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Toward the end of last summer, I realized I was missing something…some might call it solid boat control, or maybe even a reliable brace. I just knew something was wrong. I was often frustrated, upside down, and out of breath. Betrayed by my boat and my confidence, I was starting to feel a little sorry for myself and even contemplating throwing in the paddle. I read somewhere, maybe in AW, that Anna Levesque was leading a women’s trip to Mexico called ‘Girls At Play’. I was immediately sure that this trip was exactly what I needed to get through my upside-down-kayak-related depression. Aaahhh, a little R&R with the girls in the Mexican sunshine. There I would find some new rivers, morning yoga sessions, maybe a little tequila, and the self-confidence I had been missing on the river for what seemed like far too long. After a day of boating at home on the Poudre, I asked Sarah Dentoni if she would please please puh-lease go with me to Mexico on this great trip. It will be so good for us! We will learn so much! You haaaaave to go with me. She thought about it for a couple of months, and eventually agreed. Sweet, a plan and a partner. Jill Hardiman called from Hood River and said she had also signed up, and soon we were all headed to Veracruz, Mexico. We gave ourselves a couple of extra days on each end of the trip to play and check things out. Veracruz-style street meat, the local bus system, and the rainforest resort adorned with photos of Sean Connery kept us entertained until the rest of the girls arrived.
Adventuras Sin Limites
We met our new boating partners in Veracruz…Irene came all the way from the UK with her boat, Kathy headed south from Texas, Jaime came from North Carolina where her husband designs Wavesport boats, and Jeannie traveled from Oregon. We got outfitted and we got on the river. Day one was a warm up and orientation sort of day on a class 2-3 section of the Antiqua River. We became familiar with our surroundings, our new boats, and the local bug. It hit each of us one at a time. On the way to basecamp, on the way to the put-in, the next morning, and so on. Honestly, it didn’t matter that much. We were definitely rocked and running to the bathroom throughout the week. But we were so psyched to be there and to be paddling new rivers that we all just worked through it and rolled with the illness. The people, the scenery, surroundings, and exciting whitewater more than made up for the time spent in Montezuma-land. Our base camp was the beautifully hospitable Adventuras Sin Limites (adventures without limits), with
its delicious food and tropical atmosphere in the town of Jacamulco. We had found paradise, and it was happy hour. Mojitos made with the local cane liquor, and a lovely platter of fresh cut veggies awaited us at the bar.
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| A place to hang out at Adventuras Sin Limites (Photo by Holley Gardel) |
Day two was the incredibly beautiful Actopan River. Lush tropical plants, waterfalls, a crystal blue river, choyote farms, and an 18-foot drop at the put-in. I was definitely scared when I saw it from our approach. I looked at Anna…are you kidding? I have never dropped a waterfall in my life and you want me to hit this thing right off the bat? I watched everyone go, and finally got in my boat, took 2 strokes and dropped in. Rock me. I climbed up and ran it 2 more times, and was really pumped to see the rest of the river. We continued down in our assigned teams, escorted by Anna and Erin, Isabelle, and Lacey from the Canadian Esprit Rafting support team. Anna had us work on our boof the entire day, sometimes following her like a line of colorful ducklings, sometimes taking the lead. Anna and the Esprit gals were really good about making us all get out in front throughout the day, which was great for me. I tend to be a follower and can sometimes freak out when I find myself out in front because I’m afraid
I’ll misread the water. This day was a big boost to my confidence in my own skills. We must have boofed a thousand rocks and were starting to get the hang of it. There were a couple of swims in the group, a few shaken nerves, and a lot of smiles on that sunny day. The run ended at a riverside restaurant where our meals were waiting for us…looking at us, actually. A whole fish with the eyes and everything. It was as delicious as it was scary.
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| Jill wondering, “Really? This is the put-in?” (Photo by HG) |
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| Holley taking the plunge (Photo by Sarah Dentoni) |
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| Sarah’s game face |
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| Anna the surf coach |
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| Locals cultivating watercress in the middle of the river (Photo by HG) |
Overnighter
The next morning we rise early to prepare for our 3-day overnight trip on the Barranca Grande section of the Antigua River. The river runs through a spectacular canyon and is fast and furious. As we approach the high point of the road, we stop for a scenic vista overlooking the canyon. It’s chilly and overcast, and from here the river looks pretty much all white and we are nervous. “Ten miles today? What do you mean when you say continuous whitewater? Are we going to be able to do this? Are we going to get our asses kicked?” And on went the list of all questions that could possibly be asked by a van full of women on our way to the unknown. Anna has a high tolerance for chicken-shit, and she put up with our constant barrage of questions about what was coming up or what was around the corner or whether or not we should be worried about the next rapid. At some point along the trip, she finally let us have it. “OK ladies, I’m laying down the law! YOU have plenty of the skills and confidence needed to get
through whatever is coming up around the corner. I’m not taking you into something that you won’t be able to handle, and you DON’T need to know about every little move that will need to be made in advance. Use what you’ve got and read the water and let’s move on.” At least, that was more or less of what she said. And we knew she meant business…and that she was right. We looked at each other and laughed and moved on.
Today we do 10 miles of honkin’ fast and narrow class III and IV water with few places to stop. Small eddies break up the paddle-fu, and aside from our lunch stop, there were not many opportunities to rest. There were lots of wide eyes and deep breaths this day as we navigated, what was for many of us, the most challenging water we had ever run. This is where I will introduce Kathy. Kathy is a 43-year-old mom of two grown kids, and is from Texas. She decided just a couple of years ago that she was going to learn how to paddle, with or without her husband. Talk about a tough cookie. Some of what we ran this week was clearly much harder than the water she felt comfortable on, and she swam and swam and never complained. The only time I saw her upset this day was when she told me after her 3rd swim that she was afraid they were going to make her get in the raft. After the 4th swim, she actually volunteered, as it was a cold and long day by now. I realized, after watching how she handled herself on this trip,
how much I admired her for doing something totally beyond everyday life in Texas (you can’t bring a curling iron on the river) and tackling something as tough as whitewater kayaking on her own. She uses trips like this to practice since whitewater is hard to come by in Texas, and she does NOT give in easily. I am certain that if I had the same experience as she did on this day, I would have cried and there would have been some drama. There were a couple times later in the week when one of us in the group might have cried (OK my eyes watered a bit on my sick-day after I walked that big rapid), but then we’d think of Kathy and realize that we really couldn’t act like such a wuss after all that she had endured and accomplished.
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| Sweating on a cold day at the put-in. “Oh my god. How bad is it going to be? Do you think we’re going to make it?” Then Sarah says, “I have a feeling that boof stroke we practiced yesterday is going to come in reeeeeaaaaaal handy.” (Photo by HG) |
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| Never a dull meal. Today’s sampler came with rolled cold cuts and Oreos. There was no shortage of food, really good food, over the week. What we dubbed the “Float and Bloat” became what Kathy called the “Swim and Trim” when she noticed that her pants were too big for her one night at camp. (Photo by HG) |
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| Andrew Holcombe making sure all is well, as Jill navigates the bend |
As the day grew longer, and visions of dinner and cocktails toyed with us, we started asking if we were there yet, and Erin told us over and over that we were about to run the last rapid. “I’m almost positive that the last rapid is just around the corner”. And after several of those last rapids, we portaged a sieve and the end was in sight. We hiked up a beautiful stone pathway through the coffee plantations of Amititla, and camped on a coffee platform lent to us by a local family. After another fantastic meal of coconut shrimp, rice and dessert, we slept hard in anticipation of our morning yoga session and our continued descent down the Barranca Grande.
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| Clearing the way for the farmer and his horse (Photo by HG) |
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| Morning yoga on the coffee platform |
Day 2 on the Barranca Grande greeted us with sunshine, and we were stoked. Knowing that the hard stuff was now behind us and we could relax a bit…at least until the next hard stuff, which was coming up sooner than we expected. This stretch of the river was also continuous whitewater, not quite as tough as the day before, but a challenge nonetheless. At some point Anna had us practice running into the canyon wall, since we all seemed to be doing it anyway, so we could get more comfortable with the tight exit on several of the rapids. Many of them occurred at the bends in the river, which meant we would end up bonking into the wall on our way around and sometimes flipping against it. She taught us how to lean into the wall the way you would lean into a rock in the middle of the river, and push off of it with control. What a difference. After our little wall-bonking session, we all felt better about encountering this obstacle, and it gave us a whole new outlook on canyon boating.
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| Surf stop in the sun |
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| The bull portage (Photo by HG) |
Girl Carnage
Day 3 introduced us to the Four IV’s of the Barranca Grande, with steep drops and sharp corners. At this water level, they might have been more like the Four IV-‘s, but they definitely kept us alert as every new corner brought something exciting. Our group was a bit smaller, as we had lost Kathy and Jaime to “the bug”, and Irene went to the hospital to get her hand x-rayed after a nasty upside down crash into the boulders on river left. Our 3-day trip down the Barranca had been action-packed with swims and close calls, and challenging whitewater and we were a tired bunch of girls. By the time I ran the White Witch of the Pescados, I was feeling pretty tough and howled an evil laugh on my way through the rapid. Just as I was telling her that she wasn’t such a scary witch, I let down my guard and was yanked right into the wall and pulled upside down. She definitely had the last laugh, and I was reminded that it’s a great idea to keep paddling until you are all the way through the rapid.
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| Holley in the Pescados |
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| Jill in one of the Four IV’s |
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| Sarah going deep |
We took out in Jacamulco and walked back up to base camp. I was exhausted after a rough night with the bug and I tried to nap off the last of my illness, while the rest of the girls went for a hike. Unfortunately, I missed some naked rope swinging into a swimming hole surrounded by mango trees. But I wanted to rest up for the Temascal we would do later that night. A Temascal is an Aztec version of a native sweat lodge, and it was incredible. A good friend of Anna’s taught us about the Temascal as we were sitting there in the hot dark lodge. We had enjoyed several great days with this group of fantastic women, and this was a nice way to end our stay in Jacamulco. Cleansed and refreshed, we stripped down and jumped into the pool after emerging from the intense heat of the lodge. And shortly after, a beautiful meal was waiting for us on the patio, complete with red wine and music.
Natural Wonder
Our last day was the best. Absolutely the best. And again, I was scared. We headed up the windy mountain road above Jalapa to get to the put-in of the Tomata River. A pool-drop paradise. Drop after drop into deep still water in the sunshine. The first several slides were easy and fun, and they became increasingly bigger and more challenging. The section we ran might have been about a mile by the road, but we got out and scouted every rapid and safety was set up on the significant ones, so it took us most of the day to get through it. The first big rapid we looked at took some serious talking about before I decided to run it. There is something really empowering about the way we would examine a rapid as a group of all women. I mean we really spent some time looking at it and talking about it, and talking about the consequences if something should go wrong. That motivating factor called testosterone does not come into play as much when considering what to run. Several of the drops we paddled today were big
enough that I considered walking them. The thing about paddling with Jill and Sarah is that they will always volunteer to go first, which means that I can usually see what happens to them before making any decisions. They both went and survived, which meant I couldn’t really walk it. And once again, I surprised myself. Anna said “If you ever did want to run something like this, now is the time to do it. With all the safety and extra people here, this is the best time to try something new.” She was right, and successfully running something that you are scared of is an intensely great feeling. Something that was really comforting in making my choice to run or not, was seeing the safety in action. To me, safety had always meant that someone was hanging out in the eddy below the drop, ready to chase you if you swam. Or maybe standing on the shore with a throw bag. Although I had taken two SWR courses, I had never seen effective safety with ropes in place in a real boating situation. Because of the
retentiveness of the seams at the bottom of a couple of big drops, Anna’s crew set up “live bait” safety across the river and it was a real learning experience to witness the technique being exercised. Once you realize that the worst that can happen is that you will swim and be recovered right there, well, there is really no reason not to run it.
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| Unnamed rapid on the Tomata |
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| Sarah D dropping it like it’s hot (with live bait safety set up at the seam) |
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| All smiles… |
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| Yeah, I’ll put the screwball in the corner pocket |
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| Rock & Roll |
I never would have thought I could run rapids like I did that day, and it gave me such a great feeling of confidence and accomplishment. When you are a beginning paddler, nothing really seems that scary because you haven’t had enough experiences to know what scary means. But after several years, and several ass-kickings, the learning curve seems to level out at some point. That point where you need to step it up to make big progress, but stepping it up means the chances of getting spanked increase too. I think I’ve been stuck at this place for a couple of years, and the week spent in Mexico with the girls was just what the doctor ordered. I’m not saying that I’ll never be scared on the river again, or that I’ve been permanently cured of my head games. But I think I really examined my fears on this trip, I think we all did. I know that we all left as better boaters than we arrived, and that boating with other strong women is so valuable. Anna and her staff were so fantastic…all very capable paddlers and
enjoyable to be around. The accommodations were fun, the meals were satisfying, the yoga relaxing, and the boating superb. The quality of the trip far surpassed my expectations, and those of the others as well. In a week, I went from considering throwing in the paddle to considering how I can more effectively use my paddle. Sarah, Jill and I had an excellent time together and met some super women that we hope to see again. Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s getting about time to head up the canyon…I can’t wait to play on the Poudre again!
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| Our fearless leader |
Thanks so much to Anna Levesque, Erin and Jim Coffey and their staff (Isabelle, Lacey, and Brook) from Esprit Rafting in Canada, and Andrew Holcombe. You all are very good at what you do!
For more information about Girls At Play - Mexico or Anna’s other organized trips, check out her website at www.watergirlsatplay.com. You can also pick up her instructional videos for women and some cool t-shirts on the website.
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