{"id":18449,"date":"2016-01-04T19:55:16","date_gmt":"2016-01-04T19:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/?p=18449"},"modified":"2016-01-05T09:42:08","modified_gmt":"2016-01-05T09:42:08","slug":"gringo-journal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/gringo-journal\/","title":{"rendered":"Gringo Journal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">A collection of short diary entries and photos from Mexico, December 2015.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"imageeditor-inline-wrapper\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"media-image imageeditor-inline-processed aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/bspalm.brightstormlimit.netdna-cdn.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/large\/public\/Abseil.jpg?itok=-cixAzv9\" alt=\"\" width=\"590\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">Day 1<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\nThe trip started off with a bang as we headed straight to Truchas, a cool little 20fter into a perfect 50fter. Waterfalls don&#8217;t get much cleaner than this, the only downside is a 80ft rappel down the side of an un-runnable waterfall. This was my first time abseiling and I was utterly terrified, if I could have found any way to avoid having to dangle from a rather long way up off a glorified piece of string, I would have. Sadly there was no alternative and eventually after several (hundred) reassurances that as long as I kept hold of the rope all would be okay, I pushed off from the edge and made my way down. I can honestly say I have never been happier to have my feet back on the ground. I was however even happier to be greeted with the feeling of free fall once again!<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"imageeditor-inline-wrapper\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"media-image imageeditor-inline-processed aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/bspalm.brightstormlimit.netdna-cdn.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/large\/public\/vlcsnap-2015-12-04-02h39m49s50.png?itok=1T5mjSeo\" alt=\"\" width=\"590\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">Day 2<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\nI got to run the famous Big Banana section of the Alseseca, set in amongst a beautiful gorge this river is full of fun moves and great drops. My favourite drop being Silencio, a 40fter with a tricky little move at the top and a cave on river left at the base of the falls. Thanks to some huge boils at the bottom, the hit is really soft and boofing it is the line of choice to stay away from the cave on the left. It also feels amazing to fly off something this size and not even get your head wet.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"imageeditor-inline-wrapper\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"media-image imageeditor-inline-processed aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/bspalm.brightstormlimit.netdna-cdn.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/large\/public\/DSC05968.jpg?itok=YBhFDCfY\" alt=\"\" width=\"590\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">Day 3<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\nThe Lower Jahlacingo has been one of my dream runs for a long time, featuring three main drops, Twisted Pleasure (50ft), Dirty Sanchez (40ft) and Dungeon (30ft) and a whole load\u00a0more of good rapids and smaller ledge boofs this river quickly became one of my new favourites,<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" style=\"background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 658px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-version=\"6\">\n<div style=\"padding: 8px;\">\n<div style=\"background: #F8F8F8; line-height: 0; margin-top: 40px; padding: 50.0% 0; text-align: center; width: 100%;\"><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 8px 0 0 0; padding: 0 4px;\"><a style=\"color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BAIKiKImufO\/\" target=\"_blank\">Silencio, one of my favourite waterfalls! #waterfall #whitewater #kayak #mexico Filming by Josh Pecaric @wernerpaddles @dewerstone @palmequipment @pyranhauk @demshitz<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;\">A video posted by Bren Orton (@bren.orton) on <time style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;\" datetime=\"2016-01-04T18:42:13+00:00\">Jan 4, 2016 at 10:42am PST<\/time><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/platform.instagram.com\/en_US\/embeds.js\" async=\"\" defer=\"defer\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">Day 4<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\nBack to Big Banana. More good lines with good people and thankfully as of yet no time in the cave at the base of Silencio. Staying at Adventurec is awesome, all I have to do every day is go kayaking, food is there when I wake up and when I get back from kayaking, shuttles are easy and the only real hardship is the daily struggle not to open a bar tab\u2026 Living the dream! Can\u2019t wait to run the Tomatas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">Day 5<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\nPacking up and heading to the Rio Oro, meant to be a really fun, chilled out river with two 20fters, I don\u2019t want to go but the boys are making me. Would much rather stay and run Silencio more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">Day 6<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\nMy school teachers were right, I am an idiot, I can\u2019t believe I didn&#8217;t want to come to the Oro!<br \/>\nThis river is amazing, tonnes of good ledge boofs, two great 20fters and the takeout is on the beach! It\u2019s just like the East Lynn back home, except better in every way.<\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube_sc  fluid widescreen\"><div class=\"inner block\"><noscript><style type=\"text\/css\">.youtube_sc iframe.yp{display:none;}<\/style><object width=\"560\" height=\"340\" class=\"yp\" title=\"YouTube video player\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/iqGawcJxiVg?version=3&amp;hl=en_US\"><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\"><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"><embed src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/iqGawcJxiVg?version=3&amp;hl=en_US\" width=\"560\" height=\"340\" class=\"yp\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\"><span style=\"display:block;margin-top:15px;\">The Adobe Flash Player is required for video playback.<br><a href=\"http:\/\/get.adobe.com\/flashplayer\/\" title=\"Install from Adobe\">Get the latest Flash Player<\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=iqGawcJxiVg\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Watch on YouTube\">Watch this video on YouTube<\/a>.<\/span><\/object><\/noscript><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iqGawcJxiVg?version=3&amp;wmode=transparent\" width=\"560\" height=\"340\" class=\"yp\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">Day 7<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\nOne more day in paradise on the Oro and then we are packing up and heading back to Veracruz. Nine people, one van\u2026 No air conditioning\u2026 Living the dream?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"imageeditor-inline-wrapper\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"media-image imageeditor-inline-processed aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/bspalm.brightstormlimit.netdna-cdn.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/large\/public\/12377621_1794681507425955_3379849932500569345_o.jpg?itok=9x54-KxE\" alt=\"\" width=\"590\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">Day 8<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\nOne of the biggest draws to Mexico for me were the two Tomata waterfalls.<br \/>\nTomata 1 is a perfect 60fter that is pretty low stress and good fun to fly off. However just down stream lurks her big, bad sister Tomata 2. 80ft tall with a hard lead in and a technical lip, some of the world&#8217;s best creek boaters have consumed faeces of this drop.\u00a0Finally going to get the chance to run the two Tamata waterfalls, been dreaming of flying off these two for so many years! Hopefully it all goes well!<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"imageeditor-inline-wrapper\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"media-image imageeditor-inline-processed aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/bspalm.brightstormlimit.netdna-cdn.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/large\/public\/12238374_10208639486409916_7707291291214795761_o.jpg?itok=AWRybrNH\" alt=\"\" width=\"590\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">Day 9<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\nHad an okay line on Tomata 1\u00a0but I had the line of my life on Tomata 2! So stoked on it, didn&#8217;t even roll at the bottom!<br \/>\nOne of the boys (Edward) had a great line off Tomata 1\u00a0but crashed off Tomato 2\u00a0and broke his back, took us forever to get him out of the gorge, but he\u2019s in the hospital and is semi-alright, gonna work on getting him home tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"imageeditor-inline-wrapper\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"media-image imageeditor-inline-processed aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/bspalm.brightstormlimit.netdna-cdn.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/large\/public\/12391406_10208684948226433_3272331654553733079_n.jpg?itok=B_Djm9s3\" alt=\"\" width=\"590\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">Day 10<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\nPut Edward in the Heli to go to a bigger hospital to get checked out properly and then hopefully he\u2019s gonna fly home. Sounds like he\u2019ll make a full recovery in 6 months, phew. Scary stuff!<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">Day 11<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\nBack on the water, went for a chilled lap on Big Banana. More (thankfully) good lines of Silencio. Also, gave in and opened a bar tab\u2026 Sigh.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">Day 16<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\nHad the hardest time finding this bloody book, it\u2019s not in the last place you look, it\u2019s in the place you could never have imagined it being in the first place. (Underneath some wet thermals) (Doh). Guess what I have been up to for the past few days? (Asides from looking for this book) Kayaking.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"imageeditor-inline-wrapper\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"media-image imageeditor-inline-processed aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/bspalm.brightstormlimit.netdna-cdn.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/large\/public\/10634109_1796846323876140_8863827831586919904_o.jpg?itok=Wdj-2KQN\" alt=\"\" width=\"590\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">Day 17\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\nWent back to the Jahlacingo, Had good lines off everything, Starting to feel more and more comfortable on this river. Maybe my favourite creek run ever.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">Day 18<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\nMore Big Banana laps.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"imageeditor-inline-wrapper\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"media-image imageeditor-inline-processed aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/bspalm.brightstormlimit.netdna-cdn.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/large\/public\/10369081_1802094890017950_1702687283221946831_o.jpg?itok=PCgXwz_H\" alt=\"\" width=\"590\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">Day 19<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\nToday I ate faeces of Twisted pleasure, can\u2019t believe my deck didn&#8217;t blow and that it only sort of hurt. So much for feeling really comfortable on the Jahlacingo.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Day 22<\/strong><br \/>\nPacking up and heading home. Feels like I have been in a car crash. So sore, So worth it. Mexico is so sick! Can\u2019t wait to come back\u2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Photos by Thomas Farren<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A collection of short diary entries and photos from Mexico, December 2015.\u00a0 Day 1 The trip started off with a bang as we headed straight to Truchas, a cool little 20fter into a perfect 50fter. Waterfalls don&#8217;t get much cleaner than this, the only downside is a 80ft rappel down the side of an un-runnable &hellip; <\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link block-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/gringo-journal\/\">Continue reading &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":18459,"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":[4,690],"tags":[638,844,847,450,516,551,845,413,846,578],"class_list":["post-18449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-creeking-articles","category-trip-reports","tag-9r","tag-abseil","tag-backbreaker","tag-big-banana","tag-boof","tag-creek","tag-freefall","tag-mexico","tag-rappel","tag-waterfall"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/12238374_10208639486409916_7707291291214795761_o.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9tk9G-4Nz","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18449","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\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18449"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18460,"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18449\/revisions\/18460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}