At the Beach Amigo

So the kayaking part of the trip is finally over, I would love to find some more river goodness along the way but in ways of kayaks, all the boats where left to live on in Veracruz. No more kayaks, just surfboards, boardshorts and hopefully that fishing pole will come out soon as well. Since leaving Veracruz area about 2 weeks ago I made the long drive to Salina Cruz. My co-pilot, Becca, was on her own little surf/family visit in Nexpa and Puerto Vallarta so I was riding solo in the SuenosMobile. I got to Salina Cruz, home to legend right hand point breaks, only to find that this time of the year is mostly windy and small surf. So after a few spot checks I headed north to Hualtulco area to check a few other spots only to find some small beachbreaks.

Small warm water waves

After sleeping in the back of the van for a couple nights in the parking area of a beachbreak I headed up north to visit some new Italian friends, Rikki and Valeria, in the quaint beach town of San Agustinillo. It was nice not to sleep in the hot van and actually have a bed with a fan. My days waiting for Becca to return where spent surfing the nearby beachbreaks, bodysurfing some closeouts, teaching Rikki how to surf and enjoying the evening sunsets on the beach. It feels good to be back on the ocean, the relaxed chorble lifestyle is once again alive.

 

 

Always good days at the beach

 

When Becca arrived we spent a few days with Rikki and Valeria before heading north to Puerto Escondido. With not much surf on the arrival we opted out for some tasty Micheladas and burgers on the beachfront. After a good little buzz and a drift around town I decided to paddle out for a sunset session. While checking the surf it looked  fun, not crowded 3-4ft with peaks up and down the beach. But somehow when I walked to the beach with my board, everyone and there mom decided to go for a surf. After struggling to get a wave to myself, right when I was over the crowd I paddle back out for one last wave before darkness set in. There it was a good set with no damn boogieboards or old locals scrapping for the wave, just me and a perfect A-frame. I dropped in, stood up just as the lip through over me and gave a few pumps in the barrel before escaping through the doggie-door(before the wave closes out).



With no one out at Ventura I had some good practice

Trying to get up there

 

Not a bad tent spot

With a tough nights sleep out of the SuenosMobile at the end of town and not much surf in the morning we continued heading North. With roads in Mexico never taking as long as expected we only made it about 150miles in 6 hours of driving. But we were rewarded with some excellent camping and a fun right at this random beach we decided to drive down, Playa Ventura. I guess it pays off to drive down those random roads and see what is at the end. So after 3 days of surf, read, eat, chorbel we are once again on the road. This time still heading north into the better surf zones for this time of the year, Michocan. Now I am trying to stay dry with an ear infection hanging around and hopefully some surf for Christmas. Life is Good.

 

Pulling in a sandy closeout mess

 

Another Video update

http://vimeo.com/55830731

 

 

A Sweet edit that Chris and his buddy produced after Chris headed back to Gringolandia for the winter. It was great to charge with you mate, glad you came along for the Suenos Living. Watch out Spring, the suenos crew will be shredding Cali up!!!

Born to Run Quote

"There are two godessess in your heart..The Goddess of Wisdom and the Goddess of Wealth. Everyone thinks they need to get wealth first, and wisdom will come. So they concern themselves with chasing money. But they have it backwards. You have to give your heart to the Goddess of Wisdom, giver here all your love and attention and the Goddess of Wealth will become jealous, and follow you."

I am by no means a wealthy person by monetary means, but this life I choose to live lets me wake up and look around and most importantly smile. Life is always teaching me something. To wake up and walk out and see the ocean then just before the sun goes down sit in the sand and watch the sky change colors, I realize how much I really have. Blessings come in many forms. It really is great to sit, relax, read a book, go for a surf, enjoy a cold beer with some friends, and to continue living La Buena Vida.

Video update from Mexico

A great part to the suenos crew, Sandy from NZ, put together a great edit. Check it out!!!!

For now Chorbel Mode in Jalco.



http://vimeo.com/55192144http://vimeo.com/55192144

Rio del Oro

　

　

The Put-in waterfall of the Oro

Ever since my first river experience I have always wanted to paddle on a river that finished in the ocean. It has been about five years since I first got in a kayak and fell in love with the world of rivers. All this time there has always been this desire to run a river to the sea and I finally got the chance recently on the Rio del Oro in Veracruz. After a few weeks of running some incredible whitewater in Tlapacoyan our crew felt the need for a bit of change. We loaded up the van with boats and people (myself, Becca, Chris, Riley, Sandy, and Paffhouse) and headed to our first stop, Jalcomulco.

 Jalcomulco is a small town a few hours south of Tlapacoyan and is quite the river village. It is a small pueblo that lives off tourism and the center of town is the takeout for a fun class 3 section that thrives of rafting. A local kayaker Misa, hooked us up with a place to crash and was a good source of local beta from everything from cheap eats to good paddling. We spent a couple days in Jalcomulco kayaking the local section and getting everyone in the water even Paffy who shredded in the kayak and Becca and myself taking on the Dynamic Duo double kayak. The three of us got our first swims out of the way but came out with smiles at the end of the day.

Camping on the beach

We hung around Jalcomulco until Misa finished up his work week and we all rallied down to the Rio del Oro for some beach and kayak time. The drive took us about 5 hours with some stops for tacos, picking up Riley’s mate Kevin in Veracruz and stocking up with some groceries for the next couple days. We finally made it to the small beach town of Roca Partida and pulled up to a local restaurant and were greeted warmly by local guide Flaco. Flaco owns a restaurant on the beach and gladly let us string up some hammocks under his palapa and set up camp for the next few days. Each time Flaco got sight of you he was always asking, “Todo Bien, todo bien?” He always was doing his best to make sure we were enjoying ourselves and living la buena vida.

It is funny how during a kayak trip sometimes the actual act of being in a kayak only amounts to an hour or two per day. The rio oro is one of those rivers that is by no means long and besides a few small rapids only holds 2 big waterfalls in the 30 to 40 foot range. This short trip holds so much beauty aside from just being in our kayaks and in the river. I feel like it is the whole experience of waking up in the morning, having a couple cups of coffee with some good friends, eat some breakfast when someone decides be on cook crew or wait around while a few of the boys help the locals pull in the fishing net with the rest of town that was set out earlier in the morning. The first morning I sat around and drinking coffee and watching as Riley and Misa joined the fishing crew and pulled in the big net that took them a solid hour of tug-a-war until the whole net was on the beach.

Hungry?

Misa freeing the sand shark

What comes next in the big catch is the surrounding households gather their part for their families and the rest of the fish that is eatable is put in crates to be brought to the bigger city to be sold. Then after everything is cleaned up, straight to the kitchen to fry up some fish for a big healthy lunch, then for the Mexicans probably a solid siesta or some beers to top off the afternoon. This is when our kayak posse makes our first move to the river. Life on the beach is easy living, chorbel mode. These people only work the necessary amount in order to eat and make a bit of cash, then the rest of the day they hang out with their friends and family. Essentially they are doing exactly what we are doing on this vacation, they figured out how to live a simple and enjoyable life.

The Hike in




Paffy tucked up and ready for landing on his first ever waterfall

Well after Misa, Riley and Kevin had their fare share of the Oro they headed back to Jalco and Matt, Chris, Becca and myself decided to hang a few more days on the beach. The next few days on the beach where pretty mellow, we only made one more trip up the river but this time with the intent to get Matt to huck his first waterfall. Matt or Paffy as most call him, started guide school on the Kern with me five years ago but never got as attached to kayaking like I did. Possibly because the “load-star” in him or he just never bought a kayak and the gear. But since I had an extra kayak plus gear, Chris and I had him hike into the first waterfall and after I ran the first big waterfall, Chris lowered his boat down to me and Matt jumped into the pool below. We ran two smaller rapids in between before stopping above the lip of the second 30 footer for a scout and explained to Paff where to run the falls and Chris and myself went off to set up safety below. We heard Paff toot his whistle to warn us of his descent and there he was coming off the lip perfectly tucked awaiting the big hit at the bottom. From the hard impact he was ejected from the boat but all was good and I think it was the biggest smile I had seen from such a happy guy.


The beach getaway was a good break and a relaxing time to get outside with some good friends. To be able to run a river and paddle out of the river mouth into the ocean is quite the experience. Although there where no epic waves to surf at this beach there was always the cold cerveza awaiting us back at Flaco’s palapa after a good session of paddling.

Photos by Kevin Whiting






Lining up the big tuck



The good old paddle toss

Myself trying a little to hard to boof



Chris lining up the first big drop









 

Alseseca River

The Alseseca river

So many good things in such close proximity of the great little city Tlapacoyan. The kayak life here at Aventurec, our hostel/base camp, is quite the good living. Once again we are back to the Chorbel mode in some ways, such as lazy mornings with coffee and all you can eat buffet breakfast. On terms of the river, we are not lazy by no means, plenty of river time to fill the day. Our day off the other week turned out to be more of an big day for most. We thought that we would do a day of mellow paddling and drop into the second half of a section called the “7 sisters” on the Alseseca river. Well turns out it was more than just a park and 3 drops. Why was it more? Well in Mexico things tend to take a bit longer than usual, I guess it is not much of an adventure if everything goes by as planned.

The normal easy put-in did not go so well as we were just running on some beta from other kayakers staying at Aventurec. The put-in is located just below Tomata 1 and Tomata 2, which are quite big, scary waterfalls. Once we finally found the put-in we drove then van to the take-out to note in our heads where that was and in the process got the van a little stuck in the banana field. But after a push from the boys in the rig and maybe a 20-point turn we were back on our way to put-in. The run started out with a fun slot style falls and just around that, a scout of a horizon line that was suppose to be the big hole. How do we know it is a big hole? Well the Gopro scout on one of the kayakers computer is our new way of scouting and it gives us a visual guide of the run.

The Big Hole, well it was just that. It started out with a tight box in canyon that has a few turns and swirling eddies before you try and launch of a 15ft waterfall that lands in a sticky hole. First 2 paddlers, team Australia, gave her a go and the hole got the best of them, one swim and one surf to fight out of the hole. My line, chuck my boat of the cliff and jump from about 40ft up and over the falls and boil line, instead on relying on my late boof stroke. After Chris ran the rapid successfully and myself and Kiwi friend Sandy jumped, we were rounding the corner to the super boof. The super boof was the goods of the run, about 20ft perfect launching falls. The last drop according to young kayak all star, Galen, “Just an easy boof, class 3ish.” Maybe easy if you don’t go upside down and bang your head on a few rocks along with your shoulder. My line not so bueno.

Adventure is always around these parts.

The main river here, the Alseseca, may be one of my new favorites. The sections we have been running consistently include: The Roadside, Big Banana, and El Silencio. Apart from that we got on the lower half of the seven sisters and also a tributary of the Alseseca, El Jalicingo-the JAH. More love will come to these sections and rivers.

El Salto

Well after our arrival to the eastern side of Mexico and some good fun in San Luis Potosi area, we headed a few hours North to El Salto. The river was a bit on the low side but the first couple drops where a fun way to get back in the kayak mode of running a rapid multiple times. A few days on this run and Gopro shots of all angles got us a couple photos. Enjoy
And now we are enjoying the goodness of the Alseseca river...

The free fall shot

IS the camera on????

 

Arrival to Mainland Mexico

Some things in life are meant to be lived, to see, to touch, to really get out there and feel the beauty of the natural world up close. As I sit in this picturesque place of Mexico, I look out and see the turquoise blue water, I hear the crashing of the giant cascade, Minas Viejas and I see flashes of white as water descends over a hundred feet falling to reconnect with travertine rock or to bypass the rock and fall directly into the beautiful pool of agua azul at the bottom of the falls. To add to this wonderland, hundreds of swallows are coming out of a cave situated about half-way up the falls and are circling overhead. Maybe they are coming out for the evening feed, waking from a rest in the cave or just maybe they are doing exactly what I am doing; Living in Beauty. I believe we were meant to experience the beauty that our world holds, and for this I live.



Good night sleep on the boat

How did the Tour de Sueños arrive to such an amazing place? Well lots of traveling, with some fun over the past two weeks since we left Baja. From La Paz we boarded the ferry with the SuenosMobile and the ship left for our 18 hour crossing of southern Baja to Mazatlan on Mainland Mexico. The ferry ride was quite nice, featuring an array of movies in the lounge area, the “Hangover” series in Spanish and we woke up in the morning to the killing of Indians in the “Apocalypto”, along with a cartoon or two. To save some money we opted out on paying for a cabin and brought our sleeping pads and bags on the ferry and slept out on the deck of the ship.

We arrived in Mazatlan around 11:00am and drove the van off the ship with the other cars and trucks as well as one or two crazy cyclist on a journey to ride as far south as possible. As soon as we hit the road and were trying to navigate a route to head south, I drove through a red light and soon after a police motorcycle was pulling me over. I tried my best to talk him out of giving me a ticket, but no luck, and I was told to go to the police station about seven blocks away and pay the fine there. Part of me was thinking of just forgetting the ticket and continue on with our journey, but I did run a red light so I went to the station to get it sorted out. A hundred and fifty pesos later or about 12 bucks we were on our way to Aticama, Nayarit.

Quieres un chile picante?

Aticama is a small pueblo about five hours south of Mazatlan and three hours north of Puerto Vallarta. Most travelers would probably drive straight past the small coastal town not giving it a second look. But this small pueblo is home to some longtime family friends and it hold some of my earliest childhood memories of Mexico. Jose and Petra Perez are a couple my dad met before he was married with a family, during his vagabond days in Mexico. Over the last 30 years or so our family has stayed in contact with these great people through visits to Mexico and even having Jose and his brothers swimming across to Imperial Beach and to work and live with our family many years back. And now after about eight years since my last visit I am driving up that same old cobblestone street looking for Jose and Petra’s casa.

About three blocks up from the highway and a question to a local guy at a small store, “ Sabes donde viven Jose y Petra?”, we pulled up to the two-story house that appeared a lot nicer then when I last visited. We walked in the house with the television on, a couple kids playing in the living room, and three adults sitting in front of the TV. There she was, a bit more frail and weak from Arthritis, a lady who is a mother to all, Petra Perez. Jose was down in Puerto Vallarta for the weekend selling ceviche to local restaurants and would be back the following day. If there is one thing that this family has taught me over the years, it is the importance of family and friends and most importantly the act of “Mi Casa es Su Casa.” It feels good to be back.

Not much has changed in the town of Aticama. The young kids are now adults with children of their own and the elders are happy to have a few more grandchildren running around, life is simple in these parts. They work when they need to and they enjoy spending time at home and live the ultimate chorbel lifestyle. We adapted quite well to the simplicity of this Mexican way of life. Mornings were mellow with a few cups of Nescafe and frijoles con tortillas de Maiz to fuel us up for our wanderings about nearby attractions. We spent afternoons looking for surf at nearby beaches, made a day trip up to a waterfall for a fish BBQ and swim-time, took a boat ride through the mangroves of San Blas to the crocodile farm, attended Sundays three hour long church service followed by a community fish taco feast and most of all enjoyed being with long time friends and making a few new ones as well.

Fish bbq estilo mexicano

After about five days of chorbeling around Aticama we decided it was time to move on. Driven by a word that Puerto Vallarta could have some potential for some good kayaking we headed south looking for agua en los rios. We arrived to find not much on the side of water and only had a short afternoon running a small rock slide at the sight of where the film “Predator” was shot way back in the day. Chris and I took turns in a kayak going off this one runnable slide to dust off the kayak cobwebs for the next part of the Tour de Suenos, Kayaking.

Predator slide

From Puerto Vallarta we began the long drive across Mexico to the eastern state of San Luis Potosi. This journey took us a bit longer than expected, something that tends to happen in Mexico. After three days of driving we found ourselves hiking down to our first waterfall of the trip, “Puente de Dios.” For not kayaking for a solid two months this was quite the technical drop start off with. “Puente de Dios” means bridge of God, and this tourist attractions was pretty much exactly that. A low volume fifteen foot waterfall into a tight pool, which then required a ferry to the lead-in of a tight bouncy drop which had an undercut rock both on the top right and bottom left. After scouting and finding a good spot for safety Chris had a good run then I followed also making it down clean, and we were both stoked on being back in the RIO. Following those two drops all the water went into a big pool that seemed to end right there with no exit to the pool. But the water somehow form a natural bridge and had this underwater cave you could swim into and out the other side leading to the rest of the river.

The First drop of Puente de DIos

Underwater Cave Puente de Dios

When we all got our fair share of swim time we headed back to the van to make a drive to Ciudad Valles for the next river, Cascadas Micos. Los Micos is essentially a playground for kayakers, it is a series of about 7 drops ranging from 8-15ft of pretty basic travertine slides and waterfalls. Since we arrived in the evening we decided to wait until the morning for our first run. We awoke in the morning to a light drizzle of rain and after our morning chorbel of coffee and eggs we headed up river for our first of four laps of the day. This run could use a bit more water as it is hard to get a good boof stroke, but after a couple laps we got the lines a bit more dialed. Overall a good day of paddling and a bit of training for hopefully some harder runs to come.

Put-in Los Micos

Now as I am writing this blog in my journal, to be reposted when I come to some internet we are waiting for another day on the rio. We drove up the road from the Cascadas Micos to check if the run Cascadas Minas Viejas had water and we came to a river that was a bit to low to run. After a decision to stay and enjoy the beautiful falls for the day, Chris gets overtaken with a quick onset of Montezuma’s revenge and sets up his tent within crawling distance from the toilet. Hopefully shit gets better.
 

Never show signs of weakness en Mexico

What we read when we are not playing

Every surf trip or kayak trip has its down time. And a good way to pass time is to pick up a book and open your mind to the adventure written down on paper. All of us spend quite a good amount of time reading and here are a few books that we are enjoying so far. Some are classic works of literature that have been read before and others are new reads. Today we will board the ferry to Mazatlan which should be a fun 18 hour boat ride to the mainland. Then when we arrive some possible kayak exploration around Puerto Vallarta with some surf in there as well. Cheers amigos

Baja Begins

 

The Crew and the SuenosMobile
Andrew, Becca, Chris and Todd

An adventure always has to start somewhere. Plans are made, maps are opened, the car gets packed and the crew of friends eventually shows up to start the journey. This journey we are on starts off with four great people, Todd Richey, Chris Madden, Becca Smith and myself. I am sure the Tour de Suenos crew will grow with new members and some will also leave along the way as the SuenosMobile heads south. The start to our adventure begins in San Diego so we can get the van loaded up with surfboards, kayaks, fishing gear, camping stuff and an accessories of gear that we probably don’t need but since the van has room we cram her full. Our first stop the beloved Casa en Mexico, which is actually only about an hour south of the border.


This lovely house in Mexico is my parents place that has provided years of entertainment for our family and friends who have come down to visit. Since neither Todd nor Chris have made a visit I decided it would be a good welcome to Baja California for the boys. Todd was able to spend a few more days then Chris and the great Pacific provide us with some fun waves. During our stay some of my family made the quick trip down from SD to enjoy the good fall weather and for one last goodbye before our long trip south into Mexico.


The Bigness on the inside and my brother Gabe out the back.



Riding the big board while the knee gets well


The day before we were going to leave the casa my parents came down for the night. My dad said the surf looked really good at a couple spots just north of the casa, so we loaded the boards in his truck and drove north. The surf was a beautiful 4-6ft with evening offshore winds. After exchanging some fun waves for about 2 hours, I rode a wave all the way into the inside to finish up with a turn on the closeout. I noticed my dad was right there in front of me when I finished that wave and something was not right.

The Bigness, the name I gave to my old man a few years back, was not looking good. He was holding his right shoulder in pain and his board was floating off on its own as he floated in waist deep water. Upon first contact it looked apparent that he had dislocated his shoulder, an injury that he also suffered this previous year. I looked to the beach to wave Todd and Chris to come give me a hand. When we got him back to the truck, I decided to try my Wilderness First Responder skills and pull traction on his shoulder to hopefully reduce the dislocation.

Sad to say that after about 30 minutes of pulling traction and numerous “Faaackkks” out of my dads mouth there was no success. We decided it would be best to take him to a hospital in Rosarito to have a doctor take a look. At first I was a bit bummed out that I was not pulling traction correctly and felt bad that the Bigness had to go through all this pain. But when the doctor finally checked him out and took X-rays, gave him pain meds, and pulled traction for about 30 minutes as well with no success, it was apparent that his shoulder was really fucked, poor guy. After a recent email to my parents he apparently has to go in for an MRI soon, hopefully he heals up soon so he can make another visit with the Tour de Suenos. My parents headed back to San Diego and our crew back to the casa for a quick sleep before making the first long drive south to Abreojos.

Everyone needs a pit stop on a road trip

I had a bit of an epiphany about my surf life during our first stay at Abreojos. I realized after having a cup of coffee one morning and writing in my journal that it had been 20 years since my first visit to this magical coastline in Baja. It was my dad who first brought me here when I was in the 3^rd grade, and took me out of school for a two week father/son surf trip. This was not my first visit to Baja, as my family had been taking vacations south for as long as I could remember, but it was a first of many things. I pulled into my first mini-barrel on a body board, got taught how to tie a fishing knot and how to cast which led to me pulling in a few good size corvine, while my dad and his buddies surfed. And now 20 years later I am still doing the same thing, except I hope the barrels are a bit bigger as well as the fish.

 

 

Evening Session at Abre reefbreaks

 



Richey with the longest ride of his life

Surfing by no means is an easy sport to excel at, but regardless of skill one may find joy no matter how good a surfer he or she is. On this trip two of my friends are along that have spent little time in the ocean surfing in the past, but they share the same stoke as every other surfer with each stand up and each beat down. Both Todd, from Montana, and Chris, from Northern California, are some of the best kayakers I have paddled with and it has been amazing to watch them dive into something new and to start getting a grasp of the ocean. The simplicity of just catching a wave, standing up, and turning down the line brings about so much joy and stoke from a new surfer. Apart from surfing we have been spending our afternoons trying to catch dinner, but are mostly just coming up with a few small sand bass that only suffice for a small appetizer, but non the less very tasty. I am not sure if it is the passing around at camp Hemmingway’s ,Old Man and the Sea, but these guys will fish for hours with sometimes no success.

Trying to bring in dinner.

 

 

Trying my luck at Razors one evening

 

After about a week of good surf and fun at Abre,

we decided with the falling swell to continue on south to see a bit more of Baja. On our way down to San Juanico we made an overnight stop in Bahia Concepcion for some sleep then an early rise to head to the fabled Scorpion Bay. When we arrived the surf was a bit on the small side, but perfect for learning to surf and even a wave or two on the long board. Not wanting to pay 150 pesos to sleep in the dirt, we pulled our dirt bag moves and hung out on the point during the day and drove down the long beach south to find private beaches that where perfect for sleeping under the stars and a good fire at night.

The surf never picked up in San Juanico and after the legendary Ranger Richey hitched a ride North to get a bus back to the States we decided to continue on southward. Our next stop Rabbit Point. El Conejo is a spot I have visited before but never really scored surf-wise but always a good place to camp and stay the night. We decided to only buy fresh produce and food for a night possibly two in case the winds where bad and the surf never came. Luckily for us the Great Conductor wanted us to see the goodness that the point had to offer as we scored 3 of the best days of surf so far. The cause of this surf came from Hurricane Paul, which provide offshore winds all day and head high surf for about two days before old Paul decided to come for a closer visit. Everyone was getting fun waves, even Chris on the foam board was dropping in a few bombs and Becca claiming some of the better surf of her life. To bad no one wants to take photos when the surf is good.

Calm before the Storm

The rain started the last day 3^rd day we were camping but the surf was still offshore and fun. After our morning surf we decided it would be best to pack camp and move back across the Arroyo in case the rains from Hurricane Paul picked up and cased a flash flood that could leave us stranded with not much drinking water and only a few cans of black beans and quinoa left to eat. We found an empty palapa up the point near the fisherman’s hut to seek refuge from the rain for our last night. It was a good spot to hang, but we soon found out that no palapa keeps you dry when the Hurricane is only about 100 miles away. Waking up to the constant rain and wind ripping in all directions and crush my little 2 man REI tent, it was apparent that old Hurricane Paul wanted to hang out with us. 

 

 

Tired and frustrated the 3 of us quickly through all the wet gear in the van and did our best to tie down all the boards and boats on the roof before getting pack to the Highway. Once back on the road we headed south to La Paz and gave in our dirt bag lifestyle for a dry room in a motel while the Hurricane subsides and then we are loading on the ferry to Mainland Mexico. And here is where the computer comes out and life on the interweb is available after a few good weeks of camping in Baja. Baja has been a magical visit for the Tour de Suenos, and a place we will all probably come back too.

Cheers Friends... And thanks Zinka for the hook up protecting our beautiful faces from the harsh yet beautiful Baja Sun. Enjoy the photos, courtesy from my camera and Todd's Camera.

La Punta

Night Hunt

When we cant kill any fish we will resort to cruching the rats that inflitrate our camp.