{"id":17395,"date":"2015-02-01T20:19:34","date_gmt":"2015-02-01T20:19:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/?p=17395"},"modified":"2015-02-01T20:19:34","modified_gmt":"2015-02-01T20:19:34","slug":"mexico-for-mere-mortals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/mexico-for-mere-mortals\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexico for mere mortals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m pretty lucky to get good leave allowance where I work, so can usually get away for one foreign <a title=\"Boating in the Caucasus mountains\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/?p=16891\">&#8220;lads&#8221; boating trip<\/a> a year on harder rivers, plus one holiday with my better half which (due to her understanding my kayaking addiction) usually involves a good amount of boating &#8211; though generally at a more sedate grade!<\/p>\n<p>Despite all manner of awesome footage coming out of Mexico showing enormous falls and grade 5 rapids, the country also harbours some excellent rivers at lower grades \u2013 i.e. runnable by mere mortals. Selectively chosen pictures of scenic sunny grade 3 \/ 4 persuaded my better half and another couple of friends that this was an excellent destination for a boating holiday, and promises of epic food and sunshine sealed the deal.<\/p>\n<p>The first week was spent in and around Ciudad Valles in the north.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17397\" style=\"width: 588px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Bec-on-the-Micos.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17397\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17397\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Bec-on-the-Micos.jpg\" alt=\"The unique travertine slides of the Micos were an awesome warm-up\" width=\"578\" height=\"383\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Bec-on-the-Micos.jpg 578w, https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Bec-on-the-Micos-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-17397\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The unique travertine slides of the Micos were an awesome warm-up<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Mark-on-the-Micos.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-17402\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Mark-on-the-Micos.jpg\" alt=\"Mark-Skirrow-on-the-Micos\" width=\"578\" height=\"383\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Mark-on-the-Micos.jpg 578w, https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Mark-on-the-Micos-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17403\" style=\"width: 588px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Micos-just-like-Disneyland.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17403\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17403\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Micos-just-like-Disneyland.jpg\" alt=\"Micos: just like Disneyland\" width=\"578\" height=\"405\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Micos-just-like-Disneyland.jpg 578w, https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Micos-just-like-Disneyland-300x210.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-17403\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Despite some of the falls dropping &gt;25ft, they were all super friendly with wide lines and minimal holes.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17406\" style=\"width: 588px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Team-on-the-Tampaon-River.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17406\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17406\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Team-on-the-Tampaon-River.jpg\" alt=\"Joining a rafting trip on the Tampaon River (the promised sunshine didn't appear for this one, but it was still a stunning run)\" width=\"578\" height=\"383\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Team-on-the-Tampaon-River.jpg 578w, https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Team-on-the-Tampaon-River-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-17406\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joining a rafting trip on the Tampaon River (the promised sunshine didn&#8217;t appear for this one, but it was still a stunning little grade 3 run)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17408\" style=\"width: 588px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Tim-on-El-Salto-section.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17408\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17408\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Tim-on-El-Salto-section.jpg\" alt=\"The main event on the El Salto river\" width=\"578\" height=\"383\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Tim-on-El-Salto-section.jpg 578w, https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Tim-on-El-Salto-section-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-17408\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The main event on the El Salto river<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17396\" style=\"width: 588px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Amie-on-El-Salto-section.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17396\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17396\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Amie-on-El-Salto-section.jpg\" alt=\"Just like paddling through ornamental gardens!\" width=\"578\" height=\"383\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Amie-on-El-Salto-section.jpg 578w, https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Amie-on-El-Salto-section-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-17396\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Just like paddling through ornamental gardens!<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17405\" style=\"width: 359px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Spectacular-Santa-Maria-takeout.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17405\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Spectacular-Santa-Maria-takeout.jpg\" alt=\"The Cascade de Tamul indicating the spectacular (if rather gruelling) take-out on the Santa Maria river\" width=\"349\" height=\"578\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Spectacular-Santa-Maria-takeout.jpg 349w, https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Spectacular-Santa-Maria-takeout-181x300.jpg 181w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 349px) 100vw, 349px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-17405\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Cascade de Tamul indicating the spectacular (if rather gruelling) take-out on the Santa Maria river<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>We then moved on down to Aventurec in Tlapacoyan for our second week of boating. Given the <a title=\"Rey del R\u00edo in M\u00e9xico\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/?p=17299\">Rey del Rio<\/a> competition down in Chiapas had just finished and many of the competitors were stopping off at Aventurec before heading home, I was hoping to sneak off for a day of harder boating and at least get a run down the classic Big Banana section of the Alseseca \u2013 or maybe one of the big falls that Mexico is famous for. Unfortunately I managed to injure my back on my first day&#8217;s run down the roadside Alseseca section. This put paid to any chance of running anything harder for the rest of the trip \u2013 but at least it gives me an excuse to return one day!<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17401\" style=\"width: 393px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Lower-Filo-bobos.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17401\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17401\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Lower-Filo-bobos.jpg\" alt=\"A Sunday cruise down the Filobobos river with the Reinoso family who run Aventurec\" width=\"383\" height=\"578\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Lower-Filo-bobos.jpg 383w, https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Lower-Filo-bobos-199x300.jpg 199w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 383px) 100vw, 383px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-17401\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Sunday cruise down the Filobobos river with the Reinoso family who run Aventurec<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17398\" style=\"width: 588px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Julian-runs-S-turns.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17398\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17398\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Julian-runs-S-turns.jpg\" alt=\"Alseseca Roadside: Julian Sch\u00e4fer on the crux rapid of the run; S-turn\" width=\"578\" height=\"383\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Julian-runs-S-turns.jpg 578w, https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Julian-runs-S-turns-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-17398\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alseseca Roadside: Julian Sch\u00e4fer on the crux rapid of the run; S-turn<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>There are also a load of touristy things to do in Mexico, which we had a bit of time for at the end of the holiday. It&#8217;s a huge country with a rich history \u2013 it&#8217;d be rude to ignore this entirely!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17404\" style=\"width: 588px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Releasing-Baby-Turtles-La-Ventanilla.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17404\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17404\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Releasing-Baby-Turtles-La-Ventanilla.jpg\" alt=\"Releasing baby turtles \u2013 La Ventanilla Beach, Oaxaca\" width=\"578\" height=\"383\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Releasing-Baby-Turtles-La-Ventanilla.jpg 578w, https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Releasing-Baby-Turtles-La-Ventanilla-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-17404\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Releasing baby turtles \u2013 La Ventanilla Beach, Oaxaca<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17399\" style=\"width: 588px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/La-Ventanilla-Beach-Oaxaca.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17399\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17399\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/La-Ventanilla-Beach-Oaxaca.jpg\" alt=\"Beach \u2013 Mazunte, Oaxaca\" width=\"578\" height=\"383\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/La-Ventanilla-Beach-Oaxaca.jpg 578w, https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/La-Ventanilla-Beach-Oaxaca-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-17399\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Beach \u2013 Mazunte, Oaxaca<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17400\" style=\"width: 588px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/La-Ventanilla-Iguanas-Oaxaca.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17400\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/La-Ventanilla-Iguanas-Oaxaca.jpg\" alt=\"Iguanas at La Ventanilla - Oaxaca\" width=\"578\" height=\"383\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/La-Ventanilla-Iguanas-Oaxaca.jpg 578w, https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/La-Ventanilla-Iguanas-Oaxaca-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-17400\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Iguanas at La Ventanilla &#8211; Oaxaca<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17407\" style=\"width: 588px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Teotithuacan-near-Mexico-City.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17407\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17407\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Teotithuacan-near-Mexico-City.jpg\" alt=\"Teotithuacan near Mexico City\" width=\"578\" height=\"383\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Teotithuacan-near-Mexico-City.jpg 578w, https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Teotithuacan-near-Mexico-City-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-17407\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teotithuacan near Mexico City<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m pretty lucky to get good leave allowance where I work, so can usually get away for one foreign &#8220;lads&#8221; boating trip a year on harder rivers, plus one holiday with my better half which (due to her understanding my kayaking addiction) usually involves a good amount of boating &#8211; though generally at a more &hellip; <\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link block-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/mexico-for-mere-mortals\/\">Continue reading &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":185,"featured_media":17396,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,4,5],"tags":[441,666,664,660,663,665,413,573,662,661],"class_list":["post-17395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogroll","category-creeking-articles","category-paddler-lifestyle-articles","tag-alseseca","tag-aventurec","tag-beach","tag-el-salto","tag-filo-bobos","tag-iguana","tag-mexico","tag-micos","tag-santa-maria","tag-tampaon"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Amie-on-El-Salto-section.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9tk9G-4wz","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/185"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17395"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17419,"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17395\/revisions\/17419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}