S-turn rapid
Photo by John McConville
After paddling for about a week out of Ciudad Valles we decided that we wanted to move on and check out some more rivers of Mexico. So we threw our boats back on Linda and started driving south into the state of Veracruz. Our next destination was the city on Tlapacoyan, but before we got there we took a pit stop to check out El Tajin, one of Mexico's many archeological ruins.
A few photos I took at El Tajin
When we arrived in Tlapacoyan it was pretty late and the hostel was locked and looked shut down for the night, but luckily we found a worker and managed to communicate our need for a room. So they unlocked the gate to Adventure Recreation (sounded like the place for us) and in we went. There were several other vehicles from the US inside the gate and a lot of kayak gear. We followed the worker back to the dinning cabana where we ran into some friends ours; It's funny how small the kayaking community becomes the longer your a part of it. It just so happened that World Class Kayak Academy, a high school for kayakers, was staying at the same hostel. Along with the students and teachers from WCK, there were several alumni that Chris and I happen to know.
Davis Gove on one of the many rapids of the Roadside
Photo by John McConville
The next day we attempted to find the elusive Big Banana section of the Alseseca, but after driving around for awhile the group got together and decided to split up. Half of the group decided to keep trying to find the Big Banana, and the other half of us decided to do some kayaking. So me, John McConville, Chris Baer, Davis Gove, and Adriene Levknecht set shuttle and off we went for one crazy day of kayaking.
Photo by John McConville
Adriene and Davis had both been on the Roadside, so we decided to leave our cameras in the car and just rally down this section. I don't know who thought it would be a good idea to let Adriene lead, but thats what ended up happening.
Adriene Levkencht on S-Turn Rapid
Photo by John McConville
Adriene is a great kayaker, but her rapid description are not what I would call first class. So, with some pretty sketchy descriptions we routed one of the most continuous sections of whitewater that we paddled in Mexico. The Roadside is low volume and very continuous. There are some sticky holes and fun drops on this section. Probably my favorite rapid on the section is called S-turn. It has a slide lead in that puts you in this narrow, twisting hallway. So we didn't get out to look at it, just listened to Adriene's beta and off we went. Unfortunately for me I managed to flip upside down and my paddle ended up breaking in the center and I ran the rest of this rapid upside down.
Chris Baer
Photo by John McConville
Along with our cameras, I also decided to take my break-down paddle out of my boat since the section is called the Roadside. Luckily Chris had a pair of hand paddles in his boat. Previous to this point I have never used hand paddles, but no worries, we were only kayaking some a class IV-V section that I had never seen before.
I have to say I kinda enjoyed the hand paddles, but I wish we had brought the cameras though. Everyone kept laughing when I would come off of drops because I would put my hand paddles together in a diving motion as I entered the water. So incase you haven't figured it out by now, all these photos are from a different day on the Roadside.
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