Cave of The Swallow - Juasteca H20 Project update
SOooooo... I thought I would post to let everyone know how things are coming along for H20 project down south. In January I put together a request and funding proposal for the School Of Mines in Golden, CO on behalf of the community surrounding the Cave. They decided that with all of the previous research, and already provided funding(Thanks Avery), that they would elect this project to be their senior design project for the next few years. I had flown down there with my friend Jeff in December and gotten together a bunch of requested data and also a letter of intention from the village asking for help with a basic humanitarian need.... water.
Due to only having limited time available to take off in March, I had to choose between running Heli-Big Wall trips in Copper Canyon, or taking a group of students down to do the initial survey at the Cave. I knew that postponing the survey trip would mean that the community would go without water for two months this summer. After discussing it amongst ourselves we decided to put all our efforts this year into the H20 project.
Unfortunately 2 day before we were planning on leaving .... the School of Mines pulled the plug. The state dept. issued a warning to American citizens and specifically to college students heading to Mexico to not travel in Mexico due to border violence. The university could not take on the potential liability if something was to happen to a student on a school sponsored trip.
Soooooooooo...... at this point, we are planning on flying down there with a smaller party of students to due the initial survey work in a few weeks. The university has no problem with the group being in Mexico.....just passing the violence-ridden border. ( I tried to explain to them that I am the Jedi-Master border crossing unit... to no avail)
I've gotten quite a few emails lately asking me how things are going down south. I thought I would make a general post letting everyone know whats up.
Here's a link to the temp site the engineering students have set up:
http://sites.google.com/site/aquismonwaterproject/
If anyone's got any input... please pm me
And next time you run into Avery....... Thank that man for helping change the lived of so many needy people. :O)
Thanks for all the support from everyone.......
