Equipo de guías certificados de Tours Huasteca Potosina

✦ About us

A family business born in the Huasteca

We're not a desk-bound agency. We're local guides who grew up exploring every trail, waterfall and village in the region.

+10,000

Travellers guided

15+

Years of local experience

4.9 ★

Google rating

Safety incidents

Founder & CEO

LinkedIn Instagram

Manolo Covarrubias

Founder & CEO · Huasteca Potosina Tours

📍 Xilitla, SLP🎓 Tec de Monterrey📐 Business Strategy & TransformationAged 22

Born in Xilitla, San Luis Potosí — the same Pueblo Mágico where Edward James's Las Pozas stands, at the heart of the Huasteca. He grew up surrounded by turquoise waterfalls, canyons and a landscape very few people in the world have the privilege of calling home.

He studied Business Strategy and Transformation at the Tecnológico de Monterrey. On an academic exchange in Australia he traveled its coasts, the islands of Indonesia and the landscapes of New Zealand — and that's where everything changed: comparing those destinations with the Huasteca Potosina, he realized Mexico has places just as striking or more beautiful, but the world doesn't know it yet. That conviction was the spark for everything.

At 22 he founded Huasteca Potosina Tours with one simple, powerful aim: to share the beauty of the Huasteca Potosina and make sure every traveller leaves with the best possible experience of the most extraordinary region in Mexico.

“The Huasteca deserves to be known by the world. And the world deserves to know the Huasteca. Every tour is a chance to make that happen.”

Manolo Covarrubias · Founder & CEO

Our story

From local guides to a name in the region

Huasteca Potosina Tours was formally founded in 2019 by Manolo Covarrubias. But our team's roots go back much further: to 2010, when Carlos Rodríguez — today our head guide — was 19 and already walking tourists to Tamul Waterfall on foot, because there was no paved road and he was the only one who knew the way.

What followed were years of learning in the field — fishing on the Tampaón, rappelling the canyons, getting to know the ejidatarios who guard access to the most spectacular sites. When the three guides came together in 2015, they had something no agency can buy: fifteen years of accumulated local knowledge. In 2019 Manolo — born in Xilitla and convinced the Huasteca deserves to be known worldwide — brought all that local talent under one company and one mission.

“A group from Guadalajara turned up for our first tour in 2020. Sceptical, half asleep, asking whether getting up that early was worth it. It was 5:15 AM when we reached the rim of the Sótano. The parakeets began to pour out — thousands of them, spiralling, with a sound that exists nowhere else on earth. A man of about 55 stood there crying. He couldn't explain why. He just kept saying 'thank you, thank you'. That was the moment we understood this wasn't a tourism business. It was something bigger.”

Carlos Rodríguez · Head Guide · 2020

Today, more than fifteen years after that first improvised trip to Tamul, we're the highest-rated tour operator in the region on Google Maps: 492 verified reviews, 4.9 stars. But we're still the same people who grew up here.

2010

Carlos Rodríguez, aged 19, starts informally guiding the first tourists who turn up in Tamuín asking about Tamul Waterfall. No paved road. No fixed rate. Just knowledge of every path that nobody else had.

2012

Miguel Ángel Hernández joins as a water guide. He has spent years fishing the Tampaón with his father and knows every current, every rock and every hour of the day when the light falls differently into the canyon.

2014

José Laredo completes his first technical descent to the floor of the Sótano de las Golondrinas — one of the first people from the region to do it with certified gear.

→ The sinkhole is part of our Tamul Tour →

2015

The three guides meet on a spur-of-the-moment trip to Edward James's Las Pozas. The chemistry is instant: local experience, technical safety, genuine passion. They decide there's something to build together.

→ Visit Las Pozas with us →

2016

Their first season operating as an informal team. One rented van, three destinations and word of mouth alone. No advertising, no website. 80% of customers came on another traveller's recommendation.

2017

First first-aid and swift-water rescue course with the Mexican Red Cross. We wanted every family who climbed into our van to know they were in the best possible hands. — Carlos

2018

First private tour with night access to the Tamul ejido. The ejidatarios — who have known Carlos since he was a boy — open the gate before dawn. That was the origin of the exclusive access we offer today.

→ See the exclusive sinkhole access →

2019

Manolo Covarrubias formally founds Huasteca Potosina Tours and brings the guides together under one company. Their first own van, first WhatsApp Business page and first online bookings. Three destinations become five.

2020

The pandemic. Zero tourists. Instead of closing, we used the time to certify with SECTUR, train the team and support local communities with food-parcel deliveries.

2021

Full NOM-09 SECTUR certification for the team. Expansion to Xilitla and Las Pozas. Official partnership with the Tamul ejido for exclusive dawn access to the Sótano de las Huahuas.

→ This exclusive access is part of our Tamul Tour →

2022

Single-use plastics eliminated entirely. Launch of the welcome kit with a reusable water bottle included on every tour.

2023

492 verified reviews on Google Maps with a 4.9-star rating. The first season where demand outstripped our maximum capacity.

2024

Creation of the Huasteca Conservation Fund with 3 partner ejidos. Replanting of 2.4 hectares of riparian woodland along the Tampaón River.

2025

Launch of the digital platform with an AI trip planner — the first among tour operators in the region.

What defines us

Our values

Local passion

We were born here. The Huasteca isn't a job to us — it's our home, our family and our pride.

Carlos Rodríguez — certified guide with safety gear

Safety first

Every one of our guides is certified in first aid, water rescue and leading groups in natural settings.

Group canoeing through the Tampaón Canyon — low impact

Responsible tourism

Limited group sizes, zero plastics, and $30 MXN from every tour goes to the Huasteca Conservation Fund.

Water Cave — places you can only reach with a local guide

An authentic experience

We don't follow scripts. Each tour adapts to your group's pace and interests so you experience the real Huasteca.

A small group on the river — a personal experience

Small groups

A maximum of 12 people per group. Personal attention and access to corners the tour buses will never see.

Sótano de las Huahuas at dawn — exclusive access

Constant improvement

Every season we update protocols, routes and equipment. Ongoing training with SECTUR.

More than tourism

Community impact

When you book with us, your money doesn't go to a corporation. It goes straight to families in the region and to conserving the ecosystems that made your experience possible.

$30 MXN

From every tour to the Huasteca Conservation Fund

Local ejidos partnered in the conservation fund

2.4 ha

Of riparian woodland replanted along the Tampaón River

90%

Of every payment stays in Huastec communities

✦ Book any tour and $30 MXN goes to the Huasteca Conservation Fund

The fund pays for replanting with native species, river clean-ups and environmental training in ejido communities. Every booking is a vote for the Huasteca of the future.

Who'll be guiding you

Our team

Carlos Rodríguez

Head Guide · Tamul & the Sinkhole

He grew up in Tamuín, 15 minutes from Tamul Waterfall. At 14 he was already walking his cousins to the river because there was no road out there. He was the first guide in the region to certify with SECTUR under the NOM-09 standard, and today he knows every rock in the Tampaón Canyon, every current in the sinkhole and every hidden trail no tour bus will ever see. He has guided more than 800 groups without a single incident.

The moment that still moves me most is when we round the bend on the Tampaón and the whole waterfall suddenly appears. I've been looking at it for six years and it still leaves me speechless — same as my travellers.

★★★★★4.9 · 492 reviews

NOM-09 SECTUR

Miguel Ángel Hernández

Water Guide · Tampaón River

He grew up fishing the Tampaón river with his father at first light. He learned to read the currents before he learned to read at school. Today he's the team's water specialist: he holds a swift-water rescue certification from the Mexican Red Cross and has guided more than 600 groups on the river without a single incident. If the river is difficult that day, Miguel Ángel knows before he gets there. He speaks fluent English — ask for him when you book and he'll be your guide.

The Tampaón isn't the same river two days running. That's what I love about it: every morning I read the water and choose the route. There's no script — there's knowing the river.

★★★★★5.0 · 318 reviews

Red Cross Water Rescue

José Laredo

Adventure Guide · Rappelling & Canyons

He started rappelling at 18 in the canyons around Ciudad Valles. At 22 he was one of the first to descend to the floor of the Sótano de las Golondrinas on technical gear. Today he trains other guides and designs the safety protocols for all our adventure tours. His principle: real adrenaline comes from knowledge, not recklessness.

My job is to get the person who's most afraid of heights to the rim of the sinkhole and have them feel more alive than ever. When I manage it — and I nearly always do — that moment is priceless.

★★★★★4.9 · 274 reviews

Adventure · SECTUR

What people say about our team

They mention our guides by nameIn their own words (Spanish).

“Carlos nos explicó la historia del ejido mientras remábamos por el Tampaón. Me sé toda la historia de la Cascada de Tamul gracias a él. El tour vale el doble solo por eso.”

Diana L.

Guadalajara, Jal.

Menciona a
Carlos Rodríguez

“Miguel Ángel nos indicó exactamente dónde pararnos para capturar la cascada con la luz perfecta. Tiene un conocimiento del río que no se aprende en ningún libro.”