Drilling for water Day 1 & 2

I arrived back in Honduras on Sunday, September 27 after routine flights. Met John Fenley at the airport, we rented trucks, then went to Pricesmart (read Sam’s Club or Costco) and La Colonia (supermarket) in Tegucigalpa for some provisions, then I went to Zamorano and John to Oho de Agua.

Monday morning I went to La Capon early to meet John, and see what the plans were for starting drilling at Moroceli, thinking the rig would be moved to Moroceli in the AM and drilling would commence. Quickly found out that as usual in an endeavor like this, we weren’t quite ready. Paco (the Honduran driller) had gone to get parts, and another Honduran team member hadn’t shown up yet. No problemo. They would move the rig in the PM or early Tuesday morning. I therefore went to Danli to research pumps and tanks. Afterwards, I went to Moroceli and dropped off some Sunday School material I had brought for them. Discovered they had made great progress on the renovations. Windows had been cut in, the outside and inside walls had been sealed and plastered. One of the parishioners was painting shields on the front of the templo.

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The logo on the right will be the shield of the Diocese of Honduras, and the shield on the left will be the shield of All Saints’ of Lakeland.

Tuesday morning, I got to Moroceli relatively early, and the rig was there and preparing for drilling. At 9:15 AM, the drill bit hit the ground.

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An exciting moment. At 9:30 AM, a weld broke on the drilling rig, and we came to a halt. Paco and John went back to El Capon to get the welder. After some time, Paco began welding the piece back on the rig. The welder needed an electrical hookup, so Manuel, the Senior Warden, performed some electrical work, not quite up to code, at least in Polk County, Florida.

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The photo on the right is the connection for power to the church building.

Welder powered, Paco did his magic.

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The rig back together, the drill head would not attach to the pipe. The connector must be bad, so John and I go to El Capon to get an new piece. When we returned, the Honduran team had decided to drill for water the old fashioned way:

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Actually, they were digging a hole for a piece of PVC through which the drill pipe would run to keep the mess down when hitting or using mud. The 10“ piece of pipe was cemented in the hole, and dirt filled in around it. Should make for a cleaner drill. Make sense? Well, at 1:50 PM, we were ready to start drilling again. Luckily, we had one mature member of the team who knew what he was doing:

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As soon as we started again, the rain started. But no problemo. After all, we were drilling for water. When I left for Zamorano about 4:00, the drill was down 40 feet and moving. More tomorrow.