The PaddlerUK magazine March 2015 issue 1 | Page 75

El Salto
Another day another river, we managed to agree
a lift with a more reliable driver and took a ride
up to El Salto. At the put in, the river has been
faffed with to the point where it is diverted
through a power plant and the put in is the
outflow. We had read that there was poison ivy
at the put in and as we didn’t really know what
poison ivy looked like opted for seal launch
straight in to the swift flowing narrow channel.
Fortunately being Brits, we felt quite at home in
the tree jammed ditch, which cruises down to
the start of another travertine beauty where the
river joins its natural course.
El Salto is not as spectacular as the Micos but is
definitely more varied and probably more fun.
There is a mixture of bigger volume falls at the
start but as everything is portagable it is
definitely worth it for less able boaters. The
travertine forms little dams and it is always
worth looking back upstream to see the
fishbowl like windows where the travertine has
collapsed. The take out is a must-make above El
Salto del Meco, which has been ran but was less
than successful and made the Rider of the Year
Carnage Reel!
Tim and I were pretty keen to do the Santa
Maria so we headed back to accommodation in
Ciudad Valles. We used Patta del Pedro – a dog
themed hostel that is pretty boater friendly and
dirt-cheap. Locating a driver is not that easy in
Valles as the area isn’t as commonly paddled as
Veracruz but we found our chap in the form of a
jolly Mexican called Nico.
Much to Skiz’s disgust we arranged a very early
departure and bought some river food from the
supermarket in the form of tortillas, cheese and
salsa. We were aware that the river was a pretty
long day but perhaps with hindsight you will
probably agree we should have given this more
thought.

Fortunately being Brits, we felt
quite at home in the

tree jammed
ditch
Rebecca on the Tampaon
Credit: Tim Burne
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