- Huasteca Potosina
- San Luis Potosi & Rio Verde
- Sotano de la Golondrias and Xilitla
SLP province has 3-4 regions, and the Huasteca Potosino area is in the eastern part of the state. This is supposed to be a forested, hilly and very green part of the province with lots of natural springs, rivers, hikes, mountains, caves etc.
Lots of citrus fruit grows in the Huasteca region
Rest stop; with lots of banana trees; seems like everything grows here
We drove to the first place we wanted to visit, the “Cascades de Tamul”. This is a waterfall area. So we drove about 2hrs east on the same mountain roads as the previous day, and then turned south to a small village called Morena. The area had got hilly and trees became larger and denser. We reached Morena and found a nice man to take us to the falls, but had to wait for another group to join us to keep prices reasonable. We joined a party of 4 youngsters, and luckily, one of the young girl in this party (Nani) spoke English, so we had our translator 🙂
We got to the river, and were amazed to note that the color of the water was turquoise; similar to what we see in Cancun. Apparently, this is due to the limestone and minerals in the natural spring water that the river comes from. All six of us got into the boat, with the guide and his daughter. The waterfall was 4kms upstream and we all had to paddle to get there, as motorized boats are not allowed in this conservation area.
The river where we started the canoe trip; note the turquoise clear water
Our guide and his daughter; boarding time
Springs everywhere with water coming out from the ground
So we paddled for about 1 hr through some very serene and natural, peaceful landscape. There we reached some rapids and so had to walk along the side of the river over some cattle grazing grounds while the guide and his daughter “walked” their boat over the 2 rapids and met us further upstream, and we got on and started rowing again. The guide showed us some areas where the water was naturally coming out of the ground, and was safe to drink. Tasted fresh & neutral.
Guide and his daughter walking the boat over the rapids while we hiked. Note the rock formations
Hike over some cattle pastures
Beautiful turquoise color and rock formations along the river
With Deidi, the guide’s daughter
Arrived at the waterfalls where we got into an island to view the waterfalls; spectacular. People were there from other boats and were enjoying swimming here. The water was bright turquoise and very clean.
So happy to have reached the waterfalls at last
After some time here, we started paddling back downstream and stopped for a short while at a cave, which was a natural watering hole for swimming, much like a cenote. Found a stall run by a family selling snacks and drinks, they had coconut water and coconut meat, so had a great snack here.
Cant get over the color of the water
Paddled back to where we started from, over the rapids this time,, and drove onto Aquisimon, the town where we were staying. It was getting dark now, and after getting lost several times and asking around, we finally found a farmacia owner who told us how to get to the hotel. The hotel was a basic, but clean place, with nice and very hot showers. So after checking in, we went back to the town to get something to eat. Most places were closed since this was a small town. Fortunately, we found some street food of taco’s and enchiladas and so were able to have some quite tasty food for dinner.
“Sotano de la Golondrias”next
This entry was posted in Mexico, North America, San Luis Potosi & Huasteca Feb 2016
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