Jungle and Well Drilling

To get to where we drilled the water well we had to take boats as there was no direct road access. The wooden boats were long and skinny. They were powered by small lawn mower type engines. We had a lot of gear with us and the boats would barely stay above water with us in them. The ride to the village was about 4 hours. Water leaking into the boat kept us busy - we had to bail water from the bottom every 10 minutes or so. We also had to fill the motor up with gas from cans a couple times. The ride lasted into the pitch black night and the boats have no lights so we used flashlights to spot and dodge debris in the water and to signal other boats passing by.

We made a small campground about a 100 yards from the river after we landed at the village. The village (called Nuevo Caperneum) consisted of a couple of wooden huts in the jungle and a concrete and brick school that 60 students attend. The students (age range from infants to teenagers) came from up and down the river and stay at the school long term. Six teachers teach, feed, and take care of the children. We were touched by how friendly the students and staff were and how happy they were that we were there to help. There is no electricy in the village, and the only source of drinking water is the nearby murky brown river.

We placed the well in the school yard. We started by pumping water from the river into temporary pools. We pour this water down the well as we drill to fluidize the sand and clay that we dig up. We set up a frame and pulley to suspend the drilling pipe. We started the actual drilling on Tuesday morning and were able to dig about 35 meters the first day. The second day was much slower due to some thick clay and hard sand layers. We started earlier and drilled into the night and finally reached a sand layer that would likely produce fresh clean water at 51 meters (about 150 feet). We had a lot of help on the drilling from the students and teachers and enjoyed interaction with them. As Ronnie mentioned in his post the well produced a small amount of water the next day. Danny tells us the well will produce more water in about a week. Our prayer is that the village will have abundant clean water.

A small luxury in the jungle each night was a bath in the river to remove the thick mud that caked on our clothes and skin during the drilling process. We had to be on the lookout for rays, anacondas, and pirannha in the water (the day before we arrived one of the teachers was stung by a ray). Another treat were our campground meals cooked by Angelica who is part of Danny´s drilling team. Other members of Danny´s team included Irai (from Brazil), Carlos (from Colombia), Thomas (from Belgium). We became close friends with each of these folks and learned a lot of culture and Spanish from them.

After 10 more hours of boat and truck travel we´re now back in Santa Cruz, Bolivia nursing our numerous bug bites, achy muscles, and sunburn. Sleep last night was a major blessing. Today we will spend some time seeing Santa Cruz. We leave for Miami and then Houston on Sunday morning. Thanks to everyone at home for your thoughts and prayers.

==Posted by Wes Heinlein and Jay "The Well Man" Wellman==