Andrew and I recently arrived in Jalcomulco, Veracruz, Mexico to run our winter kayaking trips. It feels good to be back in this small town on the shores of the Antigua River. We’ve gotten a few days of paddling in between eating yummy tacos, tostadas, fresh pineaple and papaya. We wake up to the sounds of roosters, pigs and, of course, latin music. The weather has actually surprised us with some rain — not common during the dry season and great for river levels.

Yesterday we decided to run the 28 km section of river called the Barranca Grande. It’s a beautiful river with crystal clear water, lush flora and towering canyon walls. The rapids are quick and technical with no flatwater in between — especially in the top section so the first half is one long, exciting rapid. The last section has four class IV rapids called the Four IVs that are more drop-pool. We take three days to run the river on our advanced co-ed trip, but yesterday we ran it in one day — five hours — to be exact. We wanted to get a recon run in before our trips start. It was long, but beautiful and I was happy to see ospreys, hawks, oro pendulas, butterflies and a heard of cows who decided to follow us for awhile by running down the side of the bank beside us!

The river has changed with this season’s high water so it was good to get familiar with the new lines. It’s actually changed for the better with fun, new rapids and deeper channels. There’s an energy in the rivers here that is really awesome and that draws me back year after year. I’ll be posting more updates and photos from out trips so stay tuned for more to come….