By Ena Buenfil

This summer the 1st women only guide workshop was held in the Huasteca Potosina region, Mexico. The area has great potential for rafting activity with beautiful rivers of different classifications in states such as: Veracruz, Morelos, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Chiapas and of course San Luis Potosí in the Huasteca region.

Eight women attended this 1st women only guide workshop, most of them ecotourism guides (soft adventure) to learn about river descents. The workshop was organised by Ena Buenfil, IRF Raft Instructor who pointed out that the main objective of teaching an exclusive workshop for women is to be able to show the girls that all have the opportunity to raft. Even if it is not commercially as raft guides, it can be recreationally doing the activity as a hobby that gives us the opportunity to appreciate nature and exercise at the same time.

In this workshop, the new techniques proposed by the IRF such as the safety demonstration graphic and other common techniques such as rope throwing, basic knots, ferry swimming, etc. were handled. It was a very fun workshop for all of them, where they could discover their skills and enjoyed the excitement of the rapids on the Micos River, which on the third day after a good rain increased their level and made learning more technical.

During the workshop, the use of other boats such as inflatable kayak and Stand Up Paddle Board was included, which are one of the new activities included in the evaluations and workshops of the IRF due to the large number of people who practice them. Some of the girls felt more comfortable paddling in an inflatable kayak, others in a raft and some in a table and that is how Ana, Sofía, Viviana, Aketzaly, Anita, Karla, Mily and Sarahí lived a week of adventures, now becoming part of the #riverfamily.

“Mexico is a country where 98% of the guides are men and very few times the girls have the opportunity to join the river activities because there is still a lot of culture in that sense. Most people who have a raft or a kayak do so because they operate commercially. It is a good time to expand the Mexican river tribe and with these workshops we seek to include more girls”, said Ena Buenfil of Huaxteca.com.

#womenofwhitewater #riverfamily #strongertogether