Heather Herbeck's Mexico report and photos

By Heather Herbeck

Mexico 2009 was a blast!
We spent a total of 30 days in beautiful Mexico – 15 days in Tlapacoyan, Veracruz and 15 days in Cuidad Valles, San Luis Potosi.
Some of the trip highlights in condensed form:
1. Hanging with great company – Iker Beristain Van Duken, Todd and Brendan Wells, Aaron Kock, Patrick and Sarah from Kayak/Raft Hausteca, Nate and many others.
2. Paddling the ‘classic’ sections of the Alseseca – Roadside section/Big Banana Section
3. Visiting the ER room, on the second day in Mexico, getting x-rays on my knee from a slip during a scout – x-rays were only $12!
4. Spending an unplanned overnighter with Nate, on the Upper Filobobos river . . . we got too late of start. We had 4 hours until dark and approx. 18-20 miles of whitewater. Definately not the most romantic evening with the hubby 🙂
5. Running the second descent of San Pedro Falls – 50 foot waterfall – and paddling the first descent of the gorge below.
6. Repelling 100 feet into the Truchas section of the Alseseca, only to find the water muddy and high.
7. Making my second descent of 70 foot Tomata Falls, followed by watching Todd Wells perfectly style 2nd Tomata.
Thanks to Rafa & Nick (as I believe the Rocker I used was Nicks) for the use of the boat. The Rocker, as expected, was the perfect boat . . . manueverability through long boulder gardens, the boof master of all boats, sits high as it floats over boily, turbulent water and best of all . . . is perfect for big drops. In the past, I’ve used the classic rocker for all of my big drops over 60 feet. But, found the new Rocker to perform just as well. At first, I was a bit nervous about resurfacing too quickly with all the volume in the bow, but found out quickly that it wasn’t the case. Thanks JK . . .
Heather Herbeck
Team JK