New Years in Mexico Edit

[FarPastGone]

Hope everyone is doing well and is getting out with the recent rains. My friend Ben Hoffman and I met several other kayakers and took a trip down to the Mexican state of Vera Cruz over New Years. Vera Cruz is home to the world famous Roadside section of the Alseseca but also has a ton of other whitewater. Check out the quick edit I put together

https://vimeo.com/57119105" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sorry for the water droplets on the lens of my GoPro at times. We also failed to get much footage from the Big Banana stretch of the Alseseca and none from the Pimento-Tatempa-Zapotitalan stretches of the Filobobos.

- Matt

[Sir Kayakalot]

Wow Matt! Thanks for posting, awesome.

Tommy

[turboturtle]

Most excellent! I Like it. You didn't get robbed by the local federalizes did you?

aka Bob

[FarPastGone]

Thanks guys!

Bob we did get shaken down by municipal police "for speeding" just north of Tampico in the state of Tamaulipas. They wanted $120 US cash but we ended up getting out of it for $70 (split 4 ways). We were kind of unprepared to deal with being shook down since we did not discuss it nor have a plan for it, but I think we could have avoided it. On the south side of Tampico another group of municipal police stepped into the road and tried to wave us over but we just kept driving. The first 5 miles after blatantly ignoring them were tense and we were ready for a hail of gunfire to rain down on us. Thankfully nothing happened.

This is my first time traveling to Mexico since 2008 (I also traveled to Mexico in 2007 and 2006). On all of those trips we were shaken down at some point or another, mostly in Monterrey. Usually it is anywhere between $20-100 bucks and should just be considered an added expense to the trip as it is kind of hit or miss whether you get pulled over. My friend Adam Goshorn has traveled to Mexico 7 of the last 8 years and has only been pulled over once in those 7 years (this year in Tampico in fact!). If you could manage to travel to wherever you are going down there (whether it is San Luis Potosi or Vera Cruz) and avoid Monterrey or Tampico you could probably avoid being harassed.

Running from the police should be handled on a case by case basis.

- Matt

[Edgar]

Cool video! Thanks

[Cathy]

Running from the police should be handled on a case by case basis.

-classic Matt Taylor.

When's the BC edit comin'

[BMuu]

Awesome video Matt! Looks like you have had a fun New Year despite the lack of rain here in NWA