageBeerOf course this is an important substance on any kayaking holiday, expect to pay 10 -15 Peso’s (50p - 80p) per bottle.imageGetting AroundWe hired two cars to get about in, which worked out as £1350 per car, for five weeks. The cars we had were Dodge Journeys, a very comfortable 2 wheel drive SUV. These did the job very well; they were capable of taking five people, with all our kit and kayaks. A 4 x 4 is not really necessary but some of the put in & take out roads can be interesting!Before leaving people had told me that driving around Mexico was dangerous, we did not really find this to be the case. There is a well-developed road system across Mexico. For the longer drives I would recommend using the toll roads, these tend to be in good condition and allow you to drive at 70MPH with ease. They do charge, but I think they are worthwhile and are definitely a safer drive. The free roads (Libre) do the job around towns, and for getting to places, which do not have a toll road. Beware of the speed bumps, they jump out of nowhere and will send you and your mates through the roof!imagePolice

It is worth knowing a little about the ‘Long arm of the Law’. In 5 weeks we were stopped countless times by different road blocks (set up to stop drug trafficking) Have your passport, drivers license, rental documents and passenger passports to hand. They may ask to check around the car, this usually did not take long. Army personnel service some and others by police, the army tended to be less corrupt and friendlier, but have bigger guns! We ended up paying three bribes; one because the Police were being naughty, one because I was being naughty (I ran a red light) and the other because we were in Mexico City with the wrong type of number plate.

Hospitals

No trip seems to be complete without a visit to the hospital, on this trip we had to deal with a broken back. The hospital care seemed OK, but nothing too advanced. We also had a trip to the dentist with a broken tooth, he did a good job fixing it for a tenth of the UK price - Any fillings, get them done out there!

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Night LifeThe classic tourist nightlife is in Cancun, as for the rest of Mexico, is how you find it and what you make of it. Locals always seemed friendly towards us, even when walking in some of the dingier parts of town.imageRiversThe following is not a river guide, just some helpful information on the rivers that we paddled. Many of the following rivers are quite steep and technical, and filled with horizon lines, Mexico has its fair share of clean drops and slides, but also its fair share of the bad and ugly, so do not be lazy, get out and scout!imageTlapacoyan Area Filobobos ruins Section (class 2 - 3+) A good ‘off the plane - warm up’ run. This section takes you down cliff-lined jungle on fun ‘boulder garden’ rapids. It is one of the local raft runs. For added perks there is a Mayan temple hidden within this section, although I must confess we never found it. Rio Alseseca Roadside Section (class 4 - 4+) A classic creek. ‘Bedrock fun’, which just keeps giving in a ‘pool drop’ style. This was a great run for most abilities; everything here was scouted with ease, and allowed for portages when necessary. The first third of the run was filled with fun drops and slides, which will bring you down to S-Bend, the main event. S-bend is an impressively long, steep slide (portage left if you do not fancy it) some way after this you will go under a small concrete bridge, which is a possible takeout. Otherwise carry on down to the main road bridge and take out on the left. imageBig Banana Section (Class 4 - 5) Wow. This run is a definite step up from roadside and it holds some amazing white water. This is a run not to be taken lightly, the put in is hard to find and it can take quite some time to paddle your way down the river on your first time (it took us 6 hours) so best to find someone to show you the way. In this section, you will find some classic drops such as Silencio (40-foot boof), Meat Locker (a double drop affair) and many other fun drops. Towards the end of the run you find yourself in the Pesmar section, and then take out at the road bridge before Tomata one.image Pesmar Section (class 3-4) A shorter but fun section. From Tomata falls carry on driving up the hill for roughly 2km, on a tight left hand bend you will see a turn off for a campground. Drive down here and put on for a shorter section back to the main road bridge. The main event in here is a fun double drop.imageTomata 1 (20m Waterfall) It is big, and scary, but it is flat above and flat below! There are two lines one on river left, and one that is right of centre. When we were there, I opted for the right of centre line, which has a harder lip, but bigger boil. The important thing to realize is that Tomata 2 lurks just bellow! Once you have run it, paddle the next small drop, and take out immediately in the small pool on river right. From here traverse along the riverbank for 30 meters or so (in a downstream direction), then climb out, and pull the boats up with throw bags afterwards.imageUpper Jalacingo (class 4-5) Another jungle filled event. It has a few magical drops such as Bukaki, which is a steep, twisting slide straight into a 20 footer it looks like nothing else! The rest of the run is a mix of the good, bad and ugly so don’t be too surprised when you are walking yet another rapid! Again, this is the kind of run, which would be a lot quicker with someone knowing the lines, and showing you where to portage. There is a longer portage near the beginning of the river around a nasty 50 footer. It is also worth noting that the put in and take out tracks are quite steep and bumpy.North of Tlapacoyan Cascada Micos (Class fun?)The Rio Micos is a playground for kayaks. Located a few miles west of Ciudad Valles is the rafting company ‘Aldea Huasteca’. They have several beautiful Cabanas located at the get off for the Micos. Accommodation worked out at about £6 per person per night. It is a brilliant clean camp, surrounded by mountains with nice facilities.The Rio Micos has an intriguing geography to it. It was formed by episodic deposition of Calcite, which came from the high mineral content in the water. The accumulation of these minerals over the steep gradient of the riverbed forms dams, which in turn forms waterfalls for us to paddle. The Calcite in the water is also responsible for the funky blue colour of the water.To find the put-in, drive from the campground on river right for approximately 3 - 4 km. You will come to a lay by with locked metal gates. Walk down from here to find a large bore water pipe, follow the steps down to a big pool below a 70-foot waterfall.The Micos is a completely different kayaking experience and is the very definition of ‘pool drop’ Each pool is separated by a river wide horizon line, simply pull up to a shallower part of the lip, peer over the edge, and spot your line, brilliant! The main event is a very clean 30-foot fall on the right, or a slide into a 20-foot drop on the left. We lapped this one 10 times in one run.Salta (class 3 - 4) The Salta is the upper section to the Micos. Put in on the small road bridge over the Dam canal; be careful of the first small drop - a fast shoot with a cave on the right. Following this is a fun 15 footer. The rest of the river comprised of shallow ledge drops, which reminded me of a garden water feature. Take out river left above the very large cascade; you can get a beer in the bar that overlooks it.Río Santa María We paddled the section above the Cascada de Tamul. I would not recommend it to anyone, there are many long flat sections, which link the gorges, and they full of horrendous sieves - Do not do it!imageSouth of Tlapacoyan Agua Azul We had seen some amazing photos published in Kayak Session Magazine showing off, vivid blue water dropping over waterfalls. As it was on our way back to Cancun we thought we might stop in. The Agua azul, is located in the state of Chiapas, 60km from Palenque. When we arrived we were uninspired by what we found - heaps of low volume falls and slides, most of which were a ‘no go’. Instead, we spent our time swimming in the pools. Perhaps with more time and energy you might find the goods?!The OroThe Rio Oro is a rare beast, crystal blue water carves its way down through glorious dark basalt gorges, pool drop rapids await at each corner until she finally gives way to the much warmer Gulf of Mexico.You need to drive to the small village of Punta Roca Partida, ask for a man named El Flaco. This sounds mad, but it is what we did and it worked! On arrival, we found El Flaco, who hooked us up with accommodation, food and showed us the put on to the river! To put in you have to walk for about an hour across various farmers’ fields, so you will need his help. Once on the river you will paddle a few fun class 3’s that lead you down into a couple of meaty pour over’s. It is worth setting up safety here as they can hold boats.Follow the river down to a big horizon, here you will find a sweet looking 30 footer - we had an epic here, one of our group broke his back, which resulted in a 6 hour rescue. The lesson learned, do not boof this one! If you decided to run this first fall you will be locked into the gorge, the only easy way out of here is to run the next 30 footer, which has a delicious rolling lip. If you do not fancy this, you can portage river right, and walk down to the bottom of the second drop.From here follow the river down through easier water to where it meets the sea; enjoy surf, beer and food!imageSummaryMexico as a kayaking location lends itself more to the advance paddler, with plenty of harder runs, and relatively few easy sections. Therefore, if you are looking for a place to kayak countless waterfalls and steep slides in an exotic setting, this is a definite contender.Jake Hollandjake ve man