Sunday the 28th - Playing on the Papagayo

Every time we paddled the lower Papagayo we found kids playing, swimming and fishing on the side of the river. We wondered if they have any idea of the government’s plans to build the largest man made lake in Mexico. We wondered if their house will be affected. We wondered if their community will be displaced and boxed into urban housing.We wondered if they will like the lake better than the river. We wondered if this kids have a future in their community, whether they will be able to find work here when they grow up.



We plan to work with these kids, teaching them the skills they need to become guides in this area. There is so much potential here for being a rafting, kayaking, jungle trekking, rock climbing or mountain biking guide. The opportunities are here. Free Flowing Rivers as an organization can serve as a catalyst to make these ideas into reality for youth.
Once we have these educational programs running in the local communities, the projects have the opportunity to flourish into local sustainable and responsible tourist industries. Tourists and university students can be involved in this positive change by visiting, and learning more about the communities from their guides. The youth can then bring the money back into their local community economies.

If the dam is built, we will still work with the kids. We will simply teach different skills like rappelling, base jumping, sea kayaking, or water skiing. Whatever decision the government makes, we will ensure that these kids see the windows of opportunity in their futures.