TravelStream™ news feed for member smartmishmash on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/smartmishmash en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:32:45 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smartmishmash/1/1227191040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smartmishmash/1/1227191040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smartmishmash/1/1227191040/tpod.html Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:32:45 -0400 WILD 2008

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Jalcomulco, Mexico

We are still in Jalcomulco despite the fact that we should have travelled to Huatulco on Saturday. It started when the bus and van broke down last week and were not fixed by the time we should have left. We had a day finishing our first aid testing on Saturday then a planning day on Sunday for a two day Barranca Grande trip, to be planned and carried out without any instructors, starting on Monday.



The first day on the Barranca Grande went well. We made good time down the technical, high consequence top section and arrived at the camp in good time even after trying to remove a strainer from the river. The evening went well and we left in good time the next morning.



The next day we scouted and ran Class A Cinco, the first of the "Four Fours", double guiding each raft and also providing good safety cover along the length of the rapid. After this we continued on and made good time to the start of the Pescados section and continued through some of the bigger rapids on the Pescados.



To describe the events which happened next, I am going to use the official statement:



"At approximately 11:30am on November 18th, 2008 Joel, a student participating on the WILD program lost consciousness while kayaking on the Antigua river 5 km from Jalcolmulco, Veracruz - Mexico. He apparently capsized in a relatively calm section of the river and it is believed that he didn't hit any rocks while upside down. His brother, Jordan was kayaking near him and pulled him from his kayak and swam him to shore attempting to keep his head above water as much as possible.



Joel was pulled to shore where several students immediately began CPR, an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED), which was on hand and was used within minutes to successfully gain cardiac function and rhythm. A rapid evacuation followed and within two hours of the incident he was admitted to the hospital in Xalapa, Veracruz - Mexico, where further testing and diagnosis are being performed. He is currently in the Intensive Care Unit at the CEMS hospital in Xalapa."



Since then we have been staying in Jalcomulco trying to keep ourselves occupied. Yesterday we went on a hike to the spot where it happened with flowers and candles, and last night we went to the hospital to support Joel´s family before he flew back to Canada. We are currently getting ready to go to Huatulco and finish the trip.



Our thoughts are with Joel and his family."
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Davidson, Quebec, Canada

This is just to share a link to a Colesium Carnage video which I found on YouTube. The water level in this video is much higher than when we ran it on Monday, but we still had some carnage of our own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wG3nDC9qLU
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Jalcomulco and Rio Actopan, Mexico

We arrived in Jalcomulco this morning on the roof of the bus, which was an interesting experience with the rain, overhanging trees, low power lines and only the cam straps on the rafts to hold onto. Whilst this is the ultimate cool way to arrive into a small Mexican town, I am numbering this as the third most scary experience of my life. Jim thinks I would not have done it at all without scary experiences one and twi which happened yesterday. More about that later - first some more about the town.

Jalcomulco is a small town which seems to be dominated by Esprit whilst still maintaining it´s own character. Almost everyone knows Jim and quite a lot seem to work for Esprit in one way or another. not many people speak English, so my Spanish is going to have to improve fast. I´m staying in the house of some Esprit employees and one other student is staying with me. We had a very quiet lunch of beans and lentils and chicken and tortillas whilst everyone tried to find something to say. We ended up discussing religion (it´s not easy to explain my views even in English) and washing our clothes. I somehow managed to offer to do the washing up after lunch and was shown to a large stone basin full of water which is scooped out in a bowl to rinse the plates. It was an interesting experience.

So, back to the scary stuff....

Yesterday we ran the Actopan river, which starts with a 15ft waterfall. I knew about this before we got there and, due to my huge fear of throwing myself of high things (crazy, eh?) had decided not to run it. Jim had other ideas and, during a morning shotgun shift on the bus (we all take turns in the fold up shotgun chair so that we can poke the driver and keep them awake), he set about persuading me. Jim is very good at getting people to do things and, by the end of the bus ride, I had half-heartedly agreed to run the falls. The second most scary experience in my life was getting to the falls. The drop that we run is half way down a series of falls and the only way to get there is to climb down the first. There was a rope but we were not attached to it - we just hsd to hold on and climb down whilst the water poured all around and over me. Once we got to the bottom of the first fall and the top of the other I climbed down some rocks and sat at the bottom to watch, helping out with some safety whilst I was there.

So, Jim found me a boat and set it up for me at the top of the fall. There was a very complex persuasion method which is far too strange to explain here, but finally I got into the boat and Jim more or less pushed me off the edge. There was some setting up of paddle, some shutting of eyes, some falling and then I was upside down at the bottom. I got out and somehow Jim was already at the bottom ready to pull me out and give me a congratulatory hug. I just hope there are some good pictures of the most terrifying experience of my life so far.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smartmishmash/1/1225330200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smartmishmash/1/1225330200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smartmishmash/1/1225330200/tpod.html Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:29:09 -0500 WILD 2008

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Baranca Grande - Rio Antigua, Mexico

We have just returned from a two day rafting trip on the Baranca Grande and Pescados sections of the Antigua river with 8 girls, Julian video kayking and Mel and Jim instructing. These two days will stand out as two ofthe best days on WILD.

With such a small group, we were able to have one instructor per four students and, as we were all girls, felt no competition or issues with strength or confidence between me and the other students: I felt like I was able to be myself.

We started on the Baranca Grande with Mel and Jim guiding the two rafts, then they switched and let us take turns to guide after the technical first section. This was kind of exciting and, after switching, both rafts managed to wrap on large rocks. Ours was unwrapped by us with no help from the other crew (phew....now we don`t owe "jugs" to them) wheras we needed to set up a z-drag to unwrap theirs (they owe us :)....). It was cool to see the SRT in action on the river, especially in such a remote location where help was not readily available.

Today we had another drama whern one of the raft tubes popped on a rock. Thankfully, this was not the end of the world as raft outer tubes are divided into several sections so that if one pops the rest stay inflated. Jim used the sat phone to get a new raft sent down to a known access point but Karine had to continue to guide the raft with the popped tube (cammed up to the back of the raft so that it didn`t let in water) down the next set of rapids. The comment of the day came from Jim who said "We have discovered that you can`t backferry if you have no back of a boat." Again, this was a fabulous real-life training scenario which, whilst not ideal, gave us the opportunity to see what to do when things go wrong.

I`m going to end my wentry now asit`s almost 8pm and we are meeting on the bridge for beers.

Big smiles!
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Jalcomulco, Mexico

Written from Jalcomulco, Mexico:

A phone call was just received directly from Jordan at 19:35 our time. Joel is awake and recognizes his brother as well as other friends and family. He has little memory of the incident but is making jokes and talking about kayaking. One lung continues to labour but the doctors plan to take him out of the ICU tomorrow. The family will be sending us further updates as they come along.
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Jalcomulco, Mexico

Written from Esprit in Jalcomulco:


15:00hr
We have had a particularly good but particularly long night hence the delayed update.

Yesterday evening Joel's condition was trending very favorably and many of his vital signs and organ functions had drastically improved. Joel has displayed normal function of his heart, stomach, kidneys, liver, pancreas..... his lungs are drastically improving but remain laboured and potentially susceptible to infection. Although still somewhat sedated he has fine motor skills which indicate brain function.... but it is too early to tell exactly where that stands until he is free of sedation.

This morning Joel was taken off the respirator and was breathing on his own with a non-rebreather mask. He was briefly taken off the sedation where he proved his ability to move and how strong he currently is. He was then sedated again for transport from Xalapa to the airport in Veracruz where he was met by a Canadian Air Ambulance. He was then transferred into the care of the Foxflight Air Ambulance attendants and is currently enroute to the ICU at the London Health Science Centre.

The Scott family were met by the entire WILD staff and students at the hospital and each of the family was able to visit with Joel before his early morning transfer. The entire family are currently enroute from Mexico City to Toronto and will meet with Jordan and Joel around 2300h EST.

With Joel securely in the hands of Canadian medical experts the WILD crew will be participating in a full Critical Incident Stress Debriefing before loading up and transferring to Huatulco for a final group paddle into the Pacific. Spirits amongst the group are currently as strong as possible under the circumstances.... everyone has passed their thoughts and energies along to Joel, Jordan and his family and are now prepared to move forward as a group for future adventures.
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Jalcomulco, Mexico

So, after our hectic night with the ants we awoke early the next morning to hike up to Cotelamani - a large hill which sits in the middle of the convergence of 9 canyons and therefore a site of special spiritual importance locally. In ancient times, the dead were carried to the top and buried there with their possessions - a real honour considering that the hike is 1 hour up a steep and difficult path without a load! Because of this, locals who have planted their crops on top of the hill (there is a lack of planting space around the area due to the canyon and jungle terrain) have dug up ancient artifacts which are now displayed in a "museum" in one of the local houses.

The view from the top is amazing. You can see for miles around; the climb is definitely worth while. After spending some time up there and enjoying the sunrise over the valleys, we headed down for the best breakfast I´ve had in Mexico. We had Huevos Mexicana, tortillas, grapes and some leftover chocolatey biscuits from dinner. Afterwards it was time for the test: all the girls had to make tortillas. Apparently, when a girl can make good tortillas she is ready to get married. We all managed, in 2 attempts, to make some reasonably even and round tortillas but failed completely to put them on the hot stone to cook them without them folding at the edge. I guess we´re not ready yet....

After breakfast we headed off to the "museum" where the artifacts were set out and handed round. I think this may be the smallest museum I have ever been to - it consists of 3 pots for water and one rolling pin and board (made of stone). Each of these items is at least 1000 years old and still perfectly intact! Afterwards they gave us some coffee which has been dried and husked but still needs roasting and grinding. This was really touching and I will enjoy taking it home, roasting it, grinding it and sharing this with my family at some special occasion in the future. Maybe whilst talking about the village and the museum and the amazing kindness and hospitality of the people who live there.

Later in the morning we hiked back via a different route, ascending a much steeper path than the way into Chopilapa, and also up some more ladders. We hiked back to the same level that we had walked earlier in the morning so we were really hot and tired by the time we reached the top, but there was, of course, another great view.

After reaching Buena Vista we got back in the van and drove towards Jalcomulco, scouting a route for a new cycle tour which Esprit might run. On the way, we came across a party in a corn field, so Jim said "Anyone want to say hi?" and we stopped and went over. Of course, we got invited in to listen to the music (we went over to listen to them play and sing with guitars) and then they gave us tequila and roasted sweetcorn with mayonaise, chilli and lime. Stef got up and played The Gambler and some others and we listened to them play. It was an amazing end to an amazing weekend.
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Jalcomulco, Mexico

Stef, Jim, Eric, Laura and myself set off for Chopilapa from Jalcomulco about 9.30, having sent our lunch and sleeping gear on ahead in the van to our rendezvous point in Buena Vista. Chopilapa is a small village within a few hours walk of here. It only got electricity four years ago and a road last year. The road does not go all the way into town, but stops the other side of the river. It does, however, now provide a valuable route into and out of town for medical emergencies, trade and other essentials.

The firstpart of the hike is up a winding footpath leading into the canyon. After a short walk amongst the mango trees, we came to some pools at the start of the steep canyon climb, where we stopped for a snack. To get up the canyonfrom here involved a little more effort. There were a lot of climbs up boulders and through cracks in between. There was a lot of bum pushing and arm pulling to get us all up, and Jim lent a new meaning to foot holds by allowing us to climb up his legs on acouple of occasions where there were no hand-holds. We went through a cave full of bats and climbed some rock walls and finally hiked up a hill planted with coffee before getting to the laddres. The ladders are placed in steep areas to facilitate a climb up the canyon, and are made of bamboo and wood lashed together with wire. I guess you could say they were not exactly made to code... We hiked across the flat top amongst the butterflies for a while until we came to the town of Buena Vista and our lunch.

Lunch, packed into the coolers in the van, was fantastic. We had a cheese platter, a selection of crackers, a fruit platter and Jim opened a bottle of wine to complete the meal. We sat for ages enjoying the sun and the food and the company before we finally had to move on.

We hiked a little further and came up to the very top of the canyon, from where we would drop down into the next. When we reached the top we had a beautiful view above the whole canyon and could see the hills for miles around - each having a distinctive flat top. We continued on down and through the forest before arriving tired and hot into Chopilapa where we met the lovely families who live there. After some introductions we went down to the river to bathe before heading off to another house to say hello and have a beer. All 18 of there family members were in the house - luckily Jim speaks good enough Spanish to cover for all of us! We went back to the house where we were staying and made our dinner (gnocci -mmmm) on the open firein the kitchen before heading to bed on the porch.

While we were setting out our beds we noticed the ants. They were crawling up the pillars so we made sure to move our beds closer to the wall and away from them....or so we thought! Apparently these ants (ormigas) hunt you out for the heat and, after the loud music in the village stopped (a very Mexican thing I think) the ants moved in for the kill. They were in my pants and my sleeping bag and on my arms and over Jim's face and Stef`s clothes. And they bite! I did the ant dance for a while until Stef and Jim got up. Jim went off to find somewhere else to sleep and wede-anted and woke up the others. We ended up creeping into the house in the middle of the night to move into their front room. We did finally get agood night`s sleep though.

To be continued....
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Jalcomulco, Mexico

How appropriate is it that on the Day of the Dead (as it is in Mexico) that I should have my face-off with the Bruja Blanca (White Witch) of the Pescados. As the river comes down this rapid, almost the entire flow hits a wall, creating a large recirculating pillow of water. The challenge for us was to complete a ferry from one side of the flow to the other in a raft. Hit it and you might flip! I`m pleased to say that I managed to do my ferries without any carnage.

The rest of the day included gear checks, raft rigging, swims to the middle of the river (which I chickened out of) and other random tests.
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Hico, West Virginia, United States

We arrived at the NARR campsite in the evening of the 2nd October just in time for Thirsty Thursday when it is $1 for a beer. The campsite was very hastily set up that night! The net day was an early one as we had to be ready to go rafting by 8am. Due to licensing arrangements we had to raft as commercial guests of NARR (www.narr.com) on the Upper and Middle Gauley. The day was excellent fun but the rapids were very big and scary - the guide was keen to point out all the undercuts, caves, sieves and other nasties in the pretty much continuous class 3-5 rapids. The Middle Gauley was less scary and I even kayaked it twice yesterday and today. There is one rapid called "Fluffy Box of Kittens" which used to be called "Guide's Revenge" which caught us all off guard as it looks like an easy, gentle class 2 until Jo-Beth (our guide) put us sideways into a massive hole! We very nearly flipped, but somehow managed to not to....

The Middle Gauley is a fun section to kayak. It has to be by far the biggest whitewater have paddled to date. There are so many big holes, massive waves and the most undercuts, sieves and strainers I have ever seen. I swam twice yesterday and twice again today, both days at at a rapid called "Julie's Juicer". I managed to get down the main part of the rapid both times, through a series of holes and came unstuck when I came to the Juicer rock - the first day I went over the pour-over and into the seam and today I pinned myself on the rock for a second before washing out past the undercut backwards and upside-down. Most of the other raopids were great fun - including the giant waves which really tested my balance and high braces and the last rapid with the giant surprise hole at the end which surfed me for a second before I managed to paddle on through. Great fun!
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