Alright, so this is how it went. I found the biggest duffel bag I could and stuffed it full of food and kayaking equipment. I dragged it to the airport and hopped on a plane. In 21 short hours of car, then plane and finally bus, I was in Tlapacoyan, Mexico. We started out on one of the coolest sections of river I have ever run, known as the Tablaso section of the Alsaseca. "Tablaso" means to get slapped in the face. The coolest rapid on that section is pictured below. The river makes two really sharp bends then continues on through a really narrow fast channel. SWEEEET!!!
The next day, we did the Super Alto Filo Bobos. This river started out with some really nice creeky drops. Including the one pictured where I boofed and then all the water immediately went into a pour-over slide. Then some side streams came in and it became more of a creeky river. We continued on down and did the class III-IV Alto Filo Bobos as well. This was a 20 mile day on the river. To celebrate the long hard day, I bought some tamales from a street vendor lady. I had also saved some apple cake to celebrate. I took a bite of the apple cake, only to discover a huge cockroach. This made me loose my appetite so I gave away my tamales. The poor fool who ate them got really sick and I was fine. Luck comes in all shapes and sizes.The Rio de Oro is really where it's at though. We parked in a cattle field and shouldered our boats for about 20 minutes to the creek. The ocean is visible from the cattle field and you put in right below where the river perculates from the ground. The river is primarily a volcanic canyon with incredible water quality. After some quality drops the river drops into the coolest cauldron canyon I have seen. The first drop is 30 foot plus drop where you do a cross current move, rock boofing off the left side and freefalling down. It's very unique. A few rapids later there is another 30-ish drop. But this one is perfectly clean. Very Classic.
After those couple hundred feet, the committing canyon ends and it is all smooth sailing until you get to the ocean. We had some 6 foot waves, waiting for us to surf. Signing off for now,
Nathan Sass
Photocred: Ajay "I am giving up kayaking to live in Ohio" Sapre
