Martin Strel`s Amazon Swim - for Peace in the Middle East, Dalai Lama, Clean Waters, and the Rain Forest, interview – 1/2

In the epilogue to the book "The Man Who Swam the Amazon", Martin Strel writes: "there are millions of people throughout the world gazing out the same window. Occasionally a crazy thought comes into their head from somewhere so far away they can`t even fathom its sources, but they quickly discard it and return to the surface to deal with the seemingly important aspects of everyday life that crowd their inbox. Years pass, their children have children, and every time they gaze out that window, those old dreams flood their minds again. Big dreams. Dreams they are afraid to try to reach but yet linger. They may think they`re too fat or too old or whatever their excuse. They all have an excuse that prevents them from reaching those dreams. If a fifty-two year old, slightly fat man can swim the Amazon, what can you do? Remember, those last two hours before sunset can often be the best swimming of the day".

Martin Strel swam the Amazon river, commencing on February 1, 2007, finishing 66 days later on April 7th, 2007. He had escort boats that poured blood into the river to distract meat – eating fish such as piranhas and sharks. Near the end of his swim he encountered a tidal bore about 4 m known as Pororoca. After nine weeks, Martin Strel arrived near the city of Belem, the capital of the jungle state of Para, ending a swim almost as long as the drive from Miami to Seattle., .

After 3,272 miles, the 52-year-old Slovene successfully completed a swim down the Amazon River that set a world record for distance - something he's already done three times before.

Martin Strel says that for him it was achieving - the impossible. Like Sir Hillary reaching the top of Mt Everest. In one of his blogs, Martin writes, if I can swim that river, then the Palestinians and the Israelis can find a way to live together in peace – and the 8 most powerful and richest countries in the world can find a way to forgive the debts of the 15 poorest counties. And a bunch of other stuff too. For all those reasons, I swam that that river.

Mr. Martin Strel, the Man Who Swam the Amazon, heartiest congratulations to this extraordinary – unique - achievement.
Thank you, Irena!

Q: What are your feelings now that you reached – what seemed – almost impossible, you swam the Amazon river?
Martin Strel: My feeling are – let me put is this way – dreamlike. I worked hard, trained and dreamed that someday, I shall swim in the great Amazon river. Now my dream has come true. I feel that my mission in life is fulfilled, and should I pass away tomorrow, I am satisfied.

On my part I wish to live for many more years and teach and educate people around the world about what I have been doing for the past couple of years.

Q: Your book "The Man Who Swam the Amazon" has been just published and is already climbing bestseller charts. What responses are you getting and from whom?
Martin Strel: My book was published in USA and Canada. In the future, I hope, it will be published all over the world. I would like to recommend it to those, who are interested in live stories of persons doing great things and have dedicated their lives to it. Many are now comparing me to Sir Edmund Hillary, who first reached the top of Mt. Everest. Unlike Sir Edmund I wanted to so something nobody before me has succeeding in doing.

But let me tell you, it was not easy. It was difficult, involved risks and it was virtually on the edge of possible. In the future, I intend to promote my book and lecture all over the world. Coming is also documentary film under title "Big River Man", the story of my life and the Amazon swim. The producers spent with me month and month and recorded some excellent material. It has all what it takes a successful documentary. Produced in Los Angeles, California, it should be out in autumn 2008 and it will have the premiere in Toronto. Canada.

The book is as complete as possible. Actually, I am thinking of writing – may be - another book about my experiences in the future.

Q: You say, you swam the Amazon for clean rivers, rainforest, but also for peace in the Middle East and for His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I am talking to you from the Middle East – from Yemen. What was achieved and was your message heard?
Martin Strel: I think, my wish did come true. Many around the world who followed my Amazon undertaking heard my message. I am equally confident that my message was heard by many around the globe. Responses – they were all unique! And this was precisely my aim, to educate, to forward a message to the world. Clean rivers, waters and forest are our wealth and we ourselves have to assure that they will not be destroyed. This is my mission in life: To preserve the planet earth for the future, when we are no longer here.

Further, we are all aware what was happening and is happening in the Middle East. His Holiness, the Dalai Lama is one of the key people, working for peace. I therefore mentioned his name in several interviews as my motto was " swimming for the peace, friendship and clean waters".

A similar message was transmitted in the year 2000, when I swam the Danube. We had the war in the Balkans then. I wished to show to the peoples of the world that wars do not solve a thing. Let`s get involved in other – nicer things. The response to my "Danube" message was great, it proved effective.

I continued my message of peace during swimming the Mississippi in honor of 11th September, 2001 victims, etc.

Q: Did you ever met His Holiness, the Dalai Lama?
Martin Strel: No, not yet.

Q: Amazon is the last on you list of big river, which you swam already. If the any in particular close to your heart, or is something special?
Martin Strel: The reply is not simple. Each of those great river has its own particularities and all are close to my heart. As I love nature and water in particular, I love to drink pure water and therefore I am advocating clean waters and drinking water.

Rivers give me energy and reason for living. The biggest impact has left the Amazon river. At the beginning I was afraid, and as result I used to suffer – but when I finished the swim, I was overjoyed. As a child who gets an ice cream and hardly wait to get another one.

What are your feeling during the swim, what are you thinking about, what is your driving force?
Martine Strel: A rather complex question – without doubt. But I believe this is the key to my success in swimming great rivers. I taught myself how physiologically to prepare myself for such projects. It is the physiological preparation which is much more important than my physical condition. In other words, I prepare my head well before swimming. And I know in advance what awaits me prior actual swimming.

During the swim I have at hand different stories which I keep telling myself and inventing others and that the time passes. Many times I also keep talking to myself. On other occasion I hallucinate. My team by know knows well, that this is part of my mediation and rhythm but which is essential to reach my goal. My swimming exercise is – an extraordinary physical test and that`s not for everybody. Only few on our planet can actually do it. I also learned how to forget pains in my body and to concentrate and think about other things. I took me years and years to reach this stage. I will be honest, before ten or twenty years I would not be able to achieve what I reached today. When younger, I was practically not mature enough - in my head.

Otherwise, I think about everything possible, about friends, family, God, past undertakings, plans for the future, beautiful girs and parties which will take place after the swim. Many times, I also count my moves, which are many. About 54 in a second, and you can make it out how many per day if one swims ten hours.

Q: From where comes the idea to swim great rivers and to reach – the impossible?
Martin Strel: The idea to swim the rivers, lakes, seas, is actually an old one. When I was about then, I just loved to watch the film about Tarzan in which Johnny Weissmuller plays the main role. I loved his swimming in the jungle. Even as a child, I used to love the nature and animals. I used to swim in smaller rivers, lakes, built dams, went fishing, did camping along waters, played cowboys and Indians. A wonderful childhood, which today`s youth no longer knows or experiences.

As I grew up, I always wanted to be able to reach goals, which nobody before me reached, was interested in ideas, which were not yet realized. And so I reached the idea of swimming the big rivers. I begun Slovenia in 1991 with small 105 km long and very cold river Krka and ended in the Amazon.

ABOUT MARTIN STREL
Born October 1, 1954 is a Slovene ultra marathon swimmer, best known for swimming the entire length of various rivers, including Mississippi, Parana and recently the Amazon. Born in Mokronog, Slovenia, Strel hold successive Guinness World Records for swimming the Danube, the Mississippi and the Yangtze. During his swims, he sleeps 5 hours each day. He prepares himself for a marathon swim over a year and a half and it usually takes six to seven month to recover physically.

BIG RIVER MAN - FEATURE DOCUMENTARY
Self Pictures, the acclaimed documentary film company based out of Los Angeles, CA, has signed on to document Martin Strel´s marathon feat of endurance, swimming the Amazon, the culmination of his lifetime of extreme achievements. Big River Man: Martin Strel vs. the Amazon" will show Martin as not only an extreme athlete, but as an extraordinarily eccentric and humanitarian human being. From his childhood growing up in Slovenia, to his rise to stardom with such feats as swimming the Danube, Mississippi, Paraná and Yangtze rivers, Martin will serve as a metaphor for the "everyman", and prove, once and for all, that one man can make a difference.

BOOK: THE MAN WHO SWAM THE AMAZON
A few months old story is drawn from the eloquent and evocative trip diaries of writer Matthew Mohlke, who, armed with buckets of blood to divert piranhas, guided Martin Strel down the World’s Deadliest River. The Man Who Swam the Amazon Book is a gripping and inspirational story of perservance, passion, and endurance what a human can do: a real-life odyssey of a rare and driven man, excerpts

Februay, 1, 2007 – Amazon jungle near Taurapa, Peru
A tone of chaos dominates the morning of the expedition’s start. The 8:00 AM start is fast approaching, and Jamie has still not showed up with the support boat. We hire another boat to take the team and equipment downstream to meet it, but an argument arises between Martin and the owner of the boat. The man wants 200 Sol, the Peruvian currency, and Borut is only willing to give him 100.

A multimillion dollar expedition is being held up over the equivalent of thirty dollars.

After Borut finally convinces the man of a compromise, a tremendous downpour begins. The team is forced to store hundreds of thousands in satellite equipment in a stinky bathroom by the riverfront. Hundreds of soaking-wet Atalayans brave the weather and slight delay to cheer Martin on from the waterfront. "The jungle is crying because you are leaving." The words of one local sum up the mood in Atalaya as Martin prepares to begin his seventy-day swim in a heavy downpour.

Martin enters the river about an hour and a half after his scheduled starting time. He shoots away from shore so fast that the small escort boat struggles to keep up with him in the heavy current. He swims the first three hours in total silence.

It’s impossible for Martin to swim and think about swimming at the same time. The best analogy I can offer is that while swimming, Martin is outside of his body. It’s the only way he can withstand the pain and last every day through the long hours. I watch him swim, I see his body moving, but his glazed, unfocused eyes show that he’s really not there.

A moist morning surrenders to a tranquil afternoon of light breezes and mysterious animal noises. The rain is gone, the sun is covered in clouds, and a tone of adventure captivates the team. The foothills of the Andes are shrouded in cotton balls as Borut and I take turns paddling a small support boat with local guides Geraldo, Arturo, and Jarvez.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I wish to thank Mr. Borut Strel for his wonderful and efficient cooperation for bringing about the interview with his father Mr.Martin Strel.

Coming soon Part Two of the exclusive interview with Martin Strel, the Man Who Swam the Amazon.

The Amazon Swim
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