Cisco Guevara
Francisco Antonio Miguel Niño de Ortíz Ladrón de Guevara, founder and president of Los Rios River Runners, has been running the Rio Grande and telling stories around the campfire for over 50 years. He is instantly recognizable by his black hat, shaped by the water like the basalt rocks of the Rio Grande.
Cisco’s stories come from his deep connection to the beautiful wild places of New Mexico and his strong connection to the Hispanic and Native American cultures of the area. He is famous for his vast knowledge of New Mexico history and folklore. His stories range from hair-raising accounts of his outlaw youth, to hilarious anecdotes of his Catholic boyhood, to hauntingly beautiful tales of love and loss.
Cisco’s stories are as wild as the rapids, and as mesmerizing as the calm waters between. Every story he tells sparkles with his signature blend of folksiness and humor.
A multi-generational native northern New Mexican of mestizo heritage, Cisco is a long time regular storyteller for Tauck Tours and Road Scholar, and has been a featured teller at the Taos Storytelling Festival for over 20 years. He has appeared on television shows including Expedition Unknown, Bizarre Foods, The Jeff Corwin Experience, and The Bachelor.
In 2024, Cisco was named a “Living Legend” by the state of New Mexico.
Cisco is founder and president of Los Rios River Runners, New Mexico’s original rafting company, running the rivers of northern New Mexico since 1973. He has a daughter and a son and lives in Taos, New Mexico.
“Cisco Guevara is the fruit of the true vine, an authentic practitioner of one of the great traditional forms of storytelling. He’s a man who has lived a full, engaged and adventurous life, and he tells about it in a sincere, straightforward—and very entertaining—style.
Every time I hear Cisco tell, I learn something new about life and about the craft of storytelling. I come away thinking that if all the fancy dancers, banjo pickers, comedians, yodelers, screamers, acrobats and tinhorn gamblers who fill the ranks of storytellers these days would just sit back and let Cisco drawl out one of his choice memories to them, the whole crew would be vastly edified. Yes, sir; Cisco Guevara is my kind of storyteller.”
—Joe Hayes
“The stories of Cisco Guevara are like the Rio Grande river he rafts: exhilarating and full of twists and turns that tell of a life lived gloriously. His stories run the rapids of culture, nature, love and family. He captures a way of life that often goes untold but once spoken, is never forgotten.”
— Regi Carpenter
“Cisco is among the last of the great Western storytellers. His style is reminiscent of a grittier Will Rogers, and his pithy observations of life as a river guide on the Rio Grande are not only authentic and brilliantly crafted--but often funny as hell.”