mexico trips

FAQs
2007-08 schedule
advanced beginner / low intermediate program
strong intermediate program
advanced program
expert program

About Mexico
If you've never been to Mexico, or if you've only visited Mexican tourist resorts, you're in for a great surprise. Our neighbors to the South are friendly, warm and hospitable. Mexico is a country of extremes, with a rich history and a strikingly different culture from ours. Our whitewater trips take us to sparsely traveled corners, encompassing some of the country's most lush and beautiful landscapes. Our more advanced expeditions include camping riverside, but we always take time out to explore local towns, sample Mexican cuisine and make new friends along the way. The winter weather is perfect for paddling and generally sunny, with air temperatures ranging from 50 to 70 degrees and water temperatures in the 60s and 70s.
 
If you travel a great deal, you'll enjoy the immersion in colorful, easy-going Mexico. If you're new to this part of the world, you can sit back and relax: Mexico is our home away from home, and we're excited to plan a once-in-a-lifetime adventure for you. We generally travel on our expeditions through San Luis Potosi and Veracruz states, along the central Gulf of Mexico coast, running the rivers flowing from the Sierra Madre and off of the mighty Pico de Orizaba. We base our Beginners and Intermediates trips around Jalapa and select sections to run according to skill levels and river conditions. On our Advanced trips we travel to mountains north of Mexico City.  We will add an exploratory trip to Chiapas as the last trip of the Winter season. See each program for details.

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week long adventures
Canada
Colorado
Mexico
West Virginia
Southeastern

day/weekend trips
Shenandoah
North Branch
of the Potomac
Lower Yough
Cheat Canyon
Lower Gauley
The New River
Upper Yough

About beyond liquid adventures
Led by kayaking professionals with years of instructional experience, Liquid Adventures' Mexico trips are renowned in the Washington, D.C. community for our commitment to professionalism, safety and spirit of adventure. As the week progresses you will find that our teaching style is defined by the love for being in the outdoors and a dedication to helping you grow confidence in your skills. We know Mexico and her rivers well, and look forward to enjoying this year's trips with paddlers of all levels.
 
Tom McEwan has been paddling in Mexico since 1980. He made the first descents of the Tomate, Cajones, and Upper Valle National rivers. Over the years, he has come to know the rivers, as well as the local paddling community in Mexico. He is co-director of Liquid Adventures and his instructional programs have produced many of the best paddlers in the country. 

Sarah Park first visited Mexico in 1997, and since then she has also pioneered first descents down Mexican rivers. She is ranked in the top ten U.S. women's slalom racing team trials for 2003 and teaches whitewater paddling year-round.

Costs and refund policy

Prices: The cost of trips ($1480) includes all expenses excepting airfare and alcoholic beverages.  

Registration: For our Mexico trips, a $300 deposit is required to confirm a reservation. For all trips the balance is due 30 days before the start date of the trip. (We will automatically debit your credit card if you request). Reservations within 30 days of the trip date require full payment with the reservation.

You can register and make payment online. Alternatively, you may make payment by sending a check to Liquid Adventures at the address below, or call the office with a credit card number. An equipment list, information sheet, waiver, and health form will be emailed to you.

After registering, and making payment, please print off a Waiver Form, Health Form, and Equipment List.  For persons under 18 on the youth trip, please print off the Youth Permission Form (both parents must sign the form and have it notarized). Bring with you or send to address below the Waiver Form, Health Form and Youth Permission Form (if needed).

Cancellation: If notice is received more than 30 days prior to the trip date, a refund, less deposit, will be issued. No refunds or alterations will be issued within 30 days of trip date. We highly recommend Trip Insurance to protect you in case there is an unexpected need to cancel.

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Getting there
Once you register, you are encouraged to book your flights early to secure low fares. Flights should arrive as close to noon as possible on the first published date of a trip. Departure flights should be booked for the early afternoon of the last day of a trip. Alternatively, it is possible to travel to the airport via night bus from our final paddling location and take an early morning flight home. We are happy to discuss these options with you when you are ready to make airline reservations.

Upon arrival in Mexico City on the first day, we gather at the airport's international arrivals area. Arrival times will be coordinated in advance. We then travel together by bus and car to our first paddling destination.

If you would like to arrive early for a visit to Mexico City or other parts of Mexico, please let us know in advance. You can either return to the airport to rendezvous with the group or join us at our first paddling destination.

Accommodations
Our lodgings on our trips are simple, natural and invariably beautiful. On the low intermediate and strong intermediate trips, we stay at full-service resorts which provide small cabins in charming, natural settings near the rivers we paddle. We visit Campamento Aventurec and Nace de Rio ecological resort as well as an assortment of comfortable traditional 3 and 4 star hotels in Puebla and Ciudad Valles. On the advanced trips we camp near the rivers where we paddle. In November 2008 a new network of hotels will be available in and around Cuidad Valles, which will afford us full service accommodations at beautiful, riverside resorts on the Advanced and Strong Intermediate Waterfall trips. Check out Huasteca Secreta.
 
Guests generally share double occupancy rooms. If you feel the need for your own room on the trip, an extra charge may apply.

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What to bring

We provide details of what to bring and suggested vaccination guidelines to participants prior to the trip. We supply boats from a fleet in Mexico, but ask participants to bring their own paddles, PFDs, helmets, sprayskirts and float bags. If you'd like to bring your own boat, it is possible to fly it with you as extra baggage. Please check with your airline. We will be driving to Mexico, and we possibly can transport your own boat. Click here for 'what to bring' sheet.

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Advanced
Nov. 17 -24
San Luis Potosi

Intermediate/
Advanced
for Youth
Dec 25 - Jan 1
Chiapas

Advanced
Jan. 5 - Jan. 12
Veracruz & Oaxaca

#4
#5

Advanced Beginner/Low Intermediate
Jan. 19-26
Feb. 9 -16
Veracruz

#6
#7

Strong Intermediate
Jan. 27 - Feb.3
Feb.17 -24
Veracruz

ADVANCED BEGINNERS/LOW INTERMEDIATES PROGRAMS (class I - II+)
8 days/6 days of paddling
Jan. 19 -26
Feb. 9 -16
$1480, including all land expenses (except for alcoholic beverages).
 
This trip will take you to new places and new rivers. You can feel the thrill of using your newfound beginner skills on warm waters of the tropic. It is designed for beginner-level paddlers who have basic experience of white water, are comfortable with the wet exit, with bow rescues and have basic control of your boat in moving water.  If you are new to Liquid Adventures, we recommend that you call us to discuss your skill level.

The first day is a day of travel - across the country from Mexico City to Puebla, where over dinner on the Zocalo in Puebla we can get to know one another.  The first day starts the paddling with outfitting your boat ad a good warm up in little rapids! Around every turn you will see your skills become more second nature, and your confidence grow.  By the end of the week you might be ready to run your first class III rapid or friendly, 16 foot waterfall! You will always have a chance to take an easier day if you feel the need. We'll capture it all on film for you to review over a cold cerveza.

Our exact itinerary will depend on river levels and the group's abilities.  We overnight at resorts, overlooking sections of the Rio Filo Bobos, and the headwaters of the Actopan, where the turquoise river gushes out of a hillside.. If the conditions are right, we may stop, surf, and eat lunch at a nearby beach on the Gulf, on our way to the next river, and we may visit some spectacular ruins overlooking the coast. By the time you head back to Mexico City on Saturday, you won't believe how far your skills and confidence have progressed.

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strong INTERMEDIATE PROGRAM (class III - III+)
8 days/6 days of paddling
Jan. 27 - Feb. 3
Feb. 17 -24
$1480, including all land expenses (except for alcoholic beverages)
 There is plenty of adventure for Intermediate paddlers on a trip to Mexico!  It's six straight days of river running, with a focus on improving your boat handling, challenging your abilities in miles of rapids, and includes the option of spending an overnight on the river. Depending on your individual skill levels, by the end of the week you can hope to run the class IV rapids of the Rio Filo-Bobos, and the quick-twisting class III+ of the Barrunca Grande.

The first day we spend in transit, getting to know one another and seeing the sights on our way to our resort home in Veracruz. The next day is a warm-up day of assessing individual skills and goals, after which we can determine the rest of the river itinerary. The possibilities are large in this remote whitewater playground! 

The Rio Actopan gushes out the side of a hill through reeds and bushes and becomes a clear, class III stream with fluorescent-blue water. We run the Barranca Grande, which offers two different class III+ canyon sections in deep canyons. En route to Tlapacoyan, we can stop at one of the Gulf coast beaches to try a little kayak surfing. Once in Tlapacoyan, we venture into the Rio Bobos, which offers class III and a couple of class IV rapids along with a mysterious canyon, a high waterfall and a recently excavated archaeological dig of pre-Columbian ruins.

We overnight at friendly indoor accommodations, planning a night at Nace de Rio Ecological Resort which overlooks the Rio Actopan, and we dine on-site. Moving on, we travel upcountry across a land of deep, magnificent gorges. Our delightful cabins at Campamento Aventurec are set in the hilly jungle of Tlapacoyan, where we’ spend our evenings enjoying a breathtaking overview of the barrancas under twinkling stars and dining on sumptuous Mexican cuisine. 

Our Strong Intermediate trip is ideal for people who are comfortable on the Lower Yough or other class III-IV water. If you are one of our local students who have taken Intermediate classes, you're probably ready for this trip. If you are new to Liquid Adventures, we recommend that you join us on this trip if you have a consistent roll in moving water and feel comfortable in class III and a little IV. Call us to talk about the right skill level for your experience.

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ADVANCED PROGRAM (class III - IV)
8 days/6 days of paddling
Nov. 17 -24
Jan. 5 -Jan. 12
$1480, including all land expenses (except for alcoholic beverages)
 
We begin our first Advanced Waterfalls Trip (in November) in Tampico, traveling into the Sierra Madre mountains in the state of San Potosi to Cuidad Valles. Amid the sugar cane fields and over chains of mountains, you can experience what it means to go verticle on some of the most beautiful whitewater anywhere available. 
 
We start by working our way down the gushing waterfalls of El Salto and the Rio Verde. We take a break from these steep, technical rivers to play on the roller coaster falls of the Micos Cascadas, before heading on to the magnificent Santa Maria, which cuts through a deep, remote river canyon with numerous class IV rapids and a rare, river-level view of the 300-foot Tamul falls as they plummet into the Santa Maria.

Here is the Trip Report and photos from last year.

Our second, Advanced Overnight Trip (in early January) begins in the city of Puebla, where we start the drive South into the more or less barren lands of the state of Oaxaca. There we pack up our boats with camping gear and food, to get ready for three or four days overnighting on the beautiful and remote Rio Santo Domingo. After several miles through desert surroundings, the class III-IV white water continues in and out of beautiful canyons for about 30 miles. We camp on sandy beaches and enjoy the leisure of having everything we need with us in our boats.

We wind up the itinerary with a visit to Rio Valle National where the river comes out of in the 10,000 foot high Mountains of Eastern Oaxaca. We paddle down to find accomodations in our cabins alongside the river.  Photos from 2006 trip.

Our advanced itinerary is designed for solid class IV paddlers who are confident on rivers such as the Upper Yough or the Numbers of the Arkansas, for example. If you are one of our local students who have taken classes at Dickerson, you’are probably ready for this trip. If you are new to Liquid Adventures, we recommend that you join us if you have a solid whitewater roll and feel comfortable paddling in class IV. Please call us to discuss the right level for you.

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expert trip (class IV - V)
8 days/6 days of paddling
pl. call us at tel. below for dates
$1480, including all land expenses (except for alcoholic beverages)

The core of these expert expeditions is our own staff who like to explore the great challenges of whitewater in Mexico, and we include some additional, qualified paddlers from outside our programs.  Our itinerary will vary, as we aim to further our discoveries from the previous season's trip. This year expect a series of multi-day adventures through remote sections of Chiapas. Some of these may be self-contained trips, for which we carry overnight gear in our boats.

These challenging and spectacular rivers offer us big mountain whitewater, gradients up to 200 feet per mile and over-sized springs flowing off high ledges. We run over numerous waterfalls and through steep, technical rapids, though we're prepared to use ropes to get around sections too steep to run. Our trip may take us to the deep, red canyons of the Rio Grande north of Oaxaca City, through an Indian reservation where Spanish is a second language, or down the Seven Sisters waterfalls of the Rio Tomata. We have the opportunity to have contact with locals and get a feel for their communities.

We car-camp for much of this trip, but are sure to spend a few nights in Oaxaca City so we can enjoy refined Mexican cuisine, cold cervezas and the city's nightlife after tough days of camping and paddling. You'll love the colonial architecture of this charming town, set deep in a valley. It's an arts and cuisine center, so you'll be able to sample the best of Mexico. You may even have time to head out to the nearby ruins of Monte Alban. We usually stay just blocks from the main markets and the famous zocalo.

Our Expert adventure is for paddlers who are comfortable running the Upper Yough or rapids with a similar level of difficulty. You should have a solid combat roll and be fit enough to hike a couple of miles in the afternoon with your boat and equipment. If you are new to Liquid Adventures, we recommend that you join us. Please call us to talk about your skill level. 

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