The Man Who Swam the Amazon

On Sunday, April 8, 2007, 52-year old Martin Strel completed the first-ever�3,274-mile-long swim on the Amazon River.�The Fish Man, as he was called by locals, almost died in the process several times;�he encountered deadly piranha, crocodiles, anaconda, river sharks, blistering, relentless sun, dangerous currents, river pirates and drug runners, and the insidious candiru.� At the finish his blood pressure was at heart attack level, his entire body full of subcutaneous larvae, and besieged by dehydration, diarrhea and exhaustion. �Strel, who�holds multiple Guinness world records for long-distance river swims,�undertook this epic Amazon swim to call attention to deforestation and river pollution.� His�journey�was covered by national media around the world, and followed by tens of millions of readers�on a website tracking his progress (www.amazonswim.com). A documentary film of his journey will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008.�Drawn from the eloquent and evocative trip diaries of writer Matthew Mohlke, who guided Strel armed with buckets of blood to divert piranha, 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.��