| Letter from John Blashford-Snell
Dear Friends,
Our preparations for the expedition continues to progress.
In Bolivia the Alcalde of Exaltacion, in whose area we are operating, is being most helpful. Last week he flew in to Coquinal the water contractors to make test drillings for the well. They have discovered that clean drinking water is much deeper than expected and they will have to bore down 60 metres. The region is still suffering from floods and two rivers between our Rear Base at Santa Ana and Coquinal are still running very high. One bridge is currently underwater and a ferry has been swept away. Thus the first challenge will be to get the vehicles and water supply equipment over these obstacles. We shall form a convoy in Santa Ana on 26th July by which time we hope the water levels will have dropped.
Yolima Cipagauta has been in constant touch with the Bolivian Geological Institute, Sergeotecmin and two Bolivian Geologists will be in our team.
Thanks to the generosity of our supporters the Simón I. Patiño Foundation, the incubator we promised to send for a hospital in Cochabamba has arrived safely and been installed.
We are most grateful to the British Charity Just a Drop which is funding the water project and to Rotary who are helping us to provide other aid to the communities around Lake Rojo Aguado.
We are also grateful to The Viscount Gough for his support for schools material.
We have three doctors in our team, Roy D’Silva from England, Hazel Dobinson from Australia and Jorge Aguirre from Bolivia. Sarah Royal and Elodie Sandford are our nurses and a Dorset midwife Grace Martin is there to help the local ladies. Two RADC dentists are coming to tackle dental problems in the villages.
We are hiring 19 horses to carry the geological survey teams in areas where our vehicles cannot drive. A Bolivian Army Koyak cross country vehicle has been purchased and will be invaluable for reconnaissance work. We are still collecting funds to purchase a small ambulance boat to assist with the evacuation of sick people across Lake Rojo Aguado. So far $5000 has been collected by Elodie Sandford and we are hoping to raise a further $3000.
A number of kind sponsors have already provided equipment for us. These include NSSL for satellite phone batteries and the Spectra Group for the loan of two invaluable Iridium sat phones, Burton McCall for outdoor equipment and a solar panel and J.J. Vickers for Bushnell night vision devices for observing wildlife after dark. We very much hope to see some of the rare pink dolphins that have been reported in the Lake.
I shall be flying to La Paz on 7th July to meet Yolima, the Bolivian Geologists and Dr Jorge Aguirre and the main body of the expedition will assemble in Santa Cruz on 21st July. We are especially grateful to American Airlines for their kind help with an additional baggage allowance. HE Beatriz Souviron, the Bolivian Ambassador has been enormously helpful and done much to assist our preparations.
From the end of July we shall be having weekly reports on both this and my own website.
Thank you so much for your support and encouragement.
With best wishes
John Blashford-Snell | 
