WILD WILD WEST – Rio Tampaon, Mexico
I have heard a lot about Mexico since I was young. Mexico’s uncouth natural beauty, its people, the food, and the culture have always fascinated me. I was very anxious to travel to this land of eagles and snakes. The fact that I have many Mexican friends, made it sweeter and I was eagerly waiting for some real adventure.
Huasteca is one place in central Mexico surrounded by lush Sierra Madre mountains and some of the most pristine rivers in the world flowing through its stretches. I saw some adventure here when on a project for about a couple of months.
We river rafted over Rio Tampaon. This river is rated to be one of the ten most beautiful rivers in the world. Although I had river rafted in places like Hrishikesh and Zanskar in India, this was a special excitement – especially with my Mexican friends who made it even more special. This entire river rafting was being documented with GoPro cameras for the first time. I was thrilled to take the footage back home and show it to my friends – the incredible memories of Huasteca Aventura.
Our instructor was Señor Alex. I was all geared up and was taking lessons from him. His knowledge and experience of Rio’s rapid were incredible. Very soon, we were in full action, navigating the rapids which were of class II to III + at places with steep drops, strong currents. The beautiful turquoise waters of Rio Tampaon constantly splashed and revitalized us with more energy. Some of my Mexican amigos (friends/counterparts) were rafting for the first time and the excitement and the cheer was tremendous throughout. As we rafted down the river hurriedly, we started racing with other rafters. It was really exciting and added a bit of competitiveness to the fun. Not to forget that we got toppled a few times and had to avoid a few runs in’s by not crashing into the other raft.
Through all this adrenaline rush, what I particularly noticed and appreciated was – how the waters were so pure and clean without any toxicity or wastes. People, in general, engage in all kinds of fun and adventure irresponsibly, and in my opinion, this is against the idea of a true adventurer or a nature lover, per se. I am sure one of the key philosophies of “Alive is Awesome” is to look after our surroundings and try not to cause any harm to our environment. Yet have all the fun you could possibly have.
P.S – If I regret anything at all from my Huasteca Adventures, it has to be the fact that I didn’t have my awesome Cinthol hamper with me back then, because I would have probably not come back without finishing each one of it.
