My parents use AOL for email and since my computer pretty much took a giant dump and wont turn on I have been using theirs. I always get annoyed when AOL is left open and no one is using it but today I was grateful. A story caught my eye: Ed Stafford, a British guy just completed a 2+ year journey WALKING the length of the Amazon River. His story is amazing. He literally walked 3,000+ miles. He started with a friend who ended up leaving early into it and then finished the walk with locals and whoever wanted to join him. There is a blog in his website you can read that is absolutely amazing. At one point the locals were so afraid of him, shouting and calling him "Pela Cara" because they thought he was going to "steal their faces. Apparently there had been a few incidents in the jungle where bodies were found with their organs missing and the locals were blaming it on gringos saying it is Gringos who steal children for trafficking and also steal and traffic body parts. Insane.
http://www.walkingtheamazon.com/
So after reading this story I was turned on to another amazing story about Martin Strel, a 50 something year old Man from Slovenia who SWAM the length of the Amazon in 2007. Hes also swam parts of the Nile, Danube, Yangtze and other major rivers. Hes hysterical- an overweight, wine drinking, speedo wearing Slovene who swims in parasite and predator ridden waters in attempts to raise money to protect the environment. Totally amazing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/sports/playmagazine/0603play-swimming.html?_r=1
Some pretty amazing stuff considering there are all kinds of parasites in those waters, mosquito borne illnesses and insane amounts of vicious animals in the water...think bull sharks (the most dangerous shark in the world-- thank you shark week for that fact), anacondas, alligators, pirhanas....the man starts to seem MORE than crazy.
http://www.amazonmartinstrel.com/
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