By Karla Held
Karla Held
Info
Karla Held is an ACA kayak and SUP instructor who’s fluent in Spanish and French – and has made both Texas and Mexico her base for operations. She can be contacted for trips and info for both locales.
You can contact the author for more extensive travel advice, local guide hookups, or take a week-long trip to Veracruz with her small company, Central Texas River Trips, which offers trips throughout the year.
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Paddling in the pot of the river in Jalcomulco, Veracruz
“To run rivers is to live in the present, realizing ever more fully what it means to be fully human across the earth amid powerful natural forces,” reads the first paragraph of the chapter, ‘Keeping out of trouble’ in Charlie Walbridge and Wayne Sundmacher’s book, Whitewater Rescue Manual.
Maybe it’s the lush, green mountains that surround the area or the steep canyon walls with bromeliads hanging from the cliff walls of the Rio Pescados section of Rio Antigua that make you feel so alive while paddling the rivers of Jalcomulco, Veracruz, or the locals yelling out “a huevo” (hell ya), while you run rapids, but running the river in Jalcomuclo (Rio Antigua) makes one feel alive.
In Nahuatl, Jalcomuclo (Xalkomolko) roughly means ‘En el rincón/olla de la arena’ (corner/hole of sand), as the riverside town of approximately 5,000 residents is basically a curve (corner) on the river where the sections referred to as Rio Pescados turns into the section known as Rio Antigua.
When I first visited and paddled this river in January of 2020 after having finished a five-day trip on the Usumacinta River in Chiapas, I knew I wanted to live here. I’ve been living here since July of 2020, and I haven’t regretted it. The town for me is a nice, cosy size, and its river offers challenges for all levels – the beginner to those wanting to paddle class II, III, IV and V rapids. You can find paddlers under the bridge practising their skills on the local wave/rapid on any given day.
As Isaac Martinez, an 18-year-old professional kayaker, says, “Jalcomulco is like a playground of rapids… you can chill and relax or try to learn technique. The water level changes depending on the season… the river can get low and rocky and also high and funky. But it’s navigable all year.”
The rainy season (June-September) offers higher water and class V-IV rapids on the sections of Barranca Grande and Rio Pescados, respectively, and class III-IV rapids on the section referred to as Rio Antigua (that goes from Jalcomulco down to Apazapan). The drier months still offer plenty of water for rafting, kayaking and paddleboarding, yet the rivers become a bit more technical but always fun.
Typically, Veracruz rivers are narrow, steep, continuous and carry a high to medium volume of water, which makes manoeuvring both technical and challenging.
rafting capital
For over 20 years, Jalcomulco has been known as the rafting capital of Mexico. You can raft all year around here through various outfitters and also rent kayaks and take lessons from local guides.
Although still relatively unexplored or unknown by many, the Rio Antigua is known as a legend. Such is the case for Mike Douglas, who has been to Mexico over 50 times and has paddled all over the US, Canada and Ecuador, who says, “Rio Antigua has always been a somewhat legendary river name to many river runners in the US. I always heard of it as the main commercially rafted river in Mexico.
“My wife and I finally got the chance to go in January 2019. A quick flight from Houston, rent a car and an easy two-hour drive west into the foothills of the highest mountains in Mexico. We booked with Mexico Verde, one of the larger raft companies in the area. Lulu was the manager of the place and made us feel at home. We stayed in a nice cabana on site. They don’t get many American tourists to Jalcomulco, and neither us nor Lulu understands why.
“We met our river guide the next day, Oscar. Oscar told me in near-perfect English how he was a little nervous because he hadn’t guided in English in many years. It turns out he and I had worked at the same river company many years apart in Terlingua, Texas, on the Rio Grande.
“A 20-minute shuttle up to the put-in, and we launched in a 14′ raft with a support kayaker. This river section is my favourite type: it starts up towards a secluded area, flows through a scenic gorge punctuated with many class 3/4 rapids, then you float out into a colourful small town (Jalcomulco).
“Oscar, being the nice guy that he is, let me borrow his personal cataraft to take down the rapids the next day. Lulu and Oscar went out of their way to accommodate us and even took us out to dinner in Xalapa a few days later. Rio Antigua reminded us a lot of the world-famous Pacuare River of Costa Rica, except much closer to the US. It is a place to return to over and over again.”
Safety rescue
I couldn’t agree more, and we aren’t the only ones. Jim Coffee, who owns Esprit Whitewater in Canada, has been bringing groups down here to Jalcomulco for over 20 years. This month I had the privilege of joining some of his training trips and safety rescue classes.
Here in Jalcomulco, I can attest to the fact that he offers excellent trips and outstanding training.
Sharon Schierling, a participant of this month’s ‘Wild Mexico 2021’ trip run by Coffee, also finds Mexico an easy place to return.
“This is my fourth whitewater paddling trip in Mexico. The first three times, I came for a week – twice in Veracruz and once in the Huasteca Potosina region. Now I’m thrilled to be back in Jalcomulco for five weeks of paddling! It’s a welcoming town in a stunning locale with amazing whitewater rivers in the vicinity. The take out for the Pescados is in the heart of Jalcomulco so that you can end your run with Cerveza and a delicious meal right on the river, then walk back to your hotel.”
Dining and drinks
Apart from having great paddling, Jalcomulco is an easy town to navigate and a great place to enjoy riverside dining and drinks. There’s also great hiking, biking, and climbing in the area, as well as one of my favourite spots, the Carrizal hot springs.
Moreover, Veracruz is one of Mexico’s most diverse states. It offers Mexico’s highest peak (Orizaba), beaches, surfing, historical ruins, fantastic seafood, and various other world-class rivers such as Actopan, Rio Filobobos and the Alseseca near Tlapacoyan.
Rio Actopan
Actopan is another one of my favourite rivers in Veracruz, and for sheer excitement, it’s hard to beat. More a creek than a river, the crystal clear water of the Rio Actopan runs narrow and swift through a combination of mango plantations and tropical forests.
From the river source of Descabezadero, where springs gush out of a fern-covered natural limestone amphitheatre to the take out (20km downstream), the river offers almost non-stop class II and III whitewater. The rapids are perfect for first-timers as well as technical and challenging enough for experienced river runners to enjoy. This is an excellent trip if you just have one day in the area.
No matter how much of Veracruz you have time to explore and paddle, Jalcomulco is a must-paddle destination in Mexico for all those who enjoy whitewater kayaking, rafting and stand up paddle boarding all year long.
Suppose Veracruz is good enough for professional kayaker Rafa Ortiz, who grew up in Mexico City and started rafting in Veracruz at age nine. In that case, we’re sure it’s good enough for you. As he says, “the scenery is like something out of a movie,” and I think you’ll agree once here.
Excellent article!