“I Swam the Amazon”

Since we’ve got a marathon swimming theme going on, be sure to check out this piece in the Daily Mirror about Martin Strel. It talks about all the fun times he had while swimming the 3,274 mile long Amazon River in 66 days. Just a few choice morsels:

Tarantulas, giant millipedes and scorpions would drop off the trees into the river, often getting entangled in his hair…

Once he had to be hauled from the water screaming in pain, as shoals of piranha fish gnawed at his leg…

He also had to battle through tropical storms and blistering heat, as well as facing murderous bandits and machete wielding native tribes…

And I shudder to even think about the perils of the candiru, or “vampire fish.”

So what’s his secret to surviving all this? Lots of red wine, washed down with whiskey and beer (no fooling!).

0 Replies to ““I Swam the Amazon”

  1. inorder to not bring a Candiru home with you from the Amazon river we were told 1) do not pee in the water
    2) wear a tight fitting Speedo. I took the advice and had no problems swimming in the river . the pink dolphins were cool and the pirahna didnt seem to like white meat and they also didnt bother us. and yes, it is as muddy as the Mississipi.

  2. So glad you wrote about Martin Strel! I followed his blog during the Amazon swim and it was an amazing adventure–can’t wait to see the movie! As a fellow Slovenian, I’m sure he also had some slivovitz in his liquid diet 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *