Whitney Lonsdale & World Class Kayak Acadamy Rocks On In Mex

 

This is the second post from Whitney Lonsdale, as she leads a group of World Class Kayak Acadamy studednts in Mexico...

Exploring la cultura mexicana
Leaving the small whitewater haven of Jalcomulco we headed across the isthmus to the state of Oaxaca, stopping first in the capital city bearing the same name. Oaxaca has many beautiful old colonial buildings with at least 3 large cathedrals dating back to the 16th century.  As well, the city is famous for its tasty hot chocolate and its variety of mole sauces, both of which are on offer in restaurants, street stands, and markets all over town.  Our weekend visit coincided with one of Mexico’s major holidays – The Day of the Dead, or Día de Muertos.  Spirits of the deceased family members are believed to return to visit with their families on these nights, and in churches and cemeteries altars are created in their honor, bearing mounds of flowers as well as favorite foods and drink.  Families gather in the cemeteries throughout the night to celebrate the lives of their loved ones.  On our visit to Oaxaca City, we also had the chance to visit the hilltop ruins of Monte Alban, which date back to the 4th century.

Coastal Kayak Destination – Huatulco, Oaxaca
Dropping down from Oaxaca, we made our way slowly across the coastal mountain range.  In true Mexican style 130 km (85 miles) of switchbacks took us 6 hours!  We were relieved to finally arrive at our coastal paddling destination – las Bahias de Huatulco.  Huatulco is home to two quality rivers – the Copalita and the Zimatán.  In addition, there are several good surf breaks not far from town, most with few board surfers except on weekend afternoons.

El Rio Zimatán
The Zimatán River is a class IV treasure: warm turquoise water flows through white granite for about 10 km, offering up clean lines and excellent boof potential.  For the first few km, the gorge is narrow and the steeper pool-drop rapids stack up one after another.  After this first gorge, the canyon opens up and the river eases into class II for several kilometers allowing paddlers time to take in their surroundings.  Giant ceiba and guanacaste trees rise from the banks and are host to a multitude of birds and other plants.  The gradient cranks up again towards the end for a number of rapids before the run ends in a 25-foot, impressive waterfall called El Chorro.  With a challenging entrance and caves in the walls on both sides of the landing, this drop is not frequently run.  We hiked our boats past it each time, stopping to look and imagine (mostly someone else running it!), before making our way to the finale of the mission – a 20-foot “huck your boat and jump” into a pool, and a short flat water float to the take-out. 

More than just kayaking at WCKA
Many people who see our group in passing think that all we do is kayak.  We do spend a lot of time on the water and we do arrange our travel around the best water levels, play spots and river runs.  But we are indeed a high school, and we do spend more time on academics than we do on the water.  School comes first, and students don’t paddle if they are not doing well in classes.  Learning experiences abound outside of the ‘classroom’ as well at World Class and we had one such evening in Huatulco…
That Wednesday afternoon offered up the biggest waves we had yet to see and we all enjoyed an incredible surf session.  Once we talked ourselves into dropping onto the first wave that felt enormous (yes, I am getting to the non-kayaking part…) it was all good to go, and big cheers accompanied big moves and some even bigger beat downs.  As the sun set at one end of the beach and the full moon rose on the other, we reluctantly left the surf and dragged our boats up on the beach.  Tucked into a cove in the cliff walls lining the beach, we set about building the driftwood fire that was to be the backdrop for the English classes’ evening poetry session.  In the process of collecting firewood, one of the students made an amazing discovery.  There was a hatch of baby sea turtles making its way across the beach to the sea.  The more we looked the more we found - tiny creatures moving with surprising determination towards the water they could not possibly see.  Knowing the odds stacked against these endangered creatures, we followed their progress eagerly and cheered each time one made it into the waves.   We all knew it was a once in a lifetime experience and looked at each other wondering how we had gotten so lucky. The full moon, roasted marshmallows, and poetry read aloud rounded out one of my favorite World Class days I’ve yet to experience.