HOLY SH!T This guy swam the entire Amazon River

[redspicyflag]

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blo...zon-3274-miles-on-the-worlds-deadliest-river/

Last year on April 8th, Slovenian marathon swimmer Martin Strel became the first man to swim the entire length of the Amazon River from headwaters in Peru to the Brazilian port city of Belém: 3,274 miles. It took him 66 days with a support crew of near twenty people following him in a boat for protection.

He’d already conquered the Danube, the Mississippi, and the Yangtze. In 1997, he became the first to swim non-stop from Africa to Europe, and he did it in 29 hours, 36 minutes, and 57 seconds… without a wetsuit. WTF? Seven swimmers had attempted it before and all had failed.

The Amazon was different. As the “Fish Man,” as the locals called him, reached the finish line at Belém, he had to be helped to his feet and ushered into a wheelchair amidst a cheering crowd. His blood pressure was at heart-attack levels and his entire body was full of subcutaneous larvae. But he lived to tell the tale...

Man that's amazing

 

[Ken785]

That cant be real...3274 miles of non stop swimming is humanly impossible... he had to have had breaks in between some miles...

 

[DarthAngel707]

That cant be real...3274 miles of non stop swimming is humanly impossible... he had to have had breaks in between some miles...

Ummm...yeah and they bike non-stop in the Tour de France with people starving and dead at then end LOL

Of course he took breaks! By nightfall they probably anchored the boat, he got back in and they hosed him down/showered and then he ate a nice sophisticated meal prepared by experienced chefs designed to give him maximum energy for the next day's performance.

LOL Ken785 you are funny. Even Superman can't go 66 days without food and water. Nevertheless it was a great accomplishment. Way to go for the swimmer!

 

[In Motion]

Thats crazy but HOLY **** subcutaneous larvae sound really unappealing to have crawling around inside me. EWW.

 

[AlexTheGreat]

Thats crazy but HOLY **** subcutaneous larvae sound really unappealing to have crawling around inside me. EWW.

Meh after 66 days of it I think you'd get used to the skinbugs

 

[Birdem]

f ucking respect... noticed how he used his inner game...

 

[comic_relief]

Excerpt from The Man Who Swam the Amazon, written by Matthew Mohlke, who was a river guide on the Amazon trip:

So, why do we follow Martin down the Mississippi, the Danube, the Amazon, or the Yangtze? The answer is simple:

An expedition is 95 percent misery and 5 percent ecstasy. After three weeks of constant motion in a land far way from home, something strange occurs in the sould of a man. He gets broken. The first symptom is a tired or sick feeling, maybe even some fear and a little helplessness. Loneliness. Then something slowly changes within. The old attachments start to fade and he becomes completely present. He forgets about all the crap that keeps him up at night back home. None of it matters anymore.

The same man who may be the shy, passive, no-balls type back home in the office or factory can evolve into a [person] who can share a table with the toughest of hombres and throw back beers with unswerving eyes, enjoying every minute of it.

After going home and dealing with all the meaningless details of electricity bills, lawn mowing, mortgage payments, and an unfulfilling job, a period of depression inevitably occurs. Those people back home can’t understand why he’d leave his cozy existence behind again for three more months to jump at the next opportunity to subject himself to such misery and danger.

But they just don’t get it.

After completing my first 350 mile bicycle tour around PA, I can full heartedly agree with that quote.

comic_relief