Man Who Swam the Amazon - Softcover
On Sunday, April 8, 2007, a 52-year-old self-described fat man in a Speedo by the name of Martin Strel swam 3,274 miles of the Amazon River. The Fish Man, as he was called by locals, almost died in the process several times. At the finish his blood pressure was at heart attack level, his entire body full of subcutaneous larvae, and besieged by dehydration and diarrhea and exhaustion. Strel undertook this epic swim to call attention to two issues he is concerned about: deforestation, and river pollution. Along the way he suffered from blisters, sunburn, exotic stomach illnesses, all the while trying to avoid piranhas, anacondas, crocodiles, alligators, river sharks, and a small fish known as the canduru, which when attracted by the smell of urine releases razor-sharp spines into the human orifice it has crawled into.
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From the Back Cover:
About the Author:
Thirty-two hundred miles, piranha, crocodiles, anaconda, river sharks,
blistering and relentless sun,dangerous currents, river pirates and drug runners, and the insidious candirú.
Martin Strel swam through it all. Why? To call attention to the continued deforestation of the Amazon rainforest and to river pollution.
By the time he finished this epic swim from the river’s source in the Peruvian Andes to the delta in the Atlantic headwaters near Belém, Brazil, Martin Strel was almost dead, straining with the remaining shadows of his strength to reach the finish line. His blood pressure was at heart attack levels, his entire body filled with subcutaneous larvae, and he was besieged by dehydration, diarrhea, and exhaustion.
Drawn from the eloquent and evocative trip diaries of writer Matthew Mohlke, who, armed with buckets of blood to divert piranha, guided Strel, The Man Who Swam the Amazon is a gripping and inspirational story of perseverance, passion, and endurance: a real-life odyssey of a rare and driven man.
Martin Strel is one of the most elite athletes in history. He holds three Guinness world records in distance swimming, and is about to earn his fourth for his Amazon swim.
Matthew Mohlke is author of Floating Down the Country, an account of his Mississippi River paddling adventures.
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- PublisherJaico Publishing House
- ISBN 10 8184950039
- ISBN 13 9788184950038
- BindingPaperback
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